Rethinking Bamboo

[liralen]

I haven't like the last couple of bamboo paintings I've done... so I tried a few different things last night.



I started with the assumption that few leaves are better. So this is what I did when I went happily crazy and did lots and lots of leaves. I munged one of the stalks, ah well, but I was using the already liquid Yi-de ink, which I'm not that used to, yet. As you can tell by some of the darker, fuzzier leaves, I am saturating it a bit too much. Still... I like the layout of this better than the ones I have been doing...



There's a painting by Yuming Zhu of a couple of bamboo from the ground up that made me rethink my scale of my bamboo. I don't think this is... uhm... botanically correct, as the windward side is a bit... sparse, but I liked the concept very much and may do more research to make this better. It does seem more interesting to me, though.

Comments

[conjure-lass.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh! I like these much better! There's more life to them than your previous ones, and that makes it feel more real to me.

The second one is especially nice. I like how tall they seem and how you can feel the wind blowing when you're looking at them. However, I don't think you're as "botanically incorrect" as you think, though they are a bit sparse as you've said.

Very nice. I like them very much.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Heh. The sections are too long for real ones, given the size of the leaves... the branches are likely too long as well, as they don't really reach *that* far. The tops should be thinner and should have gone over as well, but that could be discounted as simply they're off-screen. And, more than likely, most bunches of bamboo are in more than just three stalks. *laughs*

There's a lot supposedly wrong with the bottom one, but... I think it got the spirit of what I wanted. So it's all the better for that. As you said, they're more alive... and that may be what really counts.

Thank you!!

[conjure-lass.livejournal.com]

Well yeah...most of the points you made are...well...true. BUT! Art is all about gaining a reaction from your viewer, whether its writing or painting or whatever. And since you got such a lovely reaction from us, you obviously attained the true point of art.

So unless you're planning on selling these to the National Botany Society, i'd say just go with what feels good to you. *nod nod* Afterall...its not like the vast majority of us even KNOW what a bamboo tree looks like anyway. *giggle*

[liralen.livejournal.com]

*giggles at the last*

Yes. Indeed.

I'm glad it pleased!