Sunday, May 31, 2009

Ink Painting...

When the term 'ink painting' is mentioned, it usually has referred to Asian ink works... when used today, it can be in a similar vein, or, as seen with Gao Xingjian, splotches of b/w decorative work... but, as also seen, it can be crisp in color, and utilizing architecture as part... there is, after all, no reason ink cannot be used with brushes as well as pens...



6 comments:

  1. Beautiful! Hope this isn't a dumb question. Are these all brush and ink or are some pen and ink? Or maybe a combination of both?

    The last one is absolutely glowing. Would love to see these up close. Will have to put the book in my wish list at Amazon.com. :)

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  2. wasn't impressed with that book - not my style of ink, but can get the dot coms of those others... here's some -
    www.paintings.novica.com/ink/
    www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sesshu
    www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_painting
    http://www.c-c-c.org/ex/ink/ink_tour.html

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  3. hmmm - should be -

    paintings.novica.com/ink

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  4. Silly me. I thought all of the ink paintings shown were contained in the book. Never mind about wanting the book. Not my cup of tea, so to speak. Still love the landscapes though. I checked out the websites and no close-ups, but some good info. The Chinese Culture Center says file not found, but looked around all the others.

    Now for the million dollar question. Can a pen be used to make an ink painting? Or is the use of a brush what makes it ink painting. What I want it to mean, is the quality and completeness (not the right word) makes it an ink painting. I'm not saying what I mean very well, but hopefully someone will get what I mean and explain it for me...

    This brings me back to Yutang. Yang's landscapes blow my mind. And the fact that they were done with pen makes them so much more appealing to me personally. And maybe in jumping back and forth between websites, I have found my answer in this quote from Yang himself....

    Realism pen-art is to creat in a Realism way. It has a fundamental difference from all the old types of pen-arts. All the old pen-arts have a sign that one “work” serves for another. It’s existence to seems have no independence “forever”. Although some works are more independent, it can’t break away from “attachment” still. Realism pen-art is quite different; it’s independent,and its existence doesn’t have “attachment”. Its existence itself is its final result.

      In recent years, many people are studying pen-art, from home to abroad, and there are various sorts of books . Everyone is looking for outlet on “lines”. It seems that the richer lines changing, the higher level it is. There are all changelines on one very thick book. They are changing and changing up to now.

    Actually, pen-art creation principle is very simple, we paint oil painting, no one pay attention to every single line. Everyone knows to pay attention to express object’s character and the feeling from buttom of your heart. Why can’t we neglect lines changing but advert to object’s character like drawing oil painting when we paint pen-art? As long as you express your feeling of the object objectively, then, you must create perfect works. Yang Yutang http://www.penart.cn/en/

    It is the whole, not the line, dot, crosshatch or squiggle...right?

    And here I will end my pen and ink study and return to being a rancher...

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  5. In some ways, this is enlightening to me as well as other viewers... I consider my later works as paintings, tho not done with a brush, for the same reason [as I later found out] Yang sees it - it is the whole, the work as its own... and for sure, seeing yang's work was VERY inspiring as to possibilities of using the pen!!, not that I think I'll ever get THAT realistic, since mine are mostly all from my mind, but is a goal that is seen as reachable...

    [and I hope your comment of returning to being a rancher, ending your pen and ink study, does not mean ye giving it up!???!]

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  6. I put art away for over thirty years, I'll not put it away again... just have the day to day running of a ranch to deal with. My art passion is my hobby, for now. I could get lost in this and spend the whole day on the computer or at my drawing board. (And here I am, just before supper, checking it out again.) But it doesn't pay the bills or even for the supplies, yet...

    As I see it, my earlier drawings of the horse, cat, skull or eagle were drawings. But maybe, just maybe, my "Meadville" and "Water Wheel" drawings might be considered "paintings". It is something to aim for.

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