November 26th, 2008
Your Turn: Something New
I have been going to painting classes for just over a year now. They are run by my local college, Mid-Cheshire and are one of the highlights of my week. The group of people I paint with are lovely. If you ask for help the more experienced artists are happy to give advice but everybody is supportive of each other. There’s no back biting. Is that just painters/ artists or have I just landed in a lucky class?
Anyway last week our inspired teacher, Sue Evans, planned a lesson in Chinese painting. I always hate starting new things because I know 
I’ll mess it up but I make myself have a go because otherwise I’d never do anything.
The Chinese draw in ink and then add washes of subtle colour. (Please forgive me if I get this wrong as I really am a complete novice.) We drew in black water colour and then added colour. Very few of us had the correct squirrel hair brushes but we chose one with a point and tried to hold the brush in a more vertical position than our usual hold.
I find all painting therapeutic but this was just lovely. We practised various different types of strokes and then after a demonstration by Sue, copied a picture from a book.. The painting I copied was called, “Fisherman Under Willow” and came from a book called, “Chinese Brush Painting” by Pauline Cherrett; a book I’d recommend.
You can see my efforts on this page and if you compared them to the original you would not be impressed but in the space of two short hours I learned so much. For instance while over here we would go and sit in a field to paint a landscape a Chinese artist might go and sit and absorb a scene and then paint it back in the studio from memory.
I really enjoyed the morning and will obviously have another go soon, especially as I’m getting a little Chinese art set for Christmas. The “Four Treasures” of an art set are brushes, ink stone, ink stick and paper. So if you’ve tried anything new lately or learned anything new, why not drop us a line. We’d love to hear about it. (Art tips also welcome.)
