Moving on from the Year of the Ox, Reg came up with our next theme which was that of Transport. This proved to be a wide ranging topic which started with Oxen and ended up in all sorts of paintings.
I decided I wanted to explore the subject of rickshaws and the first painting, below, was inspired by a photograph of a sleeping modern rickshaw driver. I really enjoyed painting this as a study and learnt about the mechanism of a modern rickshaw:
Sleeping through the heat – Claire Seaton 2021-02-18
This enabled me to use this knowledge in my second painting. This, too, was inspired by a photograph of a rickshaw rank in a street in old Beijing but I completely changed the framing of this painting to give it a more Chinese perspective rather than keeping with the perspective in the photograph. I also made sure that there were an auspicious number of rickshaws (eight) disappearing in to the distance in the painting. The Calligraphy on their red covers is an impression of Chinese Calligraphy rather than something specific:
Rush Hour in old Beijing Street – Claire Seaton 2021-02-18
There now follow a couple of wonderful paintings on an even more contemporary theme. This is what Pat has to say about her paintings:
“Coasthopper buses run along the North Norfolk Coast between Wells-next-the-Sea and Sheringham and are much loved by visitors, walkers, bird watchers and locals. They pass Cley Windmill and Norfolk Wildlife Trust Cley and Salthouse Marshes, where Blakeney CBP Group hold regular exhibitions of their work. It is delightful to look out from the Gallery, to watch these sturdy little buses, bouncing along the coast road, bringing visitors.”
Coasthopper 1 Cley Windmill – Pat Jones 2021
Coasthopper 2 – Pat Jones 2021
I hope this inspires you to think of other types of transport which you could paint…
What a fabulous evening we have just had! Before Christmas the CBP Challengers group set ourselves the challenge of Seals and we have just seen some of the best Chinese paintings of an unconventional subject that we could imagine. Well done to everyone who contributed and thank you.
Unfortunately I cannot share all of the wonderful work but we have been given permission to share some of the paintings…
Please note that the Calligraphy for a range of sea mammals is available on our blog post: Calligraphy – Sea mammals.
First up are a couple of paintings by Reg. Both are a play on words which fits the Chinese tradition so well:
A Sea of Seals – Reg Robinson 2021
Carving a seal – Reg Robinson 2021
Next are a couple of paintings from Claire. The first painting is of a baby seal and concentrates on the texture of the seals’ skin. It also explores the head looking straight at the viewer (which is by far the hardest composition) although the eyes are looking at something off the painting:
Baby Seal – Claire Seaton 2021
Claire’s second painting explores more of the flopping movement of a seal/sealion when they move on the beach. Particular note was paid to the flippers:
Seal on the move – Claire Seaton 2021
Kim was the brains behind the challenge as she proposed Seals/ Sea-lions/ Walruses. She painted some wonderful seals but the piece I wanted to include was this fabulous one of a group of Walruses:
Walruses – Kim Ashburner 2021
My painting was inspired by the excellent paintings of the 10th century Chan painter, Shi Ke who lived during the 5 dynasties period. His work was featured in the stunning ‘Masterpieces of Chinese Painting 700 – 1900‘ exhibition which took place a few years ago at the V&A Museum in London. In Shi Ke’s paintings, chiefly of Buddhist and Daoist subjects, he set out in the Chan manner to shock the viewer through distortion and roughness of execution. I hoped to capture the essence of that with the following painting:
Contemplating Seals after Shi Ke – Paul Maslowski 2020
I was going to formally entitle this piece ‘Harmony’ after the original which has the title ‘Two Chan Patriarchs harmonising their minds’. However, Claire reminded me that it would be probably be more in keeping with the Chan mindset to not put a title on the painting. I purposely painted this painting on grass paper in keeping with the age and tradition of the original work. You may also notice the addition of a moon with a very misty Rat Dragon cloud in the sky denoting coming toward the end of the Year of the Rat…
It is worth noting that the book of the Masterpieces exhibition where we got to see Shi Ke’s work is available online through this search.
Some of you may recognise that I have done something similar in the past. You would, of course, be correct as I have been inspired by the works of Shi Ke many times. For those who are interested in this fascinating artist please also see my other blog post entitled: Be bold
We trust that something here may cheer you up and inspire you while we are stuck in lockdown.
As Claire has stated in her most recent blog post, we have carried out a lot of very interesting Chinese Brush Painting Challenges throughout 2020. The last few before Christmas seemed to come in like machine gun fire which meant for not a lot of thinking time – sometimes not a bad thing!
Below is a quick amalgamation of the last few challenges to give ideas should you get stuck for some inspiration. Please post back if you are inspired and if you take any of these in a different direction…
Challenge 8: Bird and Boat
As usual there were many variations on this theme. For this Challenge I was reminded of time on the South West Coastal path near Wembury. I was inspired by a beautiful spot on the coast looking to ‘Shag Stone’ where the Cormorants and Shags gather to fish in the sea…
I have to say that this Challenge ended up being an unexpected pleasure with so much variation from everyone. I went back to my research of past paintings to put together something classic. I brought together a Pine Tree for Longevity together with other Longevity symbols such as the Tai Hu rock and the Ganoderma Fungi. This I painted on grass paper to get the soft shades of grey:
Fungi, Rocks and Pine – Paul Maslowski 2020
Challenge 11: Mist & Challenge 12: Festive Trees and Rats
I think it is safe to say that Mist is probably the biggest Challenge subject for any painter so it was an excellent subject to have a go at as any chance to practice mist is not wasted for the Landscape painter. I decided to combine my research with our last subject of the year to give a misty Landscape with festive trees. In our Challenge 11 call I had discussed stylised cloud and mist so thought it was best to give a new example on a traditional theme. The title of this piece is literally Misty Pine Mountain however the character I chose for Misty literally means Indistinct:
Misty Pine Mountain – Paul Maslowski 2020
I hope you have enjoyed these Challenge pieces. As I said earlier should you be inspired by any of these please feel free to Comment back at any time.
Here’s thanking everyone who took part in any of the Challenges and wishing all of us a Happy 2021 and excellent painting opportunities.
During 2020 it became more and more obvious that we were not going to be able to run workshops for our Leicestershire Chinese Brush Painters (LCBP) group. After a deal of thought Paul devised a Google Meet challenge for the group on a fortnightly basis to keep us linked together and provide a focus for our painting practice.
Chinese Umbrellas – Claire Seaton 2020
I thought it may be of interest to look at the results of one of these challenges. Anyone in the group can suggest the topic for the next challenge and subjects have been wide-ranging. At first glance, not all have been popular but, my word, have they produced some excellent work and different takes on subjects. We have all used different and varied stimuli, including Google images and Pinterest, as well as our own reference books, photographs and local observation. I must admit the topic of ‘Umbrellas’ was not immediately attractive to me but I decided to try and find an example I could work from. I eventually found a few from Chinese folk art sources (see below) and tried to paint them in a different style. I painted the above picture in haste and on a very rainy, miserable day!! I think my energies are evident…
Below is the example of Chinese Folk Art I used for my first painting above:
Chinese Umbrellas folk art
When the actual Google Meet session took place I was amazed at how differently the individuals in the group had interpreted the topic. There were paintings of collections of decorative umbrellas as seen from below, there were figures of elegant women and rotund monks carrying umbrellas/parasols and there were even bats, whose structure of their wings echoed the structure of the spokes of an umbrella!
Bats in the Moon – Paul Maslowski 2020
Another member of the group extended this topic into the next one and produced a field of pumpkin tops looking very much like umbrellas! Sue decided to paint a wealth of different umbrellas which were all for sale:
Umbrella Seller – Sue Phipps 2020
I became so engrossed with this subject and the potential for use of shapes, colours and patterns that I recently painted another more detailed version shown here:
Chinese Umbrellas 2 – Claire Seaton 2020
We have found the sharing of our work and research has urged us on to painting out of our comfort zones and it really has challenged us.
Thus, we found yet again that a topic which did not initially inspire some of us, turned out to be one of the most stimulating. This was not the only subject which has led us to greater things.
Please feel free to use any of these examples to copy or extend and we hope you will experience the same thirst for further exploration of this topic as we did.
In preparation for a new challenge I thought I would post up the Chinese Calligraphy for a few different sea mammals that we were considering painting…
We started our thinking with consideration of painting a seal. However, this has taken a little finding as ‘seal’ in Chinese has quite a different meaning i.e. a chop for ‘sealing’, or completing a painting.
I think I have now found it but if you know a short-hand version or something more specific please do let us know by replying to this post.
A lot of sea mammals start their name with a very literal ‘sea’:
Chinese Calligraphy – Ocean (Sea) hai3
From what I have discovered, a generic seal is regarded quite literally as a sea leopard (or panther):
Chinese Calligraphy – Seal (Ocean leopard) hai3 bao4 horiz
The next variant surely must be the sea lion, which again is literally what it says:
Chinese Calligraphy – Sea lion – hai3 shi1 simpl horiz
Above is the simplified Calligraphy. If you would prefer the traditional Calligraphy this is shown below. You will notice that sea (or ocean) is the same whether traditional or simplified:
Chinese Calligraphy – Sea lion – hai3 shi1 trad horiz
Finally, some people were interested in painting a walrus. This fits in beautifully with this sequence as it is literally a sea elephant in Chinese:
Chinese Calligraphy – Walrus (Sea Elephant) hai1 xiang4 horiz
I trust you have fun painting your sea mammals. Please do post any inspirations as we would love to see them.
It has been quite a while since we have updated the Blog. This hasn’t meant that we’ve not been painting. Far from it! It’s simply meant that we’ve been trying to spend less time on the computer and more time in the studio…
Challenges 6 & 7 have both been about working on Contemporary paintings and in particular have looked at the work of Wu Guanzhong who is a highly recognised contemporary artist in China. Challenge 6 was to take something of his and recreate it. Challenge 7 was then to move this on and paint something that we found in our area in his style.
One of the best pieces from the challenge is Claire’s plunge Waterfall. This embodies Wu’s style while also reflecting Claire’s own. Her painting is shown below:
Waterfall after Wu Guanzhong – Claire Seaton 2020
This isn’t to say that there wasn’t some other wonderful work produced. There certainly was! If you have been inspired by Wu Guanzhong and wish to post up some of your responses to this challenge please let us know.
We recently completed our fifth Chinese Brush Painting challenge. The main subject of the challenge was a Still Life. The extra element was fruit this time. As usual, the idea of the challenge was to interpret that title in any way that we saw fit.
The idea with this one was very simple (which is always good) which was simply that we had not painted a challenge still life thus far…
As usual there were some wonderful paintings on all sorts of subjects from harvests to bowls of fruit and this one lent itself to lots of paintings produced!
With this challenge I did not produce a sketch as I had an idea I have been wanting to paint for some time. Qi Baishi is probably one of the most recognised artists for his still life pictures (especially as some of them are not entirely still…) and there are a number of paintings which are fascinating studies in Chinese Calligraphy. One in particular is a bowl of cherries on a bamboo stand. This painting can be seen in part 2 of Qi Baishi’s life story which is linked on this blog post.
I chose to emulate this painting with the strong strokes of the bamboo stand as the central feature. Each of the strokes must be completed in one stroke in order to get the energy and immediacy required. Additionally, the strokes must start strong and solid with ink and either end up dry at the end, or show the ink run out and the water in the heel of the brush, take over. The Autumnal twist was that instead of a bowl of cherries it would be a bowl of acorns, which, of course, had attracted a particular guest…
Seizing the opportunity – Paul Maslowski 2019
The Calligraphy is my now familiar date and signature with the addition of Opportunity in the top right corner.
If you would like to see the above painting in more detail, please visit my Portfolio.
It was great to see this time that Claire went her own way and rather than working from a Qi Baishi she composed a fabulous painting as you will see below:
Honesty – Still Life – Claire Seaton 2020
There are 3 elements to the Calligraphy which work really well together. The first is the notable poem in the top right, “When the Autumn wind blows, and the new wine is produced, it is time to look at my flowers”. The next is Claire’s name on the vase, which incidentally was made by her. Finally note the date which is Autumn 2020 on the left hand side of the vase.
We really would to include challenge work other than our own. If you have produced a painting for this one and would be happy to share do please let us know and we will post it up here with any comments you wish to add…
We hope this inspires you to paint some wonderful pictures. If you feel so drawn, again, please let me know and I will post up images here even if they are a departure from the original inspiration. You can always comment in your own words below. Just click on Leave a comment.
We recently completed our fourth Chinese Brush Painting challenge. The main subject of the challenge was a Waterfall. However, as has become a habit, an extra element, people, were added. Of course, as usual, the idea of the challenge was to interpret that title in any way that students saw fit.
Reg had found a wonderful Northern Song Dynasty painting by Qu Ding (active ca1023 – ca1056) on the Met Museum website called Summer Mountains and this was the original inspiration for the challenge:
Summer Landscape – Qu Ding ca1050 46x706cm
There were some excellent paintings of Waterfalls produced, however, it is fair to say that most people had only completed one final painting for the challenge, this time.
Claire decided to use the idea of a Waterfall to start her off rather than use the above painting. This meant that the idea ended up going in a different direction to the Song Dynasty start. After plenty of research Claire found a contemporary Chinese artists work that she has been looking at for some time now, Wu Guanzhong. This meant that the final composition was much more contemporary in nature:
I do love a Song Dynasty landscape so decided to have a go at a section of Qu Ding’s original. I should have just stuck with the original but wanted to add my own twist which has increased the time taken to get to the final result…
I started with a rough sketch to plan out the composition and then, carefully started on the outline of the Waterfall. The secret is to make sure that the brush is wetted to make a fine point and then dried out as much as possible. Most especially the heel of the brush:
Stubborn Ox in the Lofty Mountains after Qu Ding – Paul Maslowski 2020
The man walking and the Stubborn Ox are my additions as the next Chinese Year will be the Year of the Ox.
There are 2 parts to the Calligraphy, one is the date, the other is my signature. The seal is of my original Landscape seal, Tranquillity. The Calligraphy is a little hidden in the Northern Song literati style.
If you would like to see the above painting in more detail, please visit my Landscape Portfolio.
We would love to include some of the other challenge work so if you have produced a painting for this one and would be happy to share do please let us know and we will post it up here…
I hope this inspires you to paint some wonderful pictures. If you feel so drawn, again, please let me know and I will post up images here. You can always comment in your own words below. Just click on Leave a comment.
Part 1 and Part 2 of this article are featured in the blog posts linked.
Chen Shizeng (1876-1923) played an important part in Qi Baishi’s life, not only because he inspired Qi to pursue his own style, but also because he introduced his works to the international art community. In 1922, Chen was invited to show his paintings at a Sino-Japanese exhibition held in Japan. He took Qi’s paintings along with him. Qi, who never thought that foreigners would take an interest in his paintings, did not think much of the exhibition. Yet unexpectedly, his paintings received a warm response from the Japanese. The several paintings that were displayed were all sold out. Some French people who went to the exhibition were also attracted to his works. They chose two of his paintings and brought them back to Paris for another exhibition. Again his works won the praise of Europeans.
The exhibition in Japan could surely be said to be the most crucial turning point in Qi’s painting career. Qi became famous overnight. After the exhibition, it grew easier and easier for him to sell his paintings. It became almost a must for foreigners who visited Beijing to buy his works, and the arty people in the city also considered it a fashion to own one or two of his pieces.
After he had achieved fame, he still worked diligently. Continuing to develop his technique and style throughout the 1930s and 40s, a time of political turmoil and upheaval in China, he was elevated to the status of a national icon in 1953 when the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China conferred on him the accolade of “People’s Artist.”
The allure of his paintings
So, why do Qi Baishi’s paintings enjoy such popularity and high appraisal? “I think it is mainly because of his creativity,” said He Huai-shuo, a famous painter and art critic. “His paintings, which vividly communicate an earthly charm, brought new life to the ordinarily lofty Chinese style of painting.”
Willow and Cow – Qi Baishi 1937 85x37cm
Qi liked to depict prawns, frogs, cows, chickens, brooms, farm tools, insects, rats, vegetables – subjects which traditional Chinese painters either ignored or disdained to paint. In spite of the ordinary nature of his subjects, his paintings succeeded in being extraordinarily beguiling and captivating. Be it tadpoles or wildflowers, his subjects have a fresh immediacy that never fails to rivet the attention of the viewer. Almost all the touching images he portrayed in his paintings were inspired by his early life in the countryside. Although he came from a poverty-stricken farming family and encountered many people who looked down upon him because of his humble origin, he was never ashamed of his background. He cherished the poverty and toil he went through and turned his childhood experiences into subjects that enriched his paintings.
Qi said that he would not paint anything without having first come to know his subject. In order to improve his technique of painting prawns and insects, he once raised some at home and closely observed their movements. It was said that the locusts he painted in his early years were so lifelike that when the pictures were thrown to the ground, chickens would rush forward to peck them. Even though he could produce extremely realistic looking paintings, realism was not what he pursued. He said that the beauty of a painting lies between likeness and unlikeness: “Too much likeness verges on shallowness, while too much unlikeness makes a painting look unconvincing.”
The Butterfly – Qi Baishi
Qi Baishi died in 1957, at the mature age of ninety-five. In addition to his paintings, he also left behind a large number of seal carvings. His rise from carpenter to internationally acclaimed painter became a legend among the Chinese people. He achieved a success and fame that few of his contemporaries could match. He Huai-shuo, the modern Taiwanese critic and artist, said that Qi Baishi could be counted as the only Chinese master painter in the twentieth century whose paintings appealed to both refined and popular tastes. His talent shone through the scenes he depicted – not grandiose or pompous, but all uncommonly, wonderfully tempting.
I hope you enjoyed this biography of Qi Baishi and will take a look at his work anew. Please do post back with any paintings inspired by his work as we genuinely do enjoy what people come up with from a specific starting point.
Part 1 of this article is featured in the blog post linked.
The guidance of his teachers
Although he was completely self-taught, the pictures Qi produced won enthusiastic admiration from his clients. But even the most talented of people need the guidance of a good teacher at some point. If he wanted to scale new heights, it was impossible for him to rely wholly on his own efforts.
Sending a child to school – Qi Baishi c1930 33x27cm
When he was twenty-seven, the chance came. One day when he was carving wood at the home of a rich intellectual called Hu Tzu-Cho, he was summoned to see the great man. Hu, who was also a good artist, had seen Qi’s paintings. He appreciated Qi’s talent and offered to teach him painting for free. Qi gladly accepted his kind offer. Under Hu’s tutelage, Qi mastered the fine-line gongbi painting technique, a style akin to Western realism with meticulous brushwork and close attention to detail. Because Qi was not well educated, Hu also introduced him to Chen Shao-fan, a teacher of Chinese classics. Through the guidance of Hu and Chen, Qi was able to refine and improve himself by studying books and paintings by ancient scholars and famous artists. He also expanded his circle of acquaintances and got to know many men of letters and people of refined tastes.
Of course not all the people Qi came across treated him with such politeness and high regard. Some of his clients who commissioned him to paint asked him not to sign his name on his works because they thought that he, being lowborn and unknown, was not worthy enough to do so. This was extremely painful to him, but in order to make a living, he had to take all the insults. He knew very well that if he wanted to disentangle himself from such predicaments, he had to work harder to demonstrate his worth and abilities.
Rat Peanuts and Persimmon – Qi Baishi 1950
A little story that Qi once told showed how determined he was to improve his art. As many people know, Qi was not only famous for his paintings but also for his seal cutting. In order to master the skill, he once went to ask for advice from a top-notch seal cutter. The seal cutter showed disdain for him and said to him with a sneer, “If you drink the water in my hookah (an oriental water-cooled pipe), I will teach you everything I know.” The water in a hookah is used to filter the nicotine from tobacco, and so it is stinking, pungent and bitter. But without the least bit of hesitation, Qi took the seal cutter’s hookah from him and drank the water from it. Impressed by his firm resolve, the seal cutter did in fact teach Qi everything he knew. Thus, Qi was exceptionally good at turning difficulties and obstacles in his life into positive forces that motivated him to go further.
The expansion of his scope
Before he reached forty, Qi never travelled far from Xiangtan County, his birthplace. His friends advised him that if he wanted to make further improvements in his art, he should step out into the big world. The significance of travel for an artist was perhaps best articulated by Dong Qichang (1555-1636, famous calligrapher, painter and art critic), who commented that a painter must “read ten thousand volumes and travel ten thousand miles” to be able to convey the spirit and vibrancy of nature through a painting. At the invitation of his friends, Qi then left his home many times to wander around famous mountains, lakes and rivers throughout the country.
Cherries – Qi Baishi 1951 100x34cm
The excursions broadened his horizons and increased his confidence. The majestic and grandiose scenery he saw and the people he met inspired him to imbue a new spirit into his paintings. The most significant change was the shift of his painting style from a realistic to a more spiritual expression – from fine, detailed brushwork to spontaneous, freehand brushwork characterized by vivid expression and bold outline. It was obvious he was changing from a folk artist who put more emphasis on the technical aspect of art to a more mature member of the literati, one who could create works of art which were more profound and scholarly.
Even though he was greatly improving himself as an artist, Qi was still groping for an individual idiom that would make him stand out as a maestro. That would not happen until he had met Chen Shizeng (1876-1923).
Appreciating an inkstone – Qi Baishi 1920s 50x33cm
Qi moved to Beijing in 1917, when he was fifty-five, to avoid the harassment and extortion of bandits and local bullies, who had grown greatly in number because of the unstable political situation at that time. In Beijing he made the acquaintance of Chen, who came from a distinguished family and was a renowned painter, poet and seal carver. He showed a great interest in Qi’s paintings and seal carvings. He told Qi his paintings were great, but that he had not reached the realm of perfection. At that time Qi was greatly influenced by the style of the famous monk-painter, Bada Shanren [Zhu Da] (1626-1705). Chen advised Qi to create his own style instead of following in the footsteps of the great painting masters before him.
Qi took his words to heart. Actually his paintings were not popular in Beijing at that time. Even though they were cheaper by fifty percent than the paintings produced by other artists, still few people commissioned him to paint, and he made a living out of his seal carvings. Chen’s advice inspired him to be creative in his own way. From 1919 to 1928, he gradually developed his own style, a style that combined traditional free-hand brushwork with folk-art technique. He drew on the strength of his early training as a craftsman and his education in classical Chinese painting and literature in his latter years and fused them into a fresh, unique style that would capture the hearts of many.
Candlestick and Insect – detail – Qi Baishi
The final part of Qi Baishi’s biography is published in Part 3
In 1863, a boy was born into a destitute peasant family in Xiangtan County, Hunan Province. Nobody could have known that this country boy would grow into such a great painter that even Pablo Picasso would one day say, “I dare not go to China, because there is a Qi Baishi there.”
Picasso lavished this praise on Qi when Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), visited him in Paris in 1956. Picasso also took a pile of Chinese ink paintings he had created in imitation of Qi’s artistic style.
What is the charm of Qi’s paintings that captured the imagination of the Western art master as well as many art lovers around the world? How did a poor farmer’s son, who started out as a carpenter, become a highly venerated maestro? Qi’s story is enlightening not only to aspiring artists, but also to all those who want to make something of their lives.
A huge monument to him now stands in Qi Baishi Park in Xiangtan, Hunan Province, China.
Cicada on maple – Qi Baishi
Born into the wrong family
Qi was the first child of his family. He had six brothers and three sisters. His family owned only a small piece of land that produced far from enough to feed them, so his grandfather and father had to do odd jobs here and there to scrape out a living.
It would have been impossible for him to go to school were it not for his maternal grandfather, who ran a small private school not far from the boy’s home. Without having to pay any tuition, Qi happily went to school when he was eight.
His grandfather taught the students to write by copying Chinese characters in a copybook. Sometimes when Qi got tired of the monotonous copying work, he would begin to draw. His drawings of things he saw in his daily life – an old man fishing, flowers, frogs, or cows – fascinated his classmates, who came one after another to ask for his vivid creations. Not long afterwards, when his grandfather found out what he had been doing, he scolded the boy for wasting precious paper on meaningless doodling. After that, Qi could only draw secretly on rough wrapping paper.
The Autumn came. The poor harvest that year aggravated the already poor financial situation of the family. Qi had no choice but to quit school and stay at home to help chop firewood, plant vegetables, and graze cattle. Although his schooling ended prematurely, he did not put his books aside. He always carried a book with him to study whenever he went to the mountains to graze cattle. Afraid that he would pay too much attention to reading and neglect his duties, his grandmother reproached him, “Can you keep your stomach full with your pen and book? Our family needs food, not paintings… Alas! It’s a pity that you were born into the wrong family.”
Crabs, Shrimp and Fish – Qi Baishi
Because Qi had been fragile since he was born, his family knew that it was out of the question for him to become a farmer. When he reached fifteen, his father apprenticed him to a carpenter, Chi Chang-ling, in the hope that he could at least learn “something useful” to help provide for the family. One day when Qi and his master were returning home from work, they met three men on the road carrying wooden boxes and sacks containing saws, drills and the like. Looking at the tools, Qi knew that these men must be carpenters too. To his surprise, his master smiled and greeted them with a high degree of respect, while the three men, haughty and arrogant, barely paid any attention to him. After they had walked away, Qi asked his master, “We are carpenters and they are carpenters too, so why did you behave so respectfully towards them?” The master answered with a serious tone, “What do you know? We make big furniture, which requires little skill, while they produce refined woodwork with intricate carving skills. Unless you are really smart, it is impossible to learn their artistry. Although we are all in the same line of work, we are much lower than they in terms of social rank. That’s why I show such reverence for them.” After hearing what his master said, Qi secretly made a resolution: “I don’t believe I can’t do what they can. One day I will become a woodcarver too.”
After learning carpentry for a year, Qi fulfilled his dream. Carpentry is a physically demanding job – young Qi often found it hard to carry heavy timber and erect large wooden frameworks. Worried that the strenuous work would worsen his delicate health, his family agreed to let him learn to become a woodcarver. Chou Chih-mei, a famous local woodcarver, accepted him as his pupil. Chou was a patient and enthusiastic teacher, and he taught Qi everything he knew. He soon found to his delight that his student was both diligent and talented. After a three year apprenticeship, Qi not only mastered the craft, but even surpassed his master in skill. In addition to the regular carving patterns and designs often seen at that time, he created many new designs which gained great popularity among his clients.
One day at the home of one of his clients, Qi came upon a book on painting which demonstrated how to complete a painting from beginning to end and contained a comprehensive series of flowers, rocks, figures and other motifs. Elated at finding this invaluable treasure, he industriously copied and recopied the whole series. The book initiated him into the world of Chinese ink painting and imbued in him a rudimentary knowledge of brush technique and composition. From then on, he diligently practiced painting in his spare time. His clients eventually found out that he could paint too, and they asked him to paint for them. That was how he began to create paintings, mostly of folk deities and portraits, for his clients. At that time, he only took painting as a means to supplement his meagre income as a woodcarver. Little did he know that he would one day be lauded as “the first great master of the Chinese art world in 300 years.”
Li Tieh-kuai – detail – Qi Baishi 1927 106x32cm
More of Qi Baishi’s biography is published in Part 2, click the link to find out more…
Some of us recently completed our second Chinese Brush Painting challenge. The main subject of the challenge was Pine trees. However, for most of our number that was not enough and (as appears to be becoming a habit) Hares/Rabbits were added. Of course, the idea of the challenge was to interpret that title in any way people saw fit.
Again, there were some absolutely fabulous paintings produced and most people had painted more than one in order to get closer to what they wanted.
Reminder: a previous blog post on this site dealt with a workshop we held looking at Spring Hares if you would like to see some in detail.
As some of you will already be aware from her daily facebook post, Claire painted a Hare with the moon as you will see below. Should you wish to write the Calligraphy for moon, or month, please see our Dating paintings page:
I have been thinking about the Yuan Dynasty (1271 – 1368) and decided that I wanted to use a Yuan Dynasty artist’s work as the inspiration for my piece. I have been studying the work of Zhao Mengfu (1254 – 1322) for some time now and was drawn to using something of his as the basis for my piece. I made a very rough sketch to plan out the composition and then, quite frankly, got stuck in to see if I could produce anything approaching the sublime nature of some of his tree and rock studies. My concentration had been on the pine – the idea being to show it growing around the main rock – but once I had managed to get that down I really wanted to bring it upto date by adding my Spring Hares, as you will see below:
Double Happiness – Hare Pine Mountain after Zhao Mengfu – Paul Maslowski 2020
If you would like to see the above painting in more detail, please visit my Landscape Portfolio.
We would love to include some of the other challenge work so if you have produced a painting for this one and would be happy to share please let us know and we will post it up here…
You may wish to include the Calligraphy for Pine (sōng) in your painting:
Chinese Calligraphy – Pine – song1
You may wish to include the Calligraphy for Hare (tù) in your painting. This can be found on our Zodiac Animals Calligraphy page.
I hope this inspires you to paint some wonderful pictures. If you feel so drawn, again, please let me know and I will post up images here. You can always comment in your own words below. Just click on Leave a comment.
