Chinese Watercolour Painting

* I don't know how long this supposed to be and how detailed it must be, so I try to put as many important info as I can. Sorry for the long post *



Introduction 

Chinese painting is one of the world's oldest artistic traditions in the world that is still continuing strong. Compared to western art, their painting is more water based techniques, rather than oils or acrylics.

In general, Chinese painting is traditionally more stylized, more abstract and less realistic than Western types to capture the spirit of what they are painting. This style of painting relied on good brushwork and different degrees of intensity of ink to express the artist's conception of nature, and the artist's own emotions and individuality.

You can see in this painting of the variety of the brush stokes that's more abstract but still brings out the beauty of the painting.

Techniques

The techniques used in Chinese watercolour painting relies a lot on the brush strokes. A brushstroke can convey a lot of things like vitality, delicacy, and contemplation—the essence of Chinese philosophy and spirit. It is the “life force”  that the artist tries to capture and express through painting.  

The brush strokes give the painting rhythm and beauty and shows the subject's outward and inner qualities. At the same time, it shows the individuality and style of the painter himself because of their unique brush strokes. 

Materials

The materials used in Chinese watercolour painting are very similar to those used in calligraphy. Painters usually grind their own ink using an ink stick and a grinding stone. Ink sticks are usually made out of densely packed charcoal ash from bamboo or pine soot mixed with glue extracted from fish bones. 

Brushes can be made from goat hair, ox, horse, sheep, rabbit, marten, badger, deer, boar or wolf hair. The hair is tapered to a fine point, an important thing in Chinese painting. Then paper and silk were popularly used for painting.









There are different sizes of Chinese brush for the details or for landscape.

To the left of the ink stick is the ink stone. You add a little water to the well of the ink stone and grind the ink stick against the stone to make the ink.

Aesthetics 

The aesthetics in Chinese watercolour painting are focused on the excellence of the painting itself rather than of the life or object showed, in order for the painting to touch the soul than to the mind. 

In the art, one interesting thing to note is the power of nature and the distrust of the human eye. In a lot of paintings the perspective seems to be "floating" and it is as if you are the wind flying around while viewing the scene, an impossible perspective.

A lot of times trees, humans, and mountains are in unrealistic proportions, and mists are used to suggest a mysterious, unreachable distance that is not otherwise suggested by the actual height of the mountains. It is here that the spirit of the national art is most intensely expressed.  

Yes, let the painting touch your soul....

Visual Characteristics 

Chinese painting is not to express the various shades of color of the subject in relation to a fixed source of light, but to express the characteristics of the different subjects. For example, the adding of traces of brown or green to rocks, trees, leaves, grass and moss in a painting is used to reinforce the feeling of a particular season or state of the weather.

Sometimes the background is usually blank to give importance to the main subject. At the same time, since the sizes and shapes of the spaces in the painting are different, the very absence of content can itself create rhythm and variety. Sometimes the variety and balance created in this way is further enriched by the addition of inscriptions in the empty space.

Another characteristic of Chinese painting is the use of inscriptions in poetry of calligraphy and of special seals as part of the painting itself. It's important because it' used to express the theme and artistic conception of the painting more clearly and deeply while.  

You see, Chinese watercolour paintings usually have a red seal as signatures as seen on the upper- right corner.


Flower and Bird Paintings

Flowers and birds were favorite subjects in paintings in ancient China, offering a kind of special aesthetic interest. As an independent school of paintings, flower-and-bird works originated in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and matured at the end of the Tang and Five Dynasties period. Many celebrated painters emerged at the time.

From this kind of painting, all kinds of flowers, plants, and birds were given various symbolic meanings. Flowers and birds can be compared to almost all thoughts and feelings of human being. They can symbolize feminine beauty, virtues, political authority, omens, and other stuff. And once established, this tradition became popular in every dynasty. This is so that their symbolic meaning grow increasingly rich and specific. 

This painting can have many meanings, as goes the saying "A picture can speak a thousand words",

And that's it. I'm interested in trying out this style of painting. Also, yay for my first post of my second year in high school! :D

Source

http://www.asia-art.net/chinese_brush.html

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/east-asian-art/chinese-painting.htm#rollpaintings

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/east-asian-art/chinese.htm#characteristics

http://www.chinaonlinemuseum.com/painting-birds.php

http://www.inkdancechinesepaintings.com/chinese-birds-flowers-paintings.html

https://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/painting/4ptgtech.htm