Promised Plum/Cherry tree paintings...

[liralen]

Random paintings, most of them real fails, but a few have turned out quite pleasantly.



On too-crowded bamboo:


A slew of cherry blossom attempts that all fail pretty much:


Two index card doodles:


I doodled 'em on index cards I normally used for story ideas while we were all sitting and waiting at a restaurant for our food. I carry a brush pen in my purse and sometimes I play with it.

My ink sticks:


The big one is one that my mother gave me from her father's collection. She'd gotten it when he died, and she could only speculate that it was an ink stick that was so good he hadn't wanted to use it. I've only used it once. It was so scarily good, I sealed it back up and am using the other sticks until I get good enough to use that one. I just want to NOT pass it onto Jet the same way, though. So I'll keep painting and calligraphying and maybe I'll get good enough for that stick.

The book behind the sticks is The Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting. I love it, especially when it tells me stuff like the trunk and branches of a plum tree should be sinuous like a dragon.

Tree on the way to the mountain:


I'm trying to do the mountain from Mushi-shi, but I have to figure out moisture control and the whole multiple colors on a brush at a time with the right amount of waterthing. *laughs*

A rather better plum blossom painting:


FINALLY, I get the blossoms right on the orchid... but the leaves... I don't like as much on this one. But the darned fowers are finally the way I really want them, and it had to do with the water control again and laying the tip down the right way. Yeesh...

Comments

[incandescens]

Lovely stuff. I wish I had better words for it.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Thank you!! I'm always glad when you like them.

[7veilsphaedra.livejournal.com]

How lovely! I think my favourite is the orchids, in spite of the single hitched leaf. Overall, that last one seems most free and confident.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

The long leaf hitches too at the far end under the curve. *sniff*

But, yeah, I am a lot more confident with my orchids, now, especially in the "traditional" layout.

And, yeah, confidence really shows in this form. Can't go back, can't redo. So the only way is to forge ahead, and each line really does show how much one wanted to draw that line. *laughs* That's why I called all the first blossoms fails, as it's obvious I was really hesitant. It's fun when it works, though. Whew.

[rephetibel.livejournal.com]

Mmmmmm!

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*beams* Thank you!

[beckyb.livejournal.com]

I really like the index card doodles. They would be sweet to have around or mail to people.

I like the final orchid too.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Neat!

Yeah, when Singer came by he took a Bamboo doodle. *grin* They are fun and easy to make and easy to mail...

[marith.livejournal.com]

Ooh! The orchids are my favorite too, and the other index card doodle. Your work turns out very nice in miniature scope.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

It does turn out nicely in miniature! I like how it works.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Which index card doodle did you like? *looks innocent... kinda*

[marith.livejournal.com]

*giggles* I like them both, actually, but the orchid one most. The orchids remind me of irises, actually, the slender kind that are my favorites.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

That's my next target, Irises... blue-purple with a yellow blaze of a heart. *happy sigh*

But, cool. Thanks!!

[bloodthirstylt.livejournal.com]

these are so lovely.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Wow! Thank you.

[bloodthirstylt.livejournal.com]

welcome *cuddles and pets*

[r0ck3tsci3ntist.livejournal.com]

These are awfully nice! I like the first cherry blossom a lot. The orchids are really lovely as well as is the tree.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Oooo! Thank you!!

I like the tree a lot, too. *grin* I'm glad you like the others, too!

I need to keep working on the cherry blossoms and branches.

[rasetsunyo.livejournal.com]

These are so lovely, I really like the plum blossoms and you're right, the orchid blossoms have really come along nicely.

Also the inksticks are beautiful.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Thank you!!

Yeah, I love the inksticks for themselves, too. They really make it fun to rub ink. *sighs happily*

[archangelbeth]

Just wow! (And the index card doodles look like they should be postcards! O:D )

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Hee! They could almost be! If I did 'em on 4x6 cards I guess they could be sent through the postal service as post cards. Hm. The ink is pretty much permanent, so it would be easy to send that way.

[crimini.livejournal.com]

I really like the bamboo and the tree on the way to the mountain. So neat to see the ink go from thin to thick to thin again.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Neat!! I'm glad you like them.