More Chinese Painting

I’m really enjoying my “bird and flower Chinese painting” lessons. My teacher’s studio is on the roof where her husband raises pigeons and chickens. So as we paint, we hear the birds and see the plants they have growing all around.  Often little sparrows come to steal the birdfeed. It’s a glorious place to paint if you have to be in a yucky city. (I dread winter though. It’s wide open, and I can only imagine how cold it will be.)

I love painting flowers, but the birds are giving me a hard time. Since it’s bird and flower painting , you’ve got to have both. I tried telling my teacher that I didn’t want a bird in this one. She gave me a very funny look. She’s a most patient teacher. So when she gives me that look, I know I’ve crossed some sort of “art line.”

I added the birds.

My Teacher's Painting

My Version

My painting is not complete because it lacks the characters on the side — the title of the art & my name — and my red stamp. I can’t write characters. Yes, I’ve been in China for seven years and I can’t write. To be honest, I don’t want to learn. (I guess that’s rather obvious. If I did want to learn, I’d probably have done it by now. Sure, I’d like to know how. But the investment of time needed to learn how is not worth it in my personal economy.)

By the way, the green leaf is from something like a banana plant. Looking at my teacher’s painting, I thought that part was a rocky cliff. Yes, I said that to her, totally unknowing that it was a leaf! I got a shocked look as if, “How dare you not recognize my banana leaf!” I apologized profusely and covered up by saying that banana trees don’t grow where I’m from. But I think I made up for it with my enthusiasm over sprinkling dew on the leaves! She’s really a great, easy going teacher, and goodness knows I need that.

This is an ancient art form (read more here). And Chinese art has strict rules to follow. I knew that when I started, and I resolved to accept the methods and follow all the rules my teacher tells me (at least when I’m in class).  But it’s hard. I break the rules even when I don’t meant to.

She’s constantly saying that I use the brush like I’m doing Western oil painting. (I’ve never studied oil painting! But I don’t tell her that. Maybe the Western way of using a brush is in my genes somehow.) I like to make an outline and fill it in. But that’s wrong! You must use single strokes to paint. No filling in; no tiny dabbing. Use quick, long strokes. My teacher looks like she’s attacking the paper when she paints. It’s like Painting Kung Fu. It’s truly awesome. Maybe I’ll get that good one day.

Sunflowers

Her other frequent criticism is that I paint things too lifelike. (Isn’t that funny!) My sunflower centers were too round. When I made the two sunflower stalks parallel, she said it was bad. Instead I should’ve made one crooked. “But I’ve seen these growing, and they stand up straight,” I replied. Her answer boggled my mind, “Yes, I know. But this is painting, and we need to make it look better than it really does. It’s prettier if one is crooked.” There’s not much to say to that except promise to do better next time.

Tagged as: bird, chinese painting, flower, paint