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20 Jan

Adaptations of West & East

These past few weeks I have done quite a bit of painting – and painting when I should be doing other things! And one of the things I have been doing is trying to figure out ways in which it may be possible to create a quality in a painting done using western materials.

The absorbent paper, and other papers of Japan, China, and Korea are not readily available in the U.S. Mounting the very thin papers is a challenge. Traditional methods of wheat paste are difficult, and until the method is perfected, the artist can lose a lot of work if not careful. In Japan and China, there are shops to do the mounting for you – not so here. Other methods for mounting include using a framer, but the framer may not be able to get rid of the wrinkles for you. Dry mounting, using silicone release paper, such as used in photography mounting, may work, but even that can be risky – the wrinkles may still be there, or the adhesive may catch another part of the painting if you are not careful.

Western watercolor paper comes in rough, cold press, and hot press. Yupo is a Japanese synthetic paper, but sumi ink and gansai rinse away under running water. Thus, it seems, that the ideal is to somehow re-create the absorbent quality as best as possible using western papers.

The quality of xuan and tissue-thin sulfite papers is one of both absorbency and ability to portray each brush stroke. Dry brush is easy enough on western paper. But that absorbency? How to achieve that?

The key – or at least what seems to work – is to keep the paper damp, so the color or ink is drawn into the paper fibers – but not so wet that it blurs out, unless I want a wet-in-wet technique.

This painting of bamboo is done on Fabriano 100% Cotton Cold Press paper. First, it was masked off with drafting tape onto a board, and then a layer of water was lightly brushed over the surface, and then a pale wash of lemon yellow added.

As in traditional sumi-e, the idea was to paint without outline, and to create a focused, yet spontaneous, painting. The shape of the bamboo stalks was considered, and painted without the drawing of outlines. The brush was pushed onto the paper, or paused in areas. I touched the paper to assess its dryness or dampness, and waited for more drying to occur, or added water as needed. To get the color gradations, I loaded my brush with pale-medium-dark paint, but at times I helped it along by adding color on the edges of the stems, or lifting as necessary. The result seems to have been successful.

With Arches 140# Hot Press paper, the technique is similar, but the smaller the sheet (as in the small size for ACEOs), it becomes apparent that the paper can warp more easily the wetter it becomes. Weighting down the finished product seems to help, and so does ironing!

These next pictures were done on ACEO-sized Arches. For the maple leaves, the background was given a very light wash of yellow, and then, as you can see, a wet-into-wet technique done with the branch on the far right. It has a very soft effect. The lighter leaves were painted first and allowed to become nearly dry before the darker leaves were added. Brush movement of pushing down, or turning and lifting, were done to create the shapes of the leaves as well as for the tiny maple seeds. Overall, fairly successful.

The plum tree below is also done on an ACEO-sized sheet of Arches 140# Hot Press. Here, the effort to utilize the damp paper succeeded to a degree. I did load my brush with successive levels of ink, light to dark, but I did not succeed in its showing up. Perhaps the paper needed to be a bit dryer than it was, as the ink shades all blurred to create one shade. Still, the final result was not too bad.

I think that with more practice I might be able to achieve the effects I want, but it will take analysis and experience. In the meantime, I am trying – still! – to master the mounting of xuan with silicone release paper.

Posted in Brush Strokes, Creating a Picture, Materials, Thoughts by: Naomi
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04 Jan

Lines

There is something so inherently interesting about lines. Outlines. Lines of color. Lines leading into the distance. Lines of a car. Lines of a leaf. Ink lines. Paint lines. The swoop of telephone lines alongside the road.

A brush can express a line, which in turn, expresses something else. A line can be straight. A line can curve. A line can undulate. A line can be created without a change of pressure on the brush, or changing the angle of the brush. Or, it can be created with movement and pressure.

Lines can be used to enhance the sense of something, such as the veins in a leaf. Or give a subtle – and not so subtle – sense of a shape, by outlining it.

Coloring books have lines, too, and good kids stay inside the lines, and are tidy.

Lines can say many things. Yet, a part of me rebels against lines. “The shortest distance between two points is a line.” Is it?

Lines can contain. Lines delineate. Lines define.

Lines express. Lines move beyond the seen, on into infinity, leading the imagination to the unknown, leaving the mind to fill in what is expressed – the experience becomes unique to the person, the imagined is more real than that which is seen.

Lines can be broken. Lines can be solid. Lines can be heavy or light or medium in density, or gradated by the addition of color or more ink.

Any brush stroke, long or short, is a line. What is on that brush becomes an experience on paper, the process of loading ink or paint, choosing the angle of the brush, the tip, the pressure. Paper determines if the paint or ink runs and bleeds, or sits on the surface to be slowly absorbed by the fibers. Is the paper sized? Unsized? Has it been moistened or not?

A line. Not so simple.

Posted in Brush Strokes, Creating a Picture, Thoughts by: Naomi
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09 Dec

The Moon

A recurrent theme in many Japanese scrolls is the moon in its different phases – new, quarter, gibbous, full. In many cultures, depicting the new, crescent moon or the full moon are common, but only in the Japanese culture have I ever seen the moon depicted almost full – waxing or waning.

This week I have looked at many pictures of the moon and tried to imitate them. Drawing that moon with a brush stroke or two is a lot harder than it looks – and that includes round, partly full, and crescent! It is hard to get it “just right” (to quote Ms. Goldilocks). Follows are a few endeavors with traditional themes of bamboo and plum.

Posted in Symbols, Thoughts by: Naomi
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02 Dec

Time, Painting, and Ideas

It has been nearly three months since my last entry. The reason? Just far busier than I thought I would ever be when I took on a teaching position! Work morning, evening, weekends. And the result is little if any time for writing or creativity. But, despite that, the need to be creative is there. Lost sense of self – nothing with which to relate on an internal basis that gives the same satisfaction as painting. While I love teaching, I love the solitude of painting more.

In August I set up a seller’s account on eBay, and much to my surprise and pleasure, I have been selling at least one picture a week. Given that prior to this I have sold nearly nothing, nor even tried, this foray has helped me focus, even if only on little things. Those little things are called ACEOs, which stands for “art card editions and originals,” or something like that. These are cards that measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches. I have tried a number of different card stock, and finally have decided I like the ones that have been cut from Arches 140# hot-press watercolor paper. While this paper is not like the xuan paper I use in my Chinese painting class, nor the paper from Japan, despite its sizing, it actually is proving to be a wonderful way to paint and learn. The Arches is very smooth.

I have painted off and on in watercolor for many years, but once I took up sumi-e, it was out the window. However, the fact is, mounting Asian papers, such as the xuan or “rice” paper from Japan is a chore. Wet mounting using wheat paste and alum (wallpaper paste) is time consuming and messy, and risky as well. Dry mounting can be done, but framers are not used to the thinness of the papers, and the result was heart-breaking at times. Wrinkles everywhere! Finally, using a number of techniques, the framer and I have managed to create a relatively wrinkle-free product. More on that below.

For now, though, I think a few pictures of the ACEOs I have created and auctioned on eBay would be fun to show. And, if you are curious as to where to find me on eBay, it is pretty simple: art-of-ink. Here are some of my auctions.

The above are all 2.5 x 3.5. Below – having by now, three months later gotten more confident – are larger pictures done on 7 x 10 Arches hot-press paper – and sent to the auction block.

My confidence grew with the completion of the bamboo painting on the Arches paper. While the gradations of the bamboo trunks lacks the subtlety of the Asian papers, it does show its potential. I need to adapt to it. Painting into wet paint in slow layers seems to be the key – this, and allowing the paint to slowly disperse over the wet surface. Another finding is that dry brush – flying whites – can be accomplished fairly easily. The picture below illustrates this technique to some degree.

For now, continuing to work on 140# Arches seems to be a good idea. Not only is the paper a beautiful paper, it is not a paper I have to pay to mount. With practice, I think I will be able to do a fairly good approximation of the results I like on xuan – not the same, but similar. The chrysanthemum below is xuan paper, and dry mounted to foam board. There are some wrinkles, but nothing I think to be
detrimental to the picture.

Here is a photo taken with the sun at a low angle – late afternoon – to show the wrinkles. In daylight, upright, they are barely noticeable.

And finally, here are some plum or cherry blossoms on a heavier Japanese paper, dry mounted on foam core.

So, this is what I have been doing. Hopefully I will not be so long in writing! And, if anyone who has followed my link here from eBay or Auctiva, I hope you will come back. And, if you have boughten some of my paintings, thank you!

Posted in Thoughts by: Naomi
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03 Sep

Fundamentals of Orchid Painting – Notes from The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, ii

Flower Petals, Flower Stems, and “Dotting the Heart”

Petals & Stems

According to The Mustard Seed Garden, each flower should have five petals. The smaller, narrow petals curl and the larger ones are broad and straight.Stamens are indicated by dark dots of ink. When the flowers face the viewer, the dark dots are in the center. When the flower is viewed from the back, the stamens are seen on either side of the middle petal. When stamens are on the side, the flower is being viewed from the side.

As illustrated above, the flowers are in different positions – facing toward you, away from you, as well as to the side. In addition to different positions, the flowers are also seen in different degrees of development, from new flowers to older ones more fully opened.

Painting the orchid petals is a lot more difficult than it looks! A written description is not the best, but let me try:

Hold the brush upright,filled with light to medium ink.

If starting at the center of the flower, start with very gentle pressure, and then increase it slowly as you curve the brush a little, to curve the petal. Near the end of the petal, raise the brush up, and back over the petal you have just painted.

If starting at the the end of the petal and moving toward the heart of the flower, begin with pressing down and then curving toward the center, raising the brush as you move until the tip glides up off the paper in a gentle arc. You may want to retreat a little over the narrow part as you lift your brush.

Painting the stems is rather like dancing the waltz – a dip, a sway. If you look at the picture above, you will see that the stems have a bit of a bulge at either end. This is done with an upright brush put straight down on the paper, a little pause before moving it, and then a slight pause with light pressure at the end before lifting the brush from the paper. Do it to the beat of a waltz – a one, two, and a three – or to the equivalent of ONE (push brush down) two (pause and begin lifting brush and moving toward the end of the stem) THREE (push down, and lift, retreating over the painted area).

The fact is, describing how to use a brush for sumi-e is difficult. The only way to do it. If you have never taken a class where you can watch the instructor, the next best thing can be a video. There are a lot of good videos on You Tube and elsewhere on the net. Here are a few that came up when I put in “orchid painting” on Google, and chose video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGEhd86Y1SY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uldWpibbNOI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd_HfFnNyV4

In particular, this one is good for how to paint the flowers themselves:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gipDMvy1xKk

The painter is listed in YouTube as “yanghaiying” if you care to do a search for her.

Dotting the Heart

To “dot the heart” of the orchid is to bring the flower to bloom. To do this, dark ink is used. A brush that is relatively dry is also best, as then the ink will not bleed into the brush’s bristles nor onto the paper. Waiting until the petals have dried also helps.

To create the stroke, I begin with the brush upright, push the tip down gently, and then curve and lift the bush up at the same time. Observe some videos to see how the artist moves the brush – and watch it over and over to observe the movement of the artist, how the brush bristles are manipulated, how the brush is turned. Be patient – that little flick! is tricky! Once you accomplish that, you will be able to create some incredibly beautiful dots.

As can be seen in the above picture, there are all kinds of dots. Some begin with downward pressure, rise and push down again. Others are a dot, with a flick and a turn. Some curve, some are straighter, some are dots which are curvy – pressure and a turn – before the brush is slowly lifted up from the paper and turned as it leaves.

Just remember – it takes practice. People don’t “just paint”! Practicing all these little steps, leaves, petals, dots, and lines will give you the skill, knowledge and dexterity to create a seemingly simple painting.

Putting all these steps together will give you a lovely orchid!

Posted in Brush Strokes, Practice, Thoughts by: Naomi
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02 Sep

Fundamentals of Orchid Painting – Notes from The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, i

“In learning to write, one begins with simple characters made up of a few strokes and proceeds to complicated characters with several strokes. In the same way, in learning to paint flowers, one begins with those with few petals and proceeds to those with many petals, from small leaves to large, and from single stems to bunches. Each division of subject matter is classified here so that beginners may learn them thoroughly, not only beholding them with their eyes but retaining the impressions in their minds.” (p. 323, Sze, The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, 1963 The Bollingen Foundation).

There is a long tradition in painting the orchid in Asian art, and, according to The Mustard Seed, the painting of the leaves is of primary importance as the entire painting of the orchid is dependent on the execution of the leaves.

Strokes to be learned are the “nail end” stroke, the “rat’s tail” stroke, and the “belly of the mantis.”

Compositional elements include “eye of the phoenix” and “breaking the eye of the elephant.” Additionally, there is a need to understand the growth pattern of the orchid so that one may express in a stroke or two the way in which leaves wrap around the base of the orchid, as well as how the leaves form a sheath for the roots.

Leaves should cross, overlap, bend, and raise, yet “never repeat in a monotonous manner” (p. 325). Correct portrayal of orchid leaves, to show distinction between varieties, is extremely important.

Most of us will easily paint leaves left to right, but of equal importance is being able to paint them as dexterously right to left. Observation of how a plant grows upward, downward, how leaves twist and turn is all vital to successful painting. Reality and the artistic aesthetic may conflict, but the spirit of the plant is the essential component.

To paint these leaves, load your brush with light, medium, and then tip with dark ink. Hold your brush upright, and then pretend you are a leaf blowing in the wind. Your arm flows with the breeze, up and down, sideways right and left. The leaf then is painted – narrow, fat, rising up to the sky, and down to touch the earth.

To me, that is perhaps the most difficult element of a painting – the spirit, or chi. And yet, when I finally begin to connect with a plant, and a painting, the painting comes alive before my eyes. I can feel the leaves as they move in the wind. I can smell the fragrance of the flower. More, I can feel the energy of the entire plant, and my imagination moves beyond my senses and merges with more than the plant, more than the world, more than my mind’s eye – there is an altogether other world where everything merges and becomes more real than reality.

Posted in Brush Strokes, Practice, Thoughts by: Naomi
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26 Aug

Water Birds

Water birds – wading, fishing birds – are a common theme in many Asian paintings. These include cranes, herons, egrets. There is something incredibly beautiful and fierce about these birds.

Seeing these birds is an incredible experience. When I was a student at UC Santa Barbara, my dormitory looked out over the lagoon. Great Blue Herons nested in the eucalyptus trees. One day, an escaped pink flamingo began living in the water! Hiking in the Matilija Creek area of Ventura County, I sat down and suddenly, within inches of my head, whoosh! – out flies a heron! Egrets wade in the marshy areas of local rivers.

Imagine yourself as one of these birds. Suddenly, your legs bend forward at the knee, not backward. You don’t have hands. You have long, wide wings, with feathers rippling out from the sides of your body as you bring them forward. Your nose is now long, longer, longer . . . how long is a bill? Is it a bill or a beak? And your nose is also your mouth – snap! A fish, a frog for dinner. And then, there is your neck. Long and undulating, suddenly your head is able to turn to look behind you, it goes up and down a long distance (certainly longer than mine!). And eyes on either side of your head, not looking out in front of you. How does it affect your vision? Lack of depth but awareness of movement?

Take a walk in your new bird body . . . feel how your shoulders hunch, how your wings expand, how you walk in the water . . . expand the crest on your head, fluff your feathers . . . launch yourself into the sky like a rocket, stand still and then, faster than can be seen, snatch your fish from the creek. How do your claws feel as they dangle when you walk, when you come in to land, when you launch from your nest in the reeds? What do you see around you? Leafy trees, swamp grasses, other birds. What do you hear? Rain on water? Wind in the trees? What do you feel when the wind rustles your feathers or rain pours off your back?

Photos are incredible resources for studying birds. There are many public domain sites from which photos can be copied. The snowy egret above came from the digital library system of the US Fish & Game site: http://images.fws.gov/. Take a look . . . imagine . . . think about how your brush can create a feather, catch a movement. What shades of grey? White? Ink only?

Posted in Thoughts by: Naomi
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19 Aug

Line & Color, vii

The Final Pictures

The final decision was to attempt to darken the middle flower and create more light / dark contrast. Don’t think it works. The other choice was to move from more warm at the base of the painting to cooler on top. Washes of yellows and yellowy-pinks went in, from bottom to top. Purple-blues were overlaid the very top flower.

To a degree, I think this warm-to-cool saves the painting, but the lost contrast in the middle flower weakens it as a whole. The contrasts between the red and green of the leaves helps, but doesn’t save it. The B&W below shows this quite clearly.

Posted in Creating a Picture, Thoughts by: Naomi
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18 Aug

Line & Color, vi

PINKS – Too Much?

Second layering of pinks added, cool and warm, and more of the original underlying light pink. The photo below shows where the painting is currently – and I am not happy at all! The big middle flower disappears into the background of leaves – it has lost its sparkle. The reason is pretty simple: the flower now is the same value as the leaves. Rats!

I was looking at this picture last night, and it took me awhile to realize what had happened. Here is another way to test the values (shades of grey) in a picture – take a digital photograph in black and white, or turn your color image into a B&W image in a software program. Problem is immediately apparent, as you can see below.

Before Second Layer of Pink

After Second Layer of Pink

The lesson here is twofold. First, layering more of one color, or other colors, can create this problem. Second is to think ahead from now on. Experiment with colors, take a picture, look. Better yet, analyze the picture and then see if my camera bears out my theory!

In painting, value is the hardest for me to “get.” B&W photos help me see this better. Last night, I put the picture on the door to look at it. It seemed dull and uninteresting. I looked, and looked, and then looking at my earlier photos, I realized what had happened.

The next question is – to darken up the central flower, or to lighten it with white? Darken the leaves? Hmmmm.

Posted in Creating a Picture, Thoughts by: Naomi
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17 Aug

Line & Color, v

PINK

With the basic foundations of warm and cold greens laid down, time to paint the flowers. Pink seems to be more summery to me, so pink it will be! I will be using a total of three pinks. The foundation pink is neither too blue nor too red, and so will be the underpainting for the warm and cold pink to be applied later. This picture shows several layers of the same pink – the darker the pink, the more layers of color. The palest areas are single color layers. The medium pinks are two to three layers of color. The darkest have up to six.

The detailed picture will give you a better idea of some of the subtle differences of one, two, or more layers. The smaller flowers have only one to two color layers – see the slight changes in color density?

Posted in Creating a Picture, Thoughts by: Naomi
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