This painting is from some time ago, but since I have not photographed any of the recent painting I've executed this will have to do.  I placed it here because in the past month and a half I have been painting a lot of pine trees (some other varieties as well).  The reason has a bit of a explanation.  I recently moved back to the USA after nine years in China and one in Korea, by far China has the stronger influence.  I was quite struck by some contemporary Chinese paining (by this I mean ink and wash painting, you know the classic style of birds and flowers and landscape etc. but the painting I was looking at was of a contemporary subject matter).  The power of the black ink was almost palpable.  That week I purchased paper and brushes and ink and had a go.  A complete fail but there was potential and I adopted it to how I was working.  Shortly thereafter I moved to China and after about six months I started studying the traditional techniques and I spent about a year and a half with two different teachers.  Another year or so after I stuck to the tradition, then it faded.  About three years ago I began to take it up again and this leads to the painting above as well as why I've been painting pine trees so much recently.

After I accepted the job in Georgia I began making plans to use the Georgia countryside as inspiration for traditional Chinese paintings.  Even though I am in the city (Atlanta) there is no shortage of pine trees (and others) to serve as inspirational pieces.  This past week I was on a school trip (I'm a teacher by profession) and lucky for me we spent the week at a YMCA camp where I had ample opportunity to view and draw.  I bought a brush-pen and sad to say I am complete shit with it but that's ok, the shape of the trees and leaves are there so now it is just the work behind working it out with a brush, and I am quite looking forward to this work.
      P.s. - the first attempt was also shit but I am working on it.

For those of you who are still reading I'll give a brief description of some of the techniques I use. You are welcome to give them a shot and let me know how you get on.  Some of the traditional rules to follow: Compose square-ish painting in a kind of C shape and long-ish paintings by an S shape.  There should be good rhythm between black and gray tones.  There should not be too much black.  By the way the Chinese can never be pinned down by how much is enough and how much is too much.  Unfortunately the trend seems to be whoever is talking to me always has the correct amount and I never do.  Anyway - whatever.  The brush is supported between the thumb on one side and the other four fingers opposite the thumb.  Once I saw in the Asian Art Museum (San Francisco) that there should be the distance of an egg between the palm of the hand and the shaft of the brush, but none of my Chinese teachers ever said that.  Paint with the paper flat on the table or floor the the brush, more or less perpendicular, at least when you start.  The reason for this positioning is because the combination of wrist, elbow and shoulder give you every available angle from which to make a mark.  The beauty of Xuan Zhi (rice paper - which oddly enough has little to no rice in it) is that despite its fragility it can really take a lot of ink and water and color.  For instance you can paint in some gray, then add color, then let it dry and add black, then add some more color.  Or - this is one of my favorite techniques - make a nice think inky line and then wash the brush and add water right to the mark allowing it to bleed.  This effect is something that is looked for in 'good' paintings.  Another nifty trick (anything that entertains me I equate with good) is to load the brush with both color and ink in different parts of the brush then make a mark - cool two-tone effect.  Among my favorite strokes, and one you can see in the painting above, is the wavy, downward  line (my own description not an official term, my Chinese was pretty poor when I was taught this and I never learned the proper terminology).  Set out the edge of a shadow on a mountain or cliff and then alternate gray colored ink, water or even a little color in a wavy, downward stroke.  Another fun stroke is the hatchet (I now this one because my teacher drew me a picture of a hatchet when he demonstrated).  This one works best with think, black ink.  Load up the brush and turn it sideways against the paper and then with force shoot the brush in either direction that gives a full width streak.

When approaching a Chinese style painting (the Japanese and Koreans do this too) the Western style general to specific, light to dark method will not serve you well.  Just get yourself in a quiet mindset and go at it with no fear - like a Samurai - There will be varying levels of success at first but when you reach that place where you can actively make decisions without having to think will yield some pretty wicked paintings and a good experience for you.  If you are going to go the traditional route work on parts of the painting that are nearest the viewer and work your way back into space.  If you are doing non-traditional subjects then fuck all, just see what works for you.  These techniques are really applicable to all subject matter, I really like to paint octopuses and jelly fish and one never finds those in Chinese painting.  I have no problem with this seeing as I am not even a little Chinese, I'm all American in blood at least.

So there you are, a ramble about something I have contemplated for the last ten years.  I'll post some of my current paintings as soon as I get an SD card for my camera.

Update

This is a photo of another book that I have been working on. The actual book I've had in my possession for a very long time but I never touched it for fear of screwing it up, then I basically forgot about it and it wasn't until I bought a smaller one last fall and completed a rather pleasing little line that I went the big on (after I found it again). Actually the anxiety I had about making a mistake was pretty relevant at the time, but as my work has changed it has become easier. Even from that initial change about a year and half ago there has been a slight shift. I think this is common with all artists, at least ones that really painting for themselves, their work is always in evolution. I have been considering the idea of putting a book together that is charting the change in my painting over a year's time. Perhaps this blog could serve the same exact purpose.

My work now continues to be abstract, but at times less so and this is a result from my interest in graffiti and printmaking. The printmaking shift came as a result of me getting the materials to behave for me. Which really opes a lot fo doors. Also the amount of photographic work I've done, particularly with the Holga, Seagull and Fisheye. There is a strange sense of freedom working with these toy, print cameras. I don't worry about the composition of shots as much, I just point and click. Really I should be doing this with the digital as well as the phone.

There is a down side to my current working style, actually, it has been a down side to my work all my life. I don't have an intellectual theme, I just kind of go with what I like. Last Autumn when the Artists Who Teach was up, that was a big difference I noticed between myself and all the other artists, they all have themes, their work is about . . . (fill in the blank). Mine just comes from things I like to look at and make images about and it can vary quite greatly. Why is this? I kind of have an answer: It is because I don't care that much - ha ha. I was listening/watching The Story of India last week and in particular the section on the Buddha. He was far less of an righteous preacher than the religion leads us to believe. He basically just got along. Perhaps it is my detachment, which I didn't really learn fro Buddhism, it is just sort of my nature, I can be very detached, and I like it that way. And thereby my work is also detached, because I don't really care about anything enough to make art work about it. I like lines, I like patterns and designs and fashion magazine images and abstract expressionism and gold pens and books mad out of recycled art and still life drawing. And I like finding interesting things with my camera and taking photos of them, sometimes I want those photos to be well composed, sometimes I want to shoot them from the hip and appreciate the result. I also like Asthanga Yoga and Wing Chun. That is what my work is about.