Giving context to Once upon a time in the West

 My Once Upon A Time In The West painting has been decorating my wall for a while.

I didn’t hate the painting, but I had the feeling it was missing something. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it was too realistic and didn’t give the viewer much room to dream. Beautiful scenery is everywhere, right? It’s like having a great meal without dessert. It doesn’t need to be fancy or extravagant like a flambé or table side white-gloves soufflé service. A few pieces of chocolate would do just fine for me. 

I knew it was so cliché, but placing a couple of Natives on horsebacks might add some context to my painting.

Off I went to a proof of concept rendition of my protagonists,

Satisfied with the sample, I forged ahead with the real attempt.

I picked a location for my horse insertion.  Since the painting had been mounted, the treated paper was making a little fuss in taking on new ink.  The ink tended to bead up and was uncooperative in following the brushstroke.

Added the second horseman,

I could see that my painting was trying to tell a story now,

The black and white painting somewhat camouflaged the figures, especially because I placed the riders in the darker areas of the painting.  

Perhaps they are my Easter eggs?

I decided to add another person to the painting.  I picked a lighter spot this time and the ink seemed to flow a little better. 

The new face of the painting,   I loved the contrast between the more obscure riders and the obvious one, who seemed to have climbed up the hill for the encounter. 

I couldn't help but recall some interesting tidbit about a famous contemporary Chinese artist by the name of  Wu Guanzhong.  He did a drawing of the Suzhou museum (I think),

  

and subsequently altered it a bit by simplifying the composition and added a couple of swallows.

One art critic called this the Mondrian of Mr. Wu's.

The metamorphosis of his painting was dramatic. It transitioned from a plein-air work to something that was quite poetic. Swallows in Chinese culture symbolize loyalty and nurturing. These birds diligently care for their young and return to the same nest year after year. In his painting, the swallows are diminutive and almost imperceptible to casual observers. However, their insignificance magnifies their profound presence in the artwork for those who comprehend the underlying sentiment.

According to one account, people sought to acquire this painting for an astronomical sum of money but it was not for sale.  Some art critic called this work ”Wu’s Mondrian”.  I personally think this is quite unnecessary. I’m not sure if it elevates or demeans his work. He subsequently donated this work to the Hong Kong Museum of Art.  Mr. Wu claimed that this was his most favorite painting.

And, I finally got my after dinner chocolates !

Final workshop

 I’ve been through three workshops and I’m planning the last one! I’m not complaining about the work, but I do spend a lot of time preparing my material.  I try to cover different topics for each workshop, so if someone comes to more than one, they’ll still learn something new. It also helps me stay motivated because I don’t have to repeat the same old stuff. 

I plot my composition using my Sketchbook app again. 

Area of interest:

After the magic of photoshop:

I am substituting the trees with examples from Mustard Seed Garden:

.

The tree on the left is interesting because it showcases the spatial relationship of the branches; the way they are placed in front of or behind each other. 

..

By placing the pavilion building as the background and including the rather cliche person on the path we have ourselves a painting. 

I am breaking down the human figure methodically to make the painting less daunting. I suggest that the pleats on the clothing are similar to the churn line (wrinkle line) on the rocks.  As for the face,the lower jaw line is at 9 o’clock position, chin/nose is at 1 o’clock and the forehead at 2 o’clock. 

As the adage goes, “the proof is in the pudding.” After all the planning, we have finally created the painting. This is the actual piece that was painted during the two-hour workshop. 

Sigh of relief！

Third workshop at the Garden

For my third workshop, I had a plan to showcase one of the Garden’s Taihu stones as the star attraction. These stones are made from limestones found in Lake Tai in Suzhou, China. They’re known for their unique pores and holes, along with their strange shapes and appearances, making them popular choices for decorating formal gardens or courtyards.

Working with rocks and stones can be tricky, but it’s also rewarding. You need to get the right amount of chuen (wrinkle) and ts’a (rubbing) to create the illusion of texture and unevenness on the surface.

I also wanted to mention that I’ve found the Sketchbook app to be a really helpful tool for my workshops. The layers format allows me to move and resize different landmarks to create my paintings. It’s like having a real-time argument about how the placement of objects affects the overall feel of the painting.  

The Taihu stone that I have chosen resembles a person with a backpack.

I’ve got a fun idea for the workshop. I’m going to lead the participants to the spot where they can get a view of the stone. The avatar of a backpacking person however can only be perceived from a certain angle, and I’m curious to see how many people spot it. It’ll be a real eye-opener!

The backdrop of this painting would be the teahouse in the Garden.

I am going to use one of the examples of trees from Mustard Seed Garden to replace the tree in front of the building.  I want to expose the workshop to the materials from the Mustard Seed Garden.

With the aid of the Sketchbook app, I can turn on and off the different layers to demonstrate the composition of the proposed painting.

The actual photo of the Garden:

Extracted backdrop:

Trees from Mustard Seed Garden superimposed on the photo:

My person with a backpack takes up the lower left corner:

I am doing a proof of concept painting using a semi-sized Xuan paper.  My rationale is that the sizing makes the paper more forgiving, especially for the novices in the workshop.

Unfortunately I am not getting the Chuen and Ts'a effects to show up.  The sizing allows the water and ink to sit on the paper longer, thus minimizing the contrast.  Change of plan.  I'll have to bite the bullet and use the regular unsized Xuan, and hope for the best.

My practice Taihu stones definitely have more pop now.  The brushstrokes are more evident.

Fast forward to the workshop, the following picture shows what was actually painted in class, in a span of 90 minutes.  90 minutes of visual aids, vertical panting on an easel and explaining.  It was worth it. 

Second engagement at the Garden

There is a a corner window on the second floor of the Tea House at the garden that offers an interesting view of the layout of the classical Chinese garden in town.

This view presents an unassuming and somewhat uninviting perspective. It is akin to an onion, with layers that reveal themselves gradually, exposing the center of the onion. As one peels back the layers, they become acutely aware of the pungent aroma of the bulb and the emotional response it evokes, potentially leading to tears. This view demands careful observation, analysis, and emotional engagement.

The classical tiles and roof ridges are discernible in the two photographs above. The remainder of the building is concealed by foliage. If one overlooks the contemporary structures in the background, the enigmatic structure in the photograph is encroached upon by trees. I can barely discern a breezeway behind the bowed branches of the willow.

One can also see the structure is surrounded by a water feature, with access gained by the manicured and tiled walkway.

The main visitor's plaza or pavilion is kitty-corner from the water feature. 

If I were doing a plein-air session, I’d paint everything I see. The Garden’s small footprint makes it tempting to include everything in our field of view, which could result in a busy, illustration-like painting. This is especially problematic if I paint from a photo. Even a simple drawing from a classical garden design textbook, like the one below, seems busy and unbecoming. The western perspective lines don’t help. It’s subjective, but it’s not “artsy”.  

My job is to condense and eliminate the clutter and make my proposed painting "artsy" with a Chinese flair.  Condensing also serves another purpose, time constraint.  I need to plan a lesson that can be finished in 90 minutes, even for a novice, and with the interruption of my jibber jabber. 

Since I am going to be exposing the class to Chinese brush painting, I would be using the venerable Mustard Seed Garden.  There is no better introduction to classical Chinese methods than that.

I intend to draw the trees in accordance with examples from the Mustard Seed Garden.

and I will be hiding my enigmatic structure with the trees,

Trunks of the trees are written down, paying attention to not put all of them on a level line,

Assigning different varieties of leaves to the trees, to present a mixed woods look.  Also penciling in the enigmatic roof lines.

Using broad side-tip brushstrokes I have the visitor's pavilion written in along with the proverbial background foliage.  Those are placed as background items. The location of the gazebo-like pavilion has been moved to a more distant background, to make the grounds appear much bigger than it really is. 

Thus the whole painting is written with simple brushstrokes.  I have the suggestion of a pathway and water.  The painting is really about an expression or sentiment if you will.  It is not about painting everything we see.  It is permissible to move things around to compose our painting.

I am making the lower left corner much darker in value than the upper right corner.  Thus there is a contrast of dark versus light, near versus far, dense versus sparse.  Those are the elements one looks for in a Chinese painting.  Harmony and contrast; who's the host, who's the guest, showing a tangible relationship amongst the subjects in the painting.  

To add a story line to the painting, I am going to introduce a person.  Again I am going to rely on my trusted buddy Mustard Seed Garden to provide me with an example,

a simple contour outline of  a person with folded hands in the back; a pretty familiar portrayal of scholar in the days bygone. 

The painting is now complete. The viewer can now actively participate in the formulation of the painting's story.  I must say, I have totally revamped the garden.  The painting looks nothing like the photos.

Just to make sure such an exercise is possible, I am timing myself in earnest now and see what I can produce in approximately an hour's timespan.  This would allow me time to explain and demonstrate to the workshop.  I'll have to do that on an easel, which is not the usual flat on the table position.

Don't look a gift horse in the mouth

Yes this is an interesting western proverb.  I had to ask for explanation when I first heard it.  This was not something that was taught in my English classroom when I was in school.

So as the horse grows older, the teeth get longer.  By looking in the mouth of a horse one can tell how old or young the animal is.  In other words, don't scrutinize a gift or be ungrateful; all gifts convey a good will.

I suppose a horse does not have facial wrinkles or nasolabial folds to reveal the age, so the marker rests on teeth.  What else can we describe a horse with?  I myself am quite intimidated by horses.  They are huge and they kick.  Their neck muscles are so strong that they can sideswipe me with ease.  I have actually fallen off a donkey during one of those National Park excursions.  My donkey was having a bad day and bucked me off.  I fell off my ass on my ass, pun intended.  The fall was enough to break the viewfinder of my camera.  Fortunately I was wearing a helmet.  

Yet horses are beautiful animals.  The musculature on a horse is well-placed and in harmonious proportions to the body, unlike the pumped up looks of body builders of our own species.  I want to try to paint them, properly that is. 

When I tried to do figure drawing, my instructor loaned me a pristine copy of an illustrated book on human anatomy, muscle anatomy to be exact.  Apparently it was seldom handled.  Perhaps students did not want to invest the time to study human musculature just so they could paint bodies. That was before the advent of the computer or the internet, unlike these days when all kinds of references are at the fingertip.  I grew up with black and white cabled television with a dinner plate size screen.   Thermal-paper copy machines were the rage; replacing carbon copy papers on the typewriter.  Yes I am a fossil.  The idea of studying human muscles was to help with the articulating of  the human form.  I found out that's how Da Vinci acquired his acumen on human figures.  Strangely enough, the muscles of a human body did not intrigue me that much.  The only muscle that I was interested in was the sternocleidomastoid when it was attached to the clavicle, especially those of the fairer sex.  My friends tell me that is a fetish.  I am not so sure about that.  That's why when I painted Rusalka I was so intent on accentuating that muscle.

I don't need to find a book on equine musculature from the library anymore.  A couple clicks on my computer gets me what is needed.  The following is a photo I plucked from the net, and I labeled the muscles that I was interested in bold letters, for my own consumption.  It is not my intention to infringe on other people's copyrights.  My agenda is to study the shape and placement of these muscles.  To me, these are the interesting attributes of a horse.  If I can pin them down successfully with my brush, then I would have fulfilled my goal of painting a horse properly.

The sternocleidomastoid muscle in a horse is not as pronounced as ours.  Perhaps horses turn their head more as a function of the neck than just the skull.  The massive brachiocephalicus bears out my hunch.  When I see a sweaty horse with a shinny coat I am often only aware of the deltoid, the triceps and the quadriceps.  They cast beautiful shadows on the body.  If the horse is presenting in a frontal view, I see the two balls of pectoral muscles tucked between the two front legs.  To me, these features define a horse.  My task, therefore is to try to manifest these features on paper.

As I have nothing to lose but everything to gain, I am not afraid to experiment a bit.  I shall just wield my brush and see what happens.

How about a different pose, just for the heck of it

I might as well try to study all the muscle groups before I cherry-pick my markers,

Then this crazy idea comes to mind, what if I do the whole animal in charcoal and then use the eraser to highlight the muscles and make their presence felt,

Interesting!

Better yet, what if I try my ink and brush now over this eraser augmented charcoal horse,

Love it.  Raw and spunky, or should I say unbridled.  

I've had fun with my painting exercise.  Will definitely explore this topic again in the future. 

I've heard of lost-wax technique in casting, perhaps this is my lost-charcoal technique!