I remember long time ago a viewer offered me more money for a black and white ink painting of mine if I would paint another one just like that for her, but in color. I politely refused; unyielding with my principles. Being snooty perhaps. I must admit however, sometimes that sentiment is legit. Obviously there are many occasions a black and white brush painting imparts a certain je ne sais quoi which would be robbed if done in color; but my latest landscape painting is not one of those occasions.
I've been looking at that painting for almost two weeks now and it has not grown on me. Perhaps it is neither luminous nor moody. Time for cosmetics.
I have grown to like the practice of coloring from the back of the Xuan. I am starting with the rocky structure on the left and the distant hills in the background.
Phthalocyanine blue and ocher is now painted over the top of the under-painted rock. The resulting color is not one would expect if one was to simply mix and paint all 3 colors together on the surface of the paper. This is one of the properties of the Xuan paper that one can exploit.
The original alum mixed brushstrokes help to define discrete edges of hard surfaces, setting up the loose ambiguous brushstrokes of the foreground. I am borrowing the bokeh effect from photography now and I love the presentation.
The alum solution helps to fix the ink more readily onto the paper, leaving visible margins even after coloring or additional brushstrokes. The patchy appearance reminds me of crusty lichens on rocks or tree barks. A lot of brush/Xuan painters shun such effects for being too "rigid" or "lifeless" but I think it is perfect for adding texture to hard surfaces.
Coloration somehow adds drama to the void spaces. I believe there is a lot of room for me to feather out the edges, with the help of color of course, if I choose to. I think eventually this would be a battle between how much of the brush or bleeding or wash I wish to reveal. In traditional Chinese Brush, this is known literally as the balance between brush and ink.
I am tempted to leave the painting in this state. It has an interesting, albeit an unfinished look. Oh well, since I am not Schubert, I better finish my work.
The color looks more saturated or vivid when wet.
This is how it looks on the wall when dried.
