FOREVER – 永 – yǒng – Chinese character: forever, always, perpetual. This character is formed by adding a dot and a horizontal line to the character 水 for water. Water on this planet is not made anew, it is forever, it cycles and cycles through our bodies, the bodies of all creatures and through the vast ecosystem that makes up our planet. Biologically, water is as close to forever as we experience. Calligraphy by S. J. Thomas www.palmstone.comRead More
甲骨文字 — 金 — jīn — metal. Before the Chinese characters were standardized, there were many variant forms of the characters, especially on the “oracle bones” where they were carved into tortoise shells and bones. Sometimes the variants are simply the result of the non-standardization, but once in a while it is clear that a was using the art to make a point. Here is a variant of the character for metal. I was very excited when I first stumbled across this character because I could see immediately that this is a diagram of the lungs within the chest cavity, the calligrapher making the visual connection that is part of medical theory of the metal element with the lungs. The standard modern character is in the top right hand corner. Calligraphy by S. J. Thomas www.palmstone.comRead More
The characters translate directly as Heaven Earth Humanity Harmony — 天地人和 — In Mandarin Chinese this reads as: Tiān dì rén hé. A timely wish that humans find a way to live in harmony with this living earth, with the divine will, and with one another. Calligraphy by S. J. Thomas. www.palmstone.comRead More
I am very pleased to have a piece in Calligraphies in Conversation 2017 on exhibit now in San Francisco. The full exhibit can be viewed at www.calligraphies.orgRead More
Shen 神 — Calligraphy of Chinese character for spirit, consciousness, awareness; also meaning deity; the meeting place of heaven and earth.Read More
The Chinese characters for Yin and Yang, representing the interconnected qualities of existence that are constantly being transmuted one into the other. 陰陽Read More
Carved Chinese seal stone or “chop” for one of my wonderful advanced studentsRead More
I love the bold and simple strokes of many of the ancient forms of Chinese characters. Clouds, 云 (Yún), are evoked with just three lines in this old version of the character. For me the lower line evokes a dragon in the clouds. Yún is a component of the more complex character for the Yin principle (as in Yin and Yang): 陰Read More
I love the bold and simple strokes of many of the ancient forms of Chinese characters. Yáng, meaning to open out, expand, glorious. This is a representation of the sun above the horizon with either rays or shadows extending across the land. With the radical for place or hill this becomes the character for the Yang principle (as in Yin and Yang): 陽Read More
“The moon comes out and startles the birds on the hill”
Wang Wei (8th cent. CE)Read More
