Sumi-E is an art form that originated in China over 1,000 years ago. ‘Sumi’ means ink and ‘e’ means painting. The artist’s goal is to capture the chi (breath or spirit) of the subject matter. It has been said that to paint in this art form is to paint from the soul.

Each brush stroke is deliberate – from the tiniest of strokes to the largest. Brush strokes are neither ‘touched up’ nor ‘fixed’; once painted they are final. In creating music, one must have both sound and silence; each component is meaningless without the other. This principle prevails in Chinese Brush Painting and Sumi-E. Ink and space create the balance and harmony.

The red seal or ‘chop’ is a hand carved stamp on natural stone that is ‘Laura’ in Chinese characters. In Chinese, ‘Laura’ is translated as ‘Láo’ meaning working and ‘Wá’ meaning baby. A second seal may also be affixed to the art work representing either the year of the Chinese Zodiac in which the work was produced, or with a ‘mood’ seal. A mood seal reflects the artist’s philosophy and Laura’s mood seal means ‘Life Journey’.