Asian Sensitivities in Maine Paintings

Mar 5, 2013 | Japanese

Little Cove Island

Little Cove Island

Asian brush work, plane delineation, charged colors and spatial relations speak Maine landscape. Every time I paint, the Asian  skills I learned come in to play. First, the sensitivity to the importance of negative space is critical to western composition. The space between two trees must be as aesthetically rendered as the trees themselves. The space between the rocks, the area between an outstretched arm and a person’s side must be as dynamic as the figures. Try drawing 2 objects. Make the space between them a geometric shape. Redraw them, then, making sure that negative space is not a geometric shape. Look at nature as well. In nature everything is slightly torqued.

A brush stroke in an Asian Ink Painting delineates a shape. In order to do such rendering it is important to understand the underlying construction of the object. For a plane shift shows volume when exposed to light.  Asian Ink Painting trains one’s mind and eye to see plane breaks. Think of the Maine rock and how it is a volume with progressively smaller plane shifts.

Carving out rocks with a pastel stick or an oil brush can be done with the quick fluid strokes used with an Japanese brush. Viscerally knowing in the hand, eye and heart how a rock is formed makes for a more energetic stroke more likely capturing the hard surface and structure. Painting water and rocks while holding up the Buddhist awareness of how water shapes rock and rock shapes water imbues the sketch with the essence of this relationship.

Asian Art uses physics, biology, mathematics and chemistry  to deeply know what is in order to feel the essence of an object. Everyday I use my knowledge and training in Asian techniques to go beyond the physical  to understand the spirit and reveal it using assured confident, succinct expression.

pastel Maine

Narcissis