PAIN

The post at hand is not about Bi-Fa, nor composition, nor methodology, nor scatter point perspective, but is about our conversation to the audience, the emotional content of our work.

I assume we paint for different reasons, fun, self-expression, commercial endeavor.  Occasionally we find a piece of work that makes a connection, not only with ourselves, but with the audience.  We might be painting something because that is what everybody else is doing, or some great master was doing that in the past and we try to emulate their works, their styles.  We might get the technique down, but the work is silent, like a perfect mannequin, well proportioned, great poses, but lifeless.

I did this painting when I was dealing with some personal problems.  Yes I did it with Chinese brushes just because that's all I have in my sushi  blanket.  I painted it on the back side of a piece of paper that came with a frame.  The paper that had a generic wedding picture printed on it.  My "wants" at that moment was to find a conduit to release my emotions..... the choice of medium was not my concern. (fortunately I did not release that on a person :-

I had absolutely no idea of what I was doing.  There was no technique, composition, color wheel,  nothing.
I had some faint idea of where to paint in shadows etc. to show the contours, and that was about it.  When I finished the "unleashing" process, I found the dabbling to be dark and full of tension.  I had no idea that I painted a person of unknown gender and  that the wine bottle and glass was not symmetrical and all that.  I was not going to make any alterations.  I just wanted to let the dabbling stand, as a witness to that particular moment of my life.   Perhaps I had given the title "PAIN" to the painting, I was getting some feedbacks, some voyeuristic inquisitions from my acquaintances as to the circumstances ..... but I wasn't going to reveal my innermost secrets. 

A dabbling with no aspirations or pretension to be a piece of art somehow is making a few chattering.  The only explanation I have is because it is not only raw, but brutally honest.  I have also been accused of painting a nude in this painting.  If I did, where did I hide it...................................

Remedy for "Multnomah Fall"

The more I looked at the "Multnomah Fall" painting, the more I was itching to do something about it.  As I mentioned in the blog, it was the bilateral symmetry that really bothered me.  I made the painting look like an insert for a tourist guide, or something I lifted from a photograph ( those of you who know me, know how I feel about painting from a photograph..... the resulting work is often  2 dimensional;  without a soul)

(before remedy)



Since the painting was already mounted on canvas, there wasn't a whole lot that I could have done, else I made the Xuan paper too moist and it would wrinkle again and become separated from the canvas.

I used jet black ink to go over the "chuen" again on the left hand side, to try to increase the density of that area.  I did the same for the trees on the right hand side; to add more body to the foliage and to mask the lower black line of the lower fall even better.

At the same time, I added the bright greenish yellow moss on the rock surface.  I did that with my worn brush, using the "split hair" technique.  The moss added some realism to the scene ( hinted the area of the water spray), but most importantly it imparted a lighter color to the back walls, thus helping to pull the background further away from the foreground.

To add a little bit of drama, I put in a few circling birds.  I needed to cover up the messy ink splashes in the sky anyways ( my trade-mark ).

(after remedy)

Now that I am pleased with the remedy, I went ahead and sealed the painting with a gel medium.  The gel makes the painting water resistant and as an added bonus, helps to bring out the depth of the color and recovers some the lost vibrancy.

The changes were minor and not obvious, yet they helped to restore some balance to the painting.  I am biased, obviously, since I am the architect behind all this,  but it is my sincere hope that the correct remedy was applied.

Scatter Brain revisited

In my Scatter Brain blog, I mentioned that I got carried away from my original premise, which was a blurry vision of a bridge ( I used a Flying Dutchman  to describe it) set against a lily pond.  Well this brew had been fermenting in my brain for quite a while now.  I finally decided to do something about it.  This time it will be a little more impressionistic, more provocative than descriptive.

To accentuate the "Flying Dutchman", I decided to use a simple warm tone to achieve an overall personality of the painting.  I shall then play with my light values within the confines of this monotone.  I shall paint the lily pads with a saturated tone to set against the foggy image of the bridge and the sky.  I wanted to take advantage of the high contrast neck of the Canadian geese, which complements the flow of the leaves.  Cloud drafts or rain streaks would be used to break up the vast blank space of the sky.  I worked out these details on a plain typing paper.

Everything pretty much went according to plan.  I was being real patient with the sky/background, so I took my time and stained it quite a few times,  intensifying the effect as I went.  Rain streaks was difficult to lay down on moist Xuan.  The streaks would diffuse out too much, so I was happy to make do with light beams peeking through the low clouds.                                                       

(note the flying geese)

Everything went fine until Murphy paid me a visit.  Whilst I was being careful and patient with my washes, I inadvertently splashed some ink onto the sky.  Normally I could blot that off when it was fresh, but I made

the discovery too late;  the ink had fixed.  My innovative brain told me to paint something to hide those splashes.  But what?       How about a few Canadian geese flying overhead;  they would tie in with the pair in the pond nicely.  The problem is that the ink splashes were so much darker than the sky, so I had to paint my flying geese much darker than I would prefer.    I tried to  paint in a few dark clouds but they seemed out of place      After a few attempts, I decided that I better quit while I was ahead.  I felt that I was making the painting worse instead of better,  all because of Murphy.                                                                             

     

                                                               Finally when I mounted the Xuan on canvas, I left all the creases and wrinkles in.    The painting had that feel and look of an antique painting, and I  believe these minute details addsto the ambiance of the painting, albeit not readily perceptible. 

(wrinkled Xuan on canvas)

                                                         

In the end, I am not displeased with this piece of work.  This style of work is particularly suited for the Xuan on canvas mounting.  You really get the benefit of watercolor wash/diffuse effect spliced into the feel of canvas.  In fact I like this one a whole lot better than my original bridge on lotus pond.  Now I just have to get busy making a frame for this piece of work.

Small Wonders

The kids, whom I mentored at their art club  at a middle school showed some pretty amazing works.  We started out by learning a little bit about Chinese brush painting.  They were introduced to the brush and Xuan paper for the first time.  I picked the subject matter of bamboo because it harbors the most basic form of the brush stroke.  The bamboo helps to hone a person's skill on using the center tip; along with varying pressure and ink tone and moisture content, the practitioner can achieve many "happy accidents".

By mentoring these young citizens, I hoped to dispel the notion of China Town art.  I did not want it to be paint by numbers.  Nor did I want it to be stencil work.  At the very minimum,  I wanted the kids to appreciate the techniques involved in using the center tip to effect different shapes.  Of course kids at this age are  a little bit too tender to deal with the so called "virtues" of the bamboo.  Nonetheless, I brought in a live bamboo branch so they could have a first hand tactile connection with the subject.  It is my theory that if you can "feel" it, that feeling can sublime into your work.  My emphasis for these kids was energy over form.  The form would come if one becomes more proficient with the brush, but the spirit still needs to be manifested.

We also did our own mounting of the finished painting.  This allows the first timers to experience the entire process of creating a painting and preserving it.  Interestingly one of the kids  inadvertently tore her painting into halves during the mounting process and was a little distraught.  I was able to mend the halves, perhaps an opportune time to demonstrate how to overcome obstacles, and to remedy mistakes.  Nah, I wasn't that noble, but there is some truth in what I said.

Finally I showed the kids how to cut mats.   I threw in a math problem in the process.  I had the  kids calculate the width of the margins, given the size of the mat and the size of the opening.  I wanted them to be able to at least present their mounted paintings in a matted format, to be able to show off to their parents and friends.  Most importantly, however, is to be able to build a positive self esteem.  To have a sense of accomplishment.  And accomplished, they have!!

The accompanying  pictures are some of the finished works.  (the ones not shown are not because they are not up to snuff, but rather the kids were eager to take them home, before I had a chance to take pictures !)  One must appreciate them not by technical merits ( they had maybe 40 minutes of training ) but from the perspective of a maiden voyage into an alien creative field.

Bamboo Tutorial continued

The painting I took to class was very two dimensional and lifeless.   Somehow it looked like a manikin.  I suppose it was sufficient for instructional purposes.  I figured since I do not paint bamboo that often, I needed the practice.  I ended up with the one shown above.

I attempted with different ink tones to show the spatial relationship of the different stems and leaves.  The bold ink color of the lower vertical stem gave anchor to the painting and helped to defuse the parallel lines.

My painting colleague had this critique............. a weak left flank.

But I had already mounted the painting.  Any alteration now will disturb the sandwiched starch layer and cause the paper to warp.   Oh what the hell, it's only a piece of paper.

Armed with concentrated ink right out of the bottle, and a very dry brush ( really too dry to paint bamboo leaves, but I had few options), I attempted to build on the left side.

One thing is for sure, this painting has more spunk than the one in the last blog.

I had to do another class demo, so I tried my hands at bamboo again.  This time paying a little bit more attention to contrast and harmony.  The more noded stem has denser and adhering leaves, versus the less noded stem with sparse leaves that hang away from the main stem.  More or Less.

Finally, the painting is cropped and mounted on canvas, and I even made a frame for it.

P.S.  For more material on bamboo leaves, please watch video on my blog on Bamboo Leaves and Pronation published on Oct 29, 2011.

Bamboo Tutorial

I admitted to not being proficient in painting bamboo.  My excuse was that this was not my genre of work;  I prefer landscape paintings.  Thus when I was taking lessons, I skimmed over this topic as much as I could.
Now that I am giving lessons and mentoring, the table had turned. I understood that despite its apparent simplicity, the bamboo painting encompasses a lot of the basic brush stroke techniques and aesthetic arrangement and the importance of ink tones.  It is now my job to try to convey and convince others that the simple bamboo is nothing to sneeze at.

I often expressed my dislike for "stencil" work, i.e. painting with all the rules and prescribed composition that the resulting work lacks spunk.  But how else should I pass on the basics of a bamboo painting?
I needed to demonstrate the nodes on the main stems.  I needed to note that the segments are shorter towards the base.  I needed to point out that the little branches grow on alternate sides of each node.  I needed to explain how the leaves are grouped together.  I needed to .................................

Segments grew longer as the plant grows taller.

I had to deal with this dichotomy of being compliant and original at the same time.  I thought the best way to do this is by showing the real examples of the bamboo, rather than someone else's work of what a bamboo looks like.   So I took a lot of pictures of bamboo, all the while trying to categorize the characteristics of a bamboo painting.

Branches grow on alternate sides of stem

Bamboo leaves

A live model

These photographs were used as teaching material for my adult students.  For my younger middle-school kids I used an actual plant.  The tactile experience, along with the visual cues, help the younger audience to comprehend the subject matter a little better. 

Sample painting I took to class for middle -school kids

Fortune Birds

I am just playing with words in Chinese.  The pronunciation of "SIX" and "FORTUNE" in the Cantonese dialect is the same.  Hence the Chinese Title of " Fortune Birds Singing" rather than "Six Birds Singing".  After all, who does not desire fortune, especially around New Year's time.

I chanced upon this photo on the net that showed some finches.  I liked the photo because it showed the birds in various attitudes of attention.  The picture claimed no copy right and in fact welcome other users to find good uses for it.

So I decided to arrange the birds on a tree branch.

I wanted to capture more than the different personalities.  I wanted to create a subtle tension... the fact that 5  birds have occupied one section of the branch, and the odd bird is off to the side, trying to assimilate, or lure?

So I produced this sketch as my practice sheet.

I painted in the birds first, and completely finish them before I put the branch in.  This way the tree branch can better hug the birds and minimizes the embarrassment of having to make a sitting bird stand!  As a last  step, I used  the brush wash as a final wash for the whole painting, leaving the center brighter, creating a focus area.    Brush wash is used because it captures the colors that I have used, and would be naturally in tune with the painting.  I intend to mount this in the Xuan-Boo style.  I am trying extremely hard to not crowd the painting by adding flowers or bamboos as commonly done.  I want this to be a simple and elegant painting.  Less is More!

As a post-script, when I finally get to make the frame for this painting, I decided to give it an "antique" look.  The painted frame was sanded down to reveal the primer and bare wood.  I admit that this is gimmicky, but it lends itself pretty well to this occasion.  It only took me 7 months to figure this out.