Artist Ya Ming

Artist Ya Ming (1924-2002) is known for a bold and cursive style.  I was not aware that his work also has a lot of spare and sparse compositions, with lots of white space for the soul and contemplation, as seen in the following link.

Ya Ming's mastery of white space.

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Fi2Au8-jTF_RCsw7rLtsPQ

The third painting in the above site is a good exercise for a simple framing of a marsh, with lots of empty spaces, where a recluse is keeping quiet and cool in a boat.  It looks simple but requires brushwork sequencing to achieve the layering and density of the marsh grass groves.  Also important is the rendering of the grass in a irregular and non-repetitive manner.  Note also the flock of birds in the distance.

My version of the picture is as follows:

Art Exhibition: January 3 to 30, 2019

Most of the paintings can be viewed in the following album:

"2019 January Show"

Class Notes 10-5-2018

Bamboo
Leaves: 
shape, proportion, relative lengths and widths, orientation, curvature,

Think in term of groupings, clusters.

Groupings and clusters: distinguish between major and minor components.

Mindful of leaves that "fly" out;  these give flair and spirit to the grouping.

Stems: avoid parallelism and alignment;  they unite the leaf clusters to form a balanced whole.

Video:
https://youtu.be/XES07nzIj8E

LANDSCAPE
Use medium ink to start.
Mainly lines and angular shapes.  Pay attention to the quality of the lines.
To build space, to separate land-form "in-front" from "behind",  strengthen the lines with dark ink, and adding dots (distant trees).
Texture with lighter ink to show "lay of the land-form" -- sheer? rounded? flat? smooth? rugged?
Use larger strokes (brush at a shallow angle) to do the distant mountains and waterfall.  White gaps left behind is the waterfall -- use a dry brush to draw in the flowing water  (just a short stroke, rounded at top and sharp at bottom).
[Adding color will be subject of the next class.]

Video:
https://youtu.be/mCVes5fSjOk

Class notes of May 18, 2018 -- Adding color

A belated posting of the coloring process for the ink painting of the previous blog. The class video, in two parts, are viewable below.
https://youtu.be/Md6JCx7Nkdk
https://youtu.be/hjryJ1x3ms0

The final product is:

Class Notes 5/4/2018

Here, we form yet another landscape picture using essentially the same elements as discussed in my blog of April 2, 2018 (Class notes of March 30, 2018).  We move those elements around, magnifying some, shrinking others.  We flip some around (like a mirror image).  Extra layers are added.  For a scenery with a body of water, we draw in the line to indicate the contact of the elements with the water surface.  Thus, another picture is obtained.  To add depth, we include a tree in the foreground to frame the scenery.  Water lines (like waves) and reflections work together to render the illusion of water.

The video are as follows:
Yet another landscape -- Water Scene -- Part 1
https://youtu.be/KbrD5CO-D8o
Yet another landscape -- Water Scene -- Part 2
https://youtu.be/oxX3OuCR7nc

Class Notes 4/27/2018

Doing the Forsythia and Butterfly.

The flowers:
Load brush with yellow;
Tip with red or brown;
Brush Strokes: Heavy initially, move and then lift to exit.

The videos:
Flowers
Butterfly

Class notes 4/20/2018

"Wet Wash" represents the final stages in the Landscape Painting.  This is done after appropriate color has been applied to the picture, with paper being dry.  Now color is added when the paper is wet/damp.   With wet-wash, one can work more slowly and deliberately, and it is a matter of achieving an overall feel and atmosphere.  Also, the wet rice paper shows the color more vividly and accurately -- closer to the effect after the picture is mounted with a backing paper (an essential final step).

Wet-wash is done on a felt substrate.  The wet rice paper is quite flimsy, and needs the support.  Be sure that the felt is clean!!  It must not have any flakes of ink or color on it.   Completely wet the paper using a spray bottle. Then use paper towel to blot off excess water -- paper should be damp, not wet.  Apply color, being mindful that the brush cannot be too wet.  Also no heavy color.

3 tasks to do interactively.  There is no formula, but make sure you step back  and look(!!).
First, strengthen spatial relation.  Near and far elements should have proper relation; usually the near is darker, and has a warmer tone. 
Second, build clouds and mists, by adding bluish color to their periphery.  The white space left behind, uncolored, is the cloud.  Be mindful of the shape of the cloud -- it should convey a sense of movement.
Third, add distant mountains with bluish color.  White again needs to be preserved, at the lower edge of the mountain form -- atmospheric haze.

Finally, a light bluish grey is brushed on to the sky.  Make sure the color is well mixed and uniform.  Use horizontal strokes.

If desired, additional wet-wash can be done, after the paper has dried and the color fixed.

See the videos below.
Landscape Painting -- Wet Wash
Landscape Painting -- Wet Wash the Sky

The end result: