Chronicle Of Shadows: Coming Full Circle

Forget all the preconceptions of how the painting should look like.  I thought I would take the wait and see attitude.

Since I had memorized the painting now, I knew where everything belonged.  I just wanted to bide my time, follow the basic composition and see how things would develop; by themselves.  I wanted to assume the role of a facilitator rather than a planner.

For this I used the semi-sized Xuan for reasons mentioned before.  I decided to paint with the Je Mo technique.  This translates as the technique of accumulating ink.  The process involved repeated application of ink, sometimes as dry brushes, sometimes as wash and the resulting painting is blessed with intricate depth and intimate details.  I was also hoping that by employing this non-hurried approach, my lines would not be chiseled in stone, but would be a fluid entity and could be modified, revealed or masked as the situation demanded.
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As I said earlier, I was the facilitator this time around.  After the trees were populated, I started to manage which branch would look better as a negative space and which ones needed to be enunciated better.   As I manipulated the background I was constantly changing the position of some of these limbs.  Before I realized it, I was adding hints of trunks and the presence of an orchard in the background.  The execution was almost dream like and I was aware of it, but not noticing.  I tried not to fight it too much.  After all, I could always mask or wash what I deemed bad, but I did not want to discount my vulnerability.

Once I filled the backstage with  muted chatter, I needed the main stage to have a voice too.  This somehow led me to paint in the two paths.  The broad one was in the original painting and survived.  The one in the back was an afterthought.  The kink at the junction added interest to the layout.  It fitted well with the composition.  But then again those need not be paths.  They could be streams too ?  They're whatever you want them to be.

I decided to put the shadows back in, but not entirely, and only in a subdued fashion.   I left the paths clean on purpose.  I suppose this was my way to distinguish this as a painting and not a photographic recollection.

I liked this rendition a lot.  Perhaps it was more endearing to me due to its many distinctive traits of Chinese brush works.  Perhaps I spent so much time evolving with this particular version that we had grown fond of each other.  Perhaps it was the decision to go back to basics.

To chronicle the efforts so far with this subject matter, I've assembled the different versions here

I can't believe I stuck in for so long.    I'm not a persevering person. 

Chronicle of Shadows: continued

After a momentary hiatus I picked up where I left off with my "shadows" project.

I stuck with the semi-sized Xuan, judging that this paper is more forgiving to repeated overlays. I certainly needed that security blanket.  Also the ink would not be an absolute lack, but more like charcoal, and I like that.

To put aside any worries about brushstroke and what not I decided to go for broke.  I picked a brush with broken bristles.  It would not form a tip even when wet and felt more like a broom than a brush.
I proceeded very quickly with the painting.  I could almost do this with my eyes closed now, having done it for so many times in the weeks prior.

I thought the lines flowed rather freely and were quite spirited.  I thought I hiccuped when I got to the shadows, having lost some of that initial ruthlessness. The lines became more calculated and contrived.  Brown was haphazardly slopped onto the paper with my broom to form the horizon.   I don't know if it was the void spaces within the brushstrokes, but this wild, unrefined rendition had a certain sweetness to it.

Since I had my color out, might as well use them.  I avoided getting technical with brushstrokes by not employing them at all.  My next attempt was done using a flat brush, mosaic style.

I didn't even consider the shadows, the foreground. They were not in my cross hair at all.
Interesting.  I did it to let out steam.  And for experimentation, of course. 

Now that I had dealt with my anxiety, it was time to get serious.

The following attempt was done with first painting everything with ink, then covered with Chinese color No.3, Scarlet.

This color overlay on the semi-sized Xuan imparted a mahogany look to the trees.  Most interesting.  I tried to jazz up the painting by doing a charcoal outline of the limbs.  I did this to better define the spatial relationship of the branches and how they interact with each other; who was in front of the other.  I did it also to make the edges of the limbs more interesting.  The brush painted an inherently even keeled swath, even when I tried to mix in side-tip with center-tip.  By outlining using the double Gou technique, I hoped to amend the parallel lines appearance of the brushstroke edges.  I used charcoal because the paper became more sized after each coloring.  Any subsequent brushstrokes would lose their details because the water content from the brush would just sit on the paper, pooling and corrupting the edges.

Other than the technical interests of the painting so far, I still find it un-inspiring.  I was watching a mannequin.  All the right appendages, but lifeless.

I thought I knew exactly what I wanted to paint when I first started this project weeks ago.  Little did I anticipated  the ambivalence I encountered once I laid hands on it.  I was lost.
It was too picture like, too austere, too graphic in appearance, too......   I even tried the minimalistic approach, sort of.  I thought color might bail me out.  Nothing worked.  Somehow I was trapped inside a drain pipe and couldn't find my way out.

Chronicle Of Shadows

I was just strolling around when the shadows from trees caught my attention.

It wasn't even late in the afternoon, yet the shadows were long and interesting.  Intrigued was I.

I finally figured out that I was on the high point of a slope, thus the shadows were casted against the incline, as if it was a cinema screen.  I perceived a strong composition of patterns.  A lattice work of bright and dark, and nothing else.  I wanted to see if I could translate that onto paper.

I chose the raw Xuan as my paper, I thought I could more faithfully record my brushstrokes.  Using the green I had left over on my color dish, I carved out the path that I was on, and tried to describe the slope.

Yes that would work, I uttered to myself.  But it was missing something.  Too realistic perhaps?

I proceeded to simplify things by eliminating certain data points.  I also changed paper.  I used the semi-sized Xuan now.  I thought shape trumps brushstroke details in this case.

All of a sudden the personality changed.  It no longer resembled a photograph.  It was less cluttered  and allowed the viewer to fill in the pieces.  The painting was actually more verbal with less words.

I liked the way I depicted the background, so I wanted to explore further by giving it more structure in the form of more distinct brushstrokes.  I wanted to see if the lines left by the bristles could add to the strong lines presented by the trees.

I was paying more attention to my brushstrokes with the trees now.  I told myself that I was writing and not painting;  all the time being acutely aware of center tip and side tip.  Center tip for the "bone" structure and side tip for the "pose".

I also painted in a wash to help gather the tree shadows, to offer them a stronger directional feel, emerging from yonder and spreading wide pass the viewer.

What would happen if the background was less rigid?  If I used only a scant side tip sweep?

I must had been over-consumed with these thoughts of brush strokes, whether the shadows ( and the branches for that matter) should assume variations in ink tones, if the treatment of the negative space was correct etc that I began to resent the work.  It wasn't my style to paint the same painting repeatedly.  I get bored very easily.  That showed in this attempt.  There really wasn't anything to like in  that painting, and the brushstrokes were especially horrid.

I was actually vacillating between  whether this should be a painting or a wood cut.  I initially thought my first attempt was too "photo" like and was missing that je ne sais quoi quality of a painting. The more I looked at it now, the more I am convinced that this should have been a print, or some sort of a graphic design rather than a painting.  I was beginning to waver about what this piece of work should look like and what my heading should be.  I lost my bearing.

After a few days rest, after my turmoil had subsided just a tad, I tried one more time at this.

I changed the perspective by ridding the vast bottom void space and allow the muted slope line to divide the frame.  I also did away with the shadows, which were my focal point to begin with.  I un-invited my guests of honor. 

I shall digest this for a few days and see what shall come next.

Something Different, Woods

I've done a few pieces using Beaverton Creek as reference.  Perhaps I have grown accustomed to this terrain since I come here often for my walks, or is it something else?  Why do I like this place?

I have a strange notion about our affinity for a particular place, a particular scene, a particular subject matter. 

What motivates one to sketch or take pictures of a particular frame, person or subject matter?  Most of us do not wantonly record anything and everything.   Something has to emotionally appeal to our psyche before our finger is lifted.

I submit that when we take in something, or when something interests us, it is because that something fills our void.  Not just any void.  In other words we have hidden somewhere in our basal ganglia trophy cases destined for various specific collectibles and we might not even know about their existence.  It's like a grand scheme of jig-saw puzzle.  The moment one of these pieces shows up, our brain fires and commands us to capture it.   I believe we sketch or snap pictures to fill our pre-wired circuit board with desired components so we can get that board running.  We in fact already have a picture or painting laying dormant in our head.  We are constantly searching for those pieces of information to complete our grand jig-saw puzzle.  It is as we were given an extensive order list and it is our job to conquer that list. Obviously the reverse can be said.  We are inspired by such events, thus nurturing new ideas and perspectives.   By documenting these tidbits of new information, we expand our repertoire.  I suppose this is like debating whether the chicken comes first or the egg comes first.

So one particular spot in this nature reserve fits in my trophy case labeled "Geometric Lines".
This jig-saw piece has multitude of vertical lines, trees, intercepting the horizontal lines of the path that criss-crosses the woods.  Normally intersecting lines are difficult to handle, especially in Chinese painting, but I find this particular piece exacting.  My challenge is to establish a spatial relationship of these lines so they only appear to intersect on paper but not in space.

That brings up another dilemma.  What I pictured in my mind does not jive with the common notion of Chinese painting.  Contrary to old teachings, shading and lighting will play a vital role in my concoction.  I shall however, stick with the fundamentals of Chinese Brush painting.   My brush, ink, Xuan and calligraphic brush strokes.  I am not going to worry about which pigeon hole I got put in based on the style.  The shackle is off.

I used charcoal to rough in my basic composition.  Blasphemy, some might say.  To which I retorted: Why Not ?   If it helps you, use it !   Some of us have a perfect draft in our head but I'm not one of them.   One strong stand on the left contrasting with weaker ones on the right,  garnished by horizontal lines, depicting the boarded path.  I'll be using an exaggerated perspective to glorify this space, to help one realize the ambience of the woods.

I stepped off the wrong foot from the very beginning.  Instead of mapping the underlying features, I was drawn in by my OCD and started to grow my bush in the foreground.

I extricated myself from that and started afresh.

This time I mixed in some alum with my ink.  My intent was to have any excess alum to leak out as a barrier to subsequent coloring, thus forming a border along each brushstroke.  This renders a boneless style of painting into a boned one, although the outline now is a clear line  instead of a solid ink line.

Using the splash ink technique, I established the features in the background before filling them in with details.

Mixing a little tea with my ink imparts a warmer tone.  I used that to manipulate the different parts of the
painting.

My goal was to create a feeling of being in the woods, where it is cool and sheltered, yet there was sufficient clearing for light to filter through to highlight the paths.  It is these highlighted paths that creates the illusion of depth and draw us into the painting. Again the alum did its job by imparting an aura around some of the branches, as if viewing a back lit photography.

Peony

I was all giddy when I left my friend's house.  I left with a few stalks of peony from my friend's garden. 

I didn't do it surreptitiously; I snipped the specimen with my friends knowledge of course.  I was giddy because I finally had the courage to teach people how to paint from a real object.  Modeling unfortunately is not emphasized at all these days; at least I've only had one teacher that championed that need.  The rest of them was just do as I do.

I have griped about the rote learning practice of Chinese brush painting.   I believe it stifles creativity.  It trained many a craftsman, but few artists.   Many of our teachers were taught that way and saw nothing wrong with it.   If one does A and B, you will get C and D.  Our aspiration was to keep doing A and B until the results of C and D were guaranteed.   I bought into that theory too for quite a while because it is very reassuring.   Repetition brings a semblance of success.  It is difficult to eschew from that practice.

To showcase a deviation from such canned styles, I used an example of a peony painting from Qi Baishi.

Not surprisingly it brought on some rather strong comments.  Not everybody is a fan boy of Mr. Qi.
People in general usually don't have an appetite for his rendition of peony.  However he is so famous and all that I am pretty sure this painting would command an astronomical amount of mula these days.  That brings on another discussion.  Is success measured by how much one's painting is worth?  If not, what defines success?

So this is exactly the dialogue I wanted to strike up with my students.  Should we have enough faith to forge our own styles, like Mr. Qi did and not worry about acceptance, or should we play it safe and follow the rote learning tradition.

I gave myself that challenge with the newly acquired peony cuttings.  I decided to at least show the students how peony is traditionally painted, but challenge them to seek their own paths.  I thought it was a good compromise.  After all we do need to start with the basics.

The way I was taught was to load the brush with titanium white and apply color to the tip of the brush only.  As we roll the brush on paper, we apply copious pressure to the belly of the brush to form the flower petals.  The color part of the brush paints the bottom of the petal, while the white belly takes care of the upper part of the petal.  Layering is achieved by the next round of painting in the petals; the red from the brush tip forms a margin against the white area of the previous brushstrokes.  We are in fact constantly managing the negative space (the white part) by painting in the red margins.

My compromise was to teach students how to paint with the prescribed brushstrokes, but we paint not from memory or a fixed scheme, but from observing the real flower.  We touched the leaves, the stalks, the flower petals.  We tried to acquaint ourselves with the subject matter.

I am attaching a picture of the peony we used.

The resulting paintings look traditional and contemporary at the same time.  I definitely feel that these samples  speak with much energy and is a far cry from the run of the mill pieces one would normally see.  Obviously I am not biased.

The best part of it all was that knowledge had been transferred.  I participated in a small way in the saga of keeping Chinese brush painting alive.

The Last Leg Of My Journey

It didn't take me that long to sense something is not quite right with my last painting.

 

 

The left and right darkest patches at the bottom seemed stoic, to the point of non-participation, I mused.  I suppose the composition fit in the grand scheme of things; the left side being solid and dense, the right side vague and sparse, so it subscribed to the ying and yang notion of Chinese brush. I just wanted to accentuate the left side even more.  I suppose the vertical contrast set the stage for drama.

 

Since I was rather impatient with this observation, it was more the reason for me to approach this with a little discipline, more so than I normally would.

 

I trimmed a few pieces of the same semi-sized Xuan and painted a few alternatives to the left bottom.

This is too much fun; alternative endings!  Is there a Director' cut?  I must be watching too much Blue-rays.

 

Scene I:  Water Grass

 

 



 

Scene II:  Thorny Branches

 

Scene III: Exaggerated Gradient

 

I then pinned these cutlets to my original painting for evaluation.

 

 

The water grass seemed out of place.  Frivolous.  I didn't like this at all.

 

 

 

I was hoping the thorny branches would garnish the theme of pathos. I do like the effect a lot; much better than the water grass anyways, yet the assembly looked odd.  It was as though that part of the painting was speaking a different tongue.  When everything else was sort of soupy, the branches became real pricks.  It definitely brought out the contrast but the feeling was lost in the translation.

 

 

 

Needless to say the exaggerated gradient arrangement received my nod.  The darkened area collaborated much better with the bend and projected  a proper distance perception.

 

Armed with such analysis, I proceeded to my Director's cut!  The last leg of my journey!

 

 





 

Continuing My Journey

So I've been casting glances at my "Journey" painting, the one with the two riders in it.

To say that I didn't like it would be a lie.  I do like it.

 I don't want to label it as being soulful, but it does have that quality of beckoning to your other senses and to explore beyond what is on the paper.  Yet, something was amiss.  I couldn't put a finger on it but I feel the void.  It is like drinking a cup of hot rum cider with a stuffy nose.  You taste the rum alright, but missed the aroma of the hot cider and spice.   When I caught sight of the image on the tube my brain processed it as two travellers on a ride.  What registered was the swath of land and the hazy diffused light.  It could present itself as tranquil, or lost.  The travellers might be taking in the scenery, or just enduring.  Who knows.  

I have to zoom out my lens, and see if I could capture the rest of the vibes.

Why not change the orientation to portrait.

I positioned the river bend at the extreme bottom of the paper, and the sky opened up in a dramatic way.  Now I could immerse in the picture.

 The immense sky was featureless.  It could use some embellishing.  Cirrus clouds, anvil head clouds, flock of birds, high noon are possibilities.  I settled on a mountain peak.

With this format in mind, I embarked on my own journey again, this time to do the painting in a portrait orientation.

I tried to avoid harsh outlines since the overall mood is one of dust and haze.  I needed the distal end of the river to be blended in with the background.   I painted a rider with really loose definition and
rather diffused brushstrokes, trying hard to just evoke a perception, rather than describing  a discrete object.

Unfortunately I failed to eschew old habits and re-defined my riders with added brushstrokes and rendered them too "solid".  Ah, that is another story.

I decided to show 2 reflections in water this time, one for each rider..

Again these reflections were painted on the back of the paper, as the top layer of the paper fiber worked to add that haze filter effect.

For that sepia look I summoned the help of coffee.  Yes, plain old coffee.  No sugar, no cream.
This natural pigment (if  you want to call it as such) has no gum or binder in it, thus it would not fix to the paper fibers.  Any subsequent attempt to rework an area introduced a new wash basin and gradient for the coffee to migrate, and gathered along the edge of the wet area, drying to a interesting stain mark.  I happen to love this effect.  I thought this is coolest way to elucidate a feature with ambiguous contour, in this case , the reflection of river bank in the water.

This pooling and migrating and concentrating of the coffee helped to create cloud like features in the sky.  I left a cone-shaped void to hint the presence of a snow covered peak. 

 

 

 

That distant mountain top helped to seal the perspective of this unforgiving landscape, making the journey of the intrepid riders more daunting.