Chinese Calligraphy & Painting A world of Abstraction and Spirituality

Intro - Painting - Calligraphy - My Works - Calligraphy Request - Links

o Introduction

Had I been born Chinese, I would have been a calligrapher, not a painter.
PABLO PICASSO

The history of calligraphy and painting in China can be tracted back a few thousands years ago. Silk was used as writing or painting surface before paper became popular. In recent centuries, people have been using xuan paper (Ning Yeh uses the romanization of "shuen" instead; xuan paper is also called rice paper), a kind of absorbent paper specially for painting and calligraphy. The ink we use is called mo in Chinese which is made from pine soot. This kind of natural ink can be diluted by water to give difference shades with which the artists use to express color or layers in painting.

Chinese painting and calligraphy are done with bristle brushes. You can think of them as something like the brush used in Western watercolor, but the Chinese is more subtle (typically, shorter hairs are actually in the inside and the empty space inside serves as a ink reservoir) (More on that later). [Page Top]

o Chinese Painting

Traditionally there are those in which only black Mo is used, and those color pigments are used.

Painting in which only mo (but no color) is used is called shui-mo-hua in Chinese or Sumi-e in Japanese. Shui means water. Thus shui-mo means using water and mo. The different shades of the mo together with variable dryness of the brush merely already provide the painter with a great tool for expression. Dry mo can refer to hard, coarse, strong objects while wet mo creates a feeling of softness or roundness. Different shades can express deepness, space or even texture.

There are basically two types of Chinese paintings: the meticulous (gong-bi) style, and the freehand (xie-yi) style. My favorite is the freehand style Chinese painting, in which objects are painted with very few strokes, but yet the sprites and shapes are excellently captured by the curves and mo. Some white space is often kept unpainted in such a way that it will lead you to your imagination inspired by the painted part. Often a poem is also written on the canvas expression the same idea as the painting itself.

In the old times, the freestyle painting are often created by scholars or poets which wanted to use the paintings to express themselves in a more spiritual way just like their poems. Their paintings are not intended to pick up the exact shapes of objects (like taking photography), but to capture the objects' spirits.

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o Chinese Calligraphy

Well, if you are a foreigner and ever tried to learn Chinese, you probably will find it extremely difficult. Chinese characters are hard to learn, takes time to write, easy to forget. But there is one unique merit for it - its aesthetic value. Chinese (and also Japanese) is traditionally written using brushes. That's why it can be so flexible and artistic.

Traditionally, characters are written using pure black ink. That's why most of the pieces you see are in black and white. But there're new variations too. Some artists like to write using multiple color inks. They will dip the hair of their brush with ink of different colors in different densities. So, as they write, the ink gradually changes in color. [Page Top]

My Works

Below are some of Chinese calligraphy written by me.

Character(s) Meaning(s) Comments Meaing, wish + I, me, my + A Chinese surname, also means red + This is my surname. ;-) Tang King Po - the name of the secondary school I attended in Hong Kong Photocopy paper /w watercolor and a pointed watercolor brush. The color I used was light, so I made an outline from it with some software. Respecting your thoughts Photocopy paper /w water color. Wrote this for my math teacher in Tang King Po School. Thought, wish, imagine Photocopy paper Answer * By a request. Sept. 01 "wu-wei", or non-action. So we see some Western people also like Chinese philosophy. ;-) + By a request from USA. Feb. 02 My (inexact) translation of 'In riding horses we borrow freedom'. I also sent her a bonus piece of the term 'feel free'. + By a request from USA. July 03 Home By request. Dec 03 another shot Pearl By a request from Carole Barter, UK. Feb 04. My calligraphy was used in the box Carole made for a local Embroiderers' Guild competition. Hey, she actually won the cup! ;) + Yuk Kao paper * Single xuan paper

And, here's a few Chinese paintings I did in 2001. I watched Ning Yeh's first video course (filmed in 1987) and learned a lot from it. You can see that the following Chinese paintings are of a very Ning-Yeh-style. ;-)

Character(s)	Comments
	Orchid on single xuan. These are photographed with my digital camera.
	Bamboo on single xuan. It is actually a birthday gift for my father. The size of the painting is just about 3"x 10" (that's why my seal becomes so big relatively ;P)

And here are two pieces painted in a "non-traditional" style: Humorous Professor and also a sketch of Wu Wei-Shan, both done in 2000. The first piece is somewhat a caricature. ;-)

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o Calligraphy Request (temporarily closed)

I am open for calligraphy request and will try my best to fulfill any appreciator (a free service). You send an email to me (see main page for address), titled 'Calligraphy Request' (to avoid being classified as junk by my mail software) telling me what characters you'd like me to write, or what phrase in English you'd like me to translate and write. Given that I have time, I'll write them and send you a scanned version of my calligraphy via email within a couple of weeks. Sometimes I'll also attach a typeface image of those characters I've written for your reference. If you don't even get a reply, then sorry - I must be just too occupied by other things.

To keep me from being flooded, I now I have some restrictions on your requests. Normally I only accept meaningful phrases; no names please (I don't want to be like those 'Your name in Chinese' shops you find in tourist spots in Hong Kong). And please limit your request to one or two phrases only.

You can take a look at the above sample calligraphy to see what you are likely to get. Some of my clients used my calligraphy in making a pendant, or tatoos. If you tell me what would you use my calligraphy for, I may come up with a more suitable composition.

If you like my calligraphy written for you and think it's worthwhile, I'd be happy if you can donate some money to my favorite charity, Oxfam (I used to suggest people sending me a postcard as incentive, but I think the above is a much better thing we can do; if you still want to send me a postcard, click here). If you would make a donation, please email me so that I can keep track of how much has been given. [Page Top]

o Links

Virutal Chinese Brush - Brushwork has been a trandition in the Orient for thousands of years. This is my attempt to further develop this trandition.

Animating Chinese Landscape Paintings and Panoramas - Part of my Master's thesis

NingYeh.com - I watched his first tele-course tapes (filmed in 1987) and was so impressed by his art and teaching. If you're in the US and want to learn Chinese brush painting, I strongly recommend taking Ning's courses, and NingYeh.com is definitely a must-visit!

Traditional Chinese Culture in Taiwan - There, you can find out more about the Chinese traditional culture. Has got an .AVI movie file to see how characters are actually written in the Calligraphy page.

Writing Tools: The Four Treasures of the Studies (Paper, Brush, Ink, and Ink Stone)

Calligraphy of the Masters - from the site China the Beautiful. Plenty of information on anything Chinese. In particular, if you want to learn Chinese the language, you may start from their Chinese learning page.

Chinese Histroy for Beginners - If you want to read.

Ah Chung - He does small format paintings in xie-yi style. Each painting
"Try to get balance from conflict and disagreement; Try to get harmony from balance." - Ah Chung

Here is a piece by a Japanese monk.

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Copyright (C) Nelson Chu, 1996-2004. All Rights Reserved.

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