Being coy

 I have a demo piece that I used as teaching material.

I use this piece because it is simple, almost monotonous.  The repetitious leaves offer a safe haven for hiding bad brushstrokes and opportunities to gradually improve as one keep repeating the same brushstrokes.   Practice makes perfect, as the saying goes.  

Since it is meant as a sample, it was done on a piece of scrap Xuan, a torn piece of paper.

Now I'm reluctant to put it in my recycle bin for garbage day.  I hope to find a way to repurpose it.

How about exploiting the thin and translucent Cicada skin Xuan by overlaying another painting on top of this scrap.  That's cute and coy, too clever; I tell myself.

On a piece of cicada skin Xuan I plant my trees.  The trees and the ground will be positioned to hide the torn part of the underlying painting. 

The branches on these trees are done in the fashion known as the "antler" brushstroke.  One can find reference to that in the Mustard Seed Garden compendium.  It is a repetitious process and an opportunity to hone my craft. 

After the sheet with the trees are mounted on top of the scrap piece, this is the result.  The painting on the scrap piece is quite subdued now, as if shrouded in a thick fog.

In fact, I think the back scene is too hidden.  I want to make part of it more vivid, more visible.

I remember gel medium could bring out the saturation of the color, so I dab some parts of the painting with gel medium.  Keeping my fingers crossed.  I am not sure if making something more saturated equates making them more visible.

Well, the result is not as expected.  The background is not more visible.  But at least I tried. 

I am resorting to something really stupid and counterproductive now.  I am going to add back some of the obscured leaves with light ink, hoping to still retain the fogged-in look.

I should have known better.  I don't have the smarts to quit when I am ahead.  I think I spoiled the intended look.  The background is too uniform.

I should have left it the way it was.  It was coy, and cute and mysterious.  Now, it is a bit contrived.  

Standoff? Stalemate?

A curator was looking at my collection of paintings to fit into a upcoming exhibition. One of my pieces garnered attention. 

This work was done on cicada skin Xuan mounted on clear plastic and housed in a homemade black frame.  I designed this look to present the black and white painting as a float, hoping to entice more of a wandering thought process.  I sort of wanting the austere appearance to force the viewer into thinking and ruminating what this painting was about.

While the curator liked the painting itself, it was the presentation that received a less than enthusiastic nod.  The comment was that some paintings are better off presented without a frame, and the use of standoffs was suggested.

My limited understanding of the English language told me that standoff meant stalemate, and it did not make sense to me.  The selection process was over Zoom Meeting, and we had a short window to cramp everything in.  I thought I heard the word standoff mentioned through the tiny speakers of my laptop but since it didn't make sense to me and we were in a haste to cover other paintings, I just remembered the word "stand".

I took my piece to the plastic shop where I bought the plastic pieces and asked for advice.  I was hoping to get some pointers as to how to fabricate braces out of clear plastic and what kind of cement would work.  I told them I wanted to present my painting without a frame and make it like a float.

The first words out of the shopkeeper's mouth were " why don't you use standoffs?"

I heard it loud and clear this time. I heard it right from my Zoom Meeting. 

"Standoff?" I asked.  Still very much confused.

I was then led to a bin with these little metallic posts with a screw top.  Immediately I knew what everybody was talking about now.  The metallic posts act as legs to prop up the painting, away from the back wall or backboard.  I had seen them used on many occasions, but it never dawned on me. 

"I thought standoff meant an impasse, or someone being standoffish.  I never would have thought it referred to this little gizmo."  I quipped.  

I therefore bought 4 such posts and secured myself a piece of plywood and painted it white to make my backboard.

I drilled 4 holes on the clear plastic where my painting sat and transferred the locations to the plywood backboard.

The standoffs were then secured to the backboard,

Next step was to mount the painting onto the standoffs and secured the bolts.

It looked professional, I must admit.  I learned something!  Standoff doesn't always mean stalemate!

A river of spring water flows eastward

What is the meaning of that.  On the surface it looks like a literal translation into English using Google Translate of some foreign language.  In this case it is precisely that.  This is a famous quote of the writings from the last ruler of the Southern Tang state, Li Yu (c. 937-978).  For those of us who read Chinese, the words are "一江春水向東流".  Ostensibly these words led to his death by poisoning by the second emperor of the Song Dynasty, Taizong. 

The Southern Tang state was conquered by Emperor Taizu of the Northern Song Dynasty and Li Yu was held captive, sort of like a POW in today's sense.  Li Yu was well versed in painting and writing and was particularly well known for his poetry.  Late in his captivity, he was expressing his sorrow and frustration and anger through his poetry.  I shall attempt to translate the poetry that purportedly led to his death, decreed by Emperor Taizong of Song,

"The flowers in the springtime and the autumn moon are like perpetual clockwork, are they able to account for all that has transpired ?  East wind was again blowing in the pavilion.  Under the cloak of this moonlight, I am not able to bear the memories of what once was my country.  The buildings and architectures are still there, but the faces are different.  So how much sorrow can one harbor, just like A river of spring water flows eastward."

The river of spring water was used to quantity and characterize the magnitude of his relentless agony and despair.  

It is plausible that this poem angered Emperor Taizong, who ordered Li Yu's death by forcing him to swallow poison.  Ah, politics!

I have this painting of water that is done in a rather morose, dark tone.  A splash of color is offered by the petals on branches of flowers.  Spring blossoms.  I think the painting fits the aforementioned poetry, in spirit perhaps. 

This is a rather large painting on Xuan, measuring 4 ft by 2 ft.  I happen to have a frame that can house this painting.  I am going to present this work on a canvas board. 

A piece of paint drop cloth is glued to a 3-ply board using spray adhesive. I have tried using my homespun starch before, but this large surface worries me.  I am concerned that the wet starch could warp the wood, especially after the wet drop cloth dries and tightens up.  The spray adhesive dries fast but is less forgiving than starch, with regards to aligning the fabric properly.  I am therefore using clamps and taking my time to ensure accuracy in placement.

A stiff brush ensures the bonding of the two surfaces by tamping.

The finished canvas board looks nice and smooth.  Not a wrinkle in it.  

Since I had luck fitting the canvas cloth over my wood board using spray adhesive, I am going to attach my painting onto the finished canvas the same way.  It is when I hover the frame over the mounted painting that I see a problem.  The painting is about one inch smaller than the inside of the frame, and it can use a picture mat for borders.  Unfortunately, mat boards come in 40-inch lengths and my painting is 48 inches wide.  

A quick search finds me wood veneers used for covering edges of cut door panels for cabinet making.

They come in a variety of widths and have iron-on glue backing.  This turns out to be a brilliant idea to fashion my custom border using wood veneer.  Just unfurl the roll of veneer, cut to length and iron on! 

Finished border using white wood veneer.  Looks professional, does it not?

After all the fun, the finished product,

The title " A river of spring water flows eastward" probably means absolutely nothing to the viewer, especially in the absence of context.  It is quite esoteric and it really requires a certain background and knowledge of Chinese literature/poetry.  I am going to name the piece "Soliloquy-Moments".  I trust this title is more palatable and gives the viewer a lot of freedom to concoct their own interpretation.  To reflect and talk to themselves. However they want it.  

Inadequacy is the mother of invention

I thought to use my collection of lotus photos as teaching material, as a means of applying traditional brush techniques to a composition that was not derived from rote.

And I found another photo that I liked, 

and I happened to have some scraps of cicada skin Xuan handy, so I just grabbed a piece and started to paint on it. The translucent paper exudes an entirely different persona.

.

Upon examining the initial photograph and subsequent painting, as well as my second attempt, I became dissatisfied with the visual clutter of the paper.  This clutter was not due to an excessive number of objects, but rather the uniformity of values among all the characters in the painting, resulting in a flat and prosaic appearance.

Perhaps I should have anticipated the inclusion of blurred backgrounds to enhance depth perception, akin to the concept of bokeh in photography.

Alternatively, I could have painted the leaves with a lighter hue, employing a more diffused technique to simulate distance.  Additionally, I should have distinguished my main character, or protagonist, by making them as clear and vivid as possible, while allowing the supporting cast to gradually fade into the background.

I could experiment with this theory on my current painting, the one depicted on the cicada skin Xuan. However, I was uncertain whether my sloppy techniques would be sufficient to achieve the desired effect.

In a moment of inspiration, I considered the possibility of superimposing the translucent Xuan onto the other layer of paper. This technique would result in the objects on the second layer being muted by the top layer.

It looked wicked.  I was all for it!

I went ahead and mounted my two pieces together.  When the papers were wet, they were almost transparent, allowing everything to show through from under the papers. 

Opacity was restored after the papers dried.

The painting on the bottom was now quite subdued, contrasting with the one on top.  Layers in Photoshop must have been invented this way!

But then I realized one of the petals was washed out in the mounting process.  I must have loaded too much undiluted color onto my brush while I was painting the blossom.

Worry not, a little clever cropping could save my project. 

It was all in the packaging.  Now my painting had a lot of objects in it but didn't feel too busy for me.

I was able to cheat.

Mission accomplished.  Inadequacy is the mother of invention. 

Tired of painting from rote memory

Painting from rote memory is like painting from ether with a shackle.  Whatever image we have in our head is the carcass of countless times of emulation and practice.  Typically, we are taught a sequence of brushstrokes to describe the object that we are painting.  It can be a flower, an animal, a boulder, whatever.  Thumbing through the Mustard Seed Garden compendia and there's no shortage of such examples.  The inevitable downside of such practices is that we're indoctrinated subconsciously that these are the only correct, or acceptable way to paint.  As a student, it is a marvelous and methodical way to progress, not knowing that creativity and originality can sometimes be the suppressed.  

I ask myself, why don't I try to paint something real.  Not so much as en plein air but at least having some concrete reference points.  So I dig out my photographs of lotus plants and see if any of them fit the bill.

I have plates of dried-up color from past painting sessions that I commandeered for this exercise.  Too lazy to mix new colors.  Afterall this is just a fun practice exercise and color accuracy is not my concern. 

I know the color looks weird and not harmonious, but I'm not painting from ether either.  I am trying to paint what I see and not from a figment of my imagination or whatever rote memory is left with me. 

I'm now eager to try something a little more artistic.

Two lotus leaves reside at the bottom of my paper,

My reference photographs will be a blossom that is tilted to the right in this photograph. 

I like this particular flower because my lotus leaves are too evenly placed, being parallel to each other.  I need that tilted flower to create some motion.  The white petals also contrast with the dark leaves, sort of having a back-and-forth conversation.  The dark leaves are also flanked by light colored leaves just for contrast and perspective. 

I shift the stem of the flower to the extreme left, to accentuate the tilting of the flower.  I am also including a budding new leaf in the painting.  It is an interesting accessory.

The overall mood of the painting is represented by a rather subdued color scheme, aided by the pensive moon.

I do like the tone of this piece of work.  I am going to name it Nocturne.

Purity, Resiliency and Transformation

As I am continuing my doodling, I couldn't help but be reminded of the tidbits of trivia relating to Lotus. 

Lotus plant has many uses, besides its beauty.  Lotus root (actually the rhizome) is often sliced and used in stir fry dishes in Chinese restaurants.  Sometimes the whole rhizome is stuffed with rice and other goodies and steamed and then sliced up before serving. The dried rhizome can be milled to flour and used like corn starch, which can be cooked as a sweet broth with Longan and red prunes, a popular dessert drink.  The nodes of the rhizome when mashed is used to treat nosebleed. 

The lotus seed, or Lianzi (蓮子) is a homonym for the Chinese phrase which means "a succession of sons" (連子) thus is often used as an auspicious garnish in weddings.  The lotus seed heart (germ) is very bitter and is used as a tea or tonic for its "fire lowering" property; in other words, less Yang.

The leaves of the lotus plant are used as wrappings for food preparation.  The popular dim sum dish of Lo Mai Gai or Lotus Leaf Rice is one such example.  Another famous dish, the Begger's Chicken uses the leaves to wrap the whole chicken before encasing it in clay and baked.  The leaves impart a fragrance to the food inside.  

Culturally speaking, Lotus is the national flower of India and Vietnam.  The Guanyin bodhisattva is portrayed as standing or sitting on a lotus bed holding a lotus flower in her hand.  The famous Big Buddha sculpture in Hong Kong shows the Buddha resting on a bed of lotus blossoms.  

Lotus represents the virtues of purity, resiliency and transformation.  It's self-explanatory when such beauty emerges from a muddy bog.  I personally think that any painting of lotus should bear those thoughts in mind.  Whimsical versions of lotus paintings trivialize the reverence of this flower, regardless of how artistic or innovative they might be.  This is just my own cultural bias. 

I suppose one way to adhere to the traditional ways of interpreting the flower is to recall all the rote learning notes from yesteryears.  Don't re-invent the wheel. 

Lines are used to depict petals, with the tip of the petals darkened to emphasize pointed tips.

Side tip brushstrokes are used in this version to describe the petals.  The brush is loaded with white and crimson at the tip of the brush to facilitate the natural transition of the hues.  

Trying out different brushstroke speeds to try to show various personalities.  The brush does not lie. It most definitely will reveal if one is gingerly and methodically laying down a brushstroke or doing it with aplomb and a free spirit. 

In the end I am rewarded with something that when cropped perhaps is worth a spot on my walls.

I have 2 choices,

or 

I settled for the portrait format, although I do like the landscape format too.  It has an interesting perspective of the leaves. 

I have a shadow box which I had intended for displaying my carved calligraphy on spaghetti squash (my blog titled Playtime), but it is too shallow.  I am going to use it for my lotus painting. 

My doodling housed in a shadow box,
 

Unto dust thou shalt return, from mud, thou shalt emerge

I had accumulated a few pages of doodling over the week, and it seemed a waste to commit them to garbage.  I decided to go through them and see if I could mine something usable from them.  With judicious cropping and framing, I was able to assemble a few pieces for my viewing pleasure.  Sort of like a gemologist picking and choosing and evaluating before the polishing. 

This was my least favorite piece.  It was too busy for my taste.  I felt like I was trying to fit all the plots into my story, but I didn't have a clear direction to where the story was going.  I was obfuscated, even after cropping away of extraneous objects. 

After I framed the doodling with a proper mat, the painting took on a different personality.  It appeared prim and proper now. 

I loved this one.  To me it was the simplicity.  For sure the proportion of the lotus leaf and the blossom and the dragonfly seemed not proper and perhaps the shapes were too impressionistic, yet none of that seemed to matter.  Fo me anyways.

I custom built a frame for this painting. I love the way it was dressed.  I forgot to mention that the painting was done on cicada skin Xuan, a very thin and translucent paper and I mounted this paper on canvas, instead of the usual route of mounting on Xuan.  The texture of the canvas came through the paper and to the untrained eye, one might have thought the painting was done on canvas to begin with. This added another layer of nuance to this simple doodling. 

The same three players filled the paper in this painting.  The dragonfly was done in a less impressionistic fashion though.  It showed more details and realism than the previous painting.

Gave it a proper housing,

The lesson I learned was that don't be too quick to write anything off.  A little cosmetic make-up might be all one needed.