Sumi Painting

Also called Sumi-e Painting, Chinese Brush Painting or Ink Wash Painting, this is deceptively simple looking but requires great skill. An average of two colors of ink on rice paper, meet through crafty brush strokes. The brush is stocky with a wide bunch of sturdy bristles.

The Japanese have a ritual around sumi-e painting, believed to be undertaken in a calm, clear state of mind. The brush strokes are expected to be spontaneous, with little planning. This results in natural strokes and lets the observer's mind fill a lot of the details of the subject. Popular subjects are bamboo, twigs of cherry blossom and cranes.

I took the traditional approach and chose to paint fish (apparently, my favorite subject these days). Well, the first few brush strokes looked like wavy water plants in an aquarium and I just went with the flow!

Trivia: How many fish are in the painting?

Answer: Two. Can you find them both?

Silk Painting on a Sun-catcher

After a long hiatus from blogging (and plenty of artistry during these years), I'm back to write about some more beautiful art forms.

It is no news to anyone who owns anything silk, that stains love the material. Most liquids, especially colored ones that cause us grief, ooze into the fabric as far as they can go before drying. For the most part, human reaction to such disastrous events has been shock, panic and desperation to break the chemistry between the notorious stain and a treasured silky possession. Fortunately, someone far up our lineage turned these phenomena into works of art - by bringing acceptance, order and pleasure to the otherwise chaotic human emotions. Thus was born the art of Silk Painting!

A piece of silk cloth is held taut with the help of a frame or an embroidery hoop - or, as in my showcased picture below, a sun-catcher. The subject is outlined using a pen or needle-tip bottle containing a special water-based paint called a Resist. Thin ink-like paint is dabbed inside areas bound by the Resist. It's that simple!

The Resist is the magic ingredient that herds the paint within bounds. It is, therefore, extremely important to ensure 'all-loops-are-closed' lest the sneaky paint find its way out into uninvited territories. Two colors not expecting to meet, may throw a loud tantrum that can't be missed - an artist's worst nightmare! However, some color meet ups are intended - the violet fading into the red, in the fish, is a deliberate attempt to let the colors mingle and celebrate.

If you want to take this one step further, you can create swirls and marbling by sprinkling a few salt crystals in wet paint. Salt crystals absorb and repel the wet paint to cause unexpected patterns in an otherwise plain texture - the fish fins in my picture.

Pastel art

I signed up for a 2-hour art class, and had a choice of mediums to pick for my class. I wanted to try something I never had, and so I went with Pastels. Pastels are sticks of colours - either chalk-like or oil-based. The surface used is usually rough or grainy. The pigment doesn't stick to smooth surfaces like glossy paper.

Holding the chalk (soft) pastels was giving me the heebi-jeebis (as Maurice puts it in 'Madagascar'!). I might as well have been running my finger nails down a school blackboard - similar feeling. However, on paper, I noticed the soft pastels had the effect they are meant to create - pastel, soft, blurry pictures.

The class unanimously chose to create an Owl. I went with the oil-based pastels, just to be able to see the difference from other people's soft pastel works. I found the oil pastels experience very similar to using crayons, but the effect is quite different. See for yourself in the picture below. Trust me, you couldn't create the same effect with crayons!

Calligraphy

The Chinese New Year started on Feb 3rd, this year. A friend of mine, Lei, wrote Chinese words signifying prosperity, happiness, blessing, beauty, luck and many more in beautiful calligraphy. She was kind enough to allow me to use a picture of her art in my blog here.

Calligraphy is the art of writing, with strokes and curves different from the average hand writing. A long long time ago, long before typewriters, computer fonts and printers, writers would use their quill (and other ancient writing instruments) to pen their work. The writers created their manuscripts in fancy hand-written fonts that added as much value to the only version 'published', in a sense.

To this day, calligraphy is used on certificates, awards, wedding invitations and other printed artifacts to signify a special occasion or writing. Here's a font I learnt a few years ago. Of course, it can look a lot more elegant when written with a calligraphy pen, usually with a flat or straight tip used to create different effects and angles in the letters.

Photography

It is a little unusual to snow here this early in December. But today was the day - the first snow of this winter. And sure as ever, out came the cameras along with the white precipitation. Here are a few pictures of nature's show today and the last few weeks - Fall & Winter 2010 Album.

Digital cameras have made it ever so easy and inexpensive to go on clicking (and deleting) until you feel like your perfect picture has arrived. Photography is a way of pausing a moment and freezing it into a permanent record (assuming you let the picture live) for reminiscence later.

However, it is difficult to capture the joy of the season's first snow in a few pictures, especially with point-and-shoot cameras. When I graduate to a Digital SLR (Santa, hope you heard me!), I will be posting more of my experiments with photography.

Cooking

Have you wondered if cooking is an art or a skill? In my opinion, you can acquire a keen skill for dishing out palette-teasing food. But when you do so consistently, you have mastered the art.

The TV channel Food Network showcases people who understand and practise the art of cooking. I could sit and watch these folks cook for an entire day and still want to see more of their tricks. I'm not sure the shows always inspire my culinary creativity. But there is something so ideal and artistic about the well-lit, aethetic kitchen settings; the perennially new-looking pots and pans; the fresh and colourful veggies, fruits and herbs... I could go on.

The chefs work towards their promise on each of their shows. I find Rachael Ray's 30-minute meals especially engaging. It is a dream to have to spend just 30 minutes in the kitchen (one hour tops, inclusive of cleaning up). I may not exactly recreate her platters in my kitchen, but I certainly try to mimic her fast and efficient style where possible.

Who is your favourite Food Network chef, and what about the chef or the show do you like most?