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Contemporary sumi-e · Brossard, Quebec

Catalina MafteiSilence takes form.

Between ink, water, and paper, Catalina Maftei creates a space where gesture becomes presence and emptiness becomes breath.

Explore the works↘Read the artist statement→
Work on poppy..The essential elements for sumi-e painting can be found on the worktable: the ink stone, the ink stick, the brushes, and rice paper..

01Developing her practice since 2022

02Artist based in Brossard

0353 works in the portfolio

Brossard · Québec · Canada

The artist

Catalina Maftei (mafcat)

A visual artist based in Brossard, Catalina Maftei develops a contemporary sumi-e practice at the meeting point of Japanese tradition and a distinctly personal Western sensibility.

She has deepened her practice through workshops since 2022. From 2025 to 2027, she is undertaking formal training at the École de peinture à l’encre, sumi-e at the Japanese Arts and Culture Center in Mitō, Japan, under master calligrapher Akemi Lucas.

  • AAPARS member since 2022
  • RAAV associate member since 2025
  • Galerie Miss Rey · Chambly, 2025

Artist statement

Inhabiting the present moment

In my compositions, emptiness is not an absence; it is a form of breath.

My practice explores sumi-e as a contemporary language of simplicity, presence, and depth. Every mark is irreversible; this constraint creates a delicate balance between control and surrender................. It becomes a reflection of my emotions, my sensitivity, and my lived experiences: a deeply personal expression that, paradoxically, can resonate with something universal...

My work begins with a period of observation and silence. Rather than faithfully reproducing a subject, I try to grasp its energy, rhythm, and lingering sensation. Before touching the paper, I prepare the ink, observe the breathing of the brush, and imagine the space that must remain empty. My current research introduces pigments as a counterpoint to black ink. The colour is not intended to decorate the image; it acts as a poetic presence, a depth or glimmer that redirects the eye. Each work thus becomes an encounter between Japanese tradition, personal experience, and the freedom of the present.

Natural motifs — a branch, flower, fruit, bamboo, or landscape — become inner states. The Four Gentlemen offer me an ancient vocabulary of flexibility, perseverance, renewal, and reserve. I approach them with respect without allowing them to become fixed, so that every composition remains personal and contemporary.

I alternate dense ink with transparent washes, quick gestures with pauses. The paper’s accidents, the diffusion of water, and irregularities in the line are not flaws to be erased: they bear witness to the moment in which the work took form and contribute to its living character.

I started painting to find balance, to relax, and to create a space where I could reconnect with a sense of calm. More specifically, this style of painting — ink, black and white, with subtle touches of color within a minimalist composition — has a soothing effect on me and allows me to slow down. The rest is noise. Let us pause for a moment and immerse ourselves in this world. Leave everything else behind and bring your attention back to yourself and to what truly matters. Let us stop living through the lives of others and take the time to reconnect with our own needs and our own rhythm. Whenever I feel overwhelmed by events, stress, or cognitive overload, I take a step back. And when I cannot sit down and paint, I find in my paintings a path back to stillness and focus. This is exactly what I hope to convey through my creations: a moment of pause, almost meditative, where you can lose yourself in shades of grey and black, punctuated by energetic brushstrokes. Softness to slow down and find calm.
 Energy to move forward.
 And perhaps, to find your way back to the path that is truly your own.

Ink · water · paper · breath

The sumi-e technique

Painting less so that more can be seen: sumi-e turns a very small set of materials into a practice of presence, rhythm, and space.

A brief history

The Japanese term sumi-e (墨絵) literally means “ink picture.” The practice is rooted in Chinese ink painting, where painting, poetry, and calligraphy share the same essential tool: the brush. Carried to Japan through contact with China and Zen Buddhist communities, it developed especially during the medieval period. Under the Ashikaga shoguns, from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, monasteries, Chinese collections, and warrior patronage fostered a major Japanese tradition, exemplified by artists such as Sesshū Tōyō.

Monochrome ink painting, however, does not try to reproduce the world with photographic exactness. It condenses a subject’s movement, character, and vitality. During the Edo period, and later in modern and contemporary practice, artists continued this search through freer and sometimes abstract compositions while preserving the central roles of gesture and unpainted space.

A philosophy of gesture

Sumi-e lives in the productive tension between mastery and release. The brush touches the surface after careful preparation, but once the mark has entered the paper it can scarcely be corrected. Breathing, posture, speed, and pressure become visible. Rather than describing every detail, the artist suggests enough for the viewer to complete the image.

Empty space, or yohaku (余白), is therefore not forgotten space. It lets breath move through the composition, balances its masses, and gives the subject presence. This economy of means resonates with Zen influence: attention to the present, simplicity, impermanence, and an acceptance of irregularity. Sumi-e is both a technical discipline and a practice of listening.

文房四宝 · bunbō shihō

The studio’s Four Treasures

紙

Paper — kami

Artists use absorbent Asian papers: Japanese washi, Chinese xuan, or sheets made for sumi-e. The commercial term “rice paper” is imprecise; these supports are often made from kōzo (paper mulberry), mitsumata, or bamboo fibres. Unsized paper allows ink to spread quickly, while lightly sized paper offers more control. Testing a sheet’s absorption before beginning the work is essential.

筆

Brush — fude

A traditional brush combines a fine point, a belly that holds water, and great flexibility. Soft hair creates broad washes; firmer hair draws branches, veins, and contours. Mixed-hair brushes combine both qualities. The vertical or inclined hold, together with pressure and speed, lets a single brush move from the thinnest thread to a full, weighty mass.

墨

Ink — sumi

Solid ink combines pine soot or soot from burned oils with animal glue. Ground with a few drops of water, it yields a dense, velvety black and then an entire scale of greys. Bottled ink is convenient and consistent for studies, but the inkstick gives more sensitive control of concentration. Restrained pigments may accompany black; in Catalina’s work, ultramarine becomes a contemporary counterpoint.

硯

Inkstone — suzuri

Its surface is used to grind the inkstick, while its well holds the prepared ink. Grinding time regulates density and the amount of water controls transparency. This slow gesture is already part of the painting process: it gathers attention and prepares the rhythm of the brush.

Matières · gestes · couleurs

Materials in pictures

These examples help identify the traditional tools and several contemporary supports. Ink always reacts according to the fibre, sizing, brush flexibility, and concentration prepared on the inkstone.

The Four Treasures

Paper, brush, ink, and inkstone form an inseparable system. The teaching plates also show the paperweight, desk pad, vertical brush hold, and the grinding of the inkstick on the stone.

Illustrations: Yug · Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 3.0↗

Papers: kōzo, mitsumata, and bamboo

Konnyaku-coated kōzo-mitsumata paper is more water-resistant; unsized bamboo and recycled kōzo paper absorbs quickly and encourages organic diffusion. Washi, xuan, and different gasen papers offer further degrees of absorbency.

Photographs: Awagami Factory↗

Soft and resilient brushes

Sumi-e brushes vary in tip length and hair mixture. A colouring brush, like the Kuretake goat-and-deer-hair example, holds ink generously; a firmer brush suits structured lines, while softer hair develops broad washes.

Photograph: Kuretake↗

Liquid ink and inkstick

Liquid ink is ready to use and offers consistent concentration. A solid stick, made from soot and glue, is ground with water on the inkstone: this process gives precise control over density, from profound black to the palest wash.

Photographs: Kuretake↗

Sumi-e with gansai colour

Classical sumi-e favours monochrome, yet coloured practice may combine ink with Japanese gansai or Chinese watercolours. Kuretake Gansai Tambi are solid pigments that can be used opaquely, almost like gouache, or diluted like watercolour. Colour is introduced with restraint so that it does not erase the ink structure or the role of empty space.

Photograph: Kuretake · Gansai Tambi↗

落款 · rakkan

Signing with brush and seal

A classical signature, or rakkan, may bring together a calligraphed name, a date, a short poem or studio name, followed by one or more seal impressions. An intaglio seal leaves white characters on a red ground; a relief seal prints red characters. Vermilion paste, traditionally coloured with cinnabar, authenticates the work while adding a chromatic point of punctuation.

Its position is never automatic: beside the signature, in a corner, or as a counterweight to a dark mass, the seal is part of the composition and must respect the empty space. Its scale, shape, and red are chosen in relation to the work. Catalina’s seals express three complementary identities: the name “カタリナ,” written phonetically in katakana; a round seal associated with her artist name, mafcat; and the poem-seal “Stone warmed by the sun.” For the latter two, the exact seal-script forms should be confirmed before a kanji transcription is published.

Catalina · カタリナKatakana · red impression
mafcat · artist’s sealSeal script · reading to be confirmed
Stone warmed by the sunPoem-seal · kanji to be confirmed

Selected references

  1. Kyoto National Museum · Ink Paintings from the Kanto Region↗
  2. Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art · Ink↗
  3. Smithsonian National Museum of Asian Art · Mind Over Matter: Zen in Medieval Japan↗
  4. The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Brush Writing in the Arts of Japan↗
  5. The Metropolitan Museum of Art · Mastering the Art of Chinese Painting↗
  6. Awagami Factory · Handmade Japanese washi↗
  7. Kuretake · Gansai Tambi and sumi materials↗
  8. Wikimedia Commons · Four Treasures teaching plates↗

Three collections

Sumi-e gallery

"The Four Gentlemen" collection brings together bamboo, chrysanthemums, plum blossoms, and orchids. "Nature" collection includes the remaining flowers, fruits, and landscapes; the "Other" collection gathers teapots and every other subject.

Intertwined Branches - ink and watercolour on rice paper2024Available · 450 CADFleurs de prunier, Golden Moon2024Available · 450 CADLa vallée des orchidées2024Available · 380 CADLes amoureux2024Unavailable · soldOrchidées no 22025Available · 580 CADBamboo in Motion2025Available · 400 CADBamboo in the moon light2025Available · 580 CADThe Butterfly’s Breath2025Available · 650 CADPlum Blossom Echo2025Available · 400 CADA Touch of Life2026Available · 520 CADReaching for the Light2026Available · 550 CADSunlight’s Radiance2026Available · 520 CADEntre ciel et terre2026Available · 420 CADTerre vivante2026Available · 480 CADBambou majestueux2025Available · 650 CADFleurs de prunier, noir et argent2024Unavailable · private collectionFleurs de prunier — Espoir2024Unavailable · soldLe prunier se souvient du vent2026Available · 420 CADBambou dans le vent2025Available · 320 CADBambou ensoleillé2025Unavailable · private collectionLa maison des orchidées2025Available · 720 CADOrchidée et perspective I2024Available · 380 CADOrchidée et perspective II2024Available · 380 CADOrchidée violette2024Available · 380 CAD

Portfolio

Does a work speak to you?

Availability, acquisitions, and commissioned works are discussed directly with the artist.

Email the artist↘

Inside the studio

Work in progress

Before a work is complete, there is silence, experimentation, moving water, and a gesture searching for its true measure.

These fragments offer a window into Catalina Maftei’s current research. The page will evolve as new works and studio photographs become available.

Vidéo · Video

Expo Galerie AAPARS 2026

Some of my paintings that were exhibited in spring 2026.

01Observe

Seek the balance of the composition before the first mark.

02Prepare

Adjust the water, ink, pigments, and rhythm of the brush.

03Let it unfold

Welcome diffusion, untouched space, and the paper’s accidents.

04Return

Look again, select, sign, and allow the work to breathe.

On the calendar

Upcoming exhibition

2026October 17—18, 2026

AAPARS · Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville

AAPARS Fall Exhibition and Competition

Catalina Maftei will take part in this event bringing together approximately 70 painters selected by an independent jury.

View exhibition details→
Centre Marcel-Dulude530 Clairevue Boulevard West, Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, QuebecOpening hours: 10:00-17:00, free entrance.

Past exhibitions

A chronological selection drawn from Catalina Maftei’s artistic CV.

01April 18—19, 2026

AAPARS Gallery Exhibition 2026

Boucherville

02August 9—October 26, 2025

Ink & Images of the Orient · Galerie Miss Rey

Chambly · invitation exhibition

03October 18—19, 2025

AAPARS Fall Exhibition and Competition

Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville

04September 26—28, 2025

Perform’Art Brossard

Brossard

05April 5—6, 2025

AAPARS Gallery Exhibition 2025

La Prairie

06October 25—27, 2024

AAPARS Fall Exhibition and Competition

Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville

07September 27—29, 2024

Perform’Art Brossard

Brossard

08April 6—7, 2024

AAPARS Gallery Exhibition 2024

Boucherville

09September 30—October 1, 2023

Brossard Visual Arts Show

Brossard

10April 1—2, 2023

AAPARS Gallery Exhibition 2023

La Prairie

Letters from the studio

The studio, in quiet touches.

Occasionally receive new works, upcoming exhibitions, and glimpses behind the scenes. A considered letter, sent only when there is something worth sharing.

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Archive

Previous letters

August 27, 2026

News from the MAFCAT studio

New works and studio fragments from Catalina Maftei.

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Get in touch

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This policy explains in plain language what personal information may be processed when you visit mafcat.ca, communicate with Catalina Maftei, or subscribe to the newsletter, why it is used, and what rights you have.

Effective dateAugust 16, 2026

1. Person responsible for personal information

Catalina Maftei, who carries on her artistic activities under the name MAFCAT, is a visual artist based in Brossard, Quebec. She is responsible for personal information associated with this website.

For questions or requests to access, correct, or delete information, or to withdraw consent, email contact@mafcat.ca.

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Technical providers may process certain information solely to provide their services: OpenAI Sites for hosting, Cloudflare for delivery and security, Brevo for newsletter registration and delivery, Google for the reCAPTCHA anti-bot service, and MAFCAT’s email hosting provider for messages sent to contact@mafcat.ca.

Depending on where their infrastructure is located, information may be processed outside Quebec and may be subject to the laws of that jurisdiction. MAFCAT limits the providers and information used to what is needed to operate the website and its communications.

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Emails connected with an enquiry are normally kept for no more than 24 months after the last substantive exchange, unless longer retention is reasonably required for a legal obligation, transaction, or dispute. Information that is no longer required is deleted or anonymized where possible.

Newsletter contact details are kept until consent is withdrawn. A minimal record of consent and unsubscription may then be retained to demonstrate the consent obtained and continue to honour the choice not to receive messages.

Reasonable safeguards appropriate to the limited nature of the information are used to prevent unauthorized access, use, or disclosure. No electronic transmission or storage method is entirely risk-free.

8. Your rights

Subject to applicable rules, you may ask to access, correct, or delete personal information held about you and may withdraw consent. You may also ask a question or make a complaint to Catalina at contact@mafcat.ca.

If a concern is not resolved, you may seek information from Quebec’s Commission d’accès à l’information.

9. Information concerning minors

The website is not specifically directed to children under 14, and MAFCAT does not knowingly seek to collect their personal information without the consent of a parent or person holding parental authority. If you believe a child has submitted information, email contact@mafcat.ca to request its deletion.

10. Changes

This policy may be updated when website practices or applicable requirements change. The version published here, together with its effective date, is the current version. Any material change will be communicated appropriately on the website.

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Use · intellectual property

Terms of Use

These terms govern the use of mafcat.ca and protect the artworks, writing, and photography presented in the portfolio.

Effective dateAugust 16, 2026

1. Website ownership

mafcat.ca presents the artistic practice and portfolio of Catalina Maftei, who carries on her artistic activities under the name MAFCAT, a visual artist based in Brossard, Quebec.

2. Copyright

Unless otherwise stated, the paintings, artwork photographs, writing, visual compositions, seals, and original elements presented on this website are protected by copyright and belong to Catalina Maftei.

Educational images from third parties remain the property of their authors or suppliers and are used under the licences or permissions identified in their credits.

3. Permitted use

You may view the website for personal purposes and share a link to a website page. Reproduction, copying, modification, printing for sale, publication, commercial exploitation, creation of derivative works, or use of an artwork by an artificial intelligence system requires Catalina Maftei’s prior written permission.

Purchasing a physical artwork does not automatically transfer its copyright or reproduction rights.

4. Artwork information

Titles, dates, dimensions, availability, framed previews, and room mock-ups are provided for information. Dimensions and acquisition terms must be confirmed directly with the artist.

An artwork’s colour and scale may vary depending on the screen, lighting, and settings of the device used.

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The website links to external resources, social networks, and suppliers. Catalina does not control their content, availability, or privacy practices. Their use is governed by their own terms.

7. Availability and liability

Reasonable efforts are made to keep the information accurate and the website available. Content may nevertheless be changed, corrected, or removed without notice. To the extent permitted by law, Catalina is not liable for indirect loss arising from use of, or inability to use, the website.

8. Governing law and contact

These terms are governed by the applicable laws of Quebec and Canada. To request reproduction permission or ask a question, email contact@mafcat.ca.

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Catalina Maftei · Contemporary sumi-e visual artist

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