prints to add to my Winter series. I'll post these soon. In the meantime
I've switched gears a bit. I've been viewing Laura's watercolors
lately and realized I've been neglecting sumi-e. Time to get back
in the saddle; but not so easy. The ink drawings are coming
with great difficulty after so little practice over the last several weeks.
The subjects I wanted to work on just weren't coming and most
attempts ended in the trash. In desperation I decided to return
to the 'Four Gentlemen'. These are four traditional subjects that
contain the brush loading and strokes that are fundamental to
more complex compositions. The four gentlemen are plant forms.
Orchid, bamboo, chrysanthemum and plum blossom. It is claimed that
one can spend a lifetime on these forms. The plants define the
seasons. The orchid is spring, bamboo is summer, chrysanthemum
is fall, and plum blossom is winter. I have finally fallen into working
on plum blossoms. First harbingers of spring.
3 comments:
This is lovely, Bill!! I took 2 semesters of Chinese brush painting at Parsons when I worked in NY (it was the best class I ever took), in which we concentrated exclusively on the Four Gentleman, and I know that gnarly bark is hard to depict: it has to strong but elegant--I think you've acheived that here; the blossoms are beautifully fragile and the negative space just right. This was worth waiting for! p.s. responded to you last comment on my blog on my blog :-) --never know where to leave responses so they'll be seen ...
LOVE your ink on paper. I'm a huge fan of black/white contrast. The compositions are wonderful. Love love love these!
this is very delicate and beautiful :) Enjoyed visiting your blog.
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