7 Years Ago, 2005

Last week I hopped onto a plane and traversed 1000 miles to go back to my birthplace, Hong Kong.  My mom will be 90 this month.  I am going to wish her Happy Birthday in person.

What kind of gifts should I bear.  My family is not big into this tradition at all.  In fact, we are not into celebrating birthdays at all.  I need to show my thoughtfulness and affection without any materialistic overtones.  Why not paint her something.  This grand idea hit me the week before my departure.
The painting I wanted to write for her is one by Bai Xueshi, a contemporary landscape painter.  I have used his work for my collaborative painting post on 4/22/10.  In fact I have used this piece of work as an example ( similar to using tie in calligraphy ) just recently.  With a goal in mind, a deadline to beat, a painting to emulate,  and adrenalin flowing free, I forged ahead.

The premise of the painting is really simple.  The painting is seemingly split into two halves by the water line, contrasted with elements of "sparse" on the right and "dense" on the left.  The two fishermen on bamboo rafts are thus framed, being highlighted by the void space.

What I have done differently this time is to write the bamboo first.  I then filled in the mountain pillars and their reflections.  The rafts take up the last act.  I learned this sequence the hard way.  What I had done in the recent past was to paint the landscape first.  The coloring actually sized the Xuan paper.  By the time I was ready to lay down the bamboo the paper is no longer as absorbent and the ink ended up just sitting on the paper.  This affected the brush strokes and raised my anxiety level quite a bit.

The above picture showed finished landscape, without the rafts and script.

This picture showed a "failed" painting, not only in terms of the qualities of the brush strokes, but also in the lack of control of ink bleeding.

Here are the 2 attempts pictured side by side.  My mom received the one on the right.  This is the one where the bamboo was done first. There is a far better control of shading and diffusing of the ink to show dense clusters of leaves.  The clear brush marks on the reflections of the mountains left no doubt about using splash ink side tip technique.  The treatment of the outside borders of the mountain added complexity to an otherwise plain splash ink stroke.  The darker center pillar brought itself front and center and pushed back the other pillars to create depth.  The faint and yet distinct water line separated the land mass from the water and created a virtual shoreline.  As a whole I am pleased with my efforts this time, except for my calligraphy.

What made this painting especially meaningful for me, and for my mom is that back in May of 2005 when I visited her, I was just starting to study Chinese Xieyi landscape.  I chanced upon this painting and I unabashedly painted for her.  My mom was (is) so proud of this that she scotch-taped it to the wall of the living room and would tell any visitor who cared to listen that "My son did this".

I did my "good" painting this time in the Xuan-Boo fashion, mounted on canvas and protected from the Hong Kong humidity by Golden gel medium.  It is obviously interesting to make a comparison of
my works, 7 years apart, almost to the date.  The important thing is, mom likes them both; because I did them.

Don't Throw The Baby Out With The Bath Water

Sometimes ( actually more frequently than I wished ) I am faced with the dilemma of what to do with a bad painting that has a bright spot or two.  What do I do with a Delicious Apple that shows scab on one side?  It would be such a waste to throw out the whole fruit.

My solution to my dilemma is cropping.  Since I mount my work on custom frames, I am not bound by any conventional dimensions.  I need not be concerned about having to meet certain predetermined sizes.   So if surgery is called for, surgery it will get.

I  made a couple of  L-shaped borders out of foam boards.  These borders can now be placed over the work in question and I can move them about to see if any part of the otherwise bad painting could be saved. 

Attempts at charcoal

Since I acquired charcoal for my geese project, I wanted to see what I could do with it.  Charcoal is interesting to me mainly because of its inherent black and white contrast and all the values in between.
My interest in the black and white medium dates back to my high school days when black and white photographs were a lot cheaper to process.  On top of that my high school had a dark room.  It was a great excuse to get into an air-conditioned room when the outside is hovering around 90 degrees and 99 per cent humidity. 

The first attempt was a self portrait.  I did this standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom.  My acquaintances told me that it didn't look like me, since I look much better than that; nonetheless I captured that sour frown on my face as I was so absorbed in my own portrayal.  I almost look like Donald Trump !

My second attempt was a flight of steps.  I was mesmerized by the contrast not only of the light values, but of the rounded, curve lines against the rectangular brick works.