-N- – Page 726 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

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!

Morning

The fog was lifting this morning as I was leaving for work, leaving droplets behind to sparkle in the sun.

Hmmmm

It’s been a bit of time since my last post. I’ve been caught up in launching my students into the clinical world – like kids off to college or moving out – there is a bit of the empty nest. Simultaneously, there is room now to organize things and do things which have been put off. And to apply for jobs as who knows what will happen on the 15th. I’ve also passed the CBEST, with 204 out of 240 total points possible – about an 85% average, I guess. So, things can be added to the old credential. Back up plan taking shape.

Meanwhile, I have been looking at all my projects, and the fact is, I’m in a very scattered mood. Inventory of WIPs and UFOs shows the following:

- - Gloves, unfinished
  - Top-down beret, in revision and slow progress
  - Simple Cardigan, 1/2 sleeve remaining
  - Socks – too many to mention
  - A few other hats
  - Gansey – just started for the Esposo

And this Saturday, I finally get to go to the first Chinese painting class in probably five months. As this is the Year of the Tiger, Teacher will demonstrate this painting.

And I still have some palm trees to consider.

A Good Day to Dye

The weather turned this weekend from cold and windy to warm and sunny, with all the elements of spring making themselves known: the mockingbirds in the trees, the frisky squirrels, daffodils and freesias blooming. Thus, for a few days, the cabled beret was tossed out the window (figuratively, not literally), while the dye pots and colors and yarn came out to play.

A couple of weeks ago I sent away to Wool2Dye4, and ordered two skeins of their 100% washable merino sock yarn, their 80/20 merino bamboo combo sock yarn, and a one-pound cone of their Blue-Faced Leicester. I also had some sock blanks from KnitPicks that have been waiting many months to turn into butterflies. My MIL’s birthday is on the Ides of March, so this yarn and dyeing is something we do occasionally as a birthdye present for her (and for me, though I’m 7 months from now . . .).

Anyway, it was a blast! First thing we did was to paint up our sock blanks. We used powdered dye mixed with water – I’ll detail that in another post – and plastic syringes to place the colors. Judy’s sock blank is below.

This is my sock blank.

We did this out on the picnic table, on top of a plastic tarp. Before dyeing the blanks, two long sheets of plastic wrap were stretched out beneath where each blank would go, and pressed down to make a seal. The blanks were soaked in warm water with a tablespoon of dish soap (Dawn) for about 30 minutes. We set up the dyeing table and colors while the blanks soaked.

Once we had our blanks painted, into the kettle they went! We rolled the blanks up in the plastic wrap, folding over the edges and such to seal in the colors, with a final sheet of plastic wrap, like a burrito. The kettle was set up with a vegetable steamer and plastic tray, and the blanks steamed for about an hour. Once they were done, we pulled them out and, as quickly as possible, freed them from their coverings and set them in a basin of warm water mixed with about 4 oz. of white vinegar. There they cooled, and while they were cooling, we got on to more dyeing!

Our “cooked” sock blanks now looked like this:

One would hope that the abstract patterns would come out like the blank, but already I know they won’t. I’ve started knitting up my socks, or gloves, or whatever they are going to be. The colors are intensely rich, and the photos really do not show what they look like. Judy’s will more likely show its pattern – the blanks are always described as “make your own striped socks” – so it makes sense. Still, it is fun to knit them up to see!

The next dyeing adventure was to spread out a skein of yarn each, already soaked, and pour colors onto the skein. We’ve done this before, and often the patterns of the colors are really enjoyable. Judy made used multiple colors in hers, and I decided to go for a more monochrome pattern. You can see the results to the side – the turquoise skein is mine, and the multicolored one is hers.

The results of this are really satisfying as you can create strips or areas of color and work the color into the yarn. Judy’s painted skein is very obvious in its sections of color, but where the colors overlap can become very exciting. Mine is more subtle, which is odd for me, and for once the magpie did not overtake the entire project. I really like the turquoises and blues which were the result of mushing together a few shades of blue and turquoise. Wrapping the skeins in plastic wrap and steaming them allows for the different projects to go into the same pot without polluting each other.

The final project was to create flammegarn. This is a resist method used in Scandinavia to create randomly bicolored yarn. White or colored wool is tied off with yarn, in sections, and the yarn is immersed into color. The result is randomly colored and white yarn, much like our multi-colored yarns of today, but with fewer colors and shorter areas of color. The results are always fascinating.

We decided to use the same colors, and to utilize our knowledge of color mixing to get some results. We dyed our entire skeins a rather lime yellow greenish color. Once we could handle the yarn out of the dye pot, we tied ours off. Judy is holding up the dyed, still tied, skeins.

And then you can see her holding up the now untied skeins. Hers is on the left, and mine is on the right.

She liked her colors, but for me, the colors did absolutely nothing. Yucko! Just not for me. So, I decided to overdye my flammegarn skein, and I am so glad I did.

I decided to continue to apply color theory to the flammegarn. The yarn was a rather yellow-green and blue-green. I could overdye the yarn with a turquoise, but then I would have two similarly colored skeins. I decided to use violet. The yellow would turn to a grey color (yellow and violet being complementary colors), and the blue would turn to a blue violet. Into an intensely purple dye pot it went!

You can see from the results, the overdye was perfect. No more putrid yellow and blue green. The overall effect of the skein is a rather purplish blueberry color – more violet than blue – and really nicely mottled. Up close, with some photoshop lightening of the picture, you can see the colors a bit more distinctly.

The long, thin picture of the skein is close to the real color, and in daylight it has that deep purply blue color. The larger picture on the left shows you the detail of the color, which, when knitted up, should add a bit of interest to the yarn itself.

Altogether, this was an incredibly satisfying day! The random effects of dyeing are half the fun – just experimenting and playing. You can see that Judy has an eye for detail and construction. Her colors are more orderly than mine, and I tell you, I really admire that in people. She is, for example, and incredibly talented beader and needlepointer, with the patience of a saint. Her work is impeccable. Me, I am far more crazy and like the process of making a mess. Too often, a mess is just the result. However, I was really pleased with the way everything turned out, for both of us, and I know we had a lot of fun together. With spring approaching (here in California), the plants are beginning to grow, and we plan on a natural dyeing adventure pretty soon, with native plants, as well as materials from other parts of the world. Stay tuned!

Basic Beret: Creating a Top-Down Beret, iv

Decisions Made!

I thought about this beret a bit, and did a little research on shapes of berets and tams, and decided that I could continue on straight along on 240 stitches. I also transferred the stitches to a longer needle – I think it is a 36″ one – forgot to measure it before transferring the stitches – and the hat fits very nicely on it. The plan is to continue until there are at least 7 pattern repeats – about 35 rounds – before considering decreasing toward the brim. This choice will be dependent on the diameter of the hat at this point, or the distance of the radius, which would be measured from the base of the tab.

Truth Time

And now for a confession: I am using size 6 needles! Not 8s like I originally posted.

Final Rounds Before Decreasing

This is the pattern I plan to follow, beginning with the last increase round, which is rnd 19.

Rnd 18:	k2, p2 to end	192
Rnd 19:	k1, yo, k1, p2 to end	240
Rnd 20:	k3, p2 to end	240
Rnd 21:	K3, p2 to end	240
Rnd 22:	MCCO, m1 purlwise, p2 to end *Note*: This is to keep the stitch count the same. If you did MCCO, p2* to the end, the result would be 192 stitches.*	240
Rnd 23:	k2, p3 to end	240
Rnd 24:	k1, yo, k1, p1, p2 tog to end *Note:* The p2tog is at the end of the purl section, in the idea that it will balance out the decreases 2 rnds previous	240
Rnd 25:	k3, p2 to end	240
Rnd 26:	k3, p2 to end	240
Rnd 27:	MCCO, m1 purlwise, p2 to end	240

From this point on, rnds 23 through 27 will be repeated.

Purlwise Increases

From the point I began doing the purlwise increases, I have stayed with the purl increases being done in the stitch below. How I approach this increase depends on whether the stitch on the left needle is a purl or knit stitch.

To do them, on a purl stitch, I just stick the needle into the front “pearl” under the live stitch. The needle looks like you are ready to knit. Take the left hand needle and tuck it into the front of the stitch on the right needle, and remove the right hand needle. The stitch is now twisted properly. Purl it like you would a normal purl stitch.

The ones done next to knit stitches I go in from the back into the loop on the right side of the knit stitch with the right needle, and lift the stitch directly onto the left needle with the right. The right hand needle should be in the purl position. Purl the stitch. If your next stitch is a purl, continue on; if the next stitch is a knit, bring yarn to back of needle, and knit the next stitch.

Doing your purl increases prevents holes from magically appearing in your work.