What fascinated me straight with chinese painting was how, in five brush strokes, you can achieve something. My first lesson was 'how to draw a bamboo'. And here I sat, watching my teacher, painting a bamboo in 2 minutes. Unlike watercolours, chinese painting is very much suggestive. And even if you purely paint with black ink, you can do so many shades of grey that the result can be absolutely breathtaking.
Chinese painting courses usually begin with the 'Four Gentlemen' - the bamboo, orchid, plum blossom and chrysanthemum - because the wide range of strokes required to paint each of them provides a catalogue of strokes that can then be used to paint any other subject.
