Chinese painting /Sumi-e materials introduction for beginners
Brushes
Brushes are made of animal hair, usually attached to a bamboo stick. Various kinds of animal hair were once used, like goat, ox, rabbit, sheep, marten, badger, deer, wolf, each having certain properties. They can be categorized by their size: large, medium and small; and also by the strength: soft (usually taken from goat), medium (taken from rabbit, or a mixture of goat and weasel hair) and hard or stiff (taken from weasel tail). Hair of different animals can be combined to create different textures.
suggest:
one set (Large, medium and small) goat / sheep hair (for petals, leaves and Large blocks of color）
one set (Large, medium and small) : sheep mixed with wolf
one hard hair (from weasel or horse)
one small hard hair ( for details)
this is one set of brushes:
Rice Paper
Paper is usually made from parts of the rice plant, like rice straw or rice flour. The paper in the old days is very thin and light. Thus it can adsorb ink easily.
rice paper type:
hot press (shu xuan) smooth surface,for gongbi painting
cold press(sheng xuan) adsorb water and ink easily and fast,for chinese freehand brush painting /sumie
medium,half cold half hot, depend on the result you like.
after finish the painting ,you will need mount the painting to other thick paper.
will make a video to guide how to do it, please follow my youtube channel. i will post most of the techniques there .
papers with different colors:
Ink
The ink is commonly made by burning pine or another wood in an earthenware container, mixing dense ash with glue, and compressing it into an ink stick, or another form. An unusual antique piece of ink is shaped like a ruyi, a scepter tribute offering, that conveys wishes for happiness and good fortune. After shaping, it takes about two years for the ink to dry, in a totally dry and dark environment.
usually we use prepared Chinese ink（liquid），it quickly to use.
but if you like to Grind the ink by yourself. you can use ink stick.
Ink Stone
if you use ink stick, you need a ink stone.
An inkstone is literally a stone mortar for the grinding and containment of ink. Traditional Chinese ink is usually solidified into sticks for easier transport and preservation. Water is usually kept in a ceramic container and sprinkled on the inkstone, which has a generally flat surface. The inkstick would be ground with the flat surface of the inkstone. By mixing ink with different amounts of water, the calligrapher or artist can create different densities and innumerable shades of black and gray.
Pigments
Traditionally, Chinese pigments come in form of chips, cakes or powder made from natural plant and minerals. Some of these require preparation by adding glue before they can be used. Traditional pigments require some skill and knowledge to mix as some pigments do not blend well with others (e.g. herbal and stone colours generally do not combine well). Also, layering a different pigment on top of another can create different effects depending on the type and transparency of the upper layer pigment.
suggest to have a set of 12 colors (tube)
Drawing mat
In Chinese calligraphy and painting, the real purpose of the mat is to grip the artist’s paper. The mat provides some friction which prevents the paper from sliding or moving to ensure absolute precision of each of the artists’ brush strokes.
Chinese calligraphy and painting use rice paper. Rice paper is relatively “thin” which makes excess water from the ink penetrates through it. The mat is useful to absorb the excess liquid so there’s no “pool” of water underneath the paper.
Brush holder
A good place to rest your brush when painting or practicing calligraphy
color mixing plates
or use White porcelain plates
