Chinese Painting 水墨画 (For The First Time)

I've finally started my Chinese Ink Painting 水墨画 (shui-mo hua) class last night, it was my first time adapting and learning about it. I plan to continue my studies at Taiwan next year and because of that, I wanted to know more about this popular traditional painting of Chinese cultural, well since I had nothing to do. Chinese Painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world, normally Landscape were one of the most popular subject of the painting, other than that was portrait, flowers or birds.

The class was just at Setiawalk near by my town area, the Tzu Chi Continuing Education Centre Puchong 慈濟社教中心. The place was quiet and calm, filled with songs of traditional Chinese instruments. I went in and the class had already began (I was slightly late for my first day of class oooops). The teacher began with simple strokes and techniques, letting us getting use with the feel of the brush. Chinese painting was definitely way different than Western Painting. The amount of water and ink must be precise, to create tone in one stroke. Your body must be discipline and patience, but at the same time, your mind should be in peace as your hand move in a relax and confident way. I had difficulty when creating thin strokes using the small brush, especially from thick to thin. I guess I need to practice more on that then.

The teacher explain that the strokes are very important, not only the amount of ink, the tone or the movement is important, but this confident stroke can able to tell the painter's personality, whether this person is aggressive, calm, gentle or in frustration. The teacher has been teaching for about 20 years, he was a fine art graduates in Kuala Lumpur and went to China after that. Instead of furthering his studies in Master in Fine Art (major in oil paint), he decided to go for Chinese Painting, and that was where his Chinese Painting journey begin.

At the end of the lesson, I was able to paint simple bamboos and leaves using the strokes and techniques that we learn at the beginning of the class. I was amazed and finally knew how the Masters manage to paint something in just a few seconds. This experience was really eye-opening, to able to learn different cultural after years of doing Western painting, I can't wait to discover and reveal more about this old ancient artistic tradition . . .

#Art #FineArt #ChinesePainting