All About Chinese Painting - By: Azlan

Calligraphy and painting were two of the most prized art forms in antediluvian China. Calligraphy was considered to be the most eminent and most complete form of painting. The history of painting in China go back to the 2nd century BCE. In the earliest era, painting and writing were done on silk, until paper was subsequently developed during the 1st century CE.

Chinese art, and in particular, Chinese painting is highly regarded around the world. Chinese painting can be retraced to as far back as six thousand years ago in the Neolithic Age when the Chinese have started using brushes in their paintings. Chinese art dates back even earlier than that.

According to subject matter, Chinese paintings can be classified as landscapes, character paintings and flower-and-bird paintings. In typical Chinese painting, Chinese landscape painting embodies a major category, portraying nature, especially mountains and bodies of water. Landscapes have customarily been the choice of the Chinese because they manifest the poetry characteristic in nature. Consequently, many famous paintings are landscapes.

The most popularly known form of Chinese painting is “Water-ink” painting, where water-ink is the medium. Some of the vital things required for the Chinese painting include: paper, brush, ink or ink stick, ink stone, and color.

• Brush: The Chinese brush is a necessary element for Chinese painting. The brush should be strong and flexible. Two types of brushes are used. The softer brush is made from white sheep hair. This brush should be soaked first, and then dried out to deter coiling up. The second one is made from fox or deer sable fibers, which are very durable, and is inclined to paint better. The way the brush is used depends on the different attributes of brush strokes one wants to achieve, such as weight, lightness, gracefulness, ruggedness, firmness, and fullness. Various forms of shades are applied to impart space, texture, or depth.

• Ink Stick: There are three varieties of Ink Stick: resin soot, lacquer soot, and tung-oil soot. Of the three, tung-oil soot is the most traditionally used. Otherwise, Chinese ink is ideal if ink stick or ink stone are inaccessible.

• Paper: The most generally used paper is Xuan paper, which is fabricated of sandalwood bark. This is highly absorbent, so the color or ink disperses the moment the brush stroke is put down. The second most well-known is Mian paper.

• Color: The most former Chinese paintings used Mo, a type of natural ink, to bring about monochrome depictions of nature or day-to-day life. Fabricated out of pine soot, mo is diluted with water to obtain different subtleties for expressing desired layers or color in a painting.

Chinese painting is called shui-mo-hua. Shui-mo is the combination of shui (water) and mo. There are two styles of Chinese painting. They are gong-bi or meticulous style, and xie-yi or freehand style. The latter is the most popular, not only because the objects are drawn with just a few strokes, but likewise because shapes and sprites are drawn by uncomplicated curves and natural ink. Many ancient poets and students used xie-yi paintings to give tongue to their religious anguish.

About the Author

Harold Mitschka Is a researcher and writer working for http://www.tibetana.com, where you can get all the best Chinese art and artifacts at the best prices. Visit us for all your Chinese artifact needs.

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