Beaverton Creek Napolean

I can fondly remember the Napoleon ice cream in my days as a kid growing up in Hong Kong.  Strawberry, vanilla and chocolate flavors in pink, white and brown stripes.  The challenge was how to savor the treat for the longest duration before it melted away in the non-air-conditioned room.

I did the 3 styles of Beaverton Creek ( Beaverton Creek, Beaverton Creek Yellow, Beaverton Creek Classical ) to hopefully answer my own question; What is Chinese Brush painting.

I know I had discussed this topic in my last few blogs, I thought I would use these 3 pieces to illustrate my assertion.  The givens were, all three were done using Chinese brush and pigments on Xuan.

The most impressionistic of the 3 belongs to this one done in green.  The painting exudes a strong "feeling" that is abstract and yet tactile at the same time.  One can almost paddle the kayak through the water and be mesmerized.  Aside from the split hair and splash ink technique, it does not look very Chinese.  I'll submit this work looks more western than Chinese, despite Chinese brushes being employed.

There is definitely a lot more traditional Bi-Fa in the Beaverton Creek Yellow although the composition is not very Chinese.   It should be evident that the artist had  training in Chinese Brush landscape and uses "chuen" and contour lines to describe shape and topography.  Some of the lines depicting stalks and trunks showed center tip calligraphic characteristics.  So can we consider this one under Chinese Brush painting, even when its composition is identical to the top one?  Must a Chinese Brush painting look traditional?  When is this a "watercolor" as some might call it and not a Chinese Brush painting?

I am sure not a lot of people would have problem classifying this as a Chinese Brush painting.  So what is different about this one?

Granted the bridge was absent from the other two, but that does not make this more Chinese than the others.

We can't get very far from this discussion without addressing Bi-Fa again.  I still think this is the quintessential element in defining Chinese Brush painting.  One must show not only the presence, but the craftsmanship of the brushstrokes.  The traditional brush rendition of shrubs and shores helped to cement this in the Chinese Brush painting category.

We mentioned the Three Perspective concept in traditional Chinese Brush landscape paintings.  This work here employed all three.  The void space at the bottom of the woods in the distance added to the Level perspective.  The meandering shorelines and all the little details along the banks defined the Depth perspective.  Along with height described by the few stands of fir, one gets the birds eye view of Beaverton Creek; thus gently gliding over it, enjoying the little tidbits of information that each section gives off.

The composition falls within a classical doctrine..  a literal translation would be One River Two Shores.  The painting is dissected  somewhat diagonally by the creek, with contrast on both banks. Left bank is more densely vegetated, thus the Yang, The right side would be the Ying.   However the Ying side actually created conflict by harboring the attention grabbing pink trees. Leaves are present only on some of the trees, again creating contrast.   Complementing contrast is harmony;  opposite banks are linked not only by the bridge, but by tree trunks leaning towards each other, by the pink answering the blue, by sharing the ducks.

Although the painting employs many color, the overall feel is not "Su", or ostentatious.

I would not be so crass as to claim that I have thought of all these attributes before I laid my first brushstroke on this painting;  a lot of these points are anecdotal.  The fact remains that much thought has gone into these 3 paintings to raise a point, What Is Chinese Brush Painting.

Canada Geese Makeover

I used the painting from my blog "Don't Throw The Baby Out With The Water" as a project.  I darkened the neck areas of the sleeping geese and selectively applied titanium white to some of the white patches to increase the contrast; cropped it to fit a 12x12 canvas and I now have a painting that looked quite different from the original copy.  This one is actually presentable, I mused.  I shall call this one "Canada Geese, Impression".

  after correction

*also note the vertical stripes of sieve markings

   before corrections

I entered this piece in a local juried Visual Arts Showcase event, for no other reason than to see if this type of work will be accepted by the "mainstream".  I've often lamented that I don't know which pigeon hole to shackle myself in.  I therefore entered the painting in the mixed media category.  It is Chinese Brush Ink painting on  Xuan, but mounted on canvas and sealed with Golden Gel Medium.
I entered a total of 4 paintings ( the maximum allowed ) and only two were invited into the Showcase.

  not invited

  not invited

Now that the painting was accepted, I needed to package it a little better for the show.  I thought the 12x12 canvas alone was too austere.

I wanted to build a frame for it.  The local home improvement store has the 1 x 3 poplar stock, which is perfect.  The poplar even has the same color as my painting, so I decided to leave the frame nude with clear urethane coatings.  I wanted to leave a wider moat between the canvas and the frame.  I noticed the strong presence of the vertical stripes of sieve markings* on the Xuan paper, so I decided to make the moat backing along the same vein.  I harvested the dried water iris leaves, which the Canada geese would have frolicked amongst in the summer time and glued them onto the back board.

I didn't like the color of the dried leaves; I thought they were too red and ostentatious.  Toning them down with my own concocted color worked much better.  I was able to retain the lines without robbing them of character.

 

the outside edges of the frame is rounded off a little to soften the lines, making the frame more compatible with the dreamy state of the subject matter

When I presented the finished product to my peers, some of them thought it was gimmicky.  I beg to differ.  I thought I was being faithful to Chinese Brush, exploiting the relationship between ink, brush and paper  and was elated to be able to garnish the work with elements from the natural environment of my geese.  I do particularly like how the theme of vertical line is carried out, albeit in a subtle way.  To the nay sayers, I am just taking Chinese Brush to a more contemporary stage.

  finishd product