How Red Are The Red Cliffs

With the blue section done on the painting, it is time to paint the red cliffs

So how red should the cliffs be?  I had not intended for the painting to be a faithful representation of any facts, other than my nostalgic feelings about Su Dongpo's verses.  Do these cliffs resemble the red landscape one finds along the highways of Utah?  I researched online trying find pictures that show what the Red Cliffs look like today but I failed.  It turns out that the exact location of the Battle of Chibi (Red Cliffs) is still a highly debated topic.  There is a city called Chibi in China's Hubei province but the photos online does not give any indication about cliffs that are red, other than the huge carvings of the words Chibi in the rocks.  I suppose this supports the debate that the term Chibi (Red Cliffs) perhaps got its name from the flames illuminating the cliffs in a reddish color during the naval battle.  

I happen to have a photo from the central Oregon desert where the Painted Hills are located and with the help of photoshop I cut and paste my own Red Cliffs composite.  Just to get the feel of it, that is.  

I am assuming the red color comes from the high concentration of hematite in the rocks.  The ferric oxide turns to rust and gives off the red color.  

So my red shall be a rusty red.  Perhaps I could scrape off some rust somewhere and use that as my organic pigment!  A future project perhaps. 

I apply my rust color from the back of the Xuan paper, as I did with the blue hues.

I wait for the color from the back of the paper to dry first before working on the front of the paper, reinforcing the namesake of my painting.

In the end the newly finished painting looks like this

I love the feel of the painting. It has an understated elegance to it.  I am glad I did not paint everything a solid red color as in my composite.  I am absolutely convinced that my current representation is infinitely more poetic, more evocative of "nostalgia".

There is one item that I have a problem.  I do not like the shape of the reddish rock on the right.  There is a landmark within the Columbia River Gorge area that resembles the painting, and it is located within the Rooster Rock State Park.  Unfortunately I find it too much of a monolith in this setting, and seems to have detracted from the description of cliffs; especially when it receives the most "red" in the coloring scheme.

By extending the red rock formation to the right to render it as a continuation of the red landscape that was carved away by glaciers eons ago, the painting seems more fluent and with less hiccups now. 

Red Cliffs Nostalgia IV Rowena Loop and Beyond

The remaining point of interest that I set out to include in my Red Cliffs painting is the Rowena Loop.  It is located at a circular lookout atop a ridge somewhere between the towns of Mosier and The Dalles, about an hour's drive east from the city of Portland.  The lookout is a perfect vista for the Gorge on one side, especially in the Spring time when flanked by a carpet of wild flowers; and a stretch of a couple of needle loops on the back side.  It is fun to watch cyclists laboring up in their low gears, and sports cars downshifting at the bends, looking to carve a perfect line up the hill; only to be foiled by the procession of cyclists.  Everybody who comes up this route eventually has to show their face at the Loop lookout, and people who have been watching the drama on top gets to place a face to the unsuspecting  motorists/cyclists.  

Just like the Vista House portion of the painting, I am painting the serpentine road and the circular vista much bigger than they really are.  Here however, drama is aided by the steroid-fed scale of the landmarks.

Brush wash is used to create the faint suggestion of mountain range of beyond, to help frame the enclosure of the river gorge.  The ample void spaces help to create separation, thus depth and also helps to eschew too much details about the distant landscape.  It gives the painting breathing room, as we might say.

A few nonchalant dots with the brush wash on the top side of the brushstrokes give the impression of vegetation growing; without having to give details.

With my 4 main areas of interest all painted in, here is a first look at the flesh and sinew of my Nostalgia piece, being built on the skeleton of the Columbia River Gorge:

Red Cliffs Nostalgia III Multnomah Falls

 

The Multnomah Falls in a little ways east of the Vista House, situated in the Falls area of the Gorge.

If one takes the route of Old Columbia River Highway one would encounter 5 or 6 waterfalls within walking distance to the roadside.  Multnomah Falls is the most famous and has its own dedicated huge parking lot to accommodate the flow of tourists.  I am placing this Fall right next to the shoreline to add drama to the composition and I am retaining the pedestrian bridge which spans across the Falls as a badge of authenticity of my misplaced landmark.  

Darker values are placed on the bordering rock faces of the falls to make the water stand out.  The water shall be represented by the void space.

The shoreline is addressed with a wash of different intensities using side-tip brushstrokes.  Additions of trees helps with the realization that this might be sandspits situated at the base of the hills. 

Red Cliffs Nostalgia II Vista House

After the Stonehenge on the left side of the painting is situated, it is time to build on the rest of the points of interest on my reinvented Columbia River Gorge.

Vista House sits on top of Crown Point in the Gorge and is a popular scenic vantage point to visit.  From there one can see the Gorge and the river some 700 feet below.  If one tries hard enough, one can see the towns of Washougal and Camas to the west on the Washington State side of the river.  The architect of Vista House described it as "a temple to the natural beauty of the Gorge,"  I am borrowing it with certain amount of faithful realism to fit my Red Cliffs invention.

Working with the outline I laid down with light ink, I am building up the landscape.  I am using "dot" chuen to account for vegetation growing on top of the precipitous cliffs, along their crevices and at the bottom of the rock formations.  An occasional writing of lines on top of the dots give an impression of branches.  The rocky shore is done with the "folding ribbon" chuen brushstroke. 

Supplying small doses of light values to give a three-dimensional feel to the landscape:

I realize that I am making the Vista House bigger than it should be, scale wise that is.  I trust this is a subconscious behavior, since I am preoccupied with that structure as the focal point for this segment of the painting.  In actuality I need to make the cliff as the main character.  I suppose the discrepancy is only for me to know since not everybody is familiar with this part of the country.  At the end of the day, this is my construction of the Nostalgia, and the Vista House is a prop in the scenery, albeit an important one, since it helps to show people this is actually the Columbia River Gorge that they're looking at.  I suppose a smaller Vista House will make the cliff more imposing.  Oh well!

Red Cliffs Nostalgia I, The Stonehenge

Now that I have the calligraphy in the bag, I can proceed in earnest to work on my painting.

As I mentioned in my last blog, the verses are from the famous Song Dynasty scholar/official Su Shi (Su Dongpo) when he visited Chibi and was being sentimental while reminiscing the historical events that happened some 800 prior.  The Battle of Chibi ( English translation Battle of the Red Cliffs) was about a naval war between  adversaries and the outcome depended on a change of wind direction.  Which way the wind blew was vital because fire was employed as the tactic in this conflict.  Whoever could predict and take advantage of the change of wind direction became the victor.  The exact location of Chibi is still highly debated, but suffice to say that it is along the Yangtze River.

The Columbia River Gorge in the Pacific Northwest is a designated National Scenic Area and the town of Hood River has the distinct honor of being the Windsurfing Capital of The World.  This section of the gorge compresses the east-west wind and amplifies its magnitude.  On windy days tourist would venture up to the Vista House on top of Crown Point and try to stand up unassisted in the 70 mph winds.  When the east wind blows, we get dry heat funneling through from the east in the summer, and cold frigid winds in the winter.  Westerly wind brings moderation and weather system from the Pacific Ocean.  Present day Gorge is dotted with wind turbines now.

Farther east from the Vista House, we have the famous Falls area, Multnomah Falls being the most well known.  Beyond that near the cities of Mosier and The Dalles lies the serpentine stretch of Historic Columbia Rivery Highway, where cyclists and motorists alike enjoy the challenge of the winding blacktops.  At the end of such switchbacks is the Rowena Loop, which is a circular drive at the Rowena Crest Viewpoint where one can enjoy the Columbia River down below.  Spring wild flowers and birds harnessing the updraft from the cliffs for take-offs make this Viewpoint a popular respite for travelers.  Thirty minutes car ride east across the river from the loops  gets one to the Maryhill Museum, Maryhill Winery and the adjacent Stonehenge replica.

What if I utilize all these vistas and the Columbia River as a backdrop for my painting?  I think it is a perfect setting for reminiscing and it reflects the spirit of the meaning effused by the verses from Su.  I also find a special connection with and relate to the wind in the river gorge.  I can definitely visualize a battle involving the use of fire being carried out here. 

I am making up some rules for me to follow in doing this painting.  One is I shall not hurry. Two is I shall try to present the painting with more classical means of depiction and brushstrokes.  Three is I shall incorporate each of the four vistas mentioned and each vista can be viewed as a painting by itself.

I am starting with a sketch of my main points of interest and the general layout of the proposed painting.  This makes it much easier for me to work on individual sections later.  Somehow I feel more disciplined this way, and more apt to take my time in developing the details.

First come the Stonehenge, occupying the lower left hand corner of the painting.

I am defining the light value first.  I find this helpful when I render my "Chuen" or texturing brushstrokes. 

A more developed painting, with light values and initial texturing.  Notice the classical presentation of foliage.

Continue to develop the left side of the painting:

This is how the left side fits in with the whole painting:

I can square-crop just the left side of the painting, with the calligraphy and make that a painting.  So far I am adhering to my own rules.