Mixed up Too Much Ink

I have this problem. When I grind ink... I like doing it all at once, and I have this cool little jar a friend gave me when he learned that I was practicing calligraphy and he was living in Japan, so he sent me a neat little ceramic thing that you fill by holding it under water and it has a pour spout and a hole in the top and I can put my finger on the hole at the top and just drip drabs of water out. Or I can just leave the hole open and pour.

I poured today, into my deeper ink stone. Mom gave me a beautiful, shallow, tear drop shaped ink stone that has tiny bamboo leaves carved into the stone around the well; however, I also have a very utilitarian rectangular stone that has a very deep well. Mom's stone is good for a single painting at a time. I wanted to do more than one painting, but I went a bit... overboard...

So in order, from start to finish, as I get sloppier the more tired I get...

I really wanted to do stems... with better control of having the darker ink on the edges and lighter ink in the center. The three more slender stalks were done with a brush that was squashed flat and the darker ink was touched lightly to either side. The thick one I used one of my longer brushes and tipped it with black and painted the thick ink onto the shaft. Both methods give a better rounded look than I've been getting.

Since I had the really good, thick, sticky ink from the grinding surface, the "eyes" and joints didn't bleed that badly, and the thinner stalks actually look like they're in front of the thick one. I really liked the effects.

The sparser leaves also meant I could do some that look like they're in the back as well as the dark ones up front. So I actually signed this one and put my favorite stamp on it. I need a new signature stamp as my Dad changed the last character in my name from tranquility to jade.

The not-a-fail pine tree on a mountain. Finally got the rocks looking a bit more the way I wanted them, and I spent a lot more time on the bark. I still need to work on branch placement and planning them a bit better, and I'm thinking of thickening in a few more needles. Probably along those branches to the left. Make it look a bit healthier and fuller, but I think this was enough better than the previous to make me think about spending even more time on it, eventually.

Got the multiple colors on a brush to finally work with the real ink well, as part of the well has a sloped wall, so I can touch exactly the amount of ink I want onto the very, very tip of the brush. So you can see how the petals of the flower gradate better. The hearts of the flowers still are a bit too dark, but I start there. So... I shall work on that. The leaves weren't quite as graceful, but the grouping still works for me, I think...

By now I'm tired. It's just very young bamboo, laid out in the wind... and a very squiggly dragonfly. Hee. It was fun.

And I still had more ink... so I did a few pages of calligraphy, not very well, as I was getting tired. But the one "wind" and the one "not" look pretty good even from here. The rest is trash... *laughter*

It felt good to do.

S	M	T	W	T	F	S
						1
2	3	4	5	6	7	8
9	10	11	12	13	14	15
16	17	18	19	20	21	22
23	24	25	26	27	28	29
30	31

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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

calmingeffects.livejournal.com

beautiful!

liralen.livejournal.com

*snugs you* Thank you! Are you around?

incandescens

Those are lovely. The pine tree on the mountain is gorgeous.

Oh! Thank you! I was much happier with this one than the previous one... so I really appreciate you saying that.

kjc007.livejournal.com

Wow! Wow wow wow! You do pretty stuff, woman! You're really getting a handle on that technique of less-is-more impression-y stuff. Yay practice!

Thank you!! *beams* Yeah... this is that, very much so. Just enough to suggest plenty. *grin* The rocks are definitely that way. Hee. Glad you like!!

chrisber.livejournal.com

Those are beautiful! I especially like the two bamboo ones, since I like the variability in line and texture you can do with the brush.

Yeah, I *LOVE* that about the brushes. :-) I can't imagine doing this with a stiff or invariable brush... Neat that you liked them!!

archangelbeth

Oh, lovely! That bamboo in the first pic looks very nearly photographic! (B&W photograph, mind, BUT!) You making prints someday, yes? O:D

(And I like the new tree, yes!) (And the bamboo with dragonfly!)

And that is a lot of calligraphy. Wow. O_O

Prints? Hee. I have no idea how to do that. XDD

Yay! Tree! I am happy with the tree.

It's a bit of calligraphy, not nearly enough to even maintain, much less get better at it, but so it is. Dad used to do ten pages a day... I should be doing something more regularly...

r0ck3tsci3ntist.livejournal.com

These ARE beautiful! I especially love the way the bases of the bamboo cross each other and the leaves are so natural.

I think the pine tree is excellent and I wouldn't change it. This one works better because you have the tree creating a diagonal across the paper. It's very nice.

*dances* I'm so glad you like the bamboo... it was fun to get it where I liked it. I'm glad the leaves look natural to you... that classical palm structure is always fun to do.

Oh! Neat. I hadn't thought of that about the diagonal on the tree... that's good to know. I just try stuff and kinda go.. uhm... I like that... better to have some idea as to why, though. Thank you so much!!

amberley.livejournal.com

These were an excellent thing to see upon my return from Seattle, thanks for posting them!

Going a bit overboard is one of the things you're best at!

Yes, that does seem to be one of the things I am best at. *laughter* Wheeeeee!!!

I'm glad you're back safe and sound, but I wish I had been there with you. *giggles* So it is. We're leaving Wednesday for our own thing, so... I'm not too regretful, that would have been even more overboard for me than usual.

You're very, very welcome! I'm glad you like them!! You do know, of course, if there's any kind of these paintings you'd like, I'd be happy to do one for you. *grin*

rasetsunyo.livejournal.com

Lovely! The bamboos are the best, I think; really like the gradations between as well as within each stem. The pine's also really well done, especially the sensitivity to the bark. :)

Ooo... thank you! Yeah... I love how mixing the ink levels on the brush makes for that kind of natural looking gradations. It's fun.

Yay! I'm glad I didn't fail on the tree again. Hee. It is more fun having it look more the way I wanted it to. Whew...

rephetibel.livejournal.com

Wow. I love the thick stalk of bamboo. I couldn't see the dragonfly too well but I have a weakness for dragonflies so I like it, too.

Neat! I'm glad you liked the bamboo stalks. Those were a lot of fun.

Click on the picture with the dragonfly and it'll take you to one that's much bigger. *grin* I will do a better one next time. I promise!

buildingafuture.livejournal.com

Ummm.....*looking sheepish* Could I have the third one down? I love that one the lines and the spacing is so pleasing to me

I think so... I'll try and find it. *grins*

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