Brush, paper and ink calls "Three treasures" in Chinese tradition and it is true. As you feel the secret life, character of that things you can feel thousands possibilities flow from it. I love brush, ink and paper so much then choose it rather, more and more.
Our feelings is the gate to understand many secrets. As we observe an object without feelings we can classify it but rare understand. Even House M.D. use his feelings to support his logic. As we can use feelings by the way of acting the result will be important.
I investigate many old pictures in Gohua style I found in Internet to learn possibilities of brush and ink styles of strokes and the way Chinese painters caught the essence of mountings, forests, plants, hills, waterfalls… everything. (Unfortunately most of pictures have no name of painter or the name was in Chinece, so I can`t do references). I have to use my logic to learn how they made pictures, what stages it included, what important things for beginning and how to make picture complete. After such logical process I use my feelings to investigate lines, points, total mood of pictures, particular qualities of calligraphy and styles. After thet I proceed to experience. It` important to include such life finding into own life.
In that case I want to illustrate such ideas with the my picture. It was inspired by a strange style of Chinece painters consist of wide points and strokes.
1 - I made general lines with my chinece brush full of ink. That point it`s important to feel how your brush turnes, touch the paper, how it moves and stands. Every movement produces different paths of ink on the paper.
2 - By medium-dilute ink with nearly vertical strokes I paint he slopes of the mounting. Wide and short horisontal strokes and points represents plants on the slopes.
3 - more and more details with more thin ink. Look at the stairs on the right and bottom parts of the picture. This is important things to bring a shadow of human here.
4 - With my brush impregnates with half-pure and pure black ink I made new strokes over previous.
5 - I mixed 3 shadows of brown in different palettes, from very light to more deep and used it to paint mountings. My own style of brush is different from Chinese, also Chinese prefer a silk for painting to produce unical way of diffluence of he colours. As my picture based on paped this is visible strokes of colours on it as I like it.
6 - this is the right time to paint small details. I chose for it european brush #00 and medium-deluted ink.
7 - with pure ink I made several strokes more visible.
8 - for the finishing I used european concentrate black ink (it made many reflections on the picure, but looks really great).
The process has completed!
Such painting is important part of my life. It halps me to disciplime my mind and hands, to investigate new ways and to feel fresh. It`s meditation, of course.
If you want to feel the same try it! 