I have always enjoyed making art in all it's different mediums. So when I moved to the city I naturally thought, this is my opportunity to take classes and learn things I wouldn't have otherwise. Of course, I decided to take a class in, possibly, one of the hardest art forms to conquer: Chinese brush painting.
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| Me trying to figure out how to paint grapes properly. |
Why is this technique so hard, you might ask? Well, as watercolorists know, unlike oil or acrylic painting, you can't paint over your mistakes. Unlike western watercolor, Chinese brush painting is rather strict on how you paint. For example, the first item I learned to paint was the grape. A grape is supposed to take only two brush strokes and the brush must be held vertically in order to achieve the right effect with the water and the paint.
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See the mohawk on the bird? Yeah, that's not supposed to happen.
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To make things even more difficult for a westerner, the chances that you haven't learned Chinese calligraphy are pretty high. This means that you haven't learned to control the water in the brush and that leads to a lot of spreading.
And this is the class I've chosen to take, for three quarters. So far. But Master Yang, my teacher, says I'm doing well. I'll have to take his word for it. And it never seems to get easier.
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| My grapes came out eventually |
Last quarter, we students put up three pieces, that had been passed by Master Yang, in an oil and vinegar shop near Pike's Place. They stay up for two months and come down December 2nd.
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| Those are my peaches in the middle |
While it's pretty neat to have your own "artwork" on display somewhere, I still cringe when I look at it next to everyone else's.
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| See how better my bird looks without the mohawk? |
But as Master Yang says, who must be in his 80's and has been painting for over 70 years, we shouldn't expect to be as good as he is right now. After all, you must learn to crawl before you walk.
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| Good thing cats are cute no matter how many mistakes you make. |
I will leave you with our latest, and my favorite, subject. Kitties! Or in Chinese, mao.
