I stuck with the semi-sized Xuan, judging that this paper is more forgiving to repeated overlays. I certainly needed that security blanket. Also the ink would not be an absolute lack, but more like charcoal, and I like that.
To put aside any worries about brushstroke and what not I decided to go for broke. I picked a brush with broken bristles. It would not form a tip even when wet and felt more like a broom than a brush.
I proceeded very quickly with the painting. I could almost do this with my eyes closed now, having done it for so many times in the weeks prior.
I thought the lines flowed rather freely and were quite spirited. I thought I hiccuped when I got to the shadows, having lost some of that initial ruthlessness. The lines became more calculated and contrived. Brown was haphazardly slopped onto the paper with my broom to form the horizon. I don't know if it was the void spaces within the brushstrokes, but this wild, unrefined rendition had a certain sweetness to it.
Since I had my color out, might as well use them. I avoided getting technical with brushstrokes by not employing them at all. My next attempt was done using a flat brush, mosaic style.
I didn't even consider the shadows, the foreground. They were not in my cross hair at all.
Interesting. I did it to let out steam. And for experimentation, of course.
Now that I had dealt with my anxiety, it was time to get serious.
The following attempt was done with first painting everything with ink, then covered with Chinese color No.3, Scarlet.
This color overlay on the semi-sized Xuan imparted a mahogany look to the trees. Most interesting. I tried to jazz up the painting by doing a charcoal outline of the limbs. I did this to better define the spatial relationship of the branches and how they interact with each other; who was in front of the other. I did it also to make the edges of the limbs more interesting. The brush painted an inherently even keeled swath, even when I tried to mix in side-tip with center-tip. By outlining using the double Gou technique, I hoped to amend the parallel lines appearance of the brushstroke edges. I used charcoal because the paper became more sized after each coloring. Any subsequent brushstrokes would lose their details because the water content from the brush would just sit on the paper, pooling and corrupting the edges.
Other than the technical interests of the painting so far, I still find it un-inspiring. I was watching a mannequin. All the right appendages, but lifeless.
I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to paint when I first started this project weeks ago. Little did I anticipated the ambivalence I encountered once I laid hands on it. I was lost.
It was too picture like, too austere, too graphic in appearance, too...... I even tried the minimalistic approach, sort of. I thought color might bail me out. Nothing worked. Somehow I was trapped inside a drain pipe and couldn't find my way out.
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