Introduction to Chinese Painting
By: Harold Mitschka

Calligraphy and painting were two of the most appreciated art forms in ancient China. Calligraphy was considered to be the most eminent and most complete form of painting. The annals of painting in China go back to the 2nd century BCE. In the earliest times, painting and writing were made out on silk, until paper was subsequently developed during the 1st century CE.

Chinese art, and in particular, Chinese painting is highly regarded around the world. Chinese painting can be retraced to as far back as six thousand years ago in the Neolithic Age when the Chinese have begun utilizing brushes in their paintings. Chinese art dates back even sooner than that.

According to theme topic, Chinese paintings can be classified as landscapes, character paintings and flower-and-bird paintings. In typical Chinese painting, Chinese landscape artwork embodies a sizable collection, portraying nature, especially mountains and bodies of water. Landscapes have traditionally been the favorite of the Chinese because they manifest the poetry characteristic in nature. Accordingly, many esteemed paintings are landscapes.

The most popularly known form of Chinese painting is “Water-ink” painting, where water-ink is the medium. Some of the vital things mandatory for the Chinese painting include: paper, brush, ink or ink stick, ink stone, and color.

• Brush: The Chinese brush is a mandatory tool for Chinese painting. The brush should be strong and flexible. Two types of brushes are used. The softer brush is made from white sheep hair. This brush should be soaked first, and then dried to prevent curling. The latter one is fabricated from fox or deer sable fibers, which are very resilient, and tend to paint better. The procedure the brush is used depends on the varied features of brush strokes one wants to achieve, such as weight, lightness, gracefulness, ruggedness, firmness, and fullness. Different types of shades are used to express space, texture, or depth.

• Ink Stick: There are three varieties of Ink Stick: resin soot, lacquer soot, and tung-oil soot. Of the three, tung-oil soot is the most commonly used. Otherwise, Chinese ink is best if ink stick or ink stone are ineffectual.

• Paper: The most commonly used paper is Xuan paper, which is fabricated of sandalwood bark. This is highly absorbent, so the color or ink disperses the moment the brush stroke is put down. The second most well-known is Mian paper.

• Color: The most former Chinese paintings used Mo, a kind of indigenous ink, to produce monochromatic representations of nature or day-to-day life. Made of pine soot, mo is combined with water to get different shades for expressing desired layers or color in a painting.

Chinese painting is called shui-mo-hua. Shui-mo is the mix of shui (water) and mo. There are two types of Chinese painting. They are gong-bi or meticulous style, and xie-yi or freehand style. The latter is the most popular, not only because the objects are drawn with just a few strokes, but also because shapes and sprites are drawn by simple curves and natural ink. Many ancient poets and scholars used xie-yi paintings to express their spiritual angst.