Chinese painting focuses on the creation method and mentality of harmony between man and nature, heart and mind, and regards it as the highest realm of painting. From their time onward, many painters strove to freely express their feelings and to capture the inner spirit of their subject instead of describing its outward appearance.
Chinese paintings are divided into three sections: character calligraphy, bird-and-flower painting, and landscapes painting. On the surface, they are classified by subject matter. In fact, they use art to express a concept and thought. The so-called "three divisions of painting" summarizes the three aspects of the universe and life: the paintings represent the relationship between human society and human beings; the landscape paintings represent the relationship between man and nature, integrating people and nature. As one, flower and bird paintings are various lives that express nature and live in harmony with people. The combination of the three constitutes the universe as a whole and complements each other. This is a philosophical reflection on the sublimation of art and the true meaning of art as art.

Landscape painting is traditionally at the top of the hierarchy of Chinese painting styles. It is very popular and is associated with refined scholarly taste. The Chinese term for "landscape" is made up of two characters meaning "mountains and water." It is linked with the philosophy of Daoism, which emphasizes harmony with the natural world.

Today, when the pace of life is fast and the time is constantly fragmented, it is necessary to let the true meaning of the author through the mountains and rivers in the paintings, and the premise is to calm down.

Chinese landscape painting is an important carrier of Chinese art and an important part of Chinese culture. Chinese landscape painting is not and does not require the reproduction of an objective natural landscape. It is a spark generated by the artist's emotional and rational impact on the natural landscape. It is more beautiful, more attractive, and more powerful than the natural landscape. The creators of Chinese landscape paintings pay great attention to the meaning of the outside world and require the works to be both emotional and rational. The literati finally found a unique Taoist context, pouring out the infinite world of love and elegance in the heart of the world when painting the natural landscape with ink. Between the natural and the natural expectations, the artist anthropomorphizes the mountains and lakes, and the artistic life merged with the mountains and rivers.

▶ Material -
- Xuan paper (宣纸): (or Shuen paper or rice paper, originating in ancient China used for writing and painting. It's handmade Chinese art paper. soft and fine-textured, suitable for conveying the artistic expression of both Chinese calligraphy and painting. Xuan paper features great tensile strength, smooth surface, pure and clean texture, and clean stroke, great resistance to the crease, corrosion, moth, and mold. The production of Xuan paper can be loosely described as an 18-step process, and a detailed account would involve over a hundred. Some papermakers have invented steps that have been kept secret from others.)
- Chinese Bamboo Brushes (毛笔) for painting and handwriting. Bamboo brush bristles are generally made from animal hair, such as white goat hair, black rabbit hair, yellow weasel hair, or a combination of the three. Bamboo brushes come in many different brush-tip sizes and set combinations, from the finest-tipped tool to a thick round-pointed brush.
3- Chinese ink and wash (水墨): Inksticks (Chinese: 墨 About this sound Mò; or ink cakes are a type of solid ink Chinese ink used traditionally in several East Asian cultures for calligraphy and brush painting. Inksticks are made mainly of soot and animal glue, sometimes with incense or medicinal scents added. Ink wash painting uses tonality and shading achieved by varying the ink density, both by differential grinding of the ink stick in water and by varying the ink load and pressure within a single brushstroke. Ink wash painting artists spend years practicing basic brush strokes to refine their brush movement and ink flow.
4- Chinese painting watercolor (中国画颜料): Traditional Chinese watercolors are mineral and vegetable pigments, premixed with some kind of binder. The main feature of genuine Chinese watercolor painting is its luminosity and transparency and that’s what vegetable and mineral pigments are all about. The purer the pigments, the more subtle their tones and brilliance will be.

♥ The two main techniques in Chinese painting are more academic style called kung-pi (gongbi) and the spontaneous style hsieh-i (xieyi).
- xieyi" (寫意), This style is also referred to as the freehand style. Ink and wash painting, in Chinese shuǐ-mò (水墨, "water and ink") also loosely termed watercolor or brush painting, and also known as "literati painting", as it was one of the "Four Arts" of the Chinese Scholar-official class. It uses tonality and shading achieved by varying the ink density, both by differential grinding of the ink stick in water and by varying the ink load and pressure within a single brushstroke. In the hand of a master, a single stroke can produce astonishing variations in tonality, from deep black to silvery gray. Thus, in its original context, shading means more than just dark-light arrangement: It is the basis for the beautiful nuance in tonality found in East Asian ink wash painting and brush-and-ink calligraphy.
- Gongbi (工筆): meaning "meticulous" painting, uses highly detailed brushstrokes that delimit details very precisely and without independent or expressive variation. It is often highly colored and usually depicts figural or narrative subjects. Gongbi requires drawing with fine lines first to represent the exaggerated likenesses of the objects, and then adds washes of ink and color layer by layer, so as to approach the perfection of exquisiteness and fine art. The practice of Gongbi is specifically on rice paper when sketching out the design and layout of the drawing. When using brushes to paint gongbi, there are specific types for contouring and coloring. There are four types of brushes for contouring. It is often practiced by artists working for the royal court. The gongbi style had its beginnings approximately 2000 years ago during the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). These paintings peaked out between the Tang and Song dynasties (7th to 13th centuries)

▶Mounted on silk - STYLES

The mounting process of Chinese calligraphy and painting originated from 100 to 200 years after the invention of papermaking in my country and has a history of more than 1700 years. Delicate silk mounting is an intangible cultural heritage in China. It is done by skilled craftsmen.
❤️We choose the silk brocade with elegant and light colors which will easily match the tone of the painting as default. If you are strict with color please contact me for silk border color options. After mounting on silk brocade/silk hanging scroll, the total size of the painting will be larger. You can customize the mounting sizes just through the Etsy conversation chat window or email to let me know. Normally it will take 3~5 days to finish mounting on silk brocade from our professional mounters depending on the weather. Email: ohleechees [!at] gmail.com

1- MOUNTED ON SILK BROCADE:
Chinese traditional mounting, it is not mounted with a frame. The mounting implies adhering an ink wash art on Xuan paper to a life-paper. A backing life-paper, silk borders around gives the soft Xuan paper artwork weight, (in that it needs to be protected from buckling, wrinkling, and defined edges.
The painting comes with silk brocade and back support paper (ready to place in any frame with a transparent cover) After mounting on a silk brocade, the total size of the painting will be larger. You can customize the mounting sizes via Etsy conversation.

2- MOUNTED ON HANGING SCROLL:
The painting comes with a traditional Chinese art silk scroll (ready to adorn any room you wish)
Mounting as a hanging scroll shows you a traditional graceful appearance. Hanging scrolls are typically used for vertical compositions. They are hung for display using a cord, which is attached to a thin wooden strip along the top of the silk mounting. There is a wooden rod at the bottom which provides the necessary weight for the painting to hang smoothly. It is also useful when the painting is rolled up for storage.

Horizontal Chinese paintings can also be made to be directly hung. There are two wooden rods and ribbons on both sides, which can be hung directly on two invisible Wall Mount frame nails. If it is used for direct hanging, it is best to choose to print on silk. Printing on silk is more durable than printing on rice paper.

3- MOUNTED ON HANDSCROLL:
Handscrolls are designed to be unrolled, from right to left, revealing one scene at a time. As each new section is unrolled, the previous scene is rolled up, giving the viewer the feeling of a journey through the landscape.

Paintings in China are not usually hung on walls, permanently on display. They are often mounted as handscrolls, rolled up, and only brought out for special viewings. This is partly due to the delicate nature of the ink and color, which would fade if left exposed to light for a long time. The unrolling of a scroll is an act of some ceremony. Connoisseurs do not view the painting from a distance, as in the West, but approach close to "read the painting."

ART CAN TALK
Artwork is the best carrier of cultural communication!

China has experienced so many dynasties and various ethnic groups. Chiese art is restrained, humble, and tolerant. However, now, the mystery is gradually unveiled. Culture be spread, learned, preserved, created, lost, reorganized, innovated, and formed new styles. You can't tell exactly which is genuine, which is the mainstream. But you can choose whatever you like to explore. Just feel the charm of it. Chinese Art and Chinese philosophy are connected. It reflects the relationship between man and nature, and the philosophy of doing things.

I treat every piece of artwork seriously. I hope it will be a timeless conversational masterpiece in your life journey!
Thank you for stopping by and reading through this!
Enjoy your artistic life!
Lee ^^