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.