They are a little stubby so need some more practice.
Friday, 27 December 2013
Bamboo
I can never work out where to sign and put my seal (which means joy). So I took 4 photos of possible locations and chose the one I liked best. It changes the flow of the painting on the paper.
Thursday, 26 December 2013
Calligraphy - Autumn (AKI)
Autumn is made up of the symbols for 'tree' and fire.
The left side of the character expresses an ear of rice, and the right side expresses fire. People cut the rice ears down and burn them to use as fertilizer in autumn.
Iris
Not one of the four gentlemen but still a lovely flower. I've included a couple of practice paintings on newspaper too.
Intro
Sumi-e is the art of Japanese brush and ink paintings.
Over the last 6 months I've been learning how to paint the the four gentlemen, also called the Four Noble Ones. In Chinese art it refers to four plants: the wild orchid, the bamboo, the chrysanthemum, and the plum blossom.
As they represent the four different seasons (the wild orchid for spring, the bamboo for summer, the chrysanthemum for autumn, and the plum blossom for winter), the four are used to depict the unfolding of the seasons through the year.
Each plant symbolises particular human characteristics.
Bamboo – The bamboo is symbolic of what the Japanese believe to be ‘masculine qualities’. It represents great flexibility, integrity, vitality and enduring strength.
Wild orchid – The orchid is symbolic of what the Japanese believe to be ‘feminine qualities’. It represents elegance, gentleness, vulnerability and beauty.
Plum Blossom – Blooming after surviving the winter weather, the plum blossom symbolizes hope and endurance. The plum blossom is also popular because of the contrast between its gnarled trunk and its fragile blossoms.
Chrysanthemum – Are one of the last flowers to bloom each year. They maintain courage in face of cold winds and early snows and defiantly bloom in full color glory. The chrysanthemum reminds us that it is possible to triumph when the going gets tough and to be brave when faced with adversity.
Calligraphy - Che-ri-lu
My name (well nearly) so I can sign my paintings)... Che-ri-lu, or Che-ri-ru.
Plum blossom
We started with the plum blossom by learning to paint the branches first then the flowers. In a second lesson we painted the flowers in a different way and the tree trunk.
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