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Chinese New Year
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Posted
On Chinese (and Japanese) brushes - always a good idea to give them a wash before use: they will often be coated with shellac, to keep the hairs together in transit - and that needs to come off: a bit of cool water will do it. Very cheap brushes are always likely to shed hairs though: so do some more expensive ones - they should stop eventually, though.
Posted
Thanks for the info Carole and thanks for showing your book Sylvia. Robert, I've just been looking at some brushes on Jacksons and Rosemary & Co web sites. I think I might have found a 10 week Chinese painting course, learning the basics. It's at one of the Uni's. There are no dates but I've just emailed them to see when they are coming up. It is something I definitely want to have some basic knowledge about.
Posted
I hope you get a place, Denise, you won't be sorry it's a wonderful way to paint.
Have you looked on Amazon? You can use gift cards if you don't want to open a bank card account.
Some brush brands for you to look at these were my purchases when I first started — easyou, nuolux and lucasng, I've never had any issues with the brushes, and reasonably priced.
When painting on xuan paper paint on the smooth side, you'll feel the difference when handling the very thin paper, its very resilient.
All the very best, you've made a great start.
Edited
by Carol Jones
Posted
There are no dates but I've just emailed them to see when they are coming up. It is something I definitely want to have some basic knowledge about.That's amazing Denise! I'm sure you'll book your course soon! I have no any sort of those Chinese brushes, but I'm forever fan of the fountain pens... I don't have any at the moment, because the one I want to have is made by Lamy, a Germany brand... Well, it cost well over £200, and I'm not using even a ball pen too often, so spending this much for a fountain pen and store it at shelf, you know I mean ;) Some time ago I've found an interesting sollution.... I don't remember how to call it properly, but it's literally the brush bristles connected to the fountain pen body... I bet the feeling of writing might be similar to those Chinese brushes Denise? It's much more affordable to get it, it feels like a fountain pen, but thanks to the bristle end, it flows like a proper brush ;) So with the tip only I can do tinny lines, and with applied some pressure broader strokes... It's using general ink cartridges for fountain pens, easy to replace, mess free... I really like it, and I'm using it for handwritten greetings I'm attaching to my commissioned artworks... You may like to try these too Denise? I got it from Amazon, but I can't help to provide exact name for it at the moment - I'm sorry, I've forgotten...
Edited
by PogArt MasSter
Posted
Handsome looking instrument - hmmm... more expense looms!
Denise - go for that course; if you can get on it, they'll tell you exactly what brushes you need - once you start on Chinese OR Japanese painting (and they're similar in many ways but not the same) you'll be entering another world: different paints, inks, brushes, paper, different outlook on life - somewhere, I think I still have a book on the subject (I have a lot of books: if I can find it, I'll see if it's still in print). There are some very good demonstrations on YouTube (I know I often point people at YouTube, but with the aid of AdBlock, it can be a very useful site provided you avoid the Bob Ross-type painters). The actual Chinese and Japanese (also other Asian) painters are the ones to invest time in: I realized that I could never achieve their fluid delicacy of touch, and rather than produce second-rate stuff, I decided to stick to what I can do.
But you're younger than I am, have more patience, and commit to everything you do: but be aware - it really IS another world.
Posted
Wonderful news, Denise.
Are you hinting my suggestion of help regarding art materials are of no consequence, Robert?
I have been practicing this art form for some years, along with the poetry forms that can be presented with the paintings.
A world of Wabi Sabi, maybe the concept you are relating to.
Posted
I very rarely hint: that's what sometimes gets me into trouble. Wabi Sabi .... Sumo-e, or something. I may be confusing a painting method with hugely fat men in wrestling encounters. Now that WOULD be another world.
You'd have to be a bit more specific about your point - but no, I did not have your experience in mind - what I DID have in mind was watching a lot of stuff on Youtube by Asian artists; if it was that you are not an Asian painter but damn' well good enough for the likes of us, well - I'm sure you are. I know I'm not, so far as Chinese and Japanese techniques are concerned. The book I had in mind - it's here somewhere, I'll find it, was, I think, written by a European artist.
If you remember the Walter Foster books - for all I know still available - there was quite a good one on Chinese ink painting: mind you, that was probably 50 years ago; not, I imagine, that techniques will have changed.
Posted
The topic reminds me of a titled lady who called into the art shop I used to work in - very old, and she reeked of cats, but that's by the by. Standing as far away from her as I decently could, we got into a conversation about the relative merits of Chinese and Japanese art - "Demn good copyists, the Jeps," she said; "got it all from the Chainese, though." She was probably old enough to have been present at the birth of both... but I thought I'd better not say that. Or hint it.....