Bamboo is one of those forms with an interesting characteristic:

that its shadows, when cast upon a surface, look more like its forms ( than the apparent forms themselves )

Whether this is due to our cultural baggage which suggests bamboo are bamboo when portrayed with pure black ink is difficult to tell

But the ancient discovery of painting cast shadows on rice paper windows allow one to imagine the natural way of tracing such shadows should rightly be done in pure black ink

But the forms of the leaves which bear intrinsic essence of the brush works portrayed by Chinese Calligraphy ( that one could simply to one's delight practice the art by pressing and lifting the brush without hesitation ) allow one to legitimate it being the best possible form in nature for those who intend to appreciate Chinese Calligraphy as an art form

Here my almost daily practice of such shadows and forms in colour is only a natural consequence of where I reside; that the bamboos we planted in our garden years ago have come to become the protagonists of the place, and that ignoring its amazing

natural beauty and not take lessons from them is almost impossible

Thus where you reside sometimes nutures you in an unexpected way

The ancient Chinese painters did not invent the style of portraying bamboos in a sense-

they were natural expressions of their everyday realities, lived from the hearts of profound understanding as most Chinese ancient artists did- a zen way of living one's everyday experience