What do you plan on doing when you go back to your home country?
 

I'm just wondering what most of you plan to do when you go home for good?

I would like to earn an income from websites. not earning much now though. i am not interested in going back to work for 40+ hours a week or working for anyone. Plus i can't think of anything that i'd like to do back home besides work on websites, which i can do from anywhere.

How about you?

I'd like to persue my art although It will be hard

Fishead, What kind of art do you do? Painting do you mean?

As for me, I want to go back to school. I love school, I just can't 100% decide what I should go for (my major and my minor were both interdisciplinary).

Right now I'm heavily leaning toward starting an MA in library science, but I think finding a job in Canada as a librarian is rather competitive. And the last thing I want to call myself is an unemployed librarian! OUCH :( But worse than that would be having to find work in the US and pay taxes to GWB :mad:

So, the indecision goes on.

Lately I've been experimenting with the black ink and rice paper. You can get some great watercolor effects with it. Its best to keep the image simple.

Fishead,

Have you studied Korean or Chinese calligraphy, or tradional painting? I tried Seo-ye (Hangeul calligraphy) for awhile but it was more fun just to play with shapes in the ink, rather than try to perfect my oblong circles and tilted hi-eut's.

Anyway, I really like the black ink on white paper. What subjects do you paint?

No I haven't. In fact I haven't taken a single lesson. I just picked up the black ink and paper in Insuldong and applied what I remember from a water color course to it.

I've done figurative work and landscapes. Despite it being such a traditional medium you can make some really contemporary style stuff with it. Its best to stay away from bamboo sticks unless you want to just reinvent the wheel.

Um. A question about ink.
 

Sounds cool.
Do you make your own ink from a stick or do you buy the bottled ink? I only found out about the stuff in the bottle right about the time I was ready to quit. Even though making the ink made the whole "experience" "pure" (ha ha), it was tedious enough to be a deterrent from ever practicing at home... I'm so lazy.

If you know, is the bottled stuff really runny and thin? Do you have to buy thicker paper for it?

I saw some really cool modern landscapes done in black and coloured ink at the Daejeon Art museum. They were from the 50s-60s I believe, I can't remember the artist. If you know of any good exhibits (are you in Seoul?), please let me know. I never know what's going on and usually only find things by chance. :(

As far as the stick thing goes this is the first time I ever heard of this. Now that I know I'm not going to bother with it just to make my work more"pure".
I know there's lots of art shows in Insadong. I've even shown there once. If you happen to be interested in showing your work in Insadong. Its no problem. The galleries just want$$$$$$$$$$$. You pay a set sum and you get the gallery for a week. I paid one million and didn't sell a thing. If you're interested in buying the liquid form in a bottle go for it. Its relatively inexpensive and the works look great after they've been framed. Framing is also relatively inexpensive too. Its a great way to cover all those blank walls

Oh, no no. I've given the wrong impression. I took calligraphy lessons 2 years ago and enjoyed it but got frustrated at my lack of talent. I certainly have no work I would ever show. I wouldnt even show it to friends :p

When I was taking lessons, I studied with kids. Actually some of the same kids I was teaching at my hagweon, which was fun (and enlightening- suddenly I realized they acted the same way everywhere, not just with the foreign teacher). Anyway, my teacher was hardcore. I had to do everything properly. I had to make my own ink every time I went there. The kids had bottles and I thought it was just ink that someone had premade for them and saved. Much, much later I saw it for sale in a stationery shop!

I'm sure using the ink stick is more than purity, and is more about quality. The more expensive ones you buy are made with better materials and have different smells. You can also prepare the ink to the thickness you like, though there is a correct thickness that works best. And I suppose it would be much safer to travel with an ink stick than with the bottle ;) At least for me it is.

Granted, what I needed at the time was something convenient to motivate me to practice more. If you're more about spontaneity, I suppose the bottled ink is the way to go.

Thanks for the info about Insadong. I hardly ever go there, but when I do I usually zoom past the galleries. It's too bad your show there didn't sell anything. I can't believe they charge such a fee for such a short time. Is that similar to North America?

Given the Koreans tendency to be nationalistic .Its natural for them to want to make people think that ink painting is a difficult task, taking years to master and only a select few will ever get there.

Its actually a cakewalk when compared to oil painting which takes ages to dry. Gives off a toxic smell and can easily turn to mud.

The biggest challenge will ink painting is to not make things look overworked. To keep the subject matter simple. and to remember that the spaces around the lines are just as important as the lines themselves.

I think the reason why you haven't created anything you would be willing to show a friend is because you need to loosen up relax and let the ink do all the work.