The Tools of Chinese Brush Painting
January 24, 2009 Painting, Paper Crafts, Techniques and Mediums 1 Comment
I have been fascinated with Chinese Brush Painting since the first time I saw a painting. There are two styles of Chinese Brush Painting: one is very detailed and the other is simple strokes that let your imagination fill in the details. Artists spend years learning this art and begin by copying their Masters. Unlike many of us, the Chinese consider duplicating or imitating the work of others to be an honor and the way to learn. It’s an interesting philosophy. I’d like to share my knowledge of the tools of Chinese Brush Painting.
This is one of the best books I've found on Chinese Brush Painting published by Sterling Publishing.
This is a sample stroke used in Chinese Brush Painting (from the book shown above).
These are the types of brushes used for painting, the round tips hold a lot of ink.
Black is the traditional color of ink used in this type of painting; 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!
These are colored ink sticks I got while in China, most ink sticks are highly decorated to celebrate creativity. The inks come in pretty boxes with glass fronts.
To the left is a chop, usually the name of the artist is carved on the bottom of the chop. The chop is used as a seal, the last thing the artist does is smear some cinnabar ink (to the right of the chop) onto the bottom of the seal, then stamp it on the finished painting.
Here is a seal carved two ways.
What do you think? Anyone else doing some Chinese Brush Painting?
