Showing posts with label rigor mortis of fingers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rigor mortis of fingers. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Paintings of Water, cont'd

I take photographs of water and waves.  I like them.  I'll share some with you.







I started out with painting circular ripples, I am going to try to paint the linear ones.  In a way, my desire to do this was sparked by visiting an exhibition of Ellsworth Kelly's prints.  I have vivid memories of how those prints of rivers resembled my photos.  Coincidentally, as I glanced at my pile of old vinyls spewed on the floor, I noticed the LP cover of Linda Ronstadt (Different Drum) and it has a water theme.  Nice!



Going linear has not subjugated my errant brush.  Chinese has a saying about holding the brush, that of fingers of  keen grasp (for control ) and a light wrist for expression and movement.  My wrist is still laden with indecisiveness.  Ever try to learn piano or guitar or violin?  There is a disconnect between the hand and the mind resulting in digital arrhythmia and rigor mortis of the fingers.  Definitely not Xieyi!!


 



Obviously I am not thrilled by my etudes, but to add insult to injury, the quipping I received was that " these are not Chinese paintings ".  So what defines or qualifies as a Chinese painting.  What are some of the attributes?  Bi-Fa?  Scattered point perspective?  Treatment of void spaces?  Lack of light values?  Minimalistic?  Poetic?  The 3 Perfections?   Should Chinese paintings be forever entombed in the classics?   Should I feel insulted?  Is it important for my works to be accepted as Chinese paintings?

I myself am getting confused. 

I am not in a position to offer any insights, but I will attach some pictures of water works I took of a famous master painter Ma Yuan from the Song Dynasty ( about 800 years ago ).