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.