The Art of Chinese Brush Painting totally delights my dancer's sensibilities. Chinese Brush Painting has introduced me, as artist and teacher, to a whole new tactile world of expression with an ancient and fascinating history of over 3000 years. This art is like dancing on rice paper. It was my destiny to become a Chinese Brush Painter.
The spontaneous technique is about movement and space, executed with strength and control along with varying rhythms of brushstrokes. To me it is the "art of the line", the brushstroke, be it a long and flowing orchid leaf or a tiny dot; the majesty of the bamboo leaf; or the strength of the bone stroke. It's all about the line and how it moves across the space gracefully, with strength and spirit...much like the art of dance.
Perhaps that is why I fell in love will Chinese Brush Painting and took to it so naturally. The discipline and technique involved is imminently translatable to dance. Discovering the unique bamboo brushes with their variety of animal hairs, the porcelain dishes, the best Chinese Ink and the variety of papers for specific subjects and styles was as exciting as my first pair of toe shoes when I was a girl.
The philosophical as well as physical journey of Chinese Brush Painting is mastered by copying the esteemed Chinese masters from centuries past. The process is much like musicians performing a classical composer's work and making it their own. The structure is the foundation; the execution thereof is interpretative.
A good Chinese Painting will capture the artist's spirit (chi) AND contain masterful brushwork. Any great copy will hold the modern artist's own "chi" and interpretation, yet the fundamental masterful control of the brushwork and calligraphy based strokes, when executed properly, will be apparent to the Brush Painting experts. For spirit without technique and technique without spirit will neither capture nor do justice to the essence of the subject matter and artists.
Since my journey with Chinese Brush Painting began in 1991, I have found there is no end to learning. Although others may praise my painting, I know where I could improve the third vein on the fifth leaf down from the top. I know where I wanted more pressure or less moisture on a particular stroke. However, one does not "fix" a stroke in Chinese Brush Painting - there is no going over - that is a bigger mistake than the "happy accident" and would ruin the purity of the brushwork. So there continues to be opportunity to grow technically in this art.
Yet I have also learned that an imperfect painting with chi is more rewarding and dearer to my own heart than a perfectly executed painting that lacks it. In Chinese Brush Painting, as in dance, opportunities aboud to touch the soul.
When mastery of the brush meets abandonment of self, something else, beautiful and artistically greater, takes over. Perhaps it is the spirit that existed before the body and will exist after the body is gone. This "zone" is what all artists, whatever their medium, be it writing, dancing, music, acting or any of the visual arts, have in common. This captures the universal experience of the Asian concept of Tao and the Western concept of God. One is transported to another level as the trained vehicle of a higher Genius, on angel's wings.
