Kate McCavitt’s pursuit of art began in earnest in 1986, after she moved from the Pittsburgh area to San Diego, California. She picked Sumie or “Chinese Brush” as her path to take for the 10+ years that followed. Studying under a Contemporary Zen brush painting master, whose studio was called Dancing Brush, she absorbed both the Sumie painting aesthetic and the somewhat disciplined methodical approach to the ancient painting artform. Both created the discipline she brings to painting.  She learned to hold a brush like it was a pair of chopsticks! Kate worked in black ink on “rice paper” for several years learning the multitude of specialized brush strokes and compositional elements before adding color in the form of Chinese watercolor chips or color pans.

Kate has incorporated most of the principles of Asian Brush in her current semi-abstract water media based artworks, relying on it for composition, object placement, numbers of things in those placements and negative space. Esoteric teachings such as “Idea Present; brush absent” figure into her various series of contemporary paintings. Calligraphy practice led to the artist signature she uses today.

In her demo, Kate will take us through that Asian Brush journey of hers. Using individual strokes and putting them together in basic bamboo and orchid paintings, she’ll reveal two of the four “Gentlemen” of Sumie. She’ll bring her big Brush collection along to the fun.