Birds and Bunnies (Demo Recording) Summer 2025 w/ Angie Dixon
**Please know that this is only a recording of the demo. The recording can be viewed for 3 months from the date of purchase.
*The recording is 2 hours and 48 minutes in length.
Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.
PROMO: https://youtu.be/Mwkka5a0Qbw
Demo Description
In this video demonstration I want to approach painting two general subjects of birds and bunnies using traditional Asian materials and painting techniques. Sumi painting goes to the “essence” of the subjects being portrayed rather than a specific portrait. We will work with simple and complex brushwork and composition to depict single and multiple animals with and without “settings”. We will begin with ink on rice paper which is black and white and introduce color toward the end of the session. It will be exploratory, fun and encourage seeing these lovely animals in different ways.
Demo Materials List
Unsized or”absorbent” rice paper
I recommend the Japanese paper roll - “shuji gami” 18”w x 30’l or
Chinese paper - single or double “shuen” paper
“Shuen” is a phonetic spelling so it may be spelled differently on different sites such as “hsuen” or “shuan” “shwen” and so on. These will be in rolls or sheets.
Three brushes: 1 round white hair or “sheep” hair brush middle sized
1 round brown hair brush or “wolf” hair brush middle sized
1 outline brown hair brush or “wolf” hair brush
Optional brushes: 1 flat white hair brush or “hake” brush 1” - 2” wide
1 plant fiber brush - this you will have to make yourself by taking the broom corn plant fibers from a natural broom or another similar plant and binding them together into a round brush about 1/4” - 1/3” in diameter where they are bound together
1 bottle sumi ink NOT any other kind of ink. Sumi means ink in Japanese, but it defines the type of ink needed for this art form as it is a specific kind of ink.
1 piece felt - white or gray about 2’ x 3’ or newsprint or newspaper - 2-3 layers
Paper weights to hold down the rice paper or use favorite rocks - not too large
Mixing dishes and water containers - at least 2 water containers and 3 or more mixing dishes with at least a 3” surface area to mix ink and ink and color
One smaller container to hold the sumi (ink) or an ink stone
Rags or paper towels to wipe brushes
Color is optional - Marie’s is a Chinese watercolor tube set that is not too expensive. The Japanese colors are in small dishes in sets and gouache can be used - the Asian “watercolors” are opaque and permanent. Through experimentation I found gouache works too. It is an opaque Western watercolor. Regular watercolors will NOT work. They will run when re-wet and cause problems. There are also the mineral chips of pigment that can be used but there is a lot of prep work to use them
Places to purchase supplies:
Blue Heron Arts - blueheronarts.com
This company has the basic three brushes in a set that is already packaged for a reasonable price of around $20.00 US dollars. I recommitted it. The brush quality is very good. They import from China.
Oriental Art Supply - orientalartsupply.com
This company does not have the three brushes as a set but all materials needed for Asian brush and ink painting can be purchased from this company.
Both companies are located in California USA and sell online.
Japanese painting materials can mainly be found through art supply stores that carry
Yasutomo supplies.
Yasutomo is therein Japanese art supply importer. You can also find them online at
yasutomo.com. They have a wide selection of papers, ink, brushes and more.
Daiso is a Japanese store that has a variety of things to sell. They also sell limited art supplies.
They have the most reasonable prices on unsized practice paper for calligraphy that can also be used for painting. It is $1.75 for about 50 sheets that are 13”h x 9.5”w so they are small, but good quality overall. The brushes and ink are of lesser quality.
**Please know that this is only a recording of the demo. The recording can be viewed for 3 months from the date of purchase.
*The recording is 2 hours and 48 minutes in length.
Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.
PROMO: https://youtu.be/Mwkka5a0Qbw
Demo Description
In this video demonstration I want to approach painting two general subjects of birds and bunnies using traditional Asian materials and painting techniques. Sumi painting goes to the “essence” of the subjects being portrayed rather than a specific portrait. We will work with simple and complex brushwork and composition to depict single and multiple animals with and without “settings”. We will begin with ink on rice paper which is black and white and introduce color toward the end of the session. It will be exploratory, fun and encourage seeing these lovely animals in different ways.
Demo Materials List
Unsized or”absorbent” rice paper
I recommend the Japanese paper roll - “shuji gami” 18”w x 30’l or
Chinese paper - single or double “shuen” paper
“Shuen” is a phonetic spelling so it may be spelled differently on different sites such as “hsuen” or “shuan” “shwen” and so on. These will be in rolls or sheets.
Three brushes: 1 round white hair or “sheep” hair brush middle sized
1 round brown hair brush or “wolf” hair brush middle sized
1 outline brown hair brush or “wolf” hair brush
Optional brushes: 1 flat white hair brush or “hake” brush 1” - 2” wide
1 plant fiber brush - this you will have to make yourself by taking the broom corn plant fibers from a natural broom or another similar plant and binding them together into a round brush about 1/4” - 1/3” in diameter where they are bound together
1 bottle sumi ink NOT any other kind of ink. Sumi means ink in Japanese, but it defines the type of ink needed for this art form as it is a specific kind of ink.
1 piece felt - white or gray about 2’ x 3’ or newsprint or newspaper - 2-3 layers
Paper weights to hold down the rice paper or use favorite rocks - not too large
Mixing dishes and water containers - at least 2 water containers and 3 or more mixing dishes with at least a 3” surface area to mix ink and ink and color
One smaller container to hold the sumi (ink) or an ink stone
Rags or paper towels to wipe brushes
Color is optional - Marie’s is a Chinese watercolor tube set that is not too expensive. The Japanese colors are in small dishes in sets and gouache can be used - the Asian “watercolors” are opaque and permanent. Through experimentation I found gouache works too. It is an opaque Western watercolor. Regular watercolors will NOT work. They will run when re-wet and cause problems. There are also the mineral chips of pigment that can be used but there is a lot of prep work to use them
Places to purchase supplies:
Blue Heron Arts - blueheronarts.com
This company has the basic three brushes in a set that is already packaged for a reasonable price of around $20.00 US dollars. I recommitted it. The brush quality is very good. They import from China.
Oriental Art Supply - orientalartsupply.com
This company does not have the three brushes as a set but all materials needed for Asian brush and ink painting can be purchased from this company.
Both companies are located in California USA and sell online.
Japanese painting materials can mainly be found through art supply stores that carry
Yasutomo supplies.
Yasutomo is therein Japanese art supply importer. You can also find them online at
yasutomo.com. They have a wide selection of papers, ink, brushes and more.
Daiso is a Japanese store that has a variety of things to sell. They also sell limited art supplies.
They have the most reasonable prices on unsized practice paper for calligraphy that can also be used for painting. It is $1.75 for about 50 sheets that are 13”h x 9.5”w so they are small, but good quality overall. The brushes and ink are of lesser quality.
**Please know that this is only a recording of the demo. The recording can be viewed for 3 months from the date of purchase.
*The recording is 2 hours and 48 minutes in length.
Please check your email spam/junk folder for your Zoom invite.
PROMO: https://youtu.be/Mwkka5a0Qbw
Demo Description
In this video demonstration I want to approach painting two general subjects of birds and bunnies using traditional Asian materials and painting techniques. Sumi painting goes to the “essence” of the subjects being portrayed rather than a specific portrait. We will work with simple and complex brushwork and composition to depict single and multiple animals with and without “settings”. We will begin with ink on rice paper which is black and white and introduce color toward the end of the session. It will be exploratory, fun and encourage seeing these lovely animals in different ways.
Demo Materials List
Unsized or”absorbent” rice paper
I recommend the Japanese paper roll - “shuji gami” 18”w x 30’l or
Chinese paper - single or double “shuen” paper
“Shuen” is a phonetic spelling so it may be spelled differently on different sites such as “hsuen” or “shuan” “shwen” and so on. These will be in rolls or sheets.
Three brushes: 1 round white hair or “sheep” hair brush middle sized
1 round brown hair brush or “wolf” hair brush middle sized
1 outline brown hair brush or “wolf” hair brush
Optional brushes: 1 flat white hair brush or “hake” brush 1” - 2” wide
1 plant fiber brush - this you will have to make yourself by taking the broom corn plant fibers from a natural broom or another similar plant and binding them together into a round brush about 1/4” - 1/3” in diameter where they are bound together
1 bottle sumi ink NOT any other kind of ink. Sumi means ink in Japanese, but it defines the type of ink needed for this art form as it is a specific kind of ink.
1 piece felt - white or gray about 2’ x 3’ or newsprint or newspaper - 2-3 layers
Paper weights to hold down the rice paper or use favorite rocks - not too large
Mixing dishes and water containers - at least 2 water containers and 3 or more mixing dishes with at least a 3” surface area to mix ink and ink and color
One smaller container to hold the sumi (ink) or an ink stone
Rags or paper towels to wipe brushes
Color is optional - Marie’s is a Chinese watercolor tube set that is not too expensive. The Japanese colors are in small dishes in sets and gouache can be used - the Asian “watercolors” are opaque and permanent. Through experimentation I found gouache works too. It is an opaque Western watercolor. Regular watercolors will NOT work. They will run when re-wet and cause problems. There are also the mineral chips of pigment that can be used but there is a lot of prep work to use them
Places to purchase supplies:
Blue Heron Arts - blueheronarts.com
This company has the basic three brushes in a set that is already packaged for a reasonable price of around $20.00 US dollars. I recommitted it. The brush quality is very good. They import from China.
Oriental Art Supply - orientalartsupply.com
This company does not have the three brushes as a set but all materials needed for Asian brush and ink painting can be purchased from this company.
Both companies are located in California USA and sell online.
Japanese painting materials can mainly be found through art supply stores that carry
Yasutomo supplies.
Yasutomo is therein Japanese art supply importer. You can also find them online at
yasutomo.com. They have a wide selection of papers, ink, brushes and more.
Daiso is a Japanese store that has a variety of things to sell. They also sell limited art supplies.
They have the most reasonable prices on unsized practice paper for calligraphy that can also be used for painting. It is $1.75 for about 50 sheets that are 13”h x 9.5”w so they are small, but good quality overall. The brushes and ink are of lesser quality.