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Po Mo (sometimes written p'o mo or pomo) translates from the Chinese as 'poured or splashed ink' - a technique developed by Tang Dynasty artists in 7th to 9th century China. Modern Chinese painters sometimes dip a sheet of rice paper into a shallow trough containing water and ink and create a landscape incorporating the ink marks.
Developing a more colorful Western approach, I pour or brush large amounts of watercolor paint on to a wet shikishi board (a Japanese board covered with gold cardboard and a thin layer of rice paper), and then coax and maneuver the colors by tipping the board and selectively adding more color or water to allow the vision to coalesce. Once it is dry, I can emphasize certain features with the brush, but I like to keep the brushwork to a minimum, allowing the original impressionistic result to speak for itself.
Although the po mo technique differs greatly from my twenty years of training in brush painting with Washington & Lee Professor Emeritus I-Hsiung Ju, all that training helped me to develop my eye for impressionism. Chinese brush painting is all about suggestion. The artist never tries to tell the viewer everything. We leave open spaces and misty areas to allow the imagination to come into play, giving the mind permission to explore the possibilities inherent in ambiguity. In my new paintings, often a recognizable element such as a cabin or a tree acts as a door into the image, so the viewer can enter through the familiar and move into the impressionistic landscape.
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