Chinese brush painters attach great importance to realism and accuracy of detail. Yet the realities of science, source of light, space and time come second to the requirements of artistic expression. For example, with flower paintings sometimes a single flower hangs as if suspended in space, or the flowers of different seasons appear together.
Chinese painters aim not to express the various shades of color of the subject in relation to a fixed source of light, but to express the characteristics of the different subjects. For example, the adding of traces of brown or green to rocks, trees, leaves, grass and moss in a painting is used to reinforce the feeling of a particular season or state of the weather.
Artistic skill, and painting technique that has been traditional among Chinese painters for eons, are important aspects of the art.
Brush strokes give rhythm and beauty and reveal the artist’s unique style. Ink of various consistencies is ground from an ink cake on a stone slab using fresh water, and the ink is applied to best effect on Chinese papers: rice paper and silk. Objects of artistic focus include “the four gentlemen”: plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums; also peonies, grapes, lotus, pines and cypresses, birds of all kinds, mandarin ducks, the intrepid tiger, mountain scenes of heavenly beauty, and countless others.
How to paint a bird? The head and body can be outlined as two eggs. We draw…
(1) one big egg as bird’s body
(2) a small egg overlapping big one; add tail and beak
(3) paint wings and legs
(4) The eye is an important element to show character and beauty. Make dark center using white for brightness. Wings, legs and tail need realistic shape and color.
For example, the hill myna is a songbird that can imitate human speech. It wears dark plumage with a small white spot on each wing and a bright yellow flap covering each ear.
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