Japanese Snowbell

I was doing a still life of Japanese Snowbell.  It was just a simple little twig with delicate white flowers, inserted into a slender bottle.  I didn't have any Xuan with me, so I just recruited some bamboo paper, the kind that I practise my calligraphy on.  The paper excels in its ability to aborb water.  It is actually the glorified version of yesterday's butt wiper.

The way this twig hang off the bottle attracted my attention.  Rather than starting off with the branches or flowers, I just used a very light ink wash to lay down the footprint of the plant and the bottle.  It was the pose that I fell in love with.  It reminded me of characters in Chinese Opera, dressed in costumes with long flowing sleeves.  I wanted to capture that attitude.

I used acrylic white for the flowers.  After the ink painting was done, I went over that with a wash of Blue Label number one.

I used a cement board for backing this time.  I really enjoy the texture of the board piercing through the delicate bamboo paper.  The contrast of the webbing texture of the board with the bleeding of the ink strokes is simply ethereal.

 I am not trying to prostelytize anyone into not using Xuan as backing, but the added benefit of texture of using other materail is worth experimenting.

Canada Geese, A Fluted Look

Of the many geese paintings that I've undertaken, one of them was terminally ruined by my introduction of a couple of blemishes...  my "signature" ink splats.  As one of my partners in crime quipped, those are my calling cards!

I thought of concealing them by painting something over them, perhaps a couple more geese in the distance; but their locations are less than ideal.  Perhaps I could transform them into heavenly bodies, but we  only have one sun on this earth, and UFO's would be blasphemous to a serious piece of work [ sarcasm ].  Then I thought of the Oregon rain streaming down my windshield, causing the image to have a fluted glass look.  I decided to surgically remove the splats, flouting conventional wisdom.

I recently had "sliced" up a geese painting into horizontal strips.  I shall attempt a vertical striping this time.

The painting was basically cut up into strips of varying widths running the north south direction.  By disposing the strips with the ink splats on them, I had accomplished my main objective.  My mistakes were gone!  My next move was to position the strips by sliding them up and down to give the painting a different look, but mainly [ and honestly ] to obscure the missing pieces of the landscape span.  I would even take one strip out of sequence and place it at another location just to dramatize the effect. 

As I tried different schematic arrangements, I would document them with photos.  The juxtaposition of the elements elicited an emotional response that is beyond words.  I wonder if music composers feel the same way; by stringing notes together a song is born.  By varying the musical intervals one changes key.

The photo documentation helped me to decide on a final layout for my collage.  The initial rearrangements were fueled by instincts; now the analytical eye was given a chance to participate.  Here are two examples:   by placing a light colored strip in the left field, the dissonance is acute, yet not unpleasant.  It is like playing a minor chord in a major key work.  The second example is the impressionistic flow of water, or mist on the right side of the painting.  The initial pairing truncated the "flow" of that void space, thus interrupted the feel or the energy of that story line.   By aligning the void spaces, I was able to restore the flow.

( flow truncated)

 (flow restored)

I adopted the final layout with the help of my TV monitor.  I displayed the desired version on my screen and used it as my visual template to glue down the final edition.

This exercise allowed me to

1. eliminate the annoying ink splats
2. create "hooks" or "discords" ( depending on one's point of view ) by juxtaposing
3. shift the pair of geese away from the center
4. accentuate the downward and upward flapping motions of the wings
5. create a fluted glass feel to the painting, rendering a  3 dimensional prism effect.

My finished work:

I totally grasped the meaning of "necessity is the mother of invention" now, and I am so thankful for the times that I had to sit inside my truck to stay out of the Oregon wet sunshine, watching rain streaming down the glass.

Geese Recipe No. 2 Stir Fry

The thought of painting a whole flock of geese intrigued me.  I've kind of instructed myself to hone in on Canada geese this year and see if I could portray them .

I am fortunate to live by a pond which has geese and ducks in them.  My association with them is limited to watching and feeding and yes, stepping in their poop but now I want to be able to reveal the personality of these geese.  I thought by doing a whole bunch of geese all at once, I could either hide in the sheer number of images, so that the bad strokes are not obvious, or I could revel in the opportunity of telling a collective story.  Let me call this attempt "stir frying".

I recruited a 14x20 inch frame fiber board backing for this project.  If my attempt failed, then unto garbage it shalt return.

The pigments I used for my Chinese brush painting did not take to this fiber board at all.  It just sat and pooled.    How annoying.

I had a bright idea.  I mixed white gesso with these pigments...............now I am doing fresco.  Michael Angelo would be turning in his grave. 

I had to thin down this concoction with water for my Chinese brush to work.  I crinched at the idea that this would ruin my brushes.  Oh well it's only money.

I can't say too much about the painting.  It is very different for me.  The cynical side of me would say that these fowls look like hybrids of geese and duck; perhaps in my mind they're the same now.  But I do feel the motion and energy in my brush strokes.   I know I enjoyed the process tremendously.  I was a kid again, having found a new toy to play with.  Besides, it was very therapeutic to step into the unknown and emerge unscathed.   Copious amounts of warm water and mild soap hopefully saved my brushes.

Ah yes, stir fried geese.