-N- – Page 723 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

A Bit of Color, i

The Book and the Paints

I’ve been doing sumi-e for awhile, and now with my return to my Chinese painting class, the urge to paint is getting stronger, and the need for color is making itself known. However, it never hurts to refresh one’s skills; given this, I dug out a book I’ve had for some time: Watercolour by Patricia Monahan. This is a good book for standard watercolor techniques. So, I’m going through it, front to back, in my spare time. It’s a good refresher. As well, these techniques are important to remember as I know many will be used in any subject done in the Chinese style.

In watercolor, I’ve encountered different approaches to how to work – light to dark (Monahan’s approach) and dark-to-light. Personally, I find that I work more logically light-to-dark, but the truth is that working dark-to-light just confuses me. Maybe it is something I should deliberately try. For now, though, I will hold that thought and practice a few simple techniques.

Monahan’s book is broken down into sections. Currently I am on Washes (having read the introduction and chapter on equipment), which include techniques and then subject matter, such as rain clouds and the beach. I’ve done a solid wash, into which I’ve done

wet-into-wet
wet-onto-dry
dark to light stripes (not a wash) by adding water to a dark color to lighten it
gradated dark-to-light wash

I’m using pan paints, made by Pelikan, and I think they are technically opaque, but I find that they work fine and have a nice degree of transparency when diluted. They are convenient and easy to use on my crowded desk. For paper, I have a 7 x 10 inch block of hot press, 140 pound, Arches. I’m using both sides of the sheet for the exercises.

Washes: Solid, Wet-into-Wet, Dry-onto-Wet

The very first exercises in the book are reviews, or introductions, of the wash. The solid wash is explained, and demonstrated. From there, the author moves into wet-into-wet. Below, you will see it in the upper left corner of the picture. Wet-onto-dry is also done, with a wash laid down, allowed to dry, and then another color applied over it. This is illustrated by the weird circles in the lower left corner. Finally, layering of color is done, which you will find on the right. I kept the same strength of color for the layers, and applied about eight. The results are quite nice.

Diluting a Dark Wash

This next exercise was actually one I’ve never encountered before. This consisted of creating a fairly dark wash, and continuing to dilute the wash with the same amount of water. Each stripe in the picture below shows what occurs as the intensity of pigment is weakened. I was not scientific because I did not measure out specific amounts of water, but I did add two brushes full of water to the pan as I moved along. It seems to have worked out well.

Gradated Wash Using Flat Brush and Round Brush

Next was the ever-popular gradated wash. Onto dry paper, color is placed at the top and diluted as the color is worked down. I did this twice, using a flat brush on the left, and a large round on the right. Both have their merits.

Two Gradated Wash Methods

This next exercise consisted of placing a gradated wash onto dry paper and moving it into damp. This is on the left side of the picture below. I used a small sponge to dampen the lower half of the paper, and then at the top began my wash on dry paper. As I moved down the dry section, I added a bit of water, and then continued on down into the damp section, moving left to right and back. When I got to the damp section, I did not add any more water, nor pigment, but just let it become weaker. This was a brand new technique for me. On the right I did the dampened paper with a gradated wash. The paper was dampened with a sponge, allowed to dry a bit, and then a standard gradated wash done.

First Exercise: Monochrome Rain Clouds

Finally, the first exercise: monochrome rain clouds. Using black, I laid down a gradated wash onto dry paper. Before I let it dry, I used the sponge to lift up some of the color. I squeezed the sponge out into my waste water jar and continued. After I let this area dry, I laid down some medium and darker washes, doing some wet-into-wet, some lifting, and so on.

I was pretty nervous doing this as I was sure it would all be a disaster, but decided to trudge on rather than freak out! I always over do my watercolors – or nearly. I get sooooo frustrated! However, I am rather pleased with the results, and will do a few more monochromes before moving onto the next exercise which is the same thing – rain clouds – but with a limited palette.

Jerry and the Magic Ball Machine

Turn on your sound, relax, and enjoy!

Retrospective Introspection

Admittedly I have been feeling rather sorry for myself. I get like this when I have no time to sit down and think about life and what I want to do with it. Thursday I walked into my office at work and was just unable to make choices as to what to pursue next. Oh, there were a lot of things to be done, but it seemed just so overwhelming and the mere act of choosing what to do was impossible. The best thing to do in these circumstances – for me, at least – is to sit down with paper and pen and begin to write. Five pages later, the world was in order once more.

Writing is therapeutic. It’s like the pensieve of the Harry Potter stories. I pull out thoughts and ideas and frustrations, and when they are all placed onto paper, there is structure found amidst the chaos.

Painting is much the same process as writing; however, I often feel pulled into different directions. I never focus on one style. The consistent factor is my use of water-soluble media and paper, but other than that, I don’t have a particular style. Consequently, I am not as accomplished as I would like to be in watercolor. I like many of my ink paintings and the simpler watercolors that are based on sumi-e. Traditional watercolors are often disastrous failures. Acrylic paints are not my favorite medium, but there are times when I have used them to create more graphic pictures.

Today, I went through my hard drive to look at some of the paintings I have scanned or photographed over the past year or two, and pulled out some which appealed to me for whatever reason – sort of a retrospective of the work of the last few years. Here they are, not in any particular order, but just for me and anyone who wants to look at them to see and consider.

Now

As we get older, time becomes less. We have less of it.

Having a conversation about the sense of time, and the differences in the perception of time we had as children – summer lasted forever – and now as adults – the children are grown! – whoever I was talking with said that our perspectives shift with age because of the contexts we have in our brain. Children are more immediate, and adults have touching points. These touching points are referential – we use them to frame our reality. Children are developing memory, while we are full of them. Older people can remember their childhood often more vividly than they can recall the day before.

I know for me this is certainly true. And the result is that I forget about the immediacy of living – the moment of now. Instead, my head is filled with plans and structures because of all the things I need to do now. If I don’t get certain things done now, I will miss out on windows, whether for opportunity or survival.

“Being here now” has so many different meanings – the nowness of chores and things that have to be done (which is where I am at today with bills and job applications) – and, of course, living and doing in the moment. I forget this so often that my sense of spontaneity is vanishing, and the horizon of my life is hurtling toward me at an increasingly rapid pace. I schedule the “thou shalts” and forget the “let’s”. How sad to think that I may lose what time I have left because I forget the joy of the moment and structure my life with tasks and chores and must-do-its.

I fear I am becoming increasingly dreary.

Chinese Painting Class: Tiger Painting, i

Tigers in Chinese Culture

This is the Year of the Tiger. Tigers are representative of generosity, power, energy, royalty, illumination, unpredictability, and protection. There are, apparently, five types of tigers, all with different meanings and powers to keep the cosmic forces balanced.

White Tiger: ruler of the Fall season and governor of the Metal elementals
Black Tiger: ruler of the Winter season and governor of the Water elementals
Blue Tiger: ruler of the Spring season and governor of the Earth elementals
Red Tiger: ruler of the Summer season and governor of the Fire elementals
Yellow Tiger: the supreme ruler of all these tigers and symbolic of the Sun

People born in these years are Tigers: 1902, 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022.

A Bit About Tigers

In and of themselves, tigers are beautiful animals whose very existence is threatened worldwide. Here is a brief bit of information from the Wikipedia article about tigers:

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is a member of the Felidae family; the largest of the four “big cats” in the genus Panthera. Native to much of eastern and southern Asia, the tiger is an apex predator and an obligate carnivore. Reaching up to 3.3 metres (11 ft) in total length and weighing up to 300 kilograms (660 pounds), the larger tiger subspecies are comparable in size to the biggest extinct felids. Aside from their great bulk and power, their most recognisable feature is a pattern of dark vertical stripes that overlays near-white to reddish-orange fur, with lighter underparts. The most numerous tiger subspecies is the Bengal tiger while the largest subspecies is the Siberian tiger.

Highly adaptable, tigers range from the Siberian taiga, to open grasslands, to tropicalmangrove swamps. They are territorial and generally solitary animals, often requiring large contiguous areas of habitat that support their prey demands. This, coupled with the fact that they are endemic to some of the more densely populated places on earth, has caused significant conflicts with humans. Of the nine subspecies of modern tiger, three are extinct and the remaining six are classified as endangered, some critically so. The primary direct causes are habitat destruction and fragmentation, and hunting. Their historical range once stretched from Mesopotamia and the Caucasus through most of South and East Asia. Today it has been radically reduced. While all surviving species are under formal protection, poaching, habitat destruction and inbreeding depression continue to threaten the species.

Tigers are among the most recognisable and popular of the world’s charismatic megafauna. They have featured prominently in ancient mythology and folklore, and continue to be depicted in modern films and literature. Tigers appear on many flags and coats of arms, as mascots for sporting teams, and as the national animal of several Asian nations, including India.

Painting Class – Back At Last!

It was so nice to get back to class after so many months away! Most of the core class was there – Connie, Fong, Paulina, Ann Marie, Jan, Paula, Philip, Cathy – and Teacher himself, Harris. The fact that is was pouring rain shows the dedication of all these painters. Teacher drives up from south of Los Angeles, and Paula comes in about 30 miles. The rest of us sort of radiate out 10-15 miles. Driving in, though, was far easier than driving out – buckets of rain to the point the roads were flooded and it was nearly impossible to see at times.

Teacher with Painting and Sketch in Charcoal and Ink

Foundations of the Painting

Teacher does a general outline of the subject with charcoal. He lays in the shapes and sets up the overall composition of the painting. Then he begins to use ink to outline the subject – in this case, of course, the tiger. In the picture you will see the picture which we are copying, and Teacher’s work.

Before any color is added to the painting, liquid ink is used to define outlines and fur. Teacher told us to use a large brush for the lines, and a finer one as well. The brushes were very dry, which gives the effect of the fur, as well as keeps the ink from bleeding into the paper, which is an unsized Chinese paper. It may look easy, but for those of us used to watercolor or acrylics, the entire process of dry brush is difficult because the dry brush in Chinese painting is really, really dry! It seems to be far dryer than what I would use in watercolor, but the absorbancy of the paper makes my “dry” brush seem sopping wet!.

Dry Brush Ink - Brush is Flattened to Create Furn

To indicate fur, Teacher flattens the brush between his finger tips, at the same time removing any extra water from the brush. He holds the brush perpendicular to the paper, or at an angle, depending on what he wants to do. This detail of the tiger’s tail shows you the effect this produces for fur. You will also see that different shades of ink have been used to create dimension. Finally, after about an hour, the foundational inking of the painting is completed.

Coloring the Tiger

In our Chinese painting class, we use Marie’s Chinese Colors. These are inexpensive paints, and often we can buy them as we need them in class because our group keeps them in supply. These paints are opaque, and when dry, do not bleed when wet. The colors we usually get are in boxes of 12, with names like burnt sienna, indigo, carmine, and so on. They are rather thick, but work very well in creating thin, transparent washes as well as opaque spots for details, such as leaves.

From what I have seen in many of my classes with Teacher, color is an addition to a painting, not the main focus. Ink provides the “bones” of the painting; color is like a condiment – something added for piquancy. This proves to be true for this tiger. The colors used were burnt sienna, carmine, and indigo. Straight ink was used for the tiger’s black and the bamboo leaves, and pure white was done at the very end to enhance the whiteness of the whiskers and fur.

Another element of painting on the unsized paper is that the colors become lighter as they dry. In the very beginning, Teacher painted the nose of the tiger with burnt sienna. This picture shows the paint very wet, and certainly the first thought you might have is that the picture is ruined, the paint is waaaaay too dark! But, as it dries, it lightens up, and is very balanced in the final painting.

Tiger - Drier Paint on Nose, and Carmine for Pink of Nose

You can also see that the burnt sienna is a good contrast for the carmine used for the tiger’s nose, as well as the fact that as the sienna dries, it becomes lighter, and quite nice. I think that teacher may have mixed a small amount of carmine with the sienna, but I did not make note of that.

The final painting was completed with ink bamboo leaves. Pure ink was used for the very dark leaves, and diluted ink for the greyer ones. A thin wash of indigo was used to outline the tiger, to make him “pop” out of the paper. Whiskers were added after everything else was done, using a very fine brush and pure white paint. These had to be done when the paper was dry, otherwise the whiskers would bleed into the background, or onto the tiger himself. White was also used to create the effect of fur on the tiger’s body, and, again, to help create a stronger image.

Finally, the tiger is finished, and set aside to dry. At this point, we students have the opportunity for critique of the previous month’s work. Teacher does calligraphy if we want – after all, what is is a Chinese painting without a poem? He also shows us how to correct our paintings, by demonstrating where they might be weak. He will paint over our pictures (with out permission), and sometimes just a subtle wash will show us how to improve. He also will show us how to do something we might be struggling with, such as flower petals and how to load a brush with colors.

Altogether, it is a great experience to watch a gifted painter in the process of creating a painting. Taking notes and photos certainly helps to recall what was done in class. I plan to do this tiger, partly because I think he is a very handsome tiger and I like the composition, but also to practice different elements in painting. I will post pictures of my progress, as well as evidence of my practice strokes and work on paper before I even begin this painting!

And now, here is the final painting of the tiger. Click on the photo and you will be able to see it in greater detail. Depending on your browser, you will see the picture enlarged, and then if you hover over it, a magnifying glass should appear to bring it to its original size. If this works for you, you will be able to look at the different areas of the tiger in fine detail.

Enjoy!