Finishing Touches

Now that we are happy with a piece of work and consider it done, we need to make it presentable.

I have prepared most of my works using the Xuan-Boo method that I devised, but allow me to show the more common wet mount method.

The finished painting is placed face down on a smooth surface like glass of acrylic, and starch is brushed on the back with a stiff brush.  The stiff brush helps to push out all the trapped air bubbles and brush out the creases in the Xuan.

On top of this is laid a piece of blank Xuan, which is a little larger around th  edges than the painting we are preparing.  Starch is applied along the edges of this piece of blank Xuan, and the entire piece is lifted to be hung on a new flat surface, like a wall or a door.

The process allows the wet starch to relax the fibres in the Xuan where we painted our work, and the new blank Xuan forms the backing, adding stiffness and provides a white reference background for our work (Xuan is translucent, thus the white background is critical in establishing the white balance, as in photography)  When the blank Xuan get hung ( with the painting attached on the other side), its edges are glued to the wall or door.  As the blank Xuan dries, it tauts the fiber in the paper, tightening up the entire surface of the painting. 

Now my work is free of wrinkles, and stiffened with backing, and looks richer because of the added white balance.  The painting is now "mounted" and is ready for framing.

For this piece of work  I chose a float frame i.e. the back plate is transparent also. I did this to take advantage of the translucent nature of Xuan.  When I place this framed painting against a window or light source, the painting takes on a different ambiance.  It reminds me of the double faced silk embroidery or a lit lantern.

 

 

The poetry on my painting came from a poet in the Ming Dynasty.  The loose translation is as follows:

 

One can't have song and dance with wine

 

Whatever poetry one writes is for nobody

 

Yes your desk is full of documents

 

Yet half of them are rubbish

(Song and dance with wine is the proper protocol in social settings.  If one is in the company of wine and can't amount to song and dance, one is doomed and castigated.  One can't be happy even when the occasion dictates it.   You think you know it all, but the truth says otherwise.  The author is lamenting that his Master has entrusted the wrong people)

Acting out

There came a time when I was just killing time, sitting at my desk.

I wished I had a drum set.  I did have one for a while, as a custodian of a drum set for a beginners orchestra.  Those were happy days.  I am sure my neighbors didn't think so !

So I ended up doodling.  I had taken some picture of this martial artist in a park and I've observed him for a long time.  His energy intrigued me.  Somehow I opened my album at his page.

I grabbed my brush and scratched on my ruled notebook.

 

 

then I got a little bolder and tried something beyond stick figures

 

 

I felt kind of sheepish and giggly, almost like a school kid;  doing something I wasn't supposed to be doing, and all the time being afraid to get caught.

 

I think this freshness motivated me.  This is a game now.

 

 

out comes the sketch pad and charcoal pencil.  I am filling in with more details now.

 

 

 

I really wasn't too concerned about whether the image has the correct proportions or not.   In my mind I could only feel his movements, his energy.  I was trying to picture that.

 

Then I tried my ink and brush on the sketch pad

 

 

 

 

Finally I had the urge to try that on Xuan with ink.

 

 

That was a fun way to spend an afternoon!

Courtyard from another angle

Rather than re-doing the last painting all over again, I decided to keep my interest fresh by painting the same courtyard, but viewed from a different angle.  Instead of framing the enclosure with posts and beams, I will do it with shrubbery this time.

 

 

I began my plot with the usual light ink sketching of the intended characters, and made some of them really obvious so that I would remember what I had intended to paint, in spite of my senility.

 

 

 

Again I picked out some points of interest and elaborated on them first.  I don't know if these were the most interesting or the easiest to paint, but I painted them a darker tone, to establish my black values I suppose.

 

 

I used different techniques to show layers and perspective.  The front and back branches of this little tree in the courtyard is differentiated by the obvious contrast in ink tone and gesture.  The front branch "a" is not only darker, but is a dryer brushstroke; thus harsher and conveys more texture.  The back branch "b" is lighter and unremarkable.  This tree is set up against a tree "c" from outside the courtyard.  That tree is represented by scattered fat dots and negative space branches.

 

The little tree is set in front of the breezeway.  That gesture is emphasized by the break in painting the lattice work ( circled in red).  That little void or gap helps to establish the spatial relationship of the two objects.  Paying attention to the perspective of the different focal points in a painting should be an organic process; pleasing to look at, and comes naturally.   One feels the presence of the breeze without having to wonder why or where it comes from.

 

 

 

 

Layers of light ink wash was applied judiciously to highlight the different structures.  Typical Chinese brush works do not cater to manipulating light values.  My personal belief is "why not".

It helps to bring into focus and add interest to the work.

 

There are a couple of "oops" that are apparent.  The first one being the "gou" lines were worked over too much, to the point that they obscured brushstrokes.  The lines on the stone in the courtyard illustrated my point.  The lines were smut and too dark.  It was like smudging lip stick way past the contours of the lips, hoping to change their shapes.

 

The other oops was the tree branches at the upper right hand corner seemed to be too detached.  There was no relationship between the branches and the rest of the painting.  I remedied that by painting in layers of leaves, some of which even covered the top of the breezeway.  I think this alteration made the painting more cohesive.

 

 

 

 

 

Appraising my courtyard

I've been looking at my last etude, my interpretation of a formal courtyard; casting those intense scrutinizing stares, amidst the occasional casual glances.   I found something.

I believe the vertical post on the right is too domineering.  It suffocates the painting. I should do the painting all over again, paying attention to what I deemed was wrong.  But I just can't motivate myself to do that.  I lack that discipline.  Rather than investing my energy in re-painting this piece of work, I thought I would cheat and do a digital correction and see if my assessment is correct.

before

 

so I photoshopped the lower portion of the post away and I really think that did the trick.  It helped to open up the painting.  It can breathe now.  I'll pursue my correction when I am in the mood again.

 

after

 

Courtyard

I was quoting Cougar in saying that I was holding on too tight and have lost my edge and I was frustrated.

My solution to that was to hang everything up for a while, and not feel guilty about it.  After all I am doing this for fun, and my livelihood does not depend on my lifting a paint brush.    For anybody who has come through this gate, we know that we are just pretending to not think about it consciously.. the computing still happens, just not on the desktop.

I finally decided that if my tendency was to be nitty gritty, why don't I just go with the flow and not fight it.  I'll find something meticulous to paint.  I want to give my anal retentiveness a work out.  So I tackled with painting a courtyard.  A formal Chinese courtyard.

I chose to use the semi-sized paper again. I felt like this paper would be more suited to the repeated layering and build-up that I intended to do to this painting.

Instead of trying to paint this in a traditional Chinese style, I decided to just paint what comes naturally.  For me, it would be what one would see from a photograph.... a black and white photograph.   I know I've written about what constitues Chinese brush painting before,but  I am willing to let all theories slide, and just let my painting happen.

My first step was to sketch out my plot with diluted ink.  The focal point would be a huge Lake Tai limestone that are ubiquitous in formal Chinese gardens.  This feature would be framed by the intricate lattice work found in the pavilion and breezeway.  I would add drama to the painting by playing up the light values, something that is not emphasized in traditional painting styles.

I tried to put down all the darkest values first, to give me a framework of subsequent greys.
I also wanted to portray some of the branches and trunks as a negative space.  This is the part that satiated my compulsion of being nitty gritty with details.  I was allowed the opportunity to design the conduit where the branches would occupy, and darken the areas around that with details of leaves and dots and what not.

 

 

The blank area between the tiled roofs ( red circle ) is there not only for aesthetic reasons, but to show separation and establish the fore/aft relationship.

 
The contour line on this Lake Tai limestone felt week and tentative.  The line was suppose to describe the physical property of the object.  After re-tracing, the line looked a little sterner, more befitting the rock.

I decided to do some of the stalks as positive space, while others as negative ( red circles ).  This is to create a dialogue and intrigue between the lower left and right halves of the painting. I've also planted a few blades of grass on the negative space grass bed (blue circle).  I enjoy this effect because it added  to the 3 dimensional feel.

Drama was achieved when I boldly applied ink at the base of the rock as well as strategic spots in the grass bed.  I tried to even up the tone of the painting by applying a diluted layer of ink wash.

 

 

 

The sepia color was just the wet paper playing tricks to the camera.  I might use that to
stylize the painting.  For now, I'll take a break.

My beef with Rice Paper

People here always ask me if I paint on rice paper. 

At first I was confounded.  What do they mean?

"Oh, you mean Xuan paper?"

I've been trying hard to correct this misnomer until I searched Wikipedia.  I am disappointed that the paper which has nothing to do with rice is called rice paper.  The term was supposedly coined by Robert Morrison, a missionary back in the 1800's.

The main ingredient for making Xuan paper is fibers from the bark of the Blue Sandalwood.  The proportion varies from 40 to 80%.  To that is mixed in with fibers from indigenous area, and these may include rice straw, grass straw, hemp, mulberry and bamboo.

The rice paper I grew up with is an edible sheet of dried starch used to package food.  I am submitting a picture of a plum paste jelly/walnut snack wrapped with rice paper.  The paper shields the outside packaging from the sticky content and saves the consumer from having to peel off the wrapping  paper before eating the goody.

How could an ill adopted name from centuries ago survive this long.  Was there no one to speak up?

I am just saying. I believe in calling a spade a spade.

Sailing

I dropped my laptop and cracked the screen.  It now has a cluster of vertical lines on the left third of my screen. 

I was mad.

I found myself moving my head from side to side, trying to peek through those vertical lines, as if they were just a mesh screen blocking my view.

It was comical.

I continued my experiments with the semi-sized Xuan.

I painted some sailboats on the ocean; spinnakers, spinnakers, spinnakers.  Enough of the serious stuff.

Using center tip, I patiently laid down scores of horizontal lines, lifting with varying pressure and speed.  This was calming, almost zen like.  A perfect remedy for dealing with the cracked laptop screen.

The paper does not show black well.  It appears as sepia.

The painting looked too red to me, although only blue was used.

I remedied that by applying blue color on the back of the paper.  The translucent nature of this paper allowed the color from the back to permeate through.

The sail was done with a side tip technique.

The painting became lighter after it dried.  The dot in the background was an accident.  A happy accident.  I somehow managed to drop my brush on the paper.  After some laborious blotting and thinning, a smear resulted.  Seemed to give reference to a distant landmass.  Nice.