Adventures in Brush Painting

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Chinese brush painting of Trumpet Vine and Bees

Trumpet Vine and Bees

CLICK ON ARROW BELOW TO WATCH VIDEO

See how I create trumpet vine in Chinese brush painting spontaneous style. This means there is no pre-planning or pre-sketching, just the brush dancing on the paper.
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Chinese brush painting of red bamboo

Red Bamboo

We are now officially in the Year of the Monkey! In China my friends will be traveling round to visit family, cooking and eating banquets, giving and receiving red envelopes of money and lavishing attention on babies and grandparents. The Spring Festival surrounding the turn of the Chinese Year will last a month, students and teachers will be out of school, many restaurants and businesses will be closed as will many local government offices. Beautiful calligraphy specially written on red paper for the occasion will festoon homes and stores and good-luck paintings of red bamboo will mark the occasion.

If you enjoy reading blogs about life in China written by ex pats, I highly recommend reading the New Year Blog Hop organized by Two Americans in China.
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Chinese Brush Painting on rice paper

Landscape by Tereza Mitry

After reading my blog post about the creation of my painting “Wolf Howls at Sundown”, Tereza Mitry was inspired to try her own version, using my composition as her model.
Chinese Brush Painting on rice paper

Wolf Howls at Sundown by Virginia Lloyd-Davies

Terry is new to Chinese brush painting and no teachers are available in Egypt where she lives, so she is intuiting her way into a new art technique with the help of the Facebook community and Youtube videos. I am very impressed at how good her eye is and how skilled she is already at handling the rice paper. This is her first big landscape and she is leaping hurdles that would make many students blanch. Her strokes are confident and her waterfall is excellent. Here are the tips I gave her when she asked me for my feedback:

Virginia
Lloyd-Davies

Painting in sumi-e and Chinese brush technique since 1976 in 'splashing ink' style has taught me to appreciate the delights of spontaneity. Just as in life, there is no 'perfection' in painting, but there is much joy. Come join me in this adventure!