Heart of the Brush: The Splendor of East Asian Calligraphy

Heart of the Brush is full of beautifully painted, large characters that are easily legible and reproducable. The layout of the book is exceptionally appealing. It invites the calligrapher in to explore. The teaching is of the highest quality, for example there are short, succinct sections near the beginning (Sections 7 and 8) that give useful advice on the attitude and position to adopt when painting (see photos above). The most invaluable feature to me, a beginner, is that the order of painting each stroke is numbered sequentially. One soon learns the likely pattern and direction of individual strokes that make up each character. I love this book!

Excellent book on the subject of East Asian calligraphy. A clear, concise and interesting explanation of the different styles of writing with information on how to interpret how a character is written. I would recommend this book for anyone wanting a basic knowledge of brush stroke calligraphy.

Very informative and great delivery

Brilliant book written by a true master. Thank you.

Very good

Beautiful book. Very clear and easy to follow.

It is very helpful for a beginner.

Brilliant.

Libro bellissimo sia per chi inizia che per chi già pratica. Non solo un manuale, ma tanti spunti e ispirazioni

This new calligraphy book is extremely helpful. The front section has explanations on how to form the various types of strokes, step by step. The rest of the book contains single characters, each with a two-page spread. The steps for forming the character are shown, along with beautifully executed examples (in various scripts), definitions, pronunciation, etc.The layout is excellent for daily practice--just open to any page that inspires you, and paint that character. At the end of the book there is a discussion of the art of calligraphy. Finally there is an index of radicals and compounds. As a beginner trying to learn without access to a teacher, I find this book the most useful one I've encountered so far.

Wonderful!! Beautifully written and explained. I'm a painter and it's giving me a totally different perspective of art. I recommend it to anyone who is interested in deepening personal growth.

Love the book. Had an opportunity to meet with the author.

This is by far one of the best books on Chinese calligraphy I read. Highly recommend. I hope a second version of the book publish one day with more words