Jim O'Neil's photos

My favorite ink stones for sumi-e painting.

This is my basic setup for sumi-e painting. As the paper is highly absorbent one works on a piece of felt that leeches away excess water. There are many sizes and types of fude (brushes) but for one painting I can usually get by using one, two or, at the most, three brushes. The suzuri (ink grinding stone) is usually carved from natural stone. The sumi (ink stick) is made from a combination of soot and animal glue. The ceramic dish, kikuzara (chrysanthemum shaped), is used to mix shades pf gray from the freshly ground black ink. The orange toweling rags are to pat and dry the fude. Sitting on the top of the painting on the felt is the bunchin, a weight to hold the paper in place. A container to hold water, of course. Last but not least is the bamboo thingy holding the sumi, ink stick stub, sitting on the suzuri. I have no idea what it's called in Japanese (the Japanese that I've asked about it didn't even know such a tool existed, even though I bought it there!), but it's designed to and works great to hold stubs of your sumi for grinding when they become too short to hold in your hand.

When Tomosan arrived for a visit this winter from Japan, she expected Kumikosan and I to meet her at the airport. Well. kumiko wanted to us hide and have Mariko, who Tomosan didn't expect, meet her instead. Well well. a bit later when Tomosan was awaiting her luggage at the carousel, we snuck up on her, I kicked her in the leg (gently) and this is her expression when she turned and saw us! Sumi-e, unmounted. Ink on 'rice' paper, 11" X 14"

After a drawing session, tonight, at North Pole Grange we had a B.A.B.C., Bad Art Burning Ceremony. It seems that in Russia, at least among certain artists, the tradition had developed to get together once a year, light a bonfire and burn one's art works that one deems unacceptable for one reason or another. Since our buddy Vladamir is part of that group of Russian artists, he's brought the tradition to us! So! We showed, shared viewpoints, critiqued each others work and burn, burn, burned! A good time was had by all! Hum, in retrospect one might call it a bonfire of inanities.

EDM challenge 263, draw your favorite cleaning supply? Hum, think mine would be somewhere between a D9 Caterpillar tractor, a Patton tank and maybe a little giant nozzle used for washing away mountains of overburden when gold mining. Needless to say, cleaning ain't my favorite sport! :-) Ink, watercolor and a little soft pastel on scrap paper.

Sometimes things are not what they seem As I found that day when suddenly the snow flew off... in to the sky! Mixed media: Acrylic, pastel, ink on black paper.

Last night I happened to catch the tail end of a TV show by a painter working in the Hudson River style. So! Today, from memory, I tried to capture the same scene he painted, but in pastels. Sorry I didn't catch the name of the painter nor the show, so I can't give credit where credit is due. Soft pastel on 12"X12" colored stock

My friend, Tomosan, who visited here this winter, just had this hanko (stamp) made for me and sent from Japan. It says 筆墨 (fude sumi), brush, ink and is from the first line of Masaoka Shiki's haiku: 筆 も 墨 も 溲瓶 も 内 ノ 秋 ノ 蚊帳 Yep, yep, yep, I'm delighted!!!

I'd be willing to bet there are thousands of paintings with this title or a variation thereof out there, many, if not most, by artists who are far far my betters. After deciding on my title I googled it and got over thirty million hits! soft pastel and marker on 12" X 12" colored stock

I just finished making and installing a new sink in the upstairs bathroom, birch finished with epoxy. The sink is 16 inches (40cm) across.

Hum. Some might see this as a dirge but I painted it as an ode to life. Since the first single cell organism split to become two/four/eight/sixteen.... life has been proliferating, soaring, dying, decaying and feeding more life. Nothing is wasted, the herbivore feeds the predator. The predator surely feeds the soil to nourish the plants to feed the herbivore. A season for everything and a time to make way for others. An unending cycle, an unbroken chain of life. Yes, this piece was influenced by paleolithic cave paintings. Nothing is lost. Acrylic on wood panel, two by three feet