Chinese Art Painting

Chinese Art Painting

Chinese Art:

Chinese art......... the Chinese have had a style all of their own, with the stroke of their brush, brings the beauty of nature to the foreground.

I have travelled around Asia and even lived in an Asian country at one time in my life, and have seen many of their works.

Whether it has been in little shops or art galleries, one thing can be said about the Chinese art painting that I have seen.

Their unique style; almost whimsical in intent, capture a simplistic portrayal of nature with sometimes the minimal of colures.

Whether it be with their watercolor paints, that are almost transparent in areas, to me... gives a free expression and lack of solidarity to their colures.

I love the way the watercolors flow and it seems with speed, how these Chinese artists flick their brushes in precise movements in Chinese art painting..

You can see emerge from their brush, the unique mountains of their home land, and the trees that seem to jut out from the steep sides of these mountains as if in a fantasy land.

I saw a documentary recently on Chinese art painting, and the trees really do seem as though they are clinging onto the steep inclines of these mountains, which look like large bonsai trees growing there, probably for a hundred years or so.

Artist ~ Andrea Balch

Art in china is not exclusive to China alone, you can see it in may different countries now as the Chinese take their art with them.

I have seen their depictions of animals also in solid paints, bright and still with those skilful strokes made with rather large brushes that come to life from the animals that are seen in China from the past and today.

I was commissioned to paint some Chinese designs for some of my Chinese friends a while back. And I want to show you some of these works here.

Here on the left, you can see a Chinese art painting of birds on a branch.

Notice how I also have used water color paints to capture the same effects as the Chinese artists have in their own work.

The attention to detail is not so important in many paintings of this style, because, when you step back from these paintings, you see just how detailed these paintings become.

Sometimes, I feel that Chinese paintings need to be viewed from a distance, here you will see emerge the details that make their Chinese art paintings really stand out. Yet..... they have painted their subjects with minimal detail.

Though, it all makes sense, and their style is enchanting.

Note how the play of watercolor works so well with the different strokes of their brushes. I have also used the traditional Chinese brushes here to get the same technique.

"When you start a painting, it is somewhat outside you. At the conclusion, you seem to move inside the painting." - Fernando Botero

Even thought this is not a copy of the original work here (which I have here only in photocopy) I painted it in one color, which was a brown, and used it's color strengths to show transparency and highlights to bring out the transition of light and dark.

Of course you can use more than one color. What I wanted to do here, was create a "water-print". In this way a parchment light brown color paper was used as the background.

Artist~Andrea Balch

If you want to try doing Chinese art painting yourself, I would encourage it. I enjoyed the experience of following the different style of painting.

And not only did it challenge me with it's different style, this cultures art has developed over thousands of years.

It also is a great exercise to extend your skills as an artist.

Again... you can see this other Chinese painting on the right, depicting nature and man together. See how different flicks of the brush brings to life the leaves on the trees.

You don't have to go into great detail - in fact, I think it would spoil the effect of the trees.

The Chinese arts have got their art down to perfection, and the individuality of their style also brings out such a tranquillity of speech.

Nature is depicted in such a way that you don't have to have everything in the picture. From one tree in the background painted in, almost as an after thought.

To the people who seem to be at peace with the landscape around them in Chinese art painting.

I would encourage you to have a look at some of these Chinese paintings, and follow their unique styles. As it is their unique style that has been shaped by their artistic culture that is so old. And their unique landscape that is within their country.

They have depicted it in it's brilliance and tranquillity. And that's what I find about their art. It's simplistically beautiful and I could not think of it in any other style.

Painting in other styles formed by hundreds of years of artistic geography and cultures, are a stepping stone for you to challenge yourself, in taking up the brush and trying their art for yourself.

This way, such diversity makes you think differently and also makes you a better artist.

Understanding how other cultures work s differently to our own culture, makes us challenge our own values and keeps us broad minded in understanding that art is not only formed by what we see, it is also formed by how we think culturally.

When I did these paintings, I sketched in the details lightly first, and I would advise you to do the same.

Now I have seen Chinese artist just grab a brush and paint away, even just from memory of what they see in their minds.

But as we are new comers to their art, we just cant expect ourselves to paint away like that and gradually see a Chinese art painting transform itself in front of us.

So expand your portfolio and try painting in the style of the Chinese artists, and if you felt the same way I did when doing their work. It was very satisfying, and a privilege to enter their artistic world of art.