KALPA MACLACHLAN, Scottish by birth, lives since her early childhood in The Netherlands. Being a young girl her passion for drawing and painting became obvious, as her love for nature. Kalpa studied at the Academy of Fine Arts Minerva in the city of Groningen. "During this period the focus was on figurative arts. I prefer working with 'fast' techniques, such as ink and watercolor. "

After Kalpa completed the study with success a Japanese artist introduced rice paper to her. "From that moment I knew I had found my material. I became more and more interested in sumi-e ink painting on rice paper. The roots of this art lie in China. In the second half of the thirteenth century, this type of artwork was introduced in Japan and developed into a Zen art. "

A painter inspired by Zen works as a poet who writes a haiku. The ultimate goal is to be one with nature. "So does sumi-e. It’s a snapshot from a deep connection to nature, whereby the world is reduced to the essentials by a single stroke. Sumi-e is also called "meditation in ink"."

Working on the highly absorbent rice paper requires great technical skill and a spontaneous and direct way of working. "It’s not possible to make changes or corrections. The trick is to use as few strokes as possible to express as much as possible. The white space plays an important role. The painting is built in gray tones with black ink, color you merely use as a support. "

To master ink painting Kalpa followed lessons from the Chinese artists Tian Wei and Zhou Jun in the nineties. Currently she teaches sumi-e herself. "The combination of this Eastern art with my Western background is a constant challenge to me."