ESTHER KIN    photo Laura Tommasina

THE MOON IS ALWAYS FULL

It sometimes seems unclear why you have chosen a certain path in your life. But sometimes you are consciously surprised by it. This happened to me when I suddenly noticed tears streaming down my cheeks as I stood in front of a Zen circle painted by Kazuaki Tanahashi. I have no idea what affected me so much, but it was clear that something happened. After one of his lessons he signed the book I took home with the text; The way of the circle’. I think I’m still trying to follow this path.

KAZUAKI TANAHASHI / ESTHER KIN                      photo Laura Tommasina

Although the characters have given way to human lines, I hope to pass on his teachings about unity, attention and movement, among other things, in everything I do. I remain grateful for the beautiful art and people I get to meet every day.                                    

 

TREEHOUSE STUDIO / Esther kin          photo Laura Tommasina

I watch people on the streets, dancers in a performance or athletes before they take a leap. I try to reduce these postures to the essence. Which lines are essential to create a gesture of this feeling? I try out a posture and feel where the strength comes from and where relaxation is needed to stretch this far. How can I play with the balance in between these two opposites, so that a certain tension arises. When I start to understand the pose I will draw it until I know the route by heart and can draw it without hesitation. Now I can focus on the feeling itself. And to feel that showing guts is more than waving my brush bravely. It takes a constant balance between control and letting go. If I try to control too much, my drawing becomes boring if I let go of too much, it feels overdone like a caricature. Then I find out that guts also requires some form of control.

I fell in love with ink and brushes by seeing the work made by my great example Fabienne Verdier. 

ESTHER KIN             photo Laura Tommasina

When I pick up my brush I start with a smile as I learned from Kaz. Then I take time to prepare my materials.  I Allow the brush to gently suck up ink and then stroke it 10 times along the edge of the ink cup. Rituals in which you can find peace. Consider your intention towards the drawing. Take a break after the brush hits the paper, take a slow breath and continue the movement until you let go of that movement in the direction in which it continues or has started.

I still try to work the way I learned in Kaz’s calligraphy classes, only the characters have turned into human forms that I feel more connected to, perhaps through years of Hatha yoga practice. For me, calligraphy is a kind of yoga in which you expand your body with a brush. The combination of intention, attention and a relaxed face form the basis.

ESTHER KIN             photo Laura Tommasina     

 

INTENTION

By working so intensively with different emotions, I notice that by concentrating purely on the emotion itself you can also experience this feeling. So I don’t have to jump off a mountain to experience the feeling of guts. There is no need to buy a lot of expensive stuff to feel rich.  Just start feeling rich.