Pouncing Tiger

Chinese New Year is fast approaching and the zodiac animal for the new year will be a tiger.

I want to attempt a tiger that has vigor and might, not one that is leisurely roaming in bamboo groves.  I have an image of a fierce tiger with outreached menacing paws pouncing towards the viewer.

I am going to be using the same Xuan paper with golden flakes that I received as a gift.  I used that for my last painting project and I loved it.  I believe the golden flakes will be most appropriate for the occasion and it saves me from sprinkling my own glitter onto the painting. 

I trim off the corners of a square piece of paper to make it appear more roundish. I am using a saucer as my template for the corners. My painting is going to be set in a rectangular frame and I do prefer the contrast of a rectangle and a circle.  I am a subscriber to the ethos of a round heaven and a square earth.  My pouncing tiger with its tail and extended paws shall require some length, so I shall paint my tiger diagonally on my paper.

I am starting with the tail, seemingly the easiest part of the body to paint.  Traditional Chinese brush painting techniques generally are divided into two major styles, that on Xieyi and Gongbi.  Xieyi literally means to write with expression and typically relies on the nuances of brushstrokes for form and expression.  Whereas Gongbi means crafty brush and relies on meticulous lines with filled in color to achieve the painting, and is more regimented.  Having said that, many Chinese brush paintings incorporate a combination of both styles and techniques; a typical landscape painting comes to mind.

I will confess to being sort of a renegade and do not adhere to such strict doctrines and like to do what comes naturally, doodling!  I don't even mind the derisive comments for my sometimes reliance on sketched outlines.  Loading my brush with light ink and burnt sienna and painted the tail.  Bands of dark drier ink is added after the tail dries.

The two lone brushstroke gives the tail a 3-dimensional appearance.  

My tiger painting needs the paws of the tiger to demonstrate vigor so I am paying special attention to give them realism.  Rubbing with a dry ink brush helps to render texture to the callused pads under the paw.  Distinct outlines with the frayed brush delineate the exposed nails.

The head of the tiger actually is easier than one might think to paint.  As long as the position of the eyes and nostrils are correct, the rest will gel itself since the stripes will hide any mistakes and help to personify and validate the species.

The brush is now loaded with burnt sienna and cinnabar to form the body of the beast.

The tiger comes to life once the whiskers and camouflage stripes are painted.

This golden flaked Xuan does not enjoy heavy coloration; the binders in the color forms stiff patches on the paper and causes the paper around the colored area to buckle and crease.  This is what happens when I try to iron out the warping,

Thus this leaves me no choice but to wet mount the painting onto a regular Xuan backing, as I do with most of my other works

So the tugging and pulling during the drying process eliminates the warping!  Now I can either frame it or mount it onto canvas or wood board and the painting shall be flat as a runway.  

16 vestal virgins all accounted for

 Now that I have all my 16 Vestals assembled, I have the painting pinned on my wall to begin my self critique.

The first thing that comes to mind is that the painting somehow lacks the drama that I am looking for.  Perhaps this has to do with the way the painting was worked up, each pose at a time over a period of months and therefore missing is the continuity.  I feel that there needs to be some cohesiveness to bring this scattered lot together; for this painting to gel.  Perhaps the message in the painting is not obvious and people see trees instead of the forest.  I would be clueless too.

Because there are so many characters in this composition that I have fabricated, I am labelling my models with numbers so that I can assume the role of the Miller and tell my tale.

No.1  This girl has her back to the light, and to the group.  She is obviously enjoying herself, not fazed              by the impending perils.  Perhaps in denial.

No.2  The elephant in the room is that she seems to have grown a third leg.  In my haste of painting                  some shading I have grafted another limb onto her.  She also seems to be in a jovial mood, sort                of mirroring her friend in front of her, with her legs pointing at opposite directions to make the                composition more interesting.

 No.3 She is in direct contrast with model No.1, with her back turned towards the audience and                          receiving the full light value.  Her hips and exaggerated buttocks are the obvious points of                        interest.  The  downward curvature of this model also contrasts with the upward arch of the hips              from her neighbor.  She seems to be luring the viewer with her coyness and playful feet.

No.4   She sits upright with a perfectly straight back and an open gesture, albeit a little standoffish. She             is open to what's going on, while standing her ground nonetheless.  She is not ready to succumb               to other people's faults.

No.5   I've decided that she is the protagonist of the tale.  She is the reason why the vestal virgins are                 leaving.  Look closely and one can see that she is bearing a child.  Vestal virgins are supposed to             be priestesses who take a vow of chastity for 30 years.  For them to break celibacy during their                 priestesshood means they shall receive the punishment of being buried alive.  She is seen here                 humiliated by her predicament, and reaching out to No.6 to seek counsel and sympathy.

No.6  She appears to be sitting on No.7, for the convenience of posing.  She has both her hands under                her chin, perhaps nonchalantly amused by the accounts and pleas from No. 5.

No.7  This Vestal virgin is seen examining and fiddling with her sieve.  It is believed that aside from                  enjoying many privileges bestowed upon them by the Roman state, Vestals also possess magical              power, one of which is to render a sieve not leak water.  Thus the Vestal virgin here is trying to                find out if her magical power is still intact.  Why would she question her magical power now?                  Because one or more of her peers violated the vow of celibacy.

No.8  She is just a naïve Vestal failing to comprehend the doom of group.  I've painted her arm too                    long, forcing the issue of placing her hand near the feet of No.8, playing a game.

No.9  This is a person who fully understands the plight of the cabal she's part of.  She is aware that the              group is condemned to die.  She is curled up in a fetal position, withdrawn from the world, even              as the rest of the group is trying to find a way out by pleading their case.

No.10 This Vestal is trying to plead the case to sympathetic listeners.  She tries to capitalize on her                      inviting gesture.  Her legs are so tightly crossed that she has to support her body with her left                  arm while making her silhouette appear more diminutive.

No.11 Pounding on the floor with clenched fist tells a story of frustration and hopelessness, as the                       Vestal learns of her fate, not by her own doings necessarily, but by association.

No.12 Whereas nothing bothers this happy soul.  Enjoy this moment while I can is her mantra.

No.13 This Vestal has not given up hope, even as she learns her fate.  With her flung back hair and                     raised chin, she is seen looking up and far away, perhaps visualizing a different outcome to her                 imminent demise.  There is a possibility the group can abscond in time to escape death.

No.14 This Vestal is seen watching No.7 with intense anticipation, clutching her cover.  Why does she               need a cover now; has she lost her innocence too?  Is that the reason why she is so concerned                   about whether the magical power of holding water with a sieve is still intact?  Is she also guilty               of breaking the vow of celibacy?  My first lesson in drawing at college was to draw a draped                   curtain.  I wish I had paid better attention and studied how to draw the pleats.

No.15 "What are you looking at?" as this Vestal confronts the accusers with flared arms resting on her               hips.  Or is that a gesture of denial?  Perhaps this is her way of dealing with adversity, especially             one brought on not by her own indiscretion.  

No.16 A desperate call for help, for sympathy, dragging herself across the floor with an arm outreached.             Or was she desperately trying to leave the group, thus avoiding condemnation?

The above is a synopsis of how I arrived at the painting, and my way of describing the gamut of emotions the 16 Vestal virgins display when facing the threat of death, because apparently one of them has irrefutable proof that she violated the agreement of being a Vestal virgin.  The spectrum of emotion spans from failure to comprehend, to denial, anger, bargaining, retreat and acceptance.  This project has given me ample opportunities to day dream and fantasize a bit.

The outreached hand

I am getting ready to install the final member of my cast of 16 vestal virgins.

I am fixated by the phrase "one of the sixteen vestal virgins who were leaving for the coast" and I have sort of developed a narrative for this painting that I am attempting, hoping to identify the reason why these vestals are leaving.  Therefore I need to instill some notion to signify that they are leaving.

I am assigning this role to this last member.  I am painting her propping her torso up with one arm and reaching out with the other.  I suppose one can interpret that as crying out for help, or she is in the act of crawling away and seeking consolation at the same time.

 

I am depicting her with her hair strewn down in front of her bare shoulders to add to that distressed, demented appearance.  I believe I have watched one too many horror psycho movies. 

The out screeched phalanges add drama and movement to the figure, and they are in direct contrast to the obscured fingers from the other hand.

I am quite enamored with the vibes emanating from the simple silhouette so I have decided to leave this vestal alone and not to adorn her with too many wavy lines. 

In my mind at least, this last member of the assembly gives some reference to the word "leaving".

The fetal position

I have been developing a story line as my painting project is underway.  As I am approaching the finish line of this project, I am getting a more succinct mental picture with regards to all the little subplots.  

The next model I am inserting will serve two purposes.  Primarily to tell my story, but also to help conceal the grease stains that I inadvertently left on my wool under-pad and wicked through my paper.

Her role is portray someone who is under deep duress and is in a situation that one cannot abscond from.  She resorts to curling up in a fetal position with her back to her cohorts.  She is alone in a crowd.  She feels forsaken.  

Unlike the last model whose face is absent, I am describing her face, hopefully hinting at her current state of disposition. 

The confrontation

 My plan is to insert a model occupying the middle part of the Xuan paper.  The pose I have in mind is model standing on her feet with arms on her hips.  A rather standard pose.

Initially I want to place her next to the model with the raised head.  I decided against that after I reassessed the composition.  My painting already has a model looking outwards with a half raised poise.  I am therefore obliged to leave the area of her gaze empty.  In other words an imaginary cone is placed in front of her eyes and nothing should violate that cone.  That is restricted airspace.  A no fly zone.

I therefore relocate my intended model next to the one with a cover draped on.  I have allowed plenty of room for both models to muse and ponder and not get into each other's hair.  Literally.  

So the face of the model is left out on purpose.  I want to leave some ambiguity as to which direction is the model is looking towards.  At first I want to have the model looking at the head-half-raised model as if to address her but then I think it would be a little too smug, especially considering the body language.  

My standing model has her arms on her hips, conferring a savvy, not easily backing down persona.  She might as well be confronting someone outside the group, or being defensive about something.

One of the sixteen

 "one of the sixteen vestal virgins

  who were leaving for the coast"

That is part of the lyric of  "A Whiter Shade of Pale", the song that motivated me in doing this painting.

I still cannot grasp the meaning of the song, despite my research on the Miller's tale and the Vestal virgins.  Regardless, the song mentions one of the sixteen, and collectively they were leaving.  So what makes this "one" deserving special mentioning?

For this "one" to stand out, I am going to fabricate my own protagonist for this painting.   She must appears to be different from the other fifteen.  My decision is that she should be covered, partially at least.

She would be trying to cover herself  up with a piece of cloth, while leaving her shoulders and knees exposed. 

I am placing her gaze in the direction of the vestal who is fiddling with the sieve.

My rationale for doing that is I want to involve the vestal with the sieve into the group dynamics.  She might be totally occupied with the sieve but she is not alone.  I am developing a story line which I shall divulge near the end of the painting.  For now let's just play along with my plot and acknowledge that her efforts are not unnoticed.  The vestal with the cloth is watching her intently with certain resignation, by covering up,  as if to prepare for a certain outcome.  Why does she need a security blanket all of a sudden?   Could she have, as in the Garden of Eden, eaten the forbidden fruit, lost her innocence and knows shame now?  What is her emotional state? 

Then I look at my painting of the model who is looking up towards the outside of the assembly.  

All of a sudden I am catching an optical illusion.  My intention was to paint the model with the pose of her left arm by the side and extending her right arm forward at an angle.  But when I glance at the painting, it is as if the model is crossing her left arm in front of her chest and resting on her right shoulder.  Once my brain is imprinted with that suggestion, it is difficult for me to interpret any other way.  This is almost like a brain tease that one sees from time to time, whether one sees a rabbit (by seeing the void) or one sees the silhouettes of trees surrounding the void.

For now I am not going to deal with this conundrum.  In a way I think this is really wicked.  It forced me to give pause and ponder.  Is that her elbow or her breasts.  Perhaps I shall let the viewers do the same.

Four new recruits

Now that I have the front row and middle seats filled with vestals, I am looking the fill in the side aisles.  

I surmise I have enough space for 4 models to occupy the left side of the painting.

I am going to paint all four of them and not to wait for the completion of each individual models.  Perhaps I want to have some continuity in my thoughts, or could it be that I am actually getting a little weary over this project.

For this arrangement, I have the top model flat on her back, as if nothing worries her, and having a profite de l'instant attitude.

In contrast the vestal directly below her is doubled over, clenching her fist as in frustration.  I am keeping what I've learned from Chinese painting about contrasts, in form, in density and in meaning.  I am hoping that the viewer will explore the hidden meaning of this painting.  The Ying Yang as you call it.  If all else fails, at least I am secretly rejoiced that I am interpreting and expressing some kind of a notion.

The model to the left of her has an open gesture, as if to appeal or to offer an explanation.  The fact that she has her legs crossed and clamped down signals that she is trying to make herself appear more streamlined and diminutive, making herself more appealing, less confrontational. 

The fourth member of this new recruit team is on her knees crawling over to another vestal who has her leg legs stretched out.    I find the placement of this model tricky.  My first sketching inadvertently placing her outreached hand between the legs of the other model.  The implication of that is rather dubious.  I placate the critic in me by placing her hand behind the legs.

Upon closer examination I become aware of another inadvertent quagmire.  In my haste, I had an impulsive moment to paint some shadows.  I wouldn't exactly call that prosaic, but I did it without much thought or planning, lacking in discipline.

The consequence of such an act renders my model with the appearance of having 3 legs.

In fact I have difficulty deciphering which one is not a leg.  Oh boy!

There is a saving grace for this painting so far however.  The brushstrokes in the top model display such raw energy.  It is true that I try to attain the same virtuosity with all my brushstrokes but this particular model allows the brushstrokes to showcase their own nuances.  I don't know if it has to do with her pose, but all the lines seem to add up and my brush just traverses on its own.  No going over or correction is necessary.  Thus I decide to let this stand as it is, without the same garnishment of fine white lines etc. that all the other models received.  I feel that I had practiced perfect calligraphy.

This particular figure perhaps helps to address the elephant in the room, "What does this painting have to do with Chinese brush painting".  Here I take liberty in interpreting "Chinese brush painting", and by that I mean painting done with a Chinese brush, and not in the narrow context that the painting has to exhibit the stereotypical image of a classical Chinese painting.  Thus the girl's top thigh is done with a center tip brushstroke with the "tips" hidden for round ends.  The bottom thigh is another center tip brushstroke that extends beyond the waist, with rotating brush shaft at the buttock, such that the brush tip is always following the direction of the brush travel.  Areas that have ink is "written" in and not filled in or smeared in as in a coloring book.  One can say that the entire body is made up of  adjoining brushstrokes as in writing.  So here I am trying to extoll the virtues of the Chinese brush and point out some of the nuances.  Am I being didactic?

A most fortuitous happening for sure.