On a whim

It was almost midnight. 

I should be climbing into my bed.  Not because I was afraid to turn into a pumpkin, but I just wanted to have a good showing on my Apple Health app to say that I had healthy sleep habits.

But I'm a night owl.  Somehow I was reluctant to let the day go.  So I continued to scroll through songs on my music streaming device.  Any excuse to clutch the waning day. 

Then an album cover turned up, a lady's headshot.

For some reason I was so enamored with her image, I had to paint her; immediately.

Perhaps I had been studying Xu Beihong and his studies with sketching and what not, I instinctively grabbed my charcoal and started to sketch on Xuan paper.  I filled in the grayscale values with my brush wash which I didn’t empty from the day before, which was basically very diluted ink.  Her hair reminded me of the tail and mane on a horse, brushstroke-wise.  I had no training per se in painting portraits but that didn't stop me.  I was on a whim.

By the time the painting was done, it was already a new day.   I just left the painting as it was and went to bed satisfied, like a child having received a new toy.

I decided to take a closer look at what I had done the night before.  I examined it in the daylight.

 

That's when I realized that her nose was too flat and one of her nostril seemed to have collapsed.  Her eyebrows were not symmetrical.  Her mouth was off center or I should say that she had more lips on one side than the other.

I tried to rescue or hide my mistakes by draping her hair closer t the face to conceal the brow and lip, and re-shaping one of her nostrils.

Since my iPad came with certain artistic brushstrokes, I thought I gave it a try.

Combed her hair a bit, less wild, and a backlit highlight effect, 

That was actually fun.  I was on a wimp.

Bony legs

When I toyed with painting horses a few months back, I was serious about it; more than an whimsical fleeting infatuation anyways.  I thought about how da Vinci studied musculature anatomy of humans in order to better his portrayal of the homo sapiens species.  So I sought reference in the equine muscle diagrams.

Then I realized that wasn't the whole story.  The well developed shoulder muscles and the bulky rump are tied to skinny, bony legs.  Horses are unlike pigs or rhinos that position themselves on stubby appendages.  Unless they are draft horses ? These bony legs help to personify the agility of the horse.

Not that long ago it was NBA playoff time.  A lot of these elite athletes have skinny, bony legs.  I would have guessed that they have bulging calf muscles.  But then when I see some of these players wrapping their legs due to calf injuries I realized that what makes a person jump is more than the calf muscle.  Amongst other things, it also requires the Achilles tendon pulling on the heel bone to springboard off the ground.  There is a multiplying of amplitude advantage when one considers the foot as a lever, with the fulcrum set at the ankle.  For everything to work, the muscle has to contract and the tendon has to pull.  Of course there's no free lunch.  The trade off for amplified flexion is that the muscles are required to contract harder and the ligament and tendon pulling tighter.  A pulley system is just the opposite, it attains the mechanical advantage of lifting heavy weights by making us pull a lot of ropes. The picture I get in my head is the handbrake cable on my bicycle.  When I squeeze my brake lever, a steel cable inside a plastic tube slides accordingly and pulls on the brake calipers.  All hell breaks loose when the cable breaks, or when the plastic tubing gets split open or dislodged, allowing the cable to be squirrelly to the  plastic conduit and not translate the force.  Wrapping the leg helps to keep everything in place.  

Then Halliburton of the Indiana Pacers suffered a season ending injury on the final game of the NBA playoffs.  His cable broke and the lever could not be actuated. He was left face down on the court in total agony.

Horses have spindly looking legs for a different reason.

What one would normally consider or assume as the leg is actually the foot ( the metatarsal ).  A very long foot.  The front leg, or hand if you will, is represented by the long metacarpal. Horses have modified toes ( pastern bones ) and they are on their hoofs all the time.  I suppose that's where the term "be on your toes" comes from.

It is the metatarsals and metacarpals that give the impression that horses stand on stilts. 

So I should practice painting the leg ( metatarsal ) of a horse.  A long stick with protrusions on both ends, similar to a segment of bamboo stem.  Shouldn't be that difficult.  Right?

Whenever the topic of painting horses is mentioned, one name always comes up, Xu Beihong (1895-1953).  Mr. Xu was a Chinese painter who was well versed in the traditional Chinese brush art, and subsequently studied sketching and oil painting in France.  In spite of his huge success overseas, he came back to China on his own volition to champion the incorporation of  Western techniques and theories into traditional Chinese painting to shake off the impressions of being stale and stagnant as a result of rote learning.

The following example of a horse painting by Xu Beihong exemplifies his sketching virtuosity in defining the chest and shoulder muscles of the animal.  The foreshortening and the taller than normal aspect is as though it was a photo taken with a wide angle lens close to the ground.  The sort of techniques used in automotive or real estate photography, in order to present a more imposing posture of the subject matter.  Of course his command of the brush and ink and void spaces is in full display with his brushstrokes.

So I studied his painting by copying.  Rote learning.  Hoping that some of his genius would rub off on me. 

I found a few other examples to copy,

I shall keep working at it.  I promised myself. 

 

Revisiting old skills

I've been given a few opportunities lately to show people how to paint with a Chinese brush. I was apprehensive at first about shouldering such a responsibility.  It was going to take time away from me twiddling my thumbs.  I had better use for my time!  Then I was timorous about my own inadequacy.  I did not want to be branded as a dilettante.  I eventually placated myself that my job was to offer my knowledge as a coach and not how well I could do it as a player.  

The fundamentals of using a Chinese round brush is in mastering the brush tip within the brushstroke. Hence center-tip and side-tip.  Such techniques can best be seen in paintings of bamboo.  

A bamboo painting by Shi Tao (1642-1707)

 

Bamboo is also symbolic for being a good citizen.  Bamboo is stiff, yet flexible.  It is difficult to break a bamboo.  Bamboo is a symbol for humility, because it is hollow in the center.  The bamboo represents integrity, as the word for the "node" in a bamboo is a homonym for the word "integrity" in the Chinese language.  Bamboo branches out only at the nodes, thus a mature bamboo plant shows distinct layers of leaves, resembling rungs of a ladder.  Hence the bamboo teaches us to shelter and nurture those who are below us, allowing them to grow as well.  My mentor encouraged us to paint bamboo with reverence to the virtues of the bamboo.  Then I had a student painted a Christmas card with the bamboo as a wreath.  Definitely couldn't fault the originality, but there was a cultural disconnect somewhere.

Rungs of leaves on bamboo plants,

 I used a photo that I took as the model for my bamboo tutorial, 

I was cognizant with the virtues and symbolisms of the bamboo when I took this photograph.

The long stem to me represented the spirit of an aging plant which was truncated at the top node.   The yellow leaves perhaps signaled the inevitable end, despite putting up a good fight.   Yet it persisted.

The younger, greener leaves flourished under the embrace of the aging plant.

With the help of modern technology, specifically the "clean-up" and "add sticker" functions available through the IOS photo app, I was able to create a composite using my photo and examples of bamboo leaves from a textbook.

My task now would be to do a proof of concept rendition, one that could be reasonably painted and narrated within the framework of an hour. 

I needed to reacquaint myself with writing bamboo leaves again.  Sure one would not forget about how to ride a bicycle once the skill is learned, but there's a difference between riding in a straight line versus cutting a zig-zag path.  Some practicing was called for.

Onwards with my proof of concept,

This proof of concept might even pass as a painting with appropriate cropping,

Picking at my scab

I am sure most of us have picked at our scabs.  Some of us more often than others.

A nasty habit.

Scabs are like our body’s natural armor, protecting us from blood loss and keeping out nasty germs. They’re made up of fibers known as fibrins in our blood that form a mesh, trapping platelets and red cells to create a physical barrier. But guess what? They’re all meant to fall off as we heal. So, why do we keep picking at them?

Maybe they feel different from the rest of our skin. Or maybe they’re just plain ugly. Or maybe they’re all crusty and itchy.

Interestingly, picking at a scab at the wrong moment, before it has fully healed, can result in bleeding and the formation of a new scab. This behavior is playing with fire, albeit on the skin. The urge to pick is often strong, especially when an edge of the scab can be lifted and pulled away from the underlying skin. In some cases, it is possible to remove half of a scab while leaving the other half intact until it falls off or the individual becomes bored and picks it off.

Often we wonder what’s really going on beneath the surface, like what lies beneath the manhole in the street. But that’s a whole other story!

My current scab is my painting of the egret taking off.

The metallic acrylic used in this painting creates a fascinating effect. The different angles the light hits it changes the appearance dramatically. It’s like looking at the prism of a RGB projector, where only red, green, or blue light passes through. Under a single color mode, things start to look strange and out of place. Our brain is not trained to interpret objects outside of their familiar colors.  For those of us who are photographers and have experience with a circular polarizer, you will understand the effect well.  By turning the polarizer onto different axis, you can make the reflection on water go away and actually see what's beneath the water surface. 

In this example, the yellow and gold overwhelms the egret's beak,

Copper tone dominates the painting in this light,

 So I painted in a few minnows amongst the circular ripples.

I added 16 minnows in all to my painting and thought about naming the piece 16 Minnows.  The idea was to encourage the viewer to find the minnows instead of getting distracted by the forever changing colors.  

But that would be too much like "Where is Waldo?" and also runs counter to my original premise of the painting, which predicates on color changing depending on one's viewing angle, as if one was looking at real water and how the reflected light was polarized. 

My final act of scab picking was to add a few dabs of emphasis dots onto the ripples around the center. Hopefully this will lure the viewers to stay put for a while and get to look at the details and composition of the painting before the color changing effect hits them. Oh and I piled on a few rounds of plain watercolor to minimize the reflectivity of the metallic acrylic. 

Here's a more balanced appearance of the painting,

Okay I'm done picking at my scab.  For now.

Stupid as stupid does

"Stupid as stupid does"  Forrest Gump inspired me.

I was not ready to accept defeat with my recent water ripples painting.  It was meant to be an experiment with semi-sized Xuan and alum.  Perhaps I miscalculated the choices of paper and what not, but I would find a way to salvage my painting.  I didn't know any better.

Since I had already laid out all the tracks of the ripples, which unfortunately did not reveal as visibly as I had hoped, I would suck it up and do the tracks again, with white gouache.  I would also insert occasional, strategically placed brushstrokes with metallic acrylics to accent the shimmering effect.

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The task was not as daunting as it seemed, since I had a template of the previous marks left by the alum solution, albeit a little on the faint side.  My job now was to make those marks readily discernable.  Make them pop.  The popping was made possible by employing metallic acrylic juxtaposed with white gouache.

An underexposed photo to dramatize the effect of the metallic acrylic and gouache,

It was in fact quite satisfying for the OCD in me. 

 

The darker areas, especially the areas below the crest lines were written in with ink added to my indigo.

This in effect rendered the ripples more three dimensional.

It was necessary to stand on my feet to finish the painting.  The upright posture gave me better perspective in deciding where light value adjustments were needed.

This was the painting when dried,

I left the painting on the wall and glanced at it whenever I was in the room.  I realized that I was mesmerized by the rich layers in this work.  It dawned on me that the alum solution had created a faint but definite footprint, on which were layered watercolor, metallic acrylic and the highlight was provided by the opaque white gouache; each of them contributing their own nuances and various degree of transparency.  There was such complexity in the resulting salad.

So glad  I didn't trash my painting.  I suppose I should enjoy being the Captain of my shrimp boat for a while.  

Water ripples again

It was time to enjoy my new toy again.  My airbrush.  I charged the battery to 100 percent and I was ready to rock and roll. 

My subject matter would again be water ripples.  There's something about that ephemeral shimmer that hypnotizes me.   

This time around I would use a semi-sized Xuan paper and see how that would work with my alum solution.

I began the laborious task of laying down the shimmers with the alum solution.  Perfect opportunity to practice my center-tip and side-tip brushstrokes.

I angled my desk lamp to see the tracks better,

After that was completed, I placed my paper over newspaper and was ready for the airbrush.

The resulting piece was extremely disappointing,

The alum solution did not provide a strong blocking, or "resist" effect.  The tracks were mottled and faint.  Definitely not the result I was anticipating.  I didn't know if that was due to the fact that the paper was already semi-sized.

Perplexing.

I was distraught enough to abandon my project.  I was not being complacent but I had always accepted the fact that a lot of my attempts ended up in trash cans. 

Couple of days later I decided to re-engage my painting, hopefully to gain a fresh perspective and figure a way out.  The tracks did look more succinct now that the paper was thoroughly dried.

Should I airbrush on more layers of the indigo and hope for a more intense contrast or should I repeat my alum solution brushstrokes and then airbrush again and hope for a better reveal?

I had waited a few days to come this far, no harm in waiting for a few more days to devise a more concrete solution.

Giving context to Once upon a time in the West

 My Once Upon A Time In The West painting has been decorating my wall for a while.

I didn’t hate the painting, but I had the feeling it was missing something. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. Maybe it was too realistic and didn’t give the viewer much room to dream. Beautiful scenery is everywhere, right? It’s like having a great meal without dessert. It doesn’t need to be fancy or extravagant like a flambé or table side white-gloves soufflé service. A few pieces of chocolate would do just fine for me. 

I knew it was so cliché, but placing a couple of Natives on horsebacks might add some context to my painting.

Off I went to a proof of concept rendition of my protagonists,

Satisfied with the sample, I forged ahead with the real attempt.

I picked a location for my horse insertion.  Since the painting had been mounted, the treated paper was making a little fuss in taking on new ink.  The ink tended to bead up and was uncooperative in following the brushstroke.

Added the second horseman,

I could see that my painting was trying to tell a story now,

The black and white painting somewhat camouflaged the figures, especially because I placed the riders in the darker areas of the painting.  

Perhaps they are my Easter eggs?

I decided to add another person to the painting.  I picked a lighter spot this time and the ink seemed to flow a little better. 

The new face of the painting,   I loved the contrast between the more obscure riders and the obvious one, who seemed to have climbed up the hill for the encounter. 

I couldn't help but recall some interesting tidbit about a famous contemporary Chinese artist by the name of  Wu Guanzhong.  He did a drawing of the Suzhou museum (I think),

  

and subsequently altered it a bit by simplifying the composition and added a couple of swallows.

One art critic called this the Mondrian of Mr. Wu's.

The metamorphosis of his painting was dramatic. It transitioned from a plein-air work to something that was quite poetic. Swallows in Chinese culture symbolize loyalty and nurturing. These birds diligently care for their young and return to the same nest year after year. In his painting, the swallows are diminutive and almost imperceptible to casual observers. However, their insignificance magnifies their profound presence in the artwork for those who comprehend the underlying sentiment.

According to one account, people sought to acquire this painting for an astronomical sum of money but it was not for sale.  Some art critic called this work ”Wu’s Mondrian”.  I personally think this is quite unnecessary. I’m not sure if it elevates or demeans his work. He subsequently donated this work to the Hong Kong Museum of Art.  Mr. Wu claimed that this was his most favorite painting.

And, I finally got my after dinner chocolates !