Purity, Resiliency and Transformation

As I am continuing my doodling, I couldn't help but be reminded of the tidbits of trivia relating to Lotus. 

Lotus plant has many uses, besides its beauty.  Lotus root (actually the rhizome) is often sliced and used in stir fry dishes in Chinese restaurants.  Sometimes the whole rhizome is stuffed with rice and other goodies and steamed and then sliced up before serving. The dried rhizome can be milled to flour and used like corn starch, which can be cooked as a sweet broth with Longan and red prunes, a popular dessert drink.  The nodes of the rhizome when mashed is used to treat nosebleed. 

The lotus seed, or Lianzi (蓮子) is a homonym for the Chinese phrase which means "a succession of sons" (連子) thus is often used as an auspicious garnish in weddings.  The lotus seed heart (germ) is very bitter and is used as a tea or tonic for its "fire lowering" property; in other words, less Yang.

The leaves of the lotus plant are used as wrappings for food preparation.  The popular dim sum dish of Lo Mai Gai or Lotus Leaf Rice is one such example.  Another famous dish, the Begger's Chicken uses the leaves to wrap the whole chicken before encasing it in clay and baked.  The leaves impart a fragrance to the food inside.  

Culturally speaking, Lotus is the national flower of India and Vietnam.  The Guanyin bodhisattva is portrayed as standing or sitting on a lotus bed holding a lotus flower in her hand.  The famous Big Buddha sculpture in Hong Kong shows the Buddha resting on a bed of lotus blossoms.  

Lotus represents the virtues of purity, resiliency and transformation.  It's self-explanatory when such beauty emerges from a muddy bog.  I personally think that any painting of lotus should bear those thoughts in mind.  Whimsical versions of lotus paintings trivialize the reverence of this flower, regardless of how artistic or innovative they might be.  This is just my own cultural bias. 

I suppose one way to adhere to the traditional ways of interpreting the flower is to recall all the rote learning notes from yesteryears.  Don't re-invent the wheel. 

Lines are used to depict petals, with the tip of the petals darkened to emphasize pointed tips.

Side tip brushstrokes are used in this version to describe the petals.  The brush is loaded with white and crimson at the tip of the brush to facilitate the natural transition of the hues.  

Trying out different brushstroke speeds to try to show various personalities.  The brush does not lie. It most definitely will reveal if one is gingerly and methodically laying down a brushstroke or doing it with aplomb and a free spirit. 

In the end I am rewarded with something that when cropped perhaps is worth a spot on my walls.

I have 2 choices,

or 

I settled for the portrait format, although I do like the landscape format too.  It has an interesting perspective of the leaves. 

I have a shadow box which I had intended for displaying my carved calligraphy on spaghetti squash (my blog titled Playtime), but it is too shallow.  I am going to use it for my lotus painting. 

My doodling housed in a shadow box,
 

"Building" a wall

The traditional formal gardens in old China is surrounded by a wall, which shields the various pavilions and bridges, ponds and rock structures from the outside.  The structures inside the confines of the wall are often arranged to re-create a "borrowed scenery", to fulfil the imagination and the fantasy of the property owner. 

It is this wall that I find most interesting.  Whereas its main function is to establish a physical barrier, it is often punctuated by framed windows such that people on the outside can take a peep into the garden, a bit of a tease if you will.  I look at it as a fine lady trying to hide her assets, yet strategically revealing just enough to perk one's curiosity.  I am convinced that a half clad person is definitely more intriguing than one in a full birthday suit.

We have such a garden in town.  Lucky me! 

Aside from the intrinsic beauty such wall and window radiates, I like the arrangement for other reasons too.  The stark white wall is a perfect contrast to the dark tiled tops.  The lattice, or pattern on the window casts interesting shadows and creates movement.  I like the simplicity of it.  Contrast, simplicity, elegant lines; what else can I wish for.

I hastily painted a rough draft, to see if I can parlez all these into a painting. The painting would have the dark tiles on top.  The whole upper portion of the painting would be dark and heavy.  This is the "solid", the "yang" part.  The lower and left part of the painting would be the "vague" or "ying" areas; complementing and contrasting.  There should be a strong emphasis of lines, along with the black and white patches, this could pass off as a graphic design also.

I am convinced that this could work.  Armed with that conviction, I sat down to do one in earnest.

 

Two things became apparent rather quickly.  Firstly the "ying" was too much.  There was too much void on the lower half, to the extent that window and wall top seemed to be suspending in air. The painting did not feel grounded at all.  Secondly, the vines were too jumbled up.  They looked like entangled yarns, lacking direction and movement.

The next attempt tried to fix the aforementioned shortcomings.

 

 I put in the lower edges/ground of the wall.  I appointed the main branches of the vine.  One could clearly identify  a horizontal 8 now as the main branches, albeit they were a little too thick.  I've made the black tiles at the top to be in rows of a slight angle and much darker  to break up the monotonous  look.  In fact I made no attempts at all to cover up or fill in my brushstrokes.  I want the ink to breathe.  I also painted in the continuation of the vines behind  the window.  I wanted the audience to sense ( perhaps subconsciously ) the satire that whilst the wall was trying to rein things in, the vines were actually trying to get out..............   This attribute is by itself a notion for the complement/contrast aspects of Chinese painting.  Perhaps more importantly though, especially on an emotional level, this is the half cladding that started my fascination.

to be continued

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.