The reason my flat tops looked awkward was because I ignored the minute breaks in the lines. I had dealt with this subject matter in my blog More Than Just Broken Lines dated 3/29/2012. In that blog, I surmised that the breaks in a line are often used to create distance, depth. When these gaps are strategically placed, an illusion of 3-dimensional thickness is created.
When I painted the flat tops, I painted the parameter line as a continuous, non-broken line. Thus it was boring and two dimensional, despite the presence of vertical ch'uen lines denoting a folding feature in the land mass, i.e. a raised ridge or slope of sorts. I magnified the original print of Shi Tao's landscape and was delighted about my observation.
In the above cut-out, one could see a break in the line at where the fold could occur.
Here I have an example of another ancient Chinese brush painter whose name escaped me, but his technique of using the gap was even more astute and deliberate.
While examining Shi Tao's painting I also noticed evidence of light markings underneath the darker ink. He sketched his paintings. The practise of sketching had at times become a contentious issue with me, at least during my encounter with various teachers. Some of my teachers are staunch objectors to sketching; they deem that a sign of incompetence. Whereas I had teachers who advocated sketching, regardless of whether one was doing brush work or not, especially in laying out a landscape painting.
Armed with this knowledge, I made another attempt in Shi Tao's landscape painting. This time I sketched it out in charcoal first.
After the sketching is done, I went over the charcoal lines with my brush work. I must say this allowed me to control my brush tip much better. I could devote more attention to the quality of the lines, since I didn't have to be too concerned about placement of shapes.
In my once over with light ink brush work, I was paying special attention to the breaks in the lines when I got to painting the flat tops.
As usual I filled in my ch'uen lines and shading whenever the brush was in the right condition to do so.
This was followed by my blues. After that I took a day off, which I shouldn't have done.
The reason I regretted taking the day off was because I had allowed the blue to totally dry, thus it would not bleed into the browns, forming hard, artificial boundaries between the different colors. I found the lack of transition unpleasant to look at. I should have known better! Is this what people refer to as wet on wet technique?
I paid better attention to the round leaves too by using better brushstrokes and using side-tip strokes on one side to denote thickness/shadow, allowing a more 3-dimensional appearance.
With the mixed foliage, I tried to paint in the under layers with light ink first to give an impression of a fuller tree.
A wash with brush cleaning bath was applied to blend the colors.
The first and second attempts side by side
The two works have a different color cast, mainly due to the different time of the day when the photo was taken. The one on the right is the second attempt. It shows better articulation of the flat tops, as it should be; that was my motivation for this second edition. It turned out that there is an additional flat top on the right that I didn't catch during the first attempt, and the little water level drop right next to the red round leaves that I omitted is now added back in. Obviously more ch'uen lines, albeit in disarray they seem. I need to hone my skills in having a rich field of lines without making them look like a wad of jumbled noodles. I also do not like the blotchy look of the colors; a consequence of my not mixing the colors in a timely manner. I suppose it wouldn't be fun if it was easy!
