Modern Art of West and East

When we look at art in the modern time, we can see that the environment of art creation has more freedom than any previous generation, art can now not only be of painting itself but be rendered in artistic installation, behavioural art etcetera etcetera……But is it now an old-fashion thing to talk about oil-painting itself?

At the current time, within the field of oil-painting, we can see it is full of different concepts with some of these works sometimes being difficult to understand, for example abstract painting.

I want modern art to be something simple, with warmth and beauty being the main ideas of my own art work. I believe oil painting should show the advantage of this type of painting itself, which is that it allows you to paint the subject realistically in shape and colour.

Oil painting itself can not only show a readable image, but also reveal the character of the artist who painted it, you draw your understanding of the subject within the painting, which means you can do it in a way that is not exactly the same as the thing itself.  

This is kind of similar to free hand traditional Chinese painting, where in modern times everyone can draw the same object in their own way, with different understandings of the world making each work unique.

I believe that modern art should possess your own unique character, but should also able to be recognized as what it is, a famous traditional Chinese painter Qi Baishi said that when you comment upon an art work ”if you draw the painting in a way that is totally different to the real subject, it is cheating. If you draw the object exactly the same as the real thing, it is a kind of fluttering”. This saying also describes my idea toward oil painting.

So what is the difference between traditional Chinese painting and Western oil painting? In terms of oil painting, you can use all range of different colors and hundreds of strokes to paint a subject, while in traditional Chinese painting you use only limited colors and strokes.

I think traditional Chinese painting should draw the meaning of the subject more while oil painting as I mentioned above should show more of it’s own advantages in describing reality in terms of both diverse colour and accurate shape.

Traditional Chinese Painting in Modern Art Times

To make things clearer, I will give you two examples to state what oil painting and traditional Chinese painting look like, they both have the same theme which is floral in nature, and you can compare directly how the two different types of painting work, which is clearly readable, conveying the artist’s character and showing advantages of the two different types of the painting.

The first painting of mine is a traditional Chinese painting of a lotus flower, you can see it is completed in traditional Chinese ink with no use of other colors, which shows how the deepness of Chinese ink reflects colour, and how different strokes influence the building of an image.

In traditional Chinese painting black ink can be adjusted in colour by differing the amounts of water added, compared with oil painting traditional Chinese work is often less colorful, as you will see in the second painting in which I use hundreds of different oil colors to express the same subject of a flower, and the use of many more strokes in the oil painting is clearly seen.

From my perspective another difference between traditional Chinese painting and oil painting is that traditional Chinese painting places greater emphasis upon the painter’s understanding of the subject, as the painting is less colorful and less strokes are used to complete the work.

Comparison to Oil Painting

Oil painting as you can see will more adhere to the real subject as it can be expressed with more colours and more strokes which is truly a great advantage of oil painting.

This can be seen from my own oil painting work, which not only accurately describes the flowers and surrounding environment, but also conveys my understanding of the world, which is a warm and positive style and attitude of life.

In conclusion no matter traditional Chinese painting or oil painting all need to be complete within the context of the artist’s understanding of the world, while at the same time carrying the respective advantage of the different painting methods in the modern art world.

You can see more of my art work in our art gallery on our webpage and see more art and fashion blog articles here.

Traditional Chinese Painting – Lotus Flower

Background

Coloured petals of myriad types of colour and a special plant that has accompanied humanity for millennia with myriad uses – as lotus root food, herbal medicine and a beautiful flowering plant – the lotus with it’s verdantly bright lotus flower is recognised not just in China but across the world.

As centrepiece in the “bird and flower” genre the lotus flower is a well known and distinctive art focus that has been well loved in Chinese culture.

Tang dynasty poems sang by ladies of culture to regale courtesans in ancient Xian associated this flower closely with what many modern Chinese believe to the golden age of historical China, linking it’s bloom and fragrance to the fine palaces and glorious bustle of this silk road contemporary metropolis.

Chinese lotus paintings cover styles and designs wide ranging and differing in character, the lotus flower itself naturally demonstrates a range of colours which in turn are painted in many different though traditionally dictated ways, while the great leaves act as shade for plethora of painted animals which often are accompany to the scene.

The plant itself is a complex flower growing from an underwater tuber through to stem and blossoming with an evident flower with core of female receptacle and surrounding male pistil. Budding leaves, sepals, seed capsule and a defined life cycle for all components once diligently studied allow the artist to understand and better “write” the plant onto paper in a more detailed and complete way.

Drawing of the lotus flower is considered a basic prerequisite of approaching the “bird” part of “bird and flower” painting as it often is the “landscape” which forms the basis for bird to “live” in as well as fish, insect and other small animals which are often placed in scene.

Drawing of the Lotus Form

Often starting from the point of petals Chinese art comprises at least seven different techniques for drawing lotus petals.

Our designer has drawn from the – starting point – of the “draw bone” technique where different ink tones are lightly daubed in a careful single stroke to place the broad shape of each petal.

Three pigments are prepared which are a breaking or light tone colour, proper mid tone colour then the same colour toned with a blacker ink, in one stroke a tending toward light brush is dipped into the three colours respectively to daub it in the light to dark colour gradient after which the petal is drawn.

In a single stroke the shape of the petal is then defined by the movement with which the brush touches the paper, from the tip to the base the brush is splayed out forming the petal from tip to root.

The general petals depth and shape is defined by the manner in which the brush touches the paper, from the tip the brush is splayed out to the base with pressure varied over the stroke to produce gradient in colour – in this case the tip of the petal is darker than the base.

This play of pressure will create bands of colour in this particular style while the manner in which the angle of the brush is splayed out will define the shape of the petal conforming the perspective angle.

Continuing with the above picture after the basic impression of the petal is drawn the petal is continued with the “lay line colour” method, this is continued with a finer brush laying a typically deeper colour line impressing the outline and the veins of the petal over the previously drawn “draw bone” strokes.

In Chinese painting each stroke like the stroke in a character is made to represent an evident and precise part of the greater picture – as a complex character is represented by many strokes to produce a particular meaning so in painting the strokes are precisely “written” out to make a final form.

Though similar to other painting techniques in that a series of strokes create a final form the traditional Chinese technique is more stipulating in that each and every brush stroke must have a clearly defined and recognised form. It is the layering of the these carefully placed and impressed strokes that form the object with a stroke count that is very small in number in comparison to other painting methods.

This painting better represents a simpler “draw bone” technique of which the petal is impressed in a single stroke.

As before a selection of three pigments are prepared and applied to the brush while the gradient of pigment applied is controlled by the depth to which the brush is applied to the ink.

As the petal is drawn colour is gradiated out by the angle of which the brush touches the paper and the coating of the previously prepared pigment which now coats the brush while care is taken to control the flow of ink to paper corresponding to the depth of colour and shape required for the petal.

Large expansive leaves of the lotus plant are drawn in similar fashion to the petals, this unfinished work above as well as displaying a beautiful small blue bird resting on a stem of a lotus flower illustrates large shady leaves drawn in the traditional fashion.

In the draw out bone technique a dry vertical brush first strokes out the bare shape of the leaf bones, a wetter black daubed brush then draws out larger impressions of leaves where when the brush is wet the heaver elements of the leaf are applied and the lighter parts are drawn from the drier part of the brush.

In this second painting using a frequently used mineral based black ink lotus leaves are drawn in a different technique.

A large though fine haired goat or rabbit brush is used for this style of black pigment drawn leaf, where the large brush is carefully applied to draw the leaf in a single stroke care being taken to apply gradient of colour to better define the edge of the leaf.

In the second stroke to complete a dry brush finishes the structure or bones of the leaf including the central stem part this is in opposite order to the first technique talked about.

Summation

Of myriad techniques for painting lotus I have covered only a few basic points taken as highlights from some of the many Chinese texts available on the subject and recommended reading for any interested in painting in this way.

Perhaps the most important point of all dedicated books is that the characteristic of the plant should be recorded from nature and learnt by heart, continuous practising and careful reflection of the key traits of the flower will ensure the best results.

In this observation and recreation of the natural world modern Chinese traditional paintings is as much connected to the natural world as the first peoples who discovered tools to record the world which was then as is now so connected to us.