Chinese Ink Painting Class Lesson 9: Lotus

After missing two lessons, I was happy about this lotus painting class. Very minimal brushwork as the lotus leaves were created using crushed paper dipped in water and black ink and the edges smoothened with a brush.

Chinese Ink Painting Class Lesson 5: Roses, Orchids and Butterflies

Painting roses and orchids this week.

Chinese Ink Painting Class Lesson 4: Roses & Butterflies

We're still painting flowers.
This time it's roses, which is supposed to be easier than chrysanthemums, and I agree.

Roses: Carmine
Leaves: Black ink, a little Phtalocynine blue/ Indigo.

The trick to getting the roses right is to make sure each layer wraps round the previous one in a more or less traiangular pattern.

Chinese Ink Painting Class Lesson 3: Chrysanthemums & Butterflies

Since some of you might want to know more about the place, here's how the building looks like.


A standard classroom.


There are about 10 students per class.

Paper is provided FOC, and although it is a poorer quality paper meant for calligraphy, it works just fine for practice. Watercolors are standard Marie's brand for students.

Today we learnt how to paint a different type of chrysanthemum.
And butterflies too.

Teacher explaining how the composition of the leaves should be like.

Colors used
* Chrysanthemum flowers
Phtalocyanine Blue (tai qing lan) + Carmine Lake (zhu hong)
* Stem and leaves
Black ink
* Big butterfly
Green label three (san lu), Gamboge (teng huang), a little Carmine
* Small butterfly
Gamboge

Chinese Ink Painting Class Lesson 2: Chrysanthemums

Today had us painting chrysanthemums.
I took a few videos but until I figure out how to select frames in order to avoid showing anybody's face, I will just put this up.


Flowers and stem drawn with black ink.
Leaves drawn with a mixture of black ink and Hua Qing.
Flower heads colored with yellow and a hint of Zhu Hong.

Chinese Ink Painting Class Lesson 1: Hen and Rooster

I was searching high and low for a place that conducts chinese ink painting classes, especially the community centres, but none fell on a wednesday evening when the boy has golf and I'd be alone. However, last Friday I found a class that is on Sundays, when the boy has golf too. I chose the latter session which was at 1.45pm so that the boy could have lunch with his friends, go home for a shower, then come fetch me for a day out.

It was held in a very old building. I had a hard time finding it and was 10 mins late for class. Fortunately, the teacher arrived even later, which meant that I did not miss anything. His teaching method is to pin a photocopy of a painting on the whiteboard, and demonstrate on a blank piece of paper pinned beside the photocopy.

Today we drew my most hated subject, the hen and rooster :(
I wanna draw flowers!!!

My weakness:
Proportion (Can never get the legs right. They're always too big, or it doesn't look like the hen is standing).