Asian Influence

Greetings and Happy Spring,

I am happy to announce that I will be teaching another clay sculpture workshop at Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, Vermont   August 24-27^th, a Tuesday through Friday workshop. More details later, but reserve the dates and call the Arts Center (802-362-1405) to reserve a space.

Below are two of my 24”x18” oil paintings, Tanbark Sail and Colors in the Rain and included in the Spring Exhibition at Southern Vermont Arts Center which will be on exhibit until June 6^th.  I hope you will visit when you are in the area.

Asian Art Influences

Some years ago, I had the joy of attending an Asian art workshop at Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, Vt., taught by Lian Quan Zhen, who first introduced me to the simple beauty of Asian art. Lian Quan Zhen teaches that compositional elements in Chinese painting place the emphasis on strong contrasts, based on their belief that the universe is created in opposing but complementary pairs. The yin-yang symbol represents this concept. In Asian painting, these are manifested in differences in dark-light, large-small, long-short, singular multiple, vertical-horizontal, defined-blurry, shapes-lines.

Asian compositional aesthetics, along with economy of brushwork and brush handling to capture the essence and vitality of the chosen subject, are some of the excellent lessons

I learn from Asian art practice. I admire the simplicity of this art form, as only what is necessary is painted and the white negative spaces are considered equally important. In Asia, these untouched areas are considered to have profound meaning and importance to the overall composition of the painting.

An Asian painting style called Sumi-e is a tradition of Far Eastern art which is painted in black ink on Asian papers, frequently made from the bark of mulberry trees. Sumi is the name of the ink. Beauty, with emphasis on line work, is achieved through tonal variation with pure ink or diluted ink to create gray values. The predominate styles are called “boned,” meaning forms have linear outlines, or “spontaneous,” free hand strokes or dots. Frequently, paintings are created with a combination of these styles. The ancient masters used color sparingly, serving only the purpose of perfecting the ink drawing. Contemporary Asian masters are preserving the brush work of ancients but introducing Western perspective and use of more and stronger color.

I continue to learn from my study and application of these various traditions. Ultimately, a  good painting needs to be a synthesis of the artist’s mind and spirit with his or her ability to express only the very essence and vitality of the subject matter. This melding of mind and expression is what makes every artist’s style unique.

Cherry Blossom Triptych is an Asian-style painting using ink and Chinese watercolor on Asian paper. It is painted in a combination of styles; “boned,” meaning some linear outlines and “spontaneous,” meaning free hand strokes. In this triptych, my compositional intent is to move the eye of the viewer through all three paintings left to right via my S curve compositional rhythm.

Willow and Swan is an Asian-style painting done in ink and Chinese watercolor on Asian paper. It exemplifies simplicity of design and “left” white space, important in Asian design. Color is used only to enhance the ink drawing.

I love hearing your comments, so please let me know your thoughts.

Best wishes,

Elaine