Mountain ridges, the background

Having completed the foreground and middle ground of my classical landscape, I am set for putting in the last player, namely, the background of the landscape.  I am also keenly aware that I still need to fulfill the "height perspective" of a classical landscape.  I need to have something soaring into the heavens.

For this exercise, I am sticking with a safe and seasoned player; mountain ridges.

Mountain ridges, or tops are common and standard features in a classical landscape painting.  In Chinese painting we will typically see a succession of hilltops, forming a mountain range.  I have alluded to this style of interpretation before, equating that to slicing up a potato into many pieces; each piece represents one vertical slice of the mountain.  When we arrange these slices of varying shape and height like pieces of domino tiles, we get to reconstruct the shape and volume of the mountain.

The picture below shows cardboard slices of a "mountain" that I used to help my students visualize a mountain when I was teaching landscape painting.

For my particular painting, I am using these slices from my inventory of shapes for my mountain,

This helps a person to visualize my mountain; my mannequin so to speak.

Typically I would lay down the contour lines of each "slice" of the mountain first.  For this painting however, I just pencil in the approximate position of the mountain and just splash down my individual slices, believing that this would result in a less rigid form.

After the paper dries to touch, I write in the contour lines of the individual slices.

And garnish my slopes with hemp fiber chuen, a technique used to add texture and further describe the topographic details of the landscape.

Shading helps to define the three dimensional structure of the mountain.

The top of these ridges are garnished with hints of shrubs and trees to add interest.

These decorative brushstrokes also serve the function of diverting the viewer's attention from the top dead center of the ridges.  In my haste of laying down the individual slices of the mountain, I committed the sin of lining up the apexes of the tops, forming a straight line towards the top.  By planting my shrubs and trees on some of the flanks of the mountain helps to create an illusion that the ridge tops form a curved and crooked line, which is more interesting and natural.  

Keeping in mind the requirement for depth perspective, which is to narrate a story or association of front and back, I am building a few simple shacks in this background.  

Thus it is plausible now, that people from these humble dwellings could perhaps visit the Ci En Pagoda, the waterfall, and walk alongside the path that sits at the bottom of a straight cliff with a platform on top, trek through the mixed woods and finally arriving at the temple in the foreground.  I trust this should satisfy the depth perspective.

To jazz up my "classical" landscape, I am going to emulate Zhang Daqian by brushing in some bold phthalocyanine blue.  Legend has it that Zhang would use a bowl to splash this bold and vivid color onto a huge painting painted on a enormous sheet of silk brocade, and his apprentices would help him lift the brocade to direct the liquid to flow to the strategic parts of the painting on that piece of silk cloth. 

I might be rushing things a little but I am eager to see what the final dimensions would be after cropping and mounting my painting.  I still have no idea whether I shall frame this painting the conventional way or mount it on canvas or board and then build a frame to house it. 

Soul and paintings

As I was wrapping up with my sketches of the pig, my thoughts were steered to posing the animal.
How could I make the subject matter interesting and cute, and most of all, auspicious.  My selfish motivation was to have a representational painting to welcome the Year of the Pig, which will happen in about 2 months' time.

Again I was faced with the choice of style for my rendition, whether to paint the pigs Gongbi or Xieyi style.  I just couldn't shake the shackle despite my understanding that this was so unnecessary.

My sketches were obviously line drawings, so I thought I would attempt the Gongbi style, but I knew my calligraphy was very weak and I was afraid to reveal my weaknesses.  The narcissist in me was urging me not to do it.  It was really cumbersome.  Before I could even wet the Xuan I was having trepidations already.    I was very conscious of the fact that since I identified myself as a brush artist, then I had better show my expertise in the brush.  I suppose Chinese brush has so much nuances about the brush tip, the flow and Qi that it has become very intimidating.

I had an opportunity to admire Vincent Van Gogh's works in their original forms and I came away with the impression that his lines showed none of the virtues I looked for in Chinese brush.  His tree branches, outlines of buildings and objects were what I would call wet noodles, totally devoid of the Qi that I was look for; and yet his works are so valued and admired.  Other than his bold, short brush stroke patterns, the quality of his brush was pretty monotonous.  Obviously this is purely my own impression.

Take his famous Sunflower painting for example

and contrast that with a Chinese painting

one could sense a huge difference in where the emphasis was.  Both were representational art, but immensely different in their impressionistic appearance and feel.  The Chinese painting was all about brush strokes and ink tones.  It displayed the intimate relationship amongst the brush, paper and ink.

Let us take a look at a landscape painting  Wheatfield With Crows by Van Gogh,

and compare that with a Chinese landscape painting by Chao Shao-An, a master of Ling-nan School painting

the intricate brush strokes of Chao was in stark contrast with the bold dabs from Van Gogh.

I remember an occasion when a fellow student told my teacher that she was going to paint a Chinese painting in Van Gogh style.  I didn't exactly know what she meant by it or how she was going to do it but my teacher was incensed.  He actually asked that student to not take lessons from him again.
The teacher was irate because he demanded the practice of Ji Ben Gong, the craft of the fundamentals.  Every brush stroke must encompass the calligraphic virtues by showing the tip used, flow and Qi.  His ire was more than a manifestation of tribalism.

Van Gogh was interested in Japanese paintings and he tried his hands in a few.  He painted this Courtesan

and here's a painting of a Dunhuang character from a Chinese painter, Zhang Daqian

again we saw how succinctly different were the way the lines were written.

I was hoping to present the notion that this is not a matter of which is better, or more valid.
How do you compare a Pinot noir to Huangjiu, or Moutai to Vodka.  Before we venture to compare these different alcoholic beverages, we do however need to know what they are and what makes a good Vodka or Moutai.  One would not try to find the hint of tannin from huangjiu.  A vodka bottled in a Chinese vessel does not make a moutai.  But regardless of whether they are brewed with grapes or millet, when these fermented or distilled liquid reaches certain levels of excellence, they shall all be appreciated and consumed.

Having said that, allow me to be the devil's advocate.  Allow me to pose a question.  Van Gogh's love for Asian art notwithstanding, could his Courtesan painting pass for Asian art?  If we found that painting in an attic with no signature to reveal the painter, what would our appraisal be?  Would that be an Asian painting done in Van Gogh style?  Or a western painting trying to emulate the Asian flavor.  What is Chop Suey?  Is that Chinese food?  When I see westerners put soy sauce in their tea I wonder if they were being naive, or was it their preconception that soy sauce goes with everything?  Could it be that they were just thinking outside of the box and was on an intrepid journey to explore tastes?  You might be surprised to learn that there is a soy sauce flavored ice cream!

I suppose the art of painting is not a monolith of just brushstrokes, or color or composition or style.  It is an amalgamation of all the techniques, but most importantly, emotion.  A great painting must have a soul.  A great painting must have a personality, one which moves us.

Soul is defined as an emotional or intellectual energy or intensity, especially as revealed in a work of art or an artistic performance.  The essence or embodiment of a specific quality; that je ne sais quoi.
Thus where I might deem Van Gogh as not possessing the calligraphic brush strokes, nonetheless his works effervesces in other ways and tugs at me just the same.  The standards and parameters are simply different.  A dog does not have plumage and a bird has no fur.  His works possessed a soul.

I suppose all I was doing was trying to convince myself again, repeatedly, to let go of my inhibitions and preconceived hurdles.  I should be worried about the soul and not the shell.

So I just painted whatever came to my mind, and not worry about the style

Incidentally van Gogh is pronouced differently in Amsterdam than from the States.  So should I insist, during the course of my conversation, that people here pronounce van Gogh the way Dutch do, as a gesture of reverence and risk coming off as a pompous orifice between the gluteus maximus ?

Oink Oink Oink

Emulating, Copying

The rote learning tradition of Chinese brush painting required most of us going through the repetitive process of practicing the fundamentals, Ji Ben Gong.  We learned how to use the brush, manipulating the tip and the edge, techniques evolved from brush calligraphy.  The old reference book Mustard Seed Garden provides loads of information on how to arrange and paint different subject matters, and gives examples of the different styles, stemming from different dynasties and assorted artists. To hone our skills and to put these examples into practice, we are often required to emulate or copy works from famous masters.

We benefit from such excursions only if we pay critical attention to the various aspects of the masters' paintings, and how they relate to the examples in Mustard Seed Garden.  Otherwise it's an exercise in futility. Worse yet, we will be repeating our mistakes without knowing it.

Recently I encountered a student's emulation of an old landscape painting, probably of the Song circa.
I was very surprised when the instructor piled heaps of compliments on this exercise because as a student of Chinese brush painting, I felt that student totally missed the boat.

I didn't think the student understood what all those lines represented.  I had posted in my past blogs about the contour lines of the mountains as being thin vertical slices of the structure, as if we were looking at a series of a CT scan of the mountain.

Here are some typical examples of classical brush landscapes

There were too many scalloping on the contour lines ( circled red ) and the flat platform showed no reference to the edges ( circled blue ) and obviously the trees were haphazardly placed.  Jagged undulating lines were mistaken for little mounds.  I refuse to believe for one minute that the original looked anything like that.  I thought this was a searing example of illustrating our bad habits; blindly copying without understanding.  Either that or I was using a different yardstick.

I thought I would take a picture and compare that with the original for more research and the instructor blocked my capture with a hand, stating that I needed permission from the student for my picture taking.

I was at a loss; confused and startled.  The instructor would have no second thoughts about making photo copies of copy righted material and yet was being so adamant about my taking a picture of what I deemed as a bad case of copying? Taking a photo of a copy of a copy elicited ire!   God help me.

I rather enjoy the landscape works of Zhang Daqian ( 1899-1983 ).  His bold use of color and the splashing technique was refreshing for me.  Unfortunately he was also known as a supreme forger.  Anyways it is his craft that I wanted to study.

I decided to emulate a snippet of his LuShan Painting.  This painting is interesting in that Zhang had never set foot there.  He composed it purely from imagination and experience from other places.  I chose the semi-sized Xuan for the ease of  floating colors.

I started out by sketching with charcoal and painted in the tree trunks using alum mixed in with a base color.
I needed the alum to help define the body of the trees, even under the cloaking of the leaves.  It works sort of like a resist does in watercolor.

Using light ink, I wrote in the tree that was not colored in the original painting.  The fact that Master Zhang left this tree untouched was interesting, as if he wanted us to see his creative process; this along with the faint sketch lines he made of trees and contours towards the upper middle part of the painting.  I also utilized the light ink to loosely dab in the shaded areas of the precipitous, making it easier to identify the tucked in areas.

I then began the arduous task of writing in the leaves on these trees, paying attention that there were different styles of leaves, as pertained to the mixed woods canon.

A base coat of color was applied to form the hills, and the various ledges and flat tops, also delineating the folds along the flat top edges and the little trail that led to the bottom flat top.

Accumulating layers of color and Chuen strokes to render texture to the landscape.

Applying Lotus Leaf Chuen to the hill on the left, adding reference to where the trees were sprouted.  This simple technique helped the viewer to perceive that the trees grew not out of a  straight line, but rather, a mass that had a top surface.  It added to the dome shaped top of the structure.

To summarize, I paid attention to the following attributes when I decided to emulate this piece of work:

1. mixed woods presentation of the trees
2. naked, exposed, tenacious roots, and suggestion of a broad root system even on distant trees
3. how to preserve the tree trunks as discrete voids
4. relationship of the roots to the land, how the trees are anchored
5. the edge and folds of the flat tops, and their relationship to the precipitous
6. the roof tops behind the tree line for Depth Perspective
7. the addition of Lotus Leaf Chuen to help modulate the otherwise two dimensional hill ridge
8. the continuation of the land mass as represented by the sketch lines to the right of the trees,    dissolving into the ambiguous background, lending so much more virtual space to the ambiance

It was a fun exercise, and hopefully I retained some of the knowledge gained.

What is Chinese Brush Painting, not living in the past

Does Chinese Brush Painting have to mean Guo Hua?  I submit to you that time has changed and when we speak of Chinese Hua (painting) we are no longer limiting ourselves to the narrow definition of National Painting (Guo Hua).  This is especially true these days, with the influx of western influences, a lot of the strict rote doctrines have evolved into new windows of changes.  One thing that has not changed appreciably is the fundamentals of using the Chinese brush and the essence of Chinese calligraphy, hence Bi-fa or Gi Bun Gong.

It is not possible to think of Chinese brush painting and not talk about Qi Baishi (1864-1957).  Aside from being a personal favorite of mine, his style is so painfully honest and his brushstrokes so painfully plain.  As far as I am concerned, he "writes" all his paintings, and epitomized the Guo Hua art form.

Then there is the famous Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) who is famous for his landscape paintings.  In the following example, he was still employing the 3 perspectives concept and his small trees were still done in the styles shown in Mustard Seed Garden, despite his bold splashing of color.(click on the painting for enlarged view)

 

When  we talk about contemporary Chinese painter, Wu Guanzhong (1919-2010) comes to the forefront.  He is sometimes considered the father of contemporary Chinese painting.

 strong portrayal of brush strokes

                                                                                          (tree stump and chicks)

                   Banyan Tree             

 

 



Yang Ming-Yi is known for his Ink and Wash paintings.  Born and educated in China, he actually went to the US to further his studies and have exhibited all over the world.

 

 

  









There is a new evolving style in Chinese Brush painting, the Ling-nan style ( some would call it the Cantonese style ).  This style is characterized by vivid color;  colored backgrounds and exaggerated, boisterous brushstrokes.  From a glance it almost looks like a western watercolor painting but the brushstroke says otherwise.  The pioneer in this style was said to be Gao Jianfu ( 1879-1951).  Some of the more notable artists in this camp are Gao Qifung, Chen Shuren and Chao Shao-An for those of you who are interested in further research.

 

 

 

When we take a look at the following painting by Chan Yuk-lin,  does it remind us of  Chinese brush painting?  The composition and the color suggest that it might not be.

 

 

But then look at the textbook page from the Mustard Seed Garden on how to paint mixed foliage in the woods, coupled with the obvious Chinese Brushstrokes, what do you say now?  It showed the artist's superb ability to turn an etude into a piece that carries its own weight.

 

 

 

I'll conclude this series of  What is Chinese Brush Painting  by showing a couple of paintings by Wong Lui-sang.  The color and composition does not remind one of a traditional Guo Hua, but the brushstrokes employed, the trees, and the "chuen" lines ( brushstrokes used for denoting topography, see my "Mountain Lobes" blog on 2/29/13)  on mountains definitely affirm that this is a Chinese Brush painting.

 

 

 

I am writing this series to reiterate my feelings about the art of Chinese Brush, as I did in a previous blog " Beyond Exposure, Understanding".  I don't claim to be an authority in this subject matter.  The opinions here are what I perceive to be correct for myself.  I do not own any copyrights of the images used here and it is not my intention to pilfer them.  They are here for the purpose of illustrating my point.  Please also note that Chinese put our Last name first.  Thus Qi Baishi is Mr. Qi, he might appear as Baishi Qi in some literature.  I am hoping this would help with the appreciation and connoisseurship of Chinese Brush painting without being superficial or patronizing.