Finishing up my Jade Rabbits on the Moon

Now that I have the main residents situated on the moon, it is time to paint in the background. As I had alluded to before, the inspiration for this composition is the mythology of the shadows on the moon representing the dwelling of Chang'e and her rabbit.  I am therefore needing to exploit the shadows.  I am choosing to paint a classical pine tree with its branches matching the shadows.  I am also placing the branches strategically so that they take up and blend in with some of the bigger pieces of fibers on the paper.  

I need to add a branch to account for the shadows in the middle of the moon

I now paint in the branches of the pine tree.  Notice how the big piece of fiber on the upper right side is painted into part of the branch.  I don't want to trivialize the word "organic", but this is as organic as one gets.

So the tree and stuff looks a little sparse for shadows.  A little dressing up with a broad brush wash and dabbing resolves that issue.  I am happy that the details of the tree and branches etc. are well blended into the shadows.  That allows more room for the viewer to conjure up their own interpretation of the tree. 

Putting some rouge on the face of the moon.  She looks pretty now.  

 

One of my non-Asian friend looks at the work and says "you have a bonsai tree in there".  "How astute!" I tell her.  Bonsai comes from the Chinese word Penzai, or Penjing which literally means the craft of artistically staging potted plants.  As I am painting a rabbit within the framework of Chinese mythology, a Chinese style pine tree is called for.  Pine trees are symbols of longevity.  The twisted and knurly branches are more than aesthetic poses; they also pertain to the ability of withstanding adversity and thriving despite of it.   Actually within the framework of Chinese mythology the tree on the moon is purported to be an osmanthus.  However some scholars would refute that and claim the tree to be Cinnamomum pedunculatum and not osmanthus.  Hopefully my pine is not going to be ridiculed. 

I am now at the juncture of a self-imposed dilemma.  I had intended to just do silhouettes of trees and rabbits as the shadows on the moon and I had no intention of depicting any three dimensional realism to the rabbits.  So I am now debating whether to paint in the eyes of the rabbits.  I am just being an idiot, getting hung up on something that is now irrelevant, especially since I've come so far down the road of realism.

Then I am reminded of the fact that our dragon boats go through the ceremony of painting the eyeballs in on the day of the races.  Eyeballs give the dragons life and spirit.  It would be quite a taboo for me to turn in something that purportedly is nice and auspicious; pertaining to the coming New Year and yet is lacking eyeballs.  What would rabbits without eyeballs portend?

I can't help but recall the New Year's card sent out by a local Chinese tourist/cultural venue.  The fact that this institution is not run by Chinese is beside the point, but they asked some poor Chinese person to paint them a New Year's card for the Year of the Rat and sent them out to all their sponsors and partners.

The quality of the painting notwithstanding but the fact that this card was used to welcome the year of the Rat is deplorable.  Can you imagine a New Year with two vermin eating up your food staple?  Come on people, this is not the time to be cute.  Find something auspicious to depict the rats.  This was such a taboo, especially if one is just a little bit superstitious.  Yes customs can be pedantic.  Look what happened to the year 2020, the year of the Rat!

I shall not and will not be guilty of painting New Year's zodiac animals with no eyeballs!

Trees in Mustard Seed Garden

I've touched upon some of the ways leaves are depicted in traditional Chinese brush landscape and I've also alluded to my realization that groves of bamboo appear to be telegraph poles.  It will be remiss for me not to mention some examples of how trees are represented. 

I am going to borrow examples from the Mustard Seed Garden for illustration.

It is not difficult to surmise that dots and/or little round circles are used to describe leaves on a tree.  It is quite plain.

The "antler brushstroke" is ideal to show a deciduous tree in the fall, with its barren branches, devoid of leaves.  This brushstroke resembles the antler of a deer, hence its name. 

By extending these "antlers", we have the basis for painting a willow tree, which is a very common thematic matter in Chinese landscape painting. 

The Mustard Seed Garden is also a compendium for how varies ancient masters would paint their "woods" with assorted trees species.  Again I am borrowing from the text book and try to showcase an example:

In the above exercise, the various trees need to assume different heights and not be rooted on a straight line, thus portraying a scattered look.  It is not important to accurately describe the correct species of each tree, just so the aggregate shows mixed trees in the woods.  Trees are often painted with exposed, gnarly roots to lend a sense of ruggedness.  It is often common practice to assign each tree with a different color to emphasize the diverse flora.  Branches and leaves often overlap each other; thus it is vital to distinguish the spatial relationship of these seemingly mundane brushstrokes.  This is where the craft of the artist is exemplified, and where the dilettantes miss their marks.   

Of course when it comes to the ubiquitous pine, there are numerous styles in the Mustard Seed Garden that one can study with.  Pine is important because it is symbolic for longevity and the ability to triumph through hardship. 

My favorite example comes from the ancient Song dynasty painter Ma Yuan.  He used a so called "broken brush" style for his conifer.  The "broken brush" literally means a brush that has seen better days and has lost some of its hair and is no longer able to come to a point.  In other words a worn-out brush.  Thus the brushstrokes are raw and unrestrained.  It really adds to the stubbornness of the pine.

Again, I encourage the readers to do your own research if so inclined.  Try to dig up a copy of the Mustard Seed Garden and enjoy a first-person experience.