This painting took me two days to finish. It is from a photo I took at Wuzhen, China. I feel more control on my grays now. How to do less but showing more is my goal. I didn't do much of details, but I want imply there are many going on. Wuzhen is the place I really want to go back and paint plein air there. However, I got some bad news. I was told that the Wuzhen authority does not allow artists to paint there, especially oil painters. They are worry about the oil paint may drop on the old structures causing irreversible contamination and damage. Well, that is it. But I am not giving up. I am looking for an alternative place. I will let you know when I find one.
7 comments:
Very beautiful painting, very strong and dynamic.
Or we could sketch and take a bunch of good digital photos, and paint them within a studio there...just a thought.
Great painting! You did well indicating detail without painting them specifically.
You have accomplished your goal of implying there is a lot going on...this is lovely and I can see why you want to paint there. It's too bad they won't allow painting...and not even with a drop cloth? I think painters add to the charm of a place...like painters in Central Park in New York City or the painters I just saw in the St. Louis Museum...charm.
Studying composition and thinking of the rule of thirds. that is to place focal points on the intersections. Yet the subject of this painting, the bridge, appears to be centered. This is a good example of one who has mastery being able to break the rules and have it work....thank you beautiful. Grays are my favorite color.
Gorgeous grays, Qiang!
And the implied details keep me looking!
Considering the ever advancing modernization of China and its remaining classic architecture in peril, do you wonder if the authorities of Wuzhen have ever considered that painted records of an old section of their town is better than none at all?
Think of Venice. It too is succumbing to modernization and the environmental erosion that water has done to it over the centuries. Yet artists have considered it an icon subject for just as many centuries. Has oil paint destroyed this wonderful city? I'd say all that oil paint has enhanced this city's appeal a thousandfold.
Wuzhen seems to have that appeal, but perhaps the authorities there fear the tourism. It's like a double-edged sword, tourism. Damn the attraction, but the money helps to preserve the place and keep the modernization at bay, at the same time. That's what happened to Venice.
Ann_C
Perhaps you could use water mixable oils. Such as those made by Holbein and Windsor Newton. A demonstration would show how the paint washes out of the brushes, with soap and water.
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