Local Scenery[2]---------Chinese painting

There is no royal road to learning. To make a methodical research of the special subject is essential; otherwise without the requiered proficiency, we do not know how to develop and evolve with good flexibility. In the painting, there are three different expressive ways to depict roses,from the clear image to the blurred impression ,and such varieties are to constitute a hormonious whole of unity. The mistiness is being established on the foundation of explicitness; or else the the whole structure well be torn to pieces.

Chinese Painting for the Elders

It is the greatest fun seeing the elders practising their Chinese paintings, and as an art instructor I really have had satisfactory time with them. It is ridiculous to deem that the senior citizens do not have such the creative imaginations that the younger persons have;or their learning capacities are inferior to that of the much younger generation. Many times, I only need to repeat what I have told them,or have taught them once, twice or thrice at most, they would said: ’Ah! Now I totally understand. Thank you teacher!’  Then they would put what they had apprehended, what they had constructed in minds on the sheets of paper with individual interpretations!

The young has a thousand activities ;Chinese painting for them is just being considered as one thing among their activities.They can be still happy without it.Any party,any thing to fill up the day has been enough. I always believe in going hard at everything, whether it is painting or musical instrument, football or basketball. For an adequate object,we have to absolutely exhaust one’s self or to take big chances. Otherwise we cannot get in the pith and morrow of it. To keep in training the faculties is of vital importance to empathize the quintessence of the adequate object with our bodies and souls. However the young generation has so many distractions that they could not explore the territory of Chinese painting in depth. Their skills and cognition regarding this subject only can be defined maybe just as the level of the amateurs’. It is the problem of some of the  younger students of mine for their making little progress,even over a long span of eight years.

   Sometimes,I like to offer a challenge to the elders as to invigorate their creative  thinking ,or  to     upgrade their depicting  techniques. At first,to my  surprise,the  more  complicated  the  subject  matter  they worked on, the more they resoluted to exert every effort to deal with it. The painting above with three chickens in it is a work by an elderly gentleman who are over 70s. He loves  challenge badly.At the end of every lessons,he would usually say: ‘ Interesting tough work! I have task to do this week.’ He told me that he had to practise repeatedly,and had to throw away many unsuccessful works,and then could have a pleasing one. Looking at three chickens gives a feeling of the artist’s geniality,a geniality made up of discretion and modesty and which is able to transpose the rural savour into pristine freshness.

   

 The other painting two chickens is a work by an elderly lady whose brushwork is much more forceful and energetic,another kind of interpretation . When she is engaged in painting,she would pause and ponder in a great while, and then wields the brush immediately and decisively on the paper. Sometimes she would cover a particular area of an object with repeated brush strokes to darken the shades.The breast of the cock in her painting was drawn with deep yellish-brown,and with dry black strokes over it, which enhanced the visual effect of feathered texture.

 It is never too late to learn,if we really learn something with great eagerness. Another elderly old lady always repeats this words: ’I don’t know how to handle the brush. I didn’t have much education for I had to support the living of family when I was eight years old.’ She did not have the chance to learn Chinese painting previously,but now she can grasp this opportunity to learn what she likes. Besides,she is making progress every time. From the group photo,we can see that my elder students are still going strong. They will showcase their works at the displaying area of Sai Wan Ho station in the Hong Kong Mass Transit Railway in the coming March.  



Chinese Painting----The quite way to draw butterflies and roses

Ink-and-wash painting------The Shrimps

It is possible to use ink alone to create a rhythmic balance between brightness and darkness,if the way of using water is correct.

Immeasurable existence as the Light

The inscription on this painting originated from the Buddhism. It means an enlightened being as the divine one . As the deity is immortal, so it also means the forever existence. And the word “light”（光） in the description is a metaphor of everlasting life.    The images in the painting embodied symbolical meanings . The images of crane , pines , cypresses and precipitous mountains appeared as auspicious symbols of longevity. In the foreground there are a pair of precious birds ,  sliver pheasants, which is to add some vitality in the painting and also for the composition purpose.    As landscape is the paramount and enduring theme of Chinese painting , I search among the “ancients” for inspiration, and sought to revitalize ancient ideals with more contemporary notions. Therefore I emphasize to express the solid rocks and the majesty mountain scenery so in some measure it shows fidelity to the visual aspect of nature . For the purpose to create the magnificent beauty of mountains , the foreground is peak girdled by clouds and mist. In the middle, the mountains begun to build up to a crescendo in the tallest peaks, while endless ranges are suggested in the upper part.

The beauty of stone

Jade is stone;in fact crystal,jadeite,ruby,sapphire, et cetra are none other than stones.Their being deemed as precious stones and standing out from the same kind are nothing more than the excellent quality,the unique beauty which make them of position. Whether it is jade,or precious stones, they all have alluring color and luster comparable to that of gold. Therefore the desire of wearing the precious stones as to enhance our beauty are evoked. They are categorized as jewelry and are treasured up for fear of damaging it. We tend to overlook some stones which candidly expose themselves in the wide- open area and undergo the endless erosion,severe test by rain and wind. All the effeminacy and luxury are scaled off and the austere spirit manifests. This is a kind of natural wonder which is beyond the creation of manpower.

People who like to collect such kind of natural wonder mostly love the eroded stones produced from the provinces at Tai Woo county and Ying De county in China. These kinds of stones lie in water near the waterfront so the quarry workers have to dive in the water to chisel the stones of groteque shapes with their iron hammers and chisels. If the stones are really big ,it would be bundled up with thick ropes and winched out of water by the apparatuses installed on ships. The type of stones,with criss-coss grains all over the bodies, because of the swash of stormy waves make the surface covered with a lot of concave holes,be named as “the holes of billiards”. The large rocks would be choosen as the rockeries placed in the courtyards or gardens allowing some majestic feeling be added to the charming sights. As for the small rocks,placing on the teapoys or decorating the bonsai would be applicable to the enjoyment of admiring the beauty. Whether it is rockery or intricate stone,it should have a proclivity of vicissitudinous charges and then would suit the taste for particular appreciation. Some arty virtuosi heard that somewhere the famous garden fell into disuse and had some old rockeries for sale,or they noticed some stones bearing the inscriptions of some celebrities being brought to market; they would offer a high price to buy it. In fact,such kind of stones is the same as that in the mountains or at the wilds,for they are exposed to the weather in the same way.As there is no difference of the stones,so why should we separate the old from the new?

What is the criteria do we use when judging the quality of the stones for appreciation? Ancient stone evaluative terminologies are penetrant,thin,wrinkled,leakage,ugly,stubborn,clumsy. Judging from the adjectives, the traits of the rockery are insulated with the elegant,splendid ambiances,and we also do not want to be linked with such descriptions. This is something out of the compass of human power, and should be ascribed to the extremely fine craftmanship of Mother Nature. Man with the superiority of its own wits established the modern world invested with our form of values, we habitually thinking , planning and pers uing the goal in life according with the established orientation. We are accustomed to the complacencies of the pursuit of well being and blissfulness,being under the impression that we are the ruler of the existing world.Only when nature bring its mightiness into full play,destroying our constructions and paralyzing our transportations, then we would realize that who Is truly the master. Those wrinkled thin rockery,ugly clumsy stone is the masterpiece of nature who finished it effortlessly. Thus masterpiece is a microcosm of the real circumstances outside our comfort zone. Placing it in our own created little world, the meteorology of nature would be led into our living environments.

The stone collectors besides knowing how to choose stones,they also have to know how to arrange them. Some stones should be placed on the ebony pedestals,some rocks should be put in the

container with water,that should not be misplaced. Moreover,the ebony pedestal with stone should be put on small table adjacent to the bright window;while the stone in basin should be situated at the winding balustrade. To speak of the stones of the bonsai, only those showing stratiform resembling the folds of mountains could manifest the momentum of nature;what is more the set-up of the bonsai should also be attentive. The flowers and plants growing on the stratified rockery should be compact with vigorous branches,and futhermore even a small spot of moss,a little stem of grass should also be laid out meticulously. With all these elaborations facing the bonsai, our ideological levels transcending the boundaries of the physical environment,get into contact with the vast ,boundless space of thousand miles away.

Therefore not only the glittering stones of the quintessence of mother earth are valuable,but those recorded the vestige of ancient history with the leakages and sores are also priceless.The long distant past, the time scale over which unpreditable changes occurred in matters left them retaining some indefinate duende. Ancients had a saying:the millenary turpintine dropped into the ground and turned to be amber.Also said that: the ice which had gone through thousands of years, changed into crystal. It is a metaphor about the spotless beauty of the unflawed limpidity of ice anologious to that of crystal. Such glacial beauty as a goddess of northland ,coupled with the remote indistinctness, seems having an aura of mystery. No wonder the mediums would use crystals as a vehicle to communicate with the unknown territories. Refering to practicality,in China at the Stone Age there were tools making of crystals,which have been produced at many places,almost in all provinces, in China. The rough classification of crystals is “the nothern black,the southern white”. The southern area of China produces clear,colorless stones which are hard and as shiny as glass; the northern area of China produces crystals black in color. Some crystals are purple for the mixture of manganese;when the mixture is plant that the color would be dark brown being named citrine. Furthermore,the crystal with the mixture of other kind of stones, cross-grained, it’s popular name is“haired crystal”, and the course-grained is named “bristle crystal”. All the above mentioned is the main sorts of crystal which is a kind of common and ancient gems. China is a vast territory with abundant resourse, where produces many kind of stone with different temperaments, but only one kind of stone which would consubstantiate with human as an organic whole. Only jade was deemed having the affinitive nature with human.

One of the reasons is that jade is moderate in temperament with mild body temperature. It is suitable for wearing all the year round compared with other precious stones which should only be wore in summer, especially not to be wore in winter. It is because other stones’ cold nature with the indistinguishable biting chill which could harm the health of the wearer. The innate sleek and warm character is the inherent virtues of jade.Such properties of jade could better the blood circulation of human body,could milden our nature,that was why the ancient people wore jades all the time. The other precious jewelry attracts people’s attention by it’s glaring luminosity. Ancients thought that such splendors were the remaining internal heat skimming over the surfaces of the stones,and such light is pleasing to the eye,not to the heart. The glory of ancient jade being latent within is a kind of solemn and quiet aura assimilating with the awe-inspiring bearing restrained inside of a sage who preformed an accommodating manner. Therefore the integrity of jade is much more superior to the general stones ten million times.

The photo shows a cup shaped container with the height of 12.3cm which was carved and polished from a jade. This is an antique of Han dynsaty(from B.C.206 to A.D.220).From it’s partial erosion with brown and purple color,we can see that it is an unearthed relic,not being handed down from generation to generation. This was originally a treasure of the collection of Qing court;now in the possession of the Palace Museum. It is a wine container named “Vessel with Phoenix and One-legged Dragon Motif”.Mostly the unearthed jades were furnishings and accessories,so it is rare to excavate a whole piece of jade curved in the shape of an utensil. Moreover,both the body and lid of the vessel without damage were skilfully and delicately carved the low relief of the variant dragon and phoenix pattern, contrasting with the three-dimensional sheep heads’carving which symbolizes good luck.The handle of the vessel is cloud-shaped form and the bottom of it are three beast’s legs. The whole vessel is the combined craftsmanship of sculpture,relief and linear engraving.It embodied the beauty of pristine and sprightly,which being constituted in a harmonious whole. It is a national heirloom for there is no other one in China. Furthermore,the finishing touch on the translucent aura of mystery by the hand of human,with the earthy flavour of it’s being excavated from underground; consequently, there is certain inwardness between human and jade.They are interrelated and interacted on each other.

Therefore the ancients thought that jade is a living material and have strong affinity with human. When the jade was lay hidden in the earth,it would absorb the immediate elements into its body.Then the action of acidification in its body occurred,which led to the loss of properties of itself after a considerable period of time. There is a saying in the past: The buried jade,in the course of one thousand years, it’s quality is similar to stone;two thousand years,it’s appearance is associable with decayed bone;six thousand years without exacavation,it would decompose as mud. However no matter how rotten the jade is, as long as being unearthed,in the caress of human’s hand, the character of jade would gradually recover. When the jade comes to life again,it would evacuate the differentiated matters out of its body,or would melt the absorbents into its veins,and then produce a kind of pulp to fill in the gaps. As a result,the original color of the jade changes,or beautiful patterns appears. Undergoing such noticable transformation in it’s appearance, the whole body of the jade becomes even more grossy,much more glittering and translucent,coruscating extraordinary splendor. In the past,such action of transforming was named as” casting off one’s old self”,which in a certain sense is quite similiar with the transfiguration of a mortal who thoroughly remould oneself is reborn as a celestial being.

Therefore nothing can rival the sublime status of jade in ancient China, and the extent of using jade in daily life is vast,from the important affairs of state,such as sacrificial rites,grand ceremonies,royal engagements,the seals for the emperors,ect.,to folkways and civil life,for instance,betrothal gifts,study apparatuses,accessories,tableware, wine containers,even the ornaments of houses and chariots. Jade had blended in every aspects of life far back in history and could be considered as the prevailing custom of a given time. Therefore at that time wearing jade was the necessity for gentlemen and they would not put away the wearing jades without reason. Besides,the close affiliation of jade and human was personified as an affinity between oneself and the Sage whose virtuous spirit redolent of pristine ideals would always remind us of the continuing efforts of inner cultivation. By making unremitting efforts, we would some day turn into a Sage. Nowadays, in this modern world,most people

adore the flashy beauty,and few people have a strong admiration for the inner beauty of the pristine stone.

Talking from a Traditional Chinese Painting of a Beautiful Lady

From the painting we can see an elegant lady who was reclining on a fragrant censer and she allowed her imagination to roam at large. We could not know what is in her mind via the visual information, but the overall linear construction is so fluent that while viewing it, we are as if seeing the floating clouds and flowing water unrolling their gracefulness in nature and maybe it implies her tranquil mind. The reposing figure is stable with the triangular composition,but at the same time as light as though it were waving in the space with a fluid rhythm. This subtle blend of serenity and vigor,of firmness and disembodied freedom ,maybe described as the particular configuration of the comfortable,cozy ambient and the sweet-natured femininity being coherent and let us fall under the charm of easiness and carefree. This is a master piece by the late Ming artist Chan Hong Shou.

It is common notion of many Chinese gifted men of letters to seek bosom friends in the brothels at that time. They would rather keep company with the straightforward female entertainers in the brothels than associate with the hypocrite guardians of morality. Moreover many fair ladies were of great versatility but they missed their ways and became prostitutes. The talented gentlemen’s efforts of working their ways up to the offical careers were set back by the repeated falls in the competitive examinations. Therefore the geishas and the dejected literatus were fellow sufferers having mutual sympaty. Chan Hong Shou shared this common notion as he was one of the frustrated geniuses.

The age-old intimate relationship of geisha and literati enhanced the deep understanding of both sexes. In the late Tang Dynasty, and Five Dynasty many frustrtrated literatus gave free rein to their thoughts and feelings in composing songs to the geishas to sing, and it is a unique fascinating, enchanting form of classical poetry.By reading the poetry, the ability to show every consideration to female seemed to be natural of the opposite gender. Many gentlemen could use the manner of the first person to describe the deep feelings and sentiments of the women.

In the Five Dynstry, Mister Qiu, honoured with high official title, wrote a poetry named ”pouring out the heartfelt emotion” of a deserted lady’s train of through:” Where is the heartless man who has left me in this early hours? Without tidings. A closed-door boudoir. Frowning. The moon is descending.

How can you not wanting to find me? Have to stay in the quilt alone. Exchange our hearts. Then you would know how deep is my yearning.” A truly great man could conceive the resentment of the abandoned infatuated lover of her emotional conflicts between hatred and concern. We could feel the intense grinding pain of fascination with hopeless devotion. Being a pretigious man, Mister Qiu descended to wrote the pathos of the Boudoir. Nevertheless, it is one of the characteristics of Chinese literature.

The relationship between literatus and prostitutes were not restricted within the sexual appeal, as there were spiritual communications between them. In Ming Dynasty, the famous courtesans Miss Yue and Miss Ma had talents for composing poems and creating painting, and the gentlemen of refined tastes admired that they were both gifted and glamorous. Therefore the ladies’ works were touched up by the gentlemen and the standard of their works could be upgraded. At that time, their paintings were extolled in the intellectual circles and are valued at a certain price today.

If the relationship of the two genders are linked by hearts, such unison would be much more long-lasting, much more coherent. The western femalebeauty is too directly exposed, too forthright. The extreme aesthetic form is the female nude bodies in western culture ; in consequence of the full exposure of the body with such qualities as lifelikeness, sensuousness, as a person of flesh and blood, passionate impulse would give rise to the allure of sensuality. In late nineteenth century, many art forms were named “Salome”, including drawing, watercolor,oil painting and sculpture. The subject matter in the variety of works of art is a coquettish woman and a man’s head which sometimes is placed in a dish,sometimes is suspending in mid-air while sometimes the head is hung on the evil woman’s fingers .”Salome” is an ancient legend of the Hellenistic period, and it is strange that in the late nineteenth century European art and literature showed intense favouritism towards this story and diverse aspects of this theme are developed in further formal inventions. No matter what forms of art they are, the inevitable tragedy is the motif. In a certain sense men are easily bogged down by the bewitching charm, for the caltivated spirit just could not extricate itself, and the aftermath could be devastating.

Venus is a paragon of beauty that at first glance offer greatly pretty impression displayed in a proportional,harmonic manner. Such faultless goddess beauty of human shape has become an object of reiterant worship by many worldly artists. However when the holy love turned into the secular love , vexation would occure. The entanglements of sacred love and profane desire,the withheld but promised femininity are the dualistic values which put the mortality in the dilemma, and being the perpetual theme in the works of art, the visual matter with its connotations strikingly demonstrated the intened expression.

A sixteenth-century painting named “The Gorgeous Show” represents a well-rounded naked goddess Venus who is bestowed with the sweet kisses and heartly laughter by the Cupid and the junior Cupid.

Nevertheless, one of her hand is holding an arrow of love,another hand the forbidden fruit; and within the two-dimensional world of the picture we discover the mask associating with hypocrisy, the snake as symbol of scourge. In the background are the faces of jealousy and suffering; the glaring sight is the predestinator stretching out his strong arms above the goddess gazing her with angry eyes. The vacillation between the earthy lust and the holy love is real torture in life and it has been the ideology being reflected in Western culture.

Fictitiousness and some certain sense of apathy would enable us to detach ourselves from some practical sense of our physological need and then the pure appreciation could be evoked. This is perhaps most helpful of analyzing some detail in a work and the abstract pattern organizing the visual matter in such a way could convey to the eyes with all its essential aspects. Therefore, in during with the female beauty, Chinese arts make use of a kind of stylized,simbolized idiosyncrasy to express a pretty lady. A depicting image of a woman with mouth as small as a cherry, phoenix eyes with single eyelids is the expression of female beauty. The lady’s body is covered with the undulating vividness  of the swinging curved lines. The beautiful linear configuration not only holds back the sensual associations, but it lso let us find out that the feminine distinguishing characteristics of delicacy and gracefulness is the virtual aesthetic value. “The Beautiful Lady”,painted by Chan Hong Shou really is a vivid, lively young woman of charm. The elegant and quiet fair-skinned face is so delicate which is the traditional Chinese literary gentlemen use their poetic sensation to capture the feminine engaging demeanor. This kind of natural beauty could not be find in the circle of the pious men.

Only in the case of keeping a distance from reality, we can completely be in the appreciative frame of mind, If we do not keep distance from the reality, destruction could happen. A tragedy happened long  time ago.An audience went up to the stage and stabbed an actor who played the role of a cunning scoundrel. The audience was captivated by the consummate acting and did not have the ability to step back to appreciate the brilliant acting.He had not cultivated the proper attitude towards arts.

The visual interpretation of the curved line with the characteristics of veiled passion analogizes with the sentimentally attached classical poetry as they underscore the pregancy of poetry. So smoothly are the graceful curves blended into a whole of great overall rhythm, so delicately is the construction of the beautiful lady, that we seem to see simple nature at the same time that we marvel at the skill and mastery of the artist. Of course the agitations originated from the relationship of the opposite genders are left behind.