Two Female Nudes

I came across a black chalk painting by the French artist Aristide Maillol ( 1861-1944 ) .  It was a painting of 2 nude females.  What captured my attention was the impressionistic depiction of the female body with firm bold lines and exquisite light values.  As a fan of photography, I wish my photos could exude those qualities.

I studied the painting for a few weeks, and decided I would try to copy the painting, using my understanding of Gou, Chuen, Ts'a, R'an.  I started out with charcoal sticks on Xuan paper, developing my lines and rubbings with charcoal.   I then used the coffee that I was drinking as a pigment to process the lines and shading, to get that sepia look.     Ink was used to further enhance the  lines and the shaded areas. Raw Xuan paper turned out to be a perfect media for this endeavor.
It took on the charcoal nicely, and by paying attention to the stray (excess) charcoal dust, one can incorporate them into a nice gradient when applying the wash.  The thick lines give thickness to the image and help to bring a 3 dimensional feel to the drawing, as was discussed in how to paint contour lines in my landscape blogs.

 

 

I don't want to merely learn from Aristide Maillol's interpretation of the female body, I also want to exploit the translucent property of the Xuan.  My scheme was not to paint the two bodies together as the original work did, but to paint them on separate pieces of Xuan, and then superimpose the images.  The result is quite interesting.  The two bodies seem to be in different dimensions now, and the conversation between them becomes more intriguing.

 

 

Amending the Tree

Riding on the energy and motivation of finishing the tree project, I decided to add to the 70%.

I tidied up the background with hints of vegetation with scattered brush.  I used these, along with titanium white to soften up the dark patches.  A yellow wash is applied to the whole painting after the Xuan has been thoroughly moistened.  Yellow is a very difficult color to handle, but it think it would coordinate the color scheme and give that impression of filtered light.  Dark green dots are placed along strategic branches to exaggerate the layering. I've also darkened some of the branches to appear more as a silhouette but leave others quite faint, to simulate the effect of squinting into bright light and the edges dissolve.

Finally I re-cropped the painting to give it more of vertical bias.  I think this helped to rationalize the overly long lines of the person's back.   Now I need to figure out a way to move the tree away from the center !

Finishing The Tree Project

With minutes ticking away from the remainder of 2012, I felt like that I needed to put an exclamation mark on at least one of the projects that I have started but never finished.  That thought alone forces me into inactivity!  Yes, I am a pathological procrastinator. Hmm, thought for New Year's Resolution.

I've decided to amp up the tree trunks a bit by giving them more texture and shading.  I played up on the highlights and then "chuen" with a dry brush to give the tree bark more definition.  Again, going back to the 4 steps in brushwork, Gou, Chuen, Ts'a, R'an, each working with complete accord with the others, the result can be quite satisfying.

Here is the finished painting, for now, anyways.  I've been told to stop when the work is 70% finished, thus allowing room for improvement.  I think I've gone too far already, in the zeal of completing something before the new year rolls in.

I had a draft of the image that I wanted to pursue.  In that image, it was supposed to be a huge umbrella of a tree shadowing a tiny human figure to create the contrast and solitude.  I was hoping for having the forceful lines to tell the story.  Obviously I ran away from that premise.  It seemed like the more I dwelt on the painting, the more baroque it became.  Well, perhaps I should explore the simplicity of lines one of these days.  New Year's Resolution number 2!

Ball Point Tree

Kind of dreary outside, with a relentless mist and wind.  There is nothing interesting on the tube and I fumbled through my movies collection and could not find anything worth watching again.

 

So I parked myself in the lot of a Nature Park and saw this tree.  Happened to have a scrap piece of matting board and a ball point pen so I started to draw.  I went over it with some color lead after I returned home.  Kept me occupied for a while.

And we survived 12.21.12 !

Project Tree

The traditional Chinese landscape painting  model would have a cluster of trees, each with a different foliage, to establish spatial relationship.  When you look into the Mustard Seed Garden Manual ( Jieziyuan Huapu ) you'll find pages and pages of methods on painting different foliage, i.e. dots, lines, circles, triangles etc. and methods of painting trees and branches, assigning description such as crab claw, deer antler among other things.  Typically you would see branches and foliage of different species woven together, allowing various degree of obscurity to represent which tree is in front of the other.  Such separation would be more difficult to show in a homogeneous group.

 cluster of mixed trees

When I painted my Multnomah Falls (Multnomah Falls Again blog), I utilized such an arrangement.  We would coin this layout as painting "mixed trees", not that they are the real indigenous species, but are more likely to be fictitious sets. 

Since I was playing with my alum solution again, I decided to experiment with the technique of expressing spatial relationship again.  I wanted to paint just one tree, but the branches themselves have to showcase the perspective.  I have the image of this huge tree in Kowloon Park.  The branches are so huge and convoluted that they actually rest on cement columns  for support.  My challenge is to establish the relative position of the branches without resorting to different foliage.

For this exercise, I was using left over pigments from my dish ( red and blue and yellow ) .  My brush was first saturated with alum solution, then dipped into the color wells.  Ink was added to attain the desired black levels.  The paper I used was a remnant hemp paper ( not the usual raw Xuan ) and this turned out to be less than desirable for this purpose.

    boneless strokes rendered in alum+pigments

                                  

 the back side of image above, white patches are caused by alum

I then flipped the paper over and used the backside as the front of my painting.  I did that to try to exploit the alum solution.   Brush strokes done with alum and pigments would show a minute clear margin around the strokes, and is more prominent on the back side.  This effect is usually quite apparent when using raw Xuan, but did not show up quite as well with the hemp paper.  I suspect the paper is semi-sized to begin with, because the color sits on it for a while before being soaked into the paper.  I used some diluted titanium white along the edges of the brush strokes to mitigate the apparent lack of clear margins.  On the outside of the titanium white, I lined in with ink.  Essentially, I started out with a boneless brushstroke of the branches and then use titanium white and ink as my Gou step (refer to my blog on Gou, Chuen, Ts'a, R'an blog on June 24, 2011).  That was followed by Chuen and Ts'a with the dried belly of the brush to give texture.  The final step was R'an with a wash to add shading.

 ink line outside of margin

 Gou, Chuen, T'sa, R'an

It is important to tread with a light foot (hand) in the Gou step.  The lines need to be loose and do not need to be continuous; try to feel it.  Pay special attention to the junctures where branches cross.   Allow enough spacing to the back branches to give depth ( refer to More Than Just Broken Lines blog on March 29, 2012).  The fatter and lighter imprint of brush strokes from the reverse side of the paper gives a shadow effect to the narrow Gou outlines, giving the branches a more 3-dimensional feel.

 keep the Gou lines loose and spirited            

 fatter imprint from the reverse side adds body

The final product now shows depth, texture and a concrete representation of the location of the different branches.

Creative Use For Alum

Ever look at a distant object through blinds?

You are aware that something is blocking your vision and yet your eyes are still able to focus beyond the impediment.  This is the effect I am trying to create.  I am still attempting  new ways to dress my Canada geese models.  I've settled for that fluted look, and now I wish to explore those vertical lines some more.  I thought of pulling alum from my trick box.

Alum is indispensable for Gonbi style paintings, as well as in preparing mounting starch.  It is a sizing agent.  I am going to exploit this property, akin to using resist in watercolor works.  While its opacity is nowhere near rubber cement, the subtleties it exude is perhaps better suited for the ambiance of  Chinese brush works.

There are debates as to how much, and what kind of glue, or gum, should be mixed with alum as a fixative agent.  For my purpose, I used straight saturated solution of alum.

I painted with alum on a piece of blank Xuan a matrix of tree trunks and branches  Think of woods after being sprayed with Agent Orange and you get the picture.  After this is dried thoroughly, I began my normal painting procedures.  As the painting evolves, white streaks will show up acknowledging the prior application of alum.  The opacity of these streaks depends on the type of Xuan and the color and  transparency of pigments used. 

ink on back of Xuan                

front view, ink fixes selectively

To make these streaks more interesting, I turned over the Xuan and applied ink at desired locations.
The effect I was trying to create was a foggy landscape concealing the true color of part of the trees.
When viewed from the front now, the white streaks representing tree branches are now black, but with white edges showing, as if encased in frost.  This technique allows one to be as Xieyi as one wishes (the big picture) and yet upon close examination, there are small details that are provoking.  Thus one can see the forest and feel the trees, or vice versa, feel the forest but see the trees.

 Green 3 Label        

To go along with this plot of sensing but not seeing, I used some Green 3 Label to dress up the vegetation in the foreground.  For the most part the brush strokes disappears in the dark landscape, but occasionally one catch a glimpse of the intense bright color of the Green 3 Label.  It also added a subtle green sheen to the landscape.

 Wet wash

 

 when dried

Further adjustment with a purple brown color was made to transition the dark and bright areas better and less blotchy.  I moistened  down the affected areas thoroughly before applying my blending brush strokes.  For this exercise, the retouched areas will look very dark and intense.  It will dry to a much light scale, so experience definitely helps.

finished product

Xuan-Boo Behind The Scene

I added another painting to my arsenal for the upcoming school bazaar. 

This is a pretty generic Chinese brush painting of the Xieyi, Birds genre.  A colorfully perched bird on lotus stalk, with a lotus bud as background, and a hint of pond grass to occupy the corner.  A rather non interesting painting, but one that is easy to digest and possesses all the proper "Asian" flavor and tend to be popular with the average visitor.

I decided to mount this painting a la Xuan-Boo style, for ease of display and handling.

It has been 18 months since I announced Xuan-Boo on my blog.  This is a process of mounting the painting of Xuan on canvas.  The finished product can be displayed as a canvas and shows the texture of the canvas.  It is my way of presenting a traditional art form in a more contemporary, western format.

   spreading starch                                        

 

The Xuan-boo process involves all the skills and patience of the traditional Xuan on Xuan.  For such small pieces, the first step is to spread the glue (starch) onto the canvas using a wide, stiff brush.  This brush is normally used on the back of the painting; not only to spread starch, but to brush out air bubbles and creases in the wet Xuan.

notice vertical crease extending from bottom of bird's foot, also parallel lotus bud

smooth surface after brushing out creases and air pockets, top overhang margin tacked to the side of frame.

Next we place the Xuan onto the canvas with the starch applied.  We do this with the help of a narrower, but stiff brush.  This is a crucial step where patience and skill is of utmost importance.  The Xuan gets waterlogged and tears easily when wet with starch.  We are not allowed the luxury of repeatedly peeling off and repositioning the Xuan to take out creases or air bubbles.  The brush has to be handled in a gentle yet firm fashion to lay the Xuan flat on the canvas with minimal crease ridges and air pockets.

After the flat surface is secured to our satisfaction, and the overhanging sides of the Xuan is wrapped onto the sides of the canvas frame, we turn the canvas over onto our fleece pad and use a very stiff  palm tree fibre brush to tap and press onto the back of the canvas.  This is to insure a secure bonding of the Xuan with the canvas.

The mounted canvas is now left to air dry and this process takes 3 to 5 hours depending on humidity.
The slower the drying process, the better the tightening (flattening) effect and the resulting canvas has a taut surface with good texture reveal.

Lastly a coating of gel medium  is applied to protect the surface and to further bring out the color depth.

before mounting                       

 

 

after mounting, brings out color

Mounting is an important, integral part of traditional works done with Xuan.  Amongst other things, it brings out the white balance of the painting.  By looking at the before mounting and after mounting pictures, one can appreciate the subtle, but definite difference in the white balance and the vividness of the image (look at the 2 blue stain dots in the upper left quadrant).   I know this person who wants to be a fast track artist, who was too cheap to learn the proper way of mounting, was trying to mount with raw flour because flour was used in the conversation and the wrong assumption was made.   So learn to mount Xuan properly or pay to have that done for you.  It will pay you back a hundred fold.

Yes this is rather labor intensive.  Next time we pay for a piece of Chinese brush painting, do take into account the time and finesse required by this procedure.