Ripples and waves

I think I have a pathological fear of water.  Some people call that a phobia.  Chinese astrologer has cautioned me about not messing with water, yet according to western astrology I belong to the water sign. Go figure! 

Water to me is the fluid that runs over my head in a shower, the shimmering substance in a river, and the infinite mass of motion and energy out in the ocean.  I still don't understand how water changes its shape to fit into anything, and how it heals itself even when something pokes through it.  I am afraid of it, yet I wish I could live in it, like a fish.  It gives life, and it also takes life; for us terrestrials anyways.  Perhaps I've listened to Rusalka's Song to the Moon too many times.

So I am going to attempt to paint my fascination, water, again.

I will try my luck with alum solution.  Alum is used as a sizing agent to treat Xuan paper, rendering it less absorbent.  It is this particular quality that I am trying to exploit. So I am using un-sized Xuan and paint lines with alum solution.  I mixed in a tiny bit of ink with the alum solution to help me see the stripes better.  I am visualizing the ripples, or little wave fronts as I paint.  I do this on the back of the Xuan paper.  When the paper is turned over, one can see a clear margin forming around the lines painted with alum.  This is the effect I am after.

I then fill in the space between the alum solution drawn lines with ink.  Taking liberty to cover up more or less as desire, and adding new shapes as I go.  After all, water is always changing its form and the ripples are always marching on.  Who is to say that a certain shape or line is correct or incorrect.  

I now have juxtaposed lines of black ink and clear alum, suggesting ripples on a body of water.  I am also painting in some form of a shore or land mass for this body of water.  All these are done on the back of the paper at this point. 

Now I flip over the paper to the right side up, and continue to correct and fill in the ink lines, based on what the paper reveals from the other side.  I am using the backside of the paper as a road map and the top side of the paper for the actual painting.  Notice how the blob of ink on the right is now on the left.  That's because I have flipped the paper over.  I am also giving the shore some structure and texture by amending it with some wild brushstrokes.  They are meant to be ambiguous.  They could be highlights, mist, water, or any combination thereof.  I am rendering the background with slanted brushstrokes, to make the composition more interesting.

Somehow I think the painting needs something to shore up the right side.  I am dabbing in some rough brushstrokes, reminding myself that these are flowers branches from a crabapple tree from my backyard.  I like the interplay of the dabs of petals with the black and white stripes of the water.   That little bit of color is like a garnishing.  

Launching my Year of the Rabbit painting

I am feeling comfortable about my rabbits and the 22nd of January will be here before long so I better step on the gas and put some rabbits down on paper for real, or else I won't have a greeting card for Chinese New Year.

When I think of the astrological Rabbit I inevitably look to the moon.  I suppose this has to do with my culture and what is instilled in me.  I grow up learning about the legend of Chang'e, our goddess of the moon, and the rabbit is her faithful companion up there. 

In our Chinese mythology, it was said that there used to be ten suns and they were causing unbearable heat to our world.  Chang'e was married to an archer, who went out and shot down 9 suns, leaving just the one we see today.  For his valiant effort he was given an elixir of immortality by the Emperor of the Heaven.  He didn't wish to be immortal all by himself so he gave the elixir to his wife Chang'e for safe-keeping.  One day someone was trying to steal the elixir and Chang'e in an attempt to prevent the elixir from falling into wrong hands, drank all the elixir herself.  She thus became immortal and chose the moon as her residence, leaving her husband behind.  The Emperor of the Heaven caught wind of this and granted Chang'e the ability to meet her husband annually, on the 8th full moon of the year.  Hence the August Moon Festival.  A quick check on the internet shows there are many versions of this legend and what I am telling might sound different from what other people have learned.  I suppose the only real significance is that we believe Chang'e is the goddess of the moon, and the rabbit keeps her company.

I suppose it is not difficult to conjure up stories about beings on the moon, especially when the moon surface is represented by unknown shadows and shapes.  That floating luminous object that changes from a ball to a sliver in the night sky is in itself an object of pondering and bewilderment.  I need to confess, the music of Rusalka's  "Song to the Moon" is playing as I am writing.  It is also interesting that the same moon appears different when viewed from different parts of the world.  

I took a picture of a full moon in the States:

and the same moon viewed from Australia:

Notice the orientation of the shadows on the moon.  There is a 90 degrees shift.  

Now that I've convinced myself that the moon is the proper staging for my zodiac Rabbit, I intend to somehow incorporate my rabbits into the shadows of the moon.

I must also mention that the name given to the rabbit on the moon is Jade Rabbit.  Jade comes in many colors and white jade is a symbol of purity.  

I am using my fibrous Xuan again; it shows interesting strands of fiber.  I suppose the craters on the moon aligns with my fixation on the texture of the paper.  The native color of the paper has a beige straw tint to it, perhaps it can pass for the illuminated surface of the moon?  We shall see. 

The back of the paper seems more fibrous and rough, and I happen to like it.  So that will be the side I paint on.

I am drawing a circle of about 13 inches in diameter; a size that would fit on a 16x16 canvas when mounted.  I am settling on painting 2 rabbits.  Somehow two is more interesting than one, and it is easier for me to coax some sort of a sentiment from posing two animals.  I am also not trying to paint the legend of Chang'e, as the rabbits are the real protagonists, thus whether it is one or more rabbits is not critical. I am leaning towards painting my rabbits more as a silhouette, scant in details but hope to tie in with my shadow  on the moon theme.

Perhaps I am thinking of the aventurine jade too much.  My rabbit has a greenish tint to it.  I am going to tone it down with a heavier dose of titanium white. 

A cute couple!