Category Archives: composition

When ‘mono’ means more—a print as background (part 1)

Posted on September 30, 2019 by Reluctant Rat

If you should ever feel ‘stuck in a rut’ or simply uninspired for a subject with Chinese brush painting (CBP), then some serendipitous means of doing backgrounds might just provide that needed ‘kick start’ to get you going down a … Continue reading →

Posted in background painting, Chinese Brush Painting, composition, monoprinting, painting landscapes | Leave a comment

Power of P’in, arranging plum blossoms

Posted on March 5, 2018 by Reluctant Rat

My grandmother often cautioned me that ‘the road to hell is paved with good intentions’. If she’s right, then I’m surely bound to go down that road quite soon. Last month saw little in the way of productive painting, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese Brush Painting, composition, flowers, painting plum blossom | 2 Comments

Out on a limb: pine cones

Posted on November 26, 2017 by Reluctant Rat

“All that exists is, in a sense, the seed of what will be born from it.” — Marcus Aurelius With pine branches being such a common setting for animals or birds in Chinese brush painting (CBP), you’d think there would … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese Brush Painting, composition, painting pine, pine cones, squirrel | Leave a comment

Getting there…by gosh or by golly, a horsey adventure

Posted on November 13, 2017 by Reluctant Rat

Growing up in the 1940s and 50s in the Robson Valley we lived through a lot of transitions: from coal oil lamps to electric lights, from wood stove to central heating, from horse and buggy to cars and trucks. In … Continue reading →

Posted in branches, Chinese Brush Painting, composition, Dunster Memories, landscape, painting horses, painting landscapes | Leave a comment

Harmony and Joy, two birds on a branch

Posted on October 16, 2017 by Reluctant Rat

While updating my growing CBP library database recently I discovered a few books I had missed inputting. As I flipped through one to consider its most relevant coding I discovered a composition with two sparrows flitting through maple, two subjects … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese Brush Painting, composition, how to paint birds | 1 Comment

Branching out, plum plus

Posted on May 25, 2017 by Reluctant Rat

So many of my CBP books are in Chinese that I’m ashamed to admit that I’ve got into the bad habit of not always reading the instructions even when they are in English! With some time on my hands recently … Continue reading →

Posted in branches, Chinese Brush Painting, composition, painting plum blossom, painting trees | Leave a comment

Painting perfection: the persimmon

Posted on May 18, 2017 by Reluctant Rat

You have to understand some principles of abstract art before you can ‘get into’ what Picasso was doing with his ‘cubist’ approach, breaking up subjects or objects into pieces and re-arranging them to suit his own mind. You may need … Continue reading →

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Wiley and beguiling: painting Wisteria 2

Posted on April 13, 2017 by Reluctant Rat

Stymied by where and how best to begin a wisteria composition I realized I needed to understand more fully how the plant’s parts grew and fit together. Now I’ve pulled many a dandelion, picked the flowers, braided the stems, scrubbed … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese Brush Painting, composition, flowers, wisteria | 4 Comments

True messenger of dreams: the goldfish

Posted on December 14, 2016 by Reluctant Rat

In the introduction to a great instructional book titled Drawing Goldfish and Golden Carp Ho Kung-Shang waxes poetically as he describes the featured artist’s skill: “Lin Wu-kui’s goldfish give us dreams, thoughts and hopes. If in life we find fewer … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese Brush Painting, composition, goldfish | Leave a comment

Bamboo Breakthrough 2: learning leaf formations

Posted on December 8, 2016 by Reluctant Rat

I can’t believe this is me; I am excited about painting bamboo! Oh, I  have been interested in bamboo painting, I have tried painting bamboo many times, I have even painted my way through wads of newsprint with only bamboo … Continue reading →

Posted in Chinese Brush Painting, composition, painting bamboo | 2 Comments