An old friend re-visited

My formal training in Chinese brush was in landscapes, but I found myself doing a lot of geese, insects etc.  I just paint whatever captured my imagination and more often than not, these critters caught my fancy.

I had done a few  insect paintings in the style of Master Qi Baishi over the years.  The two that I am most fond of was one with a cicada and one with a grasshopper.  I decided to re-visit the grasshopper again.  I want to see if I can show an improvement in my brush.

I found a piece of  triple Xuan measuring 15 x 18.  I wanted a thick paper because I wanted to do it a la Xuan-boo style;  a thicker paper would stand up to the abuse I put it through.   I will be preparing my own canvas and making my own frames etc.    I use the commercial painters drop cloth as my canvas.  I enjoy the more pronounced texture from the drop cloth, over the anemic feel of the canvas frames sold in stores.

The problem ( and the advantage ) of using commercial drop cloth is that the fibers are not always uniformly wound.  Sometimes a few loops go astray and swell inordinately with the application of Gesso.  This apparent irregularity actually adds to the uneven feel and the character of the canvas.

I started out by laying down the stalk with a  coarse brush.  The stiff bristle makes a bone brushstroke that much easier, and the white streaks left at the end of the stroke is very enticing and enigmatic.

I did the upper leaves a different hue from the bottom ones to add dimension and interest.

Using very faint indigo and ink and pencil, I blocked in the shape of the grasshopper.

The insect is coming into life with a fine brush.  This part of the painting is more Gongbi than Xieyi.

A close-up reveals  the interaction between the fabric and the brushstroke.  At this point, no one would have believed that the painting was done on Xuan.  The paper assumed a feel of the fabric underneath.


Made a frame and colored it with dark mahogany.  That dark sultry red tint was a perfect match for this painting.

I do think this work is better than the previous attempt!  My brushstrokes are more convincing now.

Coffee, Ink and semi-sized Xuan

I was just finishing my 2 days old coffee.  I admit to leaving unfinished coffee on my desk and drinking it days later.  No belly aches, no vomiting, no problems.  McDonald's had raised their coffee price from 30 cents to a dollar and 30 cents.  I was baited, and got reeled in.  I blame my parents for not making me smarter.  So, I am not about to waste any coffee.

I don't often work with semi-sized paper, but the few times that I had tried it, I fell in love with it.
For me, the paper is more forgiving.  It won't bite me back when I misjudged my water load in my brush.  Yes the brushstroke loses some acuity and the stroke floats a little bit before sinking in, sort of like a delayed reaction,  but I feel emboldened to be a little reckless. 

I found a nice piece of classical work to study.  The artist's name escaped me, but I really liked his way of addressing each stroke and defining each line.  I thought the semi-sized paper would be particularly useful for this study.  I could take a little more time in putting together this jigsaw puzzle and not worry about if my brush was too wet or too dry.

The semi-sized paper was able to faithfully record different ink tones

Each brushstroke, no matter how faint or delicate, showed a presence.  The audience is encouraged to read the painting, as more clues are revealed upon each cast of the eye.

The painting was finally finished with my days old coffee as color, filling in shades and  shapes.  Literally an exercise of good taste.