Welcome

Friends of Sumi-e (FOS) is an art-based group in San Diego, California.

Our purpose is to carry on the tradition and teaching of traditional Japanese brush painting, called sumi-e or suiboku-ga.

It is a form of Asian painting that seeks to capture the essence or spirit of a subject with elegant, well formed brush strokes, each purposefully loaded to create multiple tones of ink or color within a single stroke. It requires only ink (pine soot and glue) or color, rice paper, brush, and water.

Friends of Sumi-e was founded in 2023 with the merger of two brush painting groups, Washu-Kai, founded in 2000 and the Taka Sumi-e Society, founded in 2002. It has about 80 members.

Click HERE for more information on Friends of Sumi-e.

Paintings by Friends of Sumi-e Members

Current Events and News

Workshops and Newsletter

The May 3rd Workshop will be led by Gaye Lingley. Review the document on Chinese artist Chu Teh-Chun and his fabulous landscapes included with this month's newsletter e-mail prior to the workshop. The workshop will be to create your own landscape either in the traditional Chinese style or using some of Mr. Chu’s technique.
The June 7th Workshop will be preparation for the Friends of Sumi-e 22nd Annual Art Exhibition on June 21-22.
There will be no Open Studio meeting.
Tuesday Painters is on hiatus : Tuesday Painters is a group of FOS members and sumi-e students who meet to paint outdoors. The informal group is now meeting 4 Tuesdays each month, usually twice on Zoom and twice at a San Diego location. Plein air meetings are on-site 9:30am(ish) to Noon. ZOOM meetings start at 12:30 pm. Watch for weekly email notices. For more information click HERE.
Friends of Sumi-e Newsletters are available under the Events & Meetings menu. To view the current Newsletter, Click HERE.
Annual Membership - Now is the time to renew your membership for 2024 if you want your artwork in the November show. Membership runs from July 1st to the following June 30th and is only $20. To join or renew your membership, complete the Membership Registration Form included in the May/June Newsletter, and mail the form and your check to Treasurer Cindy Morgan.

San Diego Bonsai Club - April 26 & 27

San Diego Bonsai Club has again invited Friends of Sumi-e to partner with them for their April 26-27 Spring Show. We will have a static table inside with a display, and we will have demos outside at a table. This is a fun time to chat with folks about sumi-e and share little demo paintings with them. The Bonsai Club usually sees 4,000 people during the weekend, so this really gives us an opportunity to share in a very casual way. Time slots are Saturday and Sunday 10-noon, noon-2 and 2-4.

Friends of Sumi-e 22nd Annual Art Exhibition - June 21 & 22

Friends of Sumi-e's 22nd Annual Art Exhibition (formerly for Takasumi-e Society) will be held on June 21 & 22 in Room 104 of Casa del Prado.

Click HERE for a Show Flyer.

Washu Kai 50th Annual Art Exhibition

Friends of Sumi-e's 50th Annual Fall Art Exhibition (formerly for Washu-Kai) will be held on November 22 & 23 in Room 104 of Casa del Prado.

Click HERE for a Show Flyer.

Fall Class Registration is open

The San Diego Community College Continuing Education (SDCE) offers several Sumi-e and brush painting classes each Semester, under their Emeritus Classes. Fall classes begin 9/3/2024 and end 1/25/2025. Classes are for adults 18 years or older.

Registration for Spring Emeritus classes is NOW OPEN. Click on the Sumi-e Classes tab for more information.

Casa del Prado Map and Directions

For a Balboa Park map, including directions to Casa del Prado Room 104, click HERE.

Outreach and Cooperative Exhibits

Recent Outreach Activities

Japanese Friendship Garden, July 7th. The Tanabata Festival tabling opportunity at the Japanese Friendship Garden on July 7th was another BIG HIT! Again, we were at the upper koi pond – a prime location – and the seats at our tables were full from 9AM until 3PM. Everyone from grandparents to littles enjoyed learning about sumi-e and trying their hand at the medium. All artists went home with a “refrigerator masterpiece”! Many thanks to Sylvia for coordinating this event and to all who spent time sharing their knowledge with the public.

Upcomping Outreach Activities

Bonsai Exhibition, April 26 & 27. We will be providing Sumi-e demonstrations as a cooperative tabling event for the Bonsai April show.
Balboa Park, Festival of Trees, Nov 23 & 24. We will again be preparing painted Sumi-e post cards and displaying them as tree decorations at this Winter's Festival of Trees.

Society Art Exhibitions

21th Annual Japanese Brush Painting Spring Art Exhibition

Friends of Sumi-e's 21st Annual Spring Art Exhibition was held on Saturday March 23rd and Sunday March 24th. The room looked lovely with so many sumi-e paintings and the spectacular colorful ribbon banners collectively put together and arranged. We were pleased to have so many contributions made and want to thank everyone who participated. The show included live sumi-e painting demonstrations, Japanese folk dancing, traditional tea ceremony and beautiful koto and flute music plus wonderful details that were graciously bestowed upon us like beautiful ikebana flower arrangements, hand made donations to our Treasures Table, origami fun and dragon paintings. The joy was there and despite the cold and wet weather we had so many visitors this year. The kids loved the hands-on demonstration tables and seeing their name in calligraphy. This festival was enjoyed by all who came and all who made it happen. Thank you to all our volunteers!

San Diego Floral Association Festival of Trees

We have made seasonal postcards and folding paper cranes and used them as ornaments to decorate several white birch trees for the San Diego Floral Association’s Festival of Trees. This is a lovely event featured in Casa del Prado Room #101 during Balboa Park’s December Nights Event, on December 1st and 2nd.

San Diego Bonsai Club Outreach Event

Our cooperative outreach event with Bonsai Club was a great success! They also participated in our November Art Exhibition as they were very pleased with the results of the cooperation between our two societies. Their attendance over the weekend was more than 4,000 people and, as usual, their bonsai displays were exquisite. Friends of Sumi-e provided Sumi-e art for display at their show, and performed Sumi-e painting demonstrations.

Japanese Friendship Garden July 2023 Outreach Event

We returned to the Japanese Friendship Garden with our demo table at the Tanabata Festival on Friday July 7th 2023. Once again, we started at the beginning of the day (9:30am) and wrapped up a little before 4:00 pm.

Our outreach event at the Tanabata Festival was super successful.

Many thanks to Sylvia for her coordination with the Japanese Friendship Garden, and to Cindy, Cynthia, Beverly, Gaye, Naoko and our Chinese Brush Painting friend, Carmen Mannarino, for “womanning” the tables. The tables were full the entire day! These women had a great time spreading a little joy and knowledge about Sumi-e painting to the public.

Below are pictures from our wonderful outreach event. With 9 stations next to the scenic Koi Pond, we had over 200 visitors try their hand at Sumi-e painting.

Society Art Exhibitions

48th Annual Japanese Brush Painting Fall Art Exhibition

Friends of Sumi-e's 48th Annual Fall Art Exhibition (formerly for Washu-Kai) was held on November 18th and 19th.

Pictures to follow...........

Our 2023 Annual Spring Art Exhibition

Friends of Sumi-e's 20th Annual Spring Art Exhibition (formerly for the Taka Sumi-e Society) was held on Saturday March 25 and Sunday 26th. The show was GREAT, just like we never had a three-year hiatus.... Thank you to everyone who participated in the show, and to our guests for joining us as we share our work.

The 2024 exhibition will be on March 23rd and 24th.

Washu-Kai 2022 Annual Sumi-e Exhibition

The 47th Annual Washu-Kai Art Exhibition, celebrated November 19-20, in Room 101 of Casa del Prado, Balboa Park, was a beautiful event with some nostalgic things and some new things. The art was beautiful, the tea table and experiential tables were well received by the public. Performances by Odori dancers and Taiko drums from the Buddhist Temple were a new addition, as were all the small flower arrangements sprinkled around the artworks.

Recent Virtual Art Exhibitions

Washu-Kai's 2022 47th Annual Art Exhibition is available as a 7 minute long Virtual Show. Click HERE to view the Show on YouTube.
Taka Sumi-e Society's 2022 Annual Art Exhibition is available as a 10 minute long Virtual Show. Click HERE for virtual show viewing instructions and a link to the Virtual Show.
Taka Sumi-e Society's 2021 Annual Art Exhibition is available as a 15 minute long Virtual Show. Click HERE to view the Show.
Washu-Kai 's 2021 46th Annual Art Exhibition is available as a 11 minute long virtual art show. Click HERE to view the Show on YouTube.
Washu-Kai 's 2020 45th Annual Art Exhibition is available as a 6 minute long virtual art show. Click HERE to view the Show on YouTube.

Virtual Shows include music. These are best viewed on a PC with its large screen.