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A few thing to consider for our Asian theme week
This is a capture of my favorite painting attempt to date. "Shrimp" on raw rice paper and then mounted. This painting took 50 attempts to get all of the elements composed and painted acceptably. Each attempt is like a performance and takes only about 15 minutes. Our digital art is way easier!!
WOW! Some great pieces so far this week! I have noticed a few re-occuring issues in the posts that I thought would be worth addressing for our little competition though. Below -
1. Chop placement. This is a biggie! What I do with my painting attempts and my photos also, is to create the piece, step back, look it over and pick a spot that helps balance the composition out. With my (amateur) paintings, I have little postage stamp size copies of my chops and I place them on the painting and move them around till I come up with a balanced and pleasing position. Then I stamp at that spot (no cloning, it's a one time thing and has to be right!!). If you can think ahead and are really good, you can create the piece to fit your chop/calligraphy! With our digital images, we can create a blank layer (PS) and place the chop or calligraphy on it, then move it all around with the move tool, COOL!
BTW, the chop can be your name, a poem, an inspiration or a message. Please make sure that it is appropriate!
2. Chop color. The color is symbolic and for our purpose here, should always be red, similar to crimson red (oil and watercolor paint name). It's fun to try other colors but the danger (IMO) is that different colors symbolize different things, I don't know what the meanings are, but an example - blue, I am told is used for funerals!
3. Calligraphy - color, placement and meanings. I'm not sure about this one but virtually all the calligraphy I can remember seeing on Asian art is BLACK! If your piece is lacking in blacks, (See below about blacks) this is a nice way to add it. Placement is the same as for the chop, it's a part of the composition and should be considered. And Please, you are totally responsible for what the calligraphy reads! Make sure that the message is appropriate! I don't read or speak any Asian language so I don't use any without my instructors ok (same for chops).
Often the calligraphy and the chop are lined up vertically.
4. Empty or negative spaces. This, in Chinese art at least, is for the viewers mind to wander in and wonder about. I can't say much else about this, but it is a very important element, I am taught!
5. Blacks! Blacks in the image should be BLACK! We don't need a bunch of black, but what is there should be saturated. This really seems to make the piece "pop".
6. Frames, mats and fillets. This is an easy one, just use the same rules that you would use for photos or western art. Don't have these things detract from the art. One difference with Asian art that I see is with the scroll mounted pieces, no frame but the mat area is usually silk with or without a thin fillet (unually black) around the inner edge.
Finally I will add that I am just a student of this art form, so if anyone wants to add of delete from this, please do.
AND REMEMBER, THIS IS OOTB!!!:D so anything goes! Open my eyes!
