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The Four Treasures - consisting of the brush, paper, ink stone and ink stick. |
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The Chinese brush is very important. These are made from animal fibre, and have the characteristics of that hair. A soft brush is made from sheep or rabbit hair and a strong brush from wolf, bear etc. Fibres giving wonderful textured strokes are horse (mane or tail), badger or hog. |
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Free-style painting (xieyi) is carried out on thin, absorbent paper made from a variety of materials including bamboo and sandalwood bark. Sized versions of this paper are used for meticulous (gongbi) work, which takes longer to do and has a more Western appearance. |
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The ink stick is ground rhythmically into a pool of water on the stone, gradually forming oily ink. This is a meditative process, allowing the artist to consider the proposed painting carefully, before painting it 'in one breath'. Watercolours are used, with the transparency of vegetable colours and the translucency of mineral colours contrasting with the strength of the ground ink. |
| At my classes I bring equipment for students to borrow or purchase at reasonable prices. Mail order equipment can be obtained from Georgina Cowdrey. You can see her list by clicking on the 'Mail Order'link on the navigation bar to the left. |