Kingfisher II - Ohara Koson

What a difference calligraphy and a seal can make

Do you remember this painting? When I first posted it I said that the calligraphy was missing and that I should work on it. It was a rather tricky one and I have no idea whether it is readable or not, but what a difference it makes! Adding the calligraphy and the seal seem to have completely transformed the initial painting. And if I decide to mount it, it will look different again. I love that with chinese painting: your painting isn't completely finished until it is mounted. It's as if your painting evolves between those various stages...


The haiku is by Tomiyasu Fusei and reads
'I love the rest of my life,
Though it is transitory,
Like a light azure morning glory'













I do apologise for the poor quality of the photo.. it is quite appalling!
Maybe those two will give a better idea of what I mean (although here the only difference is the seal...)

Gongbi and birds

In April 2009 I traveled to Shanghai to attend a friend's wedding. I was there for 6 days and I think every second day I was walking up and down along Fuzhou road, looking through the myriads of paper/books/paint/brushes shop. A heaven!
One book shop was especially amazing. You could find there everything you have always dreamed about. The choice was so vast that I couldn't get myself to chose one book...
So the third time I went into the shop, I decided that 'that was it'. Now just pick one you like... so I selected the fine brush flower-bird painting album of Yu Jigao.



What a fantastic book! I have since tried to copy 3 of the paintings from the book and I am currently doing the fourth one.
Here they are...






This was the first one that I copied: 'Magnolia and Waxwing'. I started doing the bird during my last group session and when I came home, I decided to try and finish it, adding the magnolias and experimenting with blending lots of colours on the branches. I am actually quite happy with the result.




Then, I got carried away and decided to copy another one... straight. I picked 'Paradise flycatchers and plum blossom'. Everything was going ok (even if I still preferred the first one), until I decided to mount it... I wanted the little bits of yellow pollen to be really visible in the painting, so I painted them with a quite thick mix of yellow and white. And it was fine, until I applied the glue on the back, and as the glue was quite liquid, my yellow started running all over the picture. You can't really see it from a distance, but still... it was quite a disappointment!


But never mind, I straight selected another one and got started with it. 'Early spring of south of the five ridges'. I loved the composition, the strong colour of the red flowers and the contrast with the two white birds. And I think I did manage to achieve that... I hope!

Morning glory

'I love the rest of my life
Though it is transitory
Like a light azure morning glory'

...well, I still don't really 'get' haikus, but this one gave me a good opportunity to paint some morning glory. Again, the calligraphy is really missing and I will have to work on it (it is a very tricky one as well...)

Haiku - Haiga

Before the summer holidays in 2008, my art teacher gave us an assignment… I might be too academic, but as far as drawing/painting is concerned, I have always enjoyed assignments. That’s probably why I find it so difficult to get motivated to paint when I am on my own. I do have a lot of imagination, but when it comes to translate this imagination on a canvas or piece of paper… I can’t. So having an assignment somehow forces me to get started.

The assignment was to pick a haiku and illustrate it.

Hmmm… what’s a haiku? Well, I didn’t know at the time. A haiku is a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 syllables.

And a haiga is basically an illustration of a haiku. Or, more precisely, according to Wikipedia: a haiga is a style of Japanese painting based on the aesthetics of haikai, from which haiku poetry derives, which often accompanied such poems in a single piece.

So here I was, flicking through a haiku book, searching for inspiration. I finally found one, which was something like

‘Having cut the peony that evening, I felt distressed’

And here is what I came up with – it might not be great, but I love it because this exercise forced me to be creative rather than just trying my best to copy something.
The calligraphy and the seal are still missing. I am working on it!