Saturday, April 13, 2013

Beaverton Creek (Classic)

Having embraced the 2 attempts at painting Beaverton Creek, the thought of doing a third painting in a more traditional style intrigues me.

I've never really been too crazy about the classic style, so this idea actually frightens me.  My problem is that the style seemed so difficult and unnatural for me.  I feel compelled to regurgitate what little I've learned from the fringes of my memory, and that hurts!

But try I must.  Deem it as a self assigned homework. 

Worked out a rough sketch of what the painting might look like.






Right off the bat, I proceeded with something not quite kosher.  I started out with a faint wash of the landscape map on the back of my Xuan paper.  I find this process to be more Xieyi and helps me to assemble the pieces on the front.



Next I tried to sketch in the key landmarks of this painting.  Scattered point perspective enjoys more of a birds-eye view and  is not as compressed as in vanishing horizon perspective.  I need to bring in more points of reference this time.  Thus the bridge, and the tall firs, and the little vista by the banks. I tried to be faithful to the actual flora of this locale, but I took liberty with the riffraff vegetation.  I thought this would be a prime opportunity to employ the different ways of portraying leaves.





Speaking of leaves, I learned that by writing the vein first, it is easier to complete the rest of them.  Notice I said "write".  These simple line should resemble writings more than tracings.



I am actually having problem in developing the painting in this format.  I better stop before I have to perform the invidious task of mutilating the piece.

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