Save the date!

Virginia’s Book Launch Party December 13, 2019! 

Come help me launch my new book “Mindful Artist: Sumi-e Painting” at Books & Co on Nelson Street, Lexington, VA Friday, December 13, 5-7 p.m. We will have demonstrations, hands-on ‘brush and paper’ tables set up, book signings, art cards and of course REFRESHMENTS! You can reserve your copy of the book in advance through the store - just drop by or call (540) 464-8697 to place your order. Please join me for a fun event!

​I have exciting news! In February, I was approached by Walter Foster Publishing to write and illustrate a book entitled: “Mindful Artist: Sumi-e Painting”. Both subjects are very close to my heart, since being focused in the moment is essential for channeling the power and vitality of Asian brush painting. I weave the concept of mindful attention into my explanations on how to paint some of our favorite subjects, such as the Four Gentlemen (bamboo, orchid, plum, chrysanthemum) and iris, peonies, wisteria, grapes, bugs and birds. The idea is to demonstrate through step-by-step illustrations how to create paintings, but also how to use the practice and discipline of the painting techniques to focus the mind.

Frogs are hopping out of my sumi-e brush these days, becoming more energetic by the minute. Here's a sampling of the last few years of frogs. Some are whimsical and some are wicked. Some were painted in a moment of exuberance, and some brought me comfort when I was sick. Painting's like that.

My most recent frog. She looks a little shy!

I practice a lot, filling up sheets of rice paper. A lot get thrown out, but then sometimes, they are just too much fun to jettison!

Here's a sneak peek at what you'll find in my new book, "Mindful Artist: Sumi-e Painting". You can order it from your local bookstore or through Amazon or  through the publisher Walter Foster Books/Quarto Creates. Publication date is December 3, 2019. The e-book version will be released at the same time as the hard copy. I hope you're as excited as I am! I can hardly wait!

How to paint grapes is one of the fourteen chapters of my sumi-e how-to book.. You can pre-order "Mindful Artist: Sumi-e Painting" at https://quartokno.ws/MindfulArtistSumie or on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2XG2Elf 
The book will be out December 3, 2019 - get ahead of the queue by pre-ordering!

This colorful birdie jumped out of the brush at the top of a rather uninspired bamboo painting. With a little sneaky cropping, I saved the good part! Never underestimate the power of cropping: If you are unhappy with a painting and don't know why, try masking off one of the sides and see if that improves the composition. Sometimes we hate to let go of a favorite element ("look what a wonderful rock I created here!"), but by trimming that bit off, the picture suddenly makes better sense.
Tip: don't cut it off until you're absolutely certain!

What kind of bird is this? Not a clue! I just put some body parts together and then got excited when I saw how well the wing feathers came out! Tip: if your strokes are strong and self-confident, you can get away with anything!

Here we have a sophisticated strutter with his nose in the air. I suspect his feet are going in the wrong direction, but does this really matter?

I painted this 18 years ago and I remember thinking I wanted it to be bubbly and springlike. I held on to it because I liked the airiness of the composition and some of the  elements - the cabins, the willow and the bridge, for instance - but I knew I had problems with the waterfall and I positively hated my little 'bunches' of red trees. Clearly I had little idea of how to integrate rock and vegetation. It felt unfinished, but back then I didn't know how to progress the painting. I decided to see if I could 'fix' some of the problems as an exercise to train my eye to see alternative choices.

Here are some of the areas I decided to change. I will add more bluish-green pines on the left behind the flowering tree. My reason is to hide the nasty humpy black hill strokes (bottom left circle). Above them, I will make those trees on the left a bit bigger (second circle) because they are the same size as the nasty little red trees on the right and they need to be bigger because they are closer.

I'm still unsure of what to do with those wretched little red trees on the right. I have added some more  pines below them which has helped to make the wretched reds recede a bit, but it has also cut off part of the layer of mist (that white band) which, in Chinese painting vocabulary is the equivalent of "....." meaning: there is more landscape between the two layers but the mist indicates that things are further back.

Using just black ink and shades of grey, I started off sketching the rock and tree on the left and worked my way up the scene, spraying lightly with water to dampen the paper in the distance. This softens the outlines. My mulberry paper came from Blue Heron Arts, where you can find an excellent selection of paper, brushes and other painting supplies.

Rather than leaving the center area open for mist, I opted for showing a meandering waterfall in the distance. I left several areas open for mist.

Adding light color....Uh-oh, it's all looking a bit brown! The addition of color has taken away from the strong contrast between the black ink and white paper, leaving it looking a bit muddy.

Hmmm, I've added a bit of light, transparent green to the mountains, but it still looks a bit dreary.

Wahoo! I've intensified the brown on the sides of the rocks and added mineral green and blue! Here's a closeup comparison of the house area:

Traditionalists might feel I've gone a bit Disney, but the use of mineral green and blue in Chinese landscape paintings goes back hundreds of years. You can see some examples here. And now the final version, complete with chops:

Sometimes 'going for broke' is the most fun of all. I had no idea if the mineral colors would be too much, but I really like it, which is ultimately what counts. Break the rules! Find your own style! It's just a piece of paper, after all! Good luck and happy painting!

When a painting is finished, the elements should lock together like a well-crafted story. You feel the inevitability of the composition but the steps to reach the conclusion are no longer evident. I paint in what is called "Splashing Ink" or "Spontaneous Style", which means that it is more the dance of the brush that leads me on. However, I do still follow a process, so I will be putting in the broad outlines before adding the details. As my teacher Professor I-Hsiung Ju would remind me: put the roof on the house before adding the drapes and furniture!  So let's break down this painting's process, step by step:

Since I had no composition in mind, letting this long, bouncy brush (from HMay Art) spring from rock to rock seemed like fun. My paper is a thin, raw xuan so my brush needed to be on the dry side. I loaded it with grey then added ground black ink to the tip of the brush.
​Tip: It's always a good idea to keep a scrap of practice paper next to your ink so you can check the color and the amount of moisture on your brush before touching your painting.

Some of the strokes look almost abstract. How about some foreground to help the image to emerge?  As soon as I add foreground elements, the waterfall will recede and I will have more sense of depth.

Since the waterfall has a diagonal motion, it's good to have the foreground moving on the opposite diagonal, creating a V shape.
Tip: Avoid having anything begin or end right in the corner!

Oh look, it's a viewing platform! In that case, I need people. True confession: the child on the right ended up too short, so I added another rock this side of the figure to cover up my mistake, thereby adding another layer of depth. The rock's a bit heavy, but you probably wouldn't have guessed my sneaky save!
Tip: Switch to a smaller brush for figures (I used my Happy Dot brush from OAS). If you're not sure what size to paint the figures, try them out on a separate piece of paper and place it under your painting to see if it looks right. Keep trying until it looks good. If I had followed my own advice, I might not have needed to stick in the rock!

If you add color lightly, you can always change the hue or the intensity. I added some light trees in the lower left to push the waterfall back a bit. I'll add a bit more detail to these pines later.

I've added white to the observers' clothes, so that when I add the background misty wash, the figures will stand out more. I've extended the landscape off into the distance, being careful to keep my greys light. If I added black to the mountains I would need to darken everything from that point forward.
​Next I need to create the mist, and for this I will take the painting off the easel.

This is the painting on a black blanket. I created the background wash by spraying the painting with water and adding color on the backside of the paper. This allows a softer effect for the mist. I used indigo and black ink with a lot of water for this.
Tip: take into account, when you are mixing your color, that it will dry much lighter, especially when added to the back of the paper. Of course, if it is too light after it dries, you can do another wash.

The trees and mountains in distance all looked the same shade of grey, so I darkened a few of the trees on the left which makes them look closer and adds more gradation to the depth.

Sometimes you don't want your brush to come to a point. I decided my pines in the foreground needed more detail, so I added an impression of needles by splaying my Happy Dot brush (OAS) and dipping the tips in pure black. This way I don't have to paint every single needle.

The pine trees are now bushier and more elaborate, which works for trees in the foreground.
​Tip: As trees are further away, add less detail.

Admiring the Waterfall: completed painting. It measures 27"x 18" (69 cm x 45 cm).
Did you enjoy seeing how it developed? Did the breakdown step by step make it easier to understand? Do you have questions? If you painted it, it would turn out differently, and that's the delight of Chinese brush painting - because the composition is a living, breathing thing, your personality, thoughts and emotions will imbue the painting with your magic. Why not give it a try? You can follow along with these photos as you paint. Have fun splashing in the ink!