Important information should be copied and preserved.
By copying Wang Yüan’s* painting I have preserved it—in my mind.
Now it is safe.

*Wang Yüan, (ca. 1280–after 1349) an accomplished artist who pretended to be an amateur.
In his youth he had studied with the great painter-official Chao Meng-fu.

Tags:, sumi, painting,sumi-e, japanese painting, chinese painting,

Every man is aware that underneath his conventional exterior lurks a dangerous beast, a heartless tyrant, a king of the jungle.

There are women who believe this! Some, anyway—and most of them in therapy.
The others have realized that the animal can easily be trained
to fetch a stick.

Tags:, sumi, painting,sumi-e, japanese painting, chinese painting,

On their thousandth birthday deers turn white.
That explains why a white deer is a symbol of longevity.

So where does the happiness come from?
From a peculiarity of the Chinese language.
The word for happiness (fu) happens to be the same as the word for bat (fu).
Logically, whenever you see a painting containing a white deer and bats—if it is in English—it means “Oh Dear, you are going batty!”;
but if it is in Chinese, it means “A Thousand Years of Happiness”.

The bats, by the way, are dancing around the moon.
Some personages have complained that those thingies look suspiciously like ink-spots.
These people lack true understanding.
Those are BATS!
If I say so.

Tags:, sumi, painting,sumi-e, japanese painting, chinese painting,