Finishing Touches

Now that we are happy with a piece of work and consider it done, we need to make it presentable.

I have prepared most of my works using the Xuan-Boo method that I devised, but allow me to show the more common wet mount method.

The finished painting is placed face down on a smooth surface like glass of acrylic, and starch is brushed on the back with a stiff brush.  The stiff brush helps to push out all the trapped air bubbles and brush out the creases in the Xuan.

On top of this is laid a piece of blank Xuan, which is a little larger around th  edges than the painting we are preparing.  Starch is applied along the edges of this piece of blank Xuan, and the entire piece is lifted to be hung on a new flat surface, like a wall or a door.

The process allows the wet starch to relax the fibres in the Xuan where we painted our work, and the new blank Xuan forms the backing, adding stiffness and provides a white reference background for our work (Xuan is translucent, thus the white background is critical in establishing the white balance, as in photography)  When the blank Xuan get hung ( with the painting attached on the other side), its edges are glued to the wall or door.  As the blank Xuan dries, it tauts the fiber in the paper, tightening up the entire surface of the painting. 

Now my work is free of wrinkles, and stiffened with backing, and looks richer because of the added white balance.  The painting is now "mounted" and is ready for framing.

For this piece of work  I chose a float frame i.e. the back plate is transparent also. I did this to take advantage of the translucent nature of Xuan.  When I place this framed painting against a window or light source, the painting takes on a different ambiance.  It reminds me of the double faced silk embroidery or a lit lantern.

 

 

The poetry on my painting came from a poet in the Ming Dynasty.  The loose translation is as follows:

 

One can't have song and dance with wine

 

Whatever poetry one writes is for nobody

 

Yes your desk is full of documents

 

Yet half of them are rubbish

(Song and dance with wine is the proper protocol in social settings.  If one is in the company of wine and can't amount to song and dance, one is doomed and castigated.  One can't be happy even when the occasion dictates it.   You think you know it all, but the truth says otherwise.  The author is lamenting that his Master has entrusted the wrong people)