Lesson 8 plum blossom

Robert Genn, a renown Canadian artist in his Twice-Weekly Letter says:

"It's safe to say that too much drawing can destroy form and pattern. Fact is, paintings are best made
of patches, not lines....But lines themselves are a way to understand those patches and the
underlying forms....

Joyousbrush painting incorporate the patches approach to explore and understand.  It forces the students to rely on their mental imagery to paint.  We don't pencil in before we paint.  We paint directly on rice paper.  The learning takes place in both ways.  In realize what's in our mind, and to interpret what appeared on paper.  The understanding comes from the form, and the image in our mind produce the form.  This process connect the command center of your students with their environment. This exercise motivate students to integrate mind and hand in a more engaged way.

We painted traditional plum blossom with ink and color. We explored how to paint tree trunks and branches.

Lesson 7 Cherokee roses

Lesson 6 Sun flower

We did sunflowers on this lesson.  This lesson is designed to drill the mid point strokes as in bamboo leaves.  You may see each sunflower peddle is composed of 3 of these strokes.  Instead of having students work on a scrap piece paper painting stroke after stroke as traditional Chinese brush painting instructor would do, we did the same amount of practice and realized a beautiful painting.  The emergence of the beauty comes from their strokes actually motivate the students to paint on.  I don't have to convince them to work harder, they all worked their hardest.  You should see their paintings.  Nothing like a beginners work.