Ink Paintings on rice paper
On my recent trip to Hangzhou China, I bought some art materials from local merchants there. The materials consisted in some Chinese brushes, black and red ink cakes, a stone slab and some rice paper. While I was in Hangzhou, and consequently after the trip, I had done some work with ink and brush on normal western watercolour paper. Finally at home, I found the time to tear the big sheets of rice paper into manageable sheets so I was ready to work.
I began with a simple flower study. There are different levels of difficulty in dealing with the Chinese materials: one is controlling the quantity of ink that is mixed with water in the stone, the other is controlling the absorbency of the rice paper. It takes practice but the result is pleasing; rich, deep, dark, opaque blacks and translucent greys with a stunning degree of subtlety.
I tried to do a painting of my son while he played on the PlayStation. He did a good job of posing and I was able to make a few decisions about his anatomy.
Finally, I turned to the window and started to paint the nature in front of my eyes from my window. I tried to focus on the crown of the Mediterranean Pine Tree that is planted in the front garden of my apartment block. The soft chiaroscuro attracted me and I continued to build up the rest of the landscape around the tree.
I’m going to attempt some more paintings of this type in the next few days.
