Red Cliffs Nostalgia, The Grand Finale

At the onset of the painting I laid out my objectives for this painting, and one of them was to be able to highlight each of the 4 landmarks of the Columbia River Gorge by incorporating them into my fictitious staging of a real historical Chinese naval battle, the Battle of Chibi.  The landmarks are of course the Vista House on top of Crown Point, the Multnomah Falls, the Rowena Loops and the Stonehenge replica.  I also wanted these 4 subplots to be able to stand on their own rights as a painting by themselves.

Now that the painting is finished, let us delve into these 4 elements.

The Vista House at Crown Point:

The red cliff face is adorned with loads of vertical hemp chuen brushstrokes to give the surface texture.  These brushstrokes stand out nicely against the staining done from the back of the paper.  The Vista House itself is too big when compared with the real structure.  Visually speaking, the building should be perhaps on the scale of 1/50th the height of the cliff.  So my Vista House is at least 10 folds too big.  I suppose my zeal of wanting to emphasize the structure got the better of me!  To my defense, this is a fictitious painting, so accuracy is not a prerequisite and anything goes. 

The Multnomah Falls:

I like to draw the viewer's attention to the hemp chuen brushstrokes in the light areas of the hills.  The red color reveals beautifully against the light staining from the back of the paper.  Together with washings of different ink tones, a rich texture is achieved without rendering a messy appearance of unbridled brushstrokes.  In other words, a clean look.  

The Rowena Loops:

Realistically speaking the winding roads should be more on a level plane than hanging off the sides of the cliffs.  But this is much more dramatic!  Right?  I really enjoy the dreamy background of distant ranges as depicted by the very loose and relaxed brushstrokes.  

The Stonehenge:

I am particularly fond of the classical rendering of the shrubs and trees.  I also love the very simple coloring scheme.  It exudes an air of a Chinese painting for sure. 

I am going to be mounting my painting on canvas.  I already have my canvas primed with gesso and ready to go.

The painting is laid face up on a flat surface and wetted down to relax the fibers.

During the course of doing this painting, I inadvertently ripped a hole in my paper.

I used to freak out about such mishaps.  Now I don't fret over it anymore, because these tears will be almost imperceptible after mounting.  The glue will mend the tears as long as the flaps are kept intact.

The wetted paper is allowed to dry to a "moist" state such that there is no dripping water and the paper is soft and pliable without getting too fragile due to the additional weight of the moisture content.  Now it can be rolled up and be ready for the next step, which to affix it to my canvas.

Starch is applied to my canvas and the rolled up painting is aligned and unfurled onto the canvas and pressed down for good adhesion.  The whole assembly is allowed to dry.

Painting on canvas after drying:

With frame:

EPILOGUE

My inspiration of the painting came from bantering with my overseas friends about using Chinese literature in songs etc. and I was motivated to put in my two cents with my painting.  As I have stated, my painting borrows from the landmarks of the Columbia River Gorge.

I have done a painting of Columbia River Gorge before, a strictly scenic rendition.  I am putting these two paintings up for comparison. 

I feel that my Red Cliffs Nostalgia piece is infinitely more poetic.  I believe the fact that I have the words of Su Dongpo to teach me makes a huge difference in my interpretation of the otherwise identical  river gorge, albeit with a few landmarks rearranged.  

My new painting wears a understated elegance; as if it was cloaked in a Sarong of silence, allowing the words of Su Dongpo to enunciate:

"大江東去浪淘盡 千古風流人物

江山如畫 一時多少豪傑

故國神遊 多情應笑我

人生如夢 一樽還酹江月"

  "The incessant waves urge the river eastward, taking with them all the accomplished people.  Such picturesque landscapes, how much history have they witnessed.  Perhaps I am being too sentimental, reminiscing the days gone by.  Life is but a dream. allow me to scatter my wine, ode to the river, and to the moon."

 

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.