Mountain and Water

Chinese paintings by courtesy of Jayne Aw - Part 3

Wondered where on earth is this place? It looks safari...sh. This was sent by someone with a nice name of "The Purple Romance". When I first saw it, I couldn't take my eyes off it and got immersed in the misty purple dawn. So there I was, holding on to my brush and starting to splash ink and colors layer after layer onto the paper. And the outcome is....

Please click here to view 12 beautiful paintings drawn by Jayne Aw. (remember to click Slideshow and hit F11 key for full screen effect)

Click here for Jayne Aw's previous printings.

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紫花情
茫茫白雾迷，淡淡 紫花香。

... my Chinese brush painted version of "The Purple Romance", completed with a pond and purple blooms. My fellow painting mate asked me why I did not add a couple to the painting since this is about romance. I smiled and said "they are already in it...." In Chinese brush painting, one does not attempt to paint all before one's eyes but leave it to the viewer's imagination.
九寨沟 的春天
最近去了一趟九寨沟， 就让沟里面美丽的景色给迷住了。 手中握着的毛笔，随心写意而挥，不知不觉 挥出了九寨沟 里灿烂的美景。。。远方是白的发亮 的雪山， 半坡上堆积着开始溶化的雪， 还有湖中清澈见底的水 和岸上盛开着的梅花，告诉大家春天已经悄悄来临了。。。
Spring in Jiuzhaigou
I went to Jiuzhaigou recently and was enthralled by its beauty. It was an early spring but I got to see a glimpse of winter season as snow was still aplenty. Brought home with me was a myriad of awe-inspiring sceneries of Jiuzhaigou. So even when I did my painting, somehow or another, it would lead to a part of Jiuzhaigou.Standing afar was a distant mountain covered with blinding white snow, with melting ice making its way down the gullies. The lake reflects a multiple hues of emerald green, cobalt blue and turquoise, with full blooms of plum blossoms at the bank that signaled the arrival of spring……
秋天里的童话
Autumn scene in Jiuzhaigou is even more breathtaking with rich colours of yellow, orange, red to purple dotting the mountain slopes, the reflection of which over the lake, resembles a grand ballroom full of graceful dancers.
群山环抱， 唯我独尊。

喜欢看山喜欢看水，所以我选择爬山。慕名黄山的景色已久， 就是还没有机会到那儿一游。所以就自我掏醉在画中。还在等侯一班舍命陪君子的同好。和我到黄山一齐共观云海。

Solitude

I like mountains and waters, so most of my paintings ended up with mountains and waters. In Chinese these are referred to as “Shan-Shui”.

Chinese artist does not learn painting by stripping off a woman (or a man for that matter…..) to draw her anatomy. He will escape to the mountains to observe the myriad forms of nature, the trees, rocks, clouds and waterfall in order to paint them. The retreat to the mountains is a search for calm and harmony which are often depicted in most of the Chinese Shan-Shui paintings.
I enjoy my moment of solitude while painting. That is when I could free my thought. Huang Shan has been a great source of inspirations since time immemorial to poets, painters, nature lovers and even the recent movie of Avatar….
.万水千山。。。总是情?或迷？做人有时迷迷糊糊比清清楚楚来的好。
This is an abstract style of "Shan-Shui" painting, with the forest behind and a cluster of rocks in front. In between, a stream cuts through and ends at a fall. However on second look, the stream looks more like mountain clouds entwining the rocks and encircling the forest. Erm....actually I wasn't sure what I was drawing. But that doesn't matter, what matters most is the freedom of strokes and the expression of calm and harmony.

山不转路转，路不转人转，人不转心转

If you can’t change the mountain, change the road;

If you can’t change the road, change the person;

If you can’t change the person, change your thought.

This is a traditional style of Chinese Shan-Shui painting as contrasting to the earlier two which are more of abstract painting. At times I wondered if I was learning Chinese brush painting or modern art painting.

荷风送香气

Lotus

Lotus is like a noble gentleman, grows out of muddy water but is not contaminated by it. Chinese artists and poets love it for its beauty and purity. It is viewed most during its full blooms in the summer by sitting next to the pond enjoying a cup of good Chinese tea.

Forest


Pine Tree Trail in Fraser’s Hill is one of my favourite trails with its cool and refreshing climate. This photo was taken during my first trekking in 2008. It was an early morning at 7.30am and the forest was enveloped in dense mist. It must have rained the previous night. My first feeling when stepping into the forest was “Narnia….ish”. But then the evil White Witch has long gone, so I have added some colours to the forest……

春有百花秋有叶，夏有凉风冬有雪，若无闲事挂心头，就是人间好时节。

花开富贵

Peony is regarded as the “king of flowers”. With its rich colours and petal, it is the symbol of rich and happy man. It is one that most Chinese family would like to have as a symbol of prosperity. I will certainly keep this one for myself.

Christmas in Chinese Brush Painting

East meets west. Someone did ask me before if some of my paintings are of oil paintings. Like what Forest Gump’s mum told him, ”Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you gonna get.”; painting too, is like a box of chocolates, full of surprises…….

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Click here for all previous postings on Jayne Aw's paintings.

.Jayne Aw can be contacted at jayneaw@gmail.com

By Jayne Aw

Posted by KC

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Heaven and Earth

Chinese Paintings Drawn by Jayne Aw - Part 2

Please click here for album containing all her paintings (click Slideshow, hit F11)

Sunrise

I often miss the laid-back life of yesteryear in the fishing village of Kuala Terengganu. My friends and I used to cycle for miles to the beach to watch sunrise. We would just lie idly on the sand and marvel at the spectacular show of Nature amid the mellifluous sound of waves, and listen to our souls uttering, “Life is beautiful”.

We would then try our luck scouting for oysters on the nearby rocks along the seaside. Breaking the oyster shell required some skill or otherwise one would end up with a mass of oyster meat, which nevertheless, still made a delicious omelet.

Autumn Song

Life is like seasons, going through different phases at different points in time. And if one gets to live up to 80 years old, then every 20 years represent a season.

Spring represents childhood to teenage where there are dreams to chase and butterflies to catch; Summer represents adulthood where many are busy chasing after worldly possessions, trying to reap as much as one could in a bountiful orchard; Autumn represents manhood where one has become wiser and taking a step backward to enjoy life; Winter represents a retreat where one would sit back in the garden sipping tea, or by the fireplace reading book and listening to music, while the adventurous one would perhaps continue to trek and run.

No season is bad or good. It depends on how one looks at life. I personally think this is a beautiful arrangement by Nature and I would be perfectly satisfied to get up from my seat and go away saying, “It was a perfect show”, when the curtain falls.

Heaven and Earth

We are indeed the fortunate souls to be born into this marvelous place called Earth, in between Heaven and Hell. While the latter two remain a myth, the Earth is real. Yes, we exist in physical form with five senses, but the beings in Heaven and Hell are formless.

Sometimes I wonder, how would a fairy from Heaven be happy when she doesn’t need to dress up and make-up to look good (coz she is already beautiful by default, and day in day out dresses in the same costume)? While we, the earth-bound ladies, have all the enjoyment of putting on make-up, pedicure, manicure, etc, etc to look our best. And Mother Earth has been so kind to host all year round sales to satisfy the ladies’ obsessive addiction for shopping, only to be followed by the anxiety of opening the credit card statement subsequently.

How would a fairy derive a sense of accomplishment as I do from completing a satisfying painting (ignoring the many that went into the trash!) when everything else can be done at the point of a finger? And how would the fairy enjoy food like we human do when she has no feeling for hunger at all?

Being a ghost is no better off than a fairy. In the movie “Ghost”, Patrick Swayze was desperately trying to touch Demi Moore but to no avail when he became the formless ghost. He has to get help from the eccentric spiritual medium Whoopi Goldberg to feel his loved one again. It is hauntingly romantic but sad (BTW I couldn’t stop laughing watching the hilarious Whoopi dancing with Demi).

As a transient guest of this beautiful Earth, one should live life to the fullest and enjoy each moment of the now and the presence. Even in the darkest dungeon, there is still a way to find the bright spot. As for me, I have found mine, and it is right here in my heart.


Landscapes

The beauty of landscapes on Earth lies in their shapes, dimensions and colors; the beauty of landscapes in painting lies in the freedom of brush and the luxuriousness of ink; and the beauty of landscapes in one’s heart lies in the fact that everything is in its proper place.

Please click here for Part 1 of Jayne's Chinese paintings

By Jayne Aw.

Posted by KC

Next posting will be scheduled on Monday 22 June night.

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The Art of Chinese Painting

Written and drawn by Jayne Aw

Please click here to view paintings with titles in bigger frames (click SlideShow, F11 key)

My affection for nature has extended my interest into drawing. And I got myself signed up for a painting class 1.5 years ago, yes Chinese brush painting.

There are generally two techniques in Chinese brush painting, which are
• Meticulous - Gong-bi (工 笔), often referred to as "court-style" painting
• Freehand - Shui-mo (水墨) or "Xie yi" (写 意).
While the meticulous artists attempt to represent three-dimensional objects and to master the illusion of space, the freehand artists strive to freely express their feelings and to capture the inner spirit of their subject instead of describing its outward appearance.

One often sees things base on one's own perception. Learning perception through drawing allows a different and more direct kind of seeing, permitting one to see more fully and completely. This kind of seeing can marvelously enrich one's life, as one artist lyrically states, "to become a confidant of the natural world, to awaken your eye to the lovely language of forms, to express yourself in that language."
Pine Tree
I started with the painting of simple objects like flowers, trees, fruits etc. Though I am learning the freehand drawing, my teacher often comments that my drawing is "too perfect", for a flower truly looks like a flower, and a tree truly looks like a tree. Indeed my "Pine Tree" is just like an immaculately pruned bonsai!

Pine tree represents silence and majesty and detachment from life. Like a wise old man, it understands everything but it does not talk and therein lie its mystery and grandeur.
PeonyPeony is regarded as the "king of flowers" and the symbol of rich and happy man.

Not too long ago, my company had a fund raising campaign for the Sichuan and Myanmar disasters and I contributed two of my paintings, "Peonies" and "Rambutans" for the auction. Thanks to my compassionate and generous colleagues, these two paintings were bid at RM1,000 and RM500 respectively. And special thanks to those who joined in the fun to push up the prices.
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Landscapes
The beauty of landscapes in painting lies in the freedom and luxuriousness of the brush and the ink.

Chinese artists love to draw mountain for its enormity which has a cathartic effect of cleansing one's chest-full of foolish thoughts and worries. By looking at the mountain's enormity amidst nature's tranquility, one's heart truly opens up.
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If you can't visualize what I was drawing in these two paintings, bingo! Perhaps I have already mastered the technique of freehand drawing. My teacher was rather impressed with the 1st drawing which depicts a reflection of maple trees with a backdrop of mountain range, over a lake where a couple of fishing boats are retiring from the day's catch. And the yellow dots are the fireflies that illuminate an otherwise dark forest.

The 2nd drawing is of a setting sun over a range of distant mountains, with a flock of flamingos retiring at the river bank.

- The setting sun is immensely beautiful,
- Only it will soon be dusk.

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.Lotus vs. Water Lily
I never bother to know the difference between a lotus and a water lily until I learned to draw one. You too can find out the difference from these 2 pictures.

Lotus is like a noble gentleman, grows out of dirty water but is not contaminated by it. Chinese artists and poets love it for its beauty and purity. Functionally, every part of lotus is utilized. Its flower is enjoyed for its beauty; its root is used for drink and soup; its seed has many uses, while its leave is used for wrapping food.
Plum Blossom
Chinese New Year will not be Chinese New Year without plum blossom, which is regarded as a gentleman who has the inner strength and character to persevere under any condition. Here I have painted a branch of plum blossoms to usher in the 2009 Chinese New Year, and hope you too, will withstand this challenging year like a plum blossom.

From

Jayne Aw.

Posted by KC
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