Home Forums Explore Media Watermedia chinese brush and ink on raw xuan paper

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  • #1432718
    hedvig
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        This spring I made some brush and ink. I had bought a cheap “Wenzhou” paper. And realized that I was pampered in China with red star cured xuanzhi. I was also gifted such paper and have a big bunch. But since it was long ago I start with cheap paper and liquid nanjing ink!

        size 35x50cm ca

        Elements from places in East Asia are melded together…. so references of some objects exist. But not really photo likenesz..

        I’ll post a few more that are not from reference exactly…

        I lighted the photo up a bit

        instagram: miniporcini
        You are welcome to give feedback to my stuff c&c always interesting.

        #1432721
        hedvig
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            instagram: miniporcini
            You are welcome to give feedback to my stuff c&c always interesting.

            #1432723
            hedvig
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                ca 40x40cm

                instagram: miniporcini
                You are welcome to give feedback to my stuff c&c always interesting.

                #1432724
                hedvig
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                    ca 40x40cm

                    instagram: miniporcini
                    You are welcome to give feedback to my stuff c&c always interesting.

                    #1432727
                    hedvig
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                        40x60cm? ca

                        instagram: miniporcini
                        You are welcome to give feedback to my stuff c&c always interesting.

                        #1432732
                        hedvig
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                            ca 35x70cm

                            instagram: miniporcini
                            You are welcome to give feedback to my stuff c&c always interesting.

                            #1432733
                            hedvig
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                                ca 40x40cm

                                instagram: miniporcini
                                You are welcome to give feedback to my stuff c&c always interesting.

                                #1432854

                                They look very confusing to me.

                                Doug


                                We must leave our mark on this world

                                #1432881
                                hedvig
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                                    Maybe that will have to be my calling: confusing Doug. The day I get the nod from you I will know I really have arrived :p But seriously, it is nice that somebody takes the time to look and tell what they feel and think about it :wave:

                                    instagram: miniporcini
                                    You are welcome to give feedback to my stuff c&c always interesting.

                                    #1433777
                                    Tanja
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                                        Hi Hedvig,

                                        I find them very nice, the fact that you post them all in the same thread might cause sensation overload….

                                        I like them all: my favorites are the last two and the third (with the rabbit).

                                        The foregrounds are very strong, the background is a little washed out sometimes…. I also like the addition of color in the last one..

                                        Like I said in your last post, I am also using the rice paper (Whenzou) and I apply ink (hand-rubbed mostly) and watercolors to it. However, I found that I want to stretch the rice paper using  stretch bars for silk-painting), so that the paper flattens out after each layer of paint that I apply has dried completely. It was bothering me a lot that the paper buckles so much…. How are you dealing with that?

                                        Cheers and good luck

                                        Tanja

                                         

                                        less is more

                                        #1433852
                                        hedvig
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                                            Hi Tanja, happy that you liked some. I paint a lot and quickly and I tend to put batches here. But to not annoy ppl by strating gazillion new threads I batch post. Also to post a few I might find have flaws, are in a state, or wip or feels silly is to lower my threshold of shame and standards of perfection. Because those are mostly injurious….

                                            This paper is very buckled and as can be seen here and in my other chinese brush threads I haven’t yet dealt with that issue.

                                            Xuan paper isn’t rice paper but from I think to remember, paper mulberry. Or some other bush. I can check again. And it is very tear-fast ripfast for beaing such a flimsy paper. The good thing, my Chinese painter friend told me was that even if knuckled or slightly folded etc it should be possible to mount very evenly and smoothly.

                                            Xuan is probably best mounted the traditional way, with a rice glue paste that I believe is perfectly possible to make in your own kitchen. And you mount on fabric I think, silk? Perhaps you first mount on paper, possible another xuan paper. and the smoothing and getting rid of air bubbles etc is made with a hand held extra super wide goat hair moddler/brush.

                                            But I recall him telling me it required some skill so if you think about doing it you should first get some profficiency on just scraps of xuan. Not your best work :D

                                            And, while painting, first you should have a thick felt fabric beneath, stops the paper from moving, and absorbs watery layers that might otherwise leave marks. And for both calligraphy and painting there are thin heavy blocks that you put on the sides while painting and thus stretches it ever so slightly. But no need to get fancy, just use stones or paper weights. But only stretch when dry!!BUT NEVER STRETCH ANYTHING WHILE ITS WET or it will tear! That is btw the way to tear of pieces of xuan to work on, fold, wet brush, not the best, and drag lightly along the folded line, then tear. I can see later if I can find a bit more. It shouldbe info online. Buckles that disturbs the painting process and later layers I believed could be adressed by very very careful wetting and smoothing, how to best do that, try on scrap paper, and if you have thick heavy blacks on there, you have to see if they smudge or are dispersed. So do a lot of testing before trying on your treasured masterpieces!

                                            I used watercolour here for the pink and greenish washes in the last one. I had planned to use this low quality raw wenzhou paper for watercolour, I was sooo pleased I had found a paper that would travel so lightly and being cheap, meaning I could scale up, but was extremely disappointed when trying my daniel smith colours on there. They looked dull and flat. So if using watercolour cheap brands like white nights will probably work better. I have a set of coloured ink sticks, never used yet,maybe the binder in them will give better results, or maybe there is a watercolour medium that would make the watercomour work better on xuan, I don’t know.

                                            instagram: miniporcini
                                            You are welcome to give feedback to my stuff c&c always interesting.

                                            #1434599

                                            I think the ink does well on this cheap paper and it is always good to experiment seeing what will work or not.  Your first one is my favorite. :yahoo:

                                            Kay

                                            Moderator: Watermedia, Mixed Media, Abstract/Contemporary

                                            #1434670
                                            hedvig
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                                                Thank you for looking and commenting. I like that the best too, it is the last I made this spring, picking up on this medium after having not done it for some time.

                                                instagram: miniporcini
                                                You are welcome to give feedback to my stuff c&c always interesting.

                                                #1435348
                                                laika
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                                                    I like the last one best, but then I thought the flowers were lotus blooms and wondered if the rabbit was underwater :)

                                                    I have never tried ink painting on rice paper (hard to find) but I have tried on newsprint paper after crushing it repeatedly and wetting it slightly. Results were not ready for prime time :)

                                                    Lamar

                                                    Art is life's dream interpretation.
                                                    - Otto Rank

                                                    #1435352
                                                    hedvig
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                                                        Thank you Lamar, no rabbit over board, she is surfing like a boss on a lotus leaf :D   I don’t blame you it is chaotic, but I also liked it, so posted. Glad you liked it too.

                                                        I was thinking of the pond in a certain garden I went to a lot. lotuses and leaves sticking up from very murky green water. And some leaves were like big rafts.

                                                        instagram: miniporcini
                                                        You are welcome to give feedback to my stuff c&c always interesting.

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