Here it is everybody. My stamp is finally finished! I carved my logo design into a rubber block to make it. I may or may not do a neater one again as I came across a better design transfer method, but until then, its done.
It’s my nan’s birthday pretty soon, so I decided to create a bookmark for her. I didn’t have any ideas to begin with, so I decided to trawl the internet. As I did, I saw some beautiful Chinese and Japanese sumi paintings of koi carp and bamboo among other subjects.
“Bingo!” I thought. “Why not do that for her?”. I’ve always been a big fan of oriental artwork, especially Chinese brush paintings. (although I’m not really a painter, I like to draw rather than paint).
I got to work, and using line and wash, I made the bookmark design below. It’s entitled “Calm Water”, and this was the perfect opportunity to use my stamp on the back of the piece.
Top: Calm Water bookmark artwork.
Bottom: the reverse of the bookmark stamped, signed, and finished.
From then on, I got a huge burst of inspiration. The brush painting videos and images I saw gave me an appetite to try to experiment with similar techniques myself. I began to see that this sort of art, was almost like drawing, but with brushes. There are so many impressive things that can be achieved, I’ve only just touched the surface…and this is just all for the fun of it.
I took a photo of one of my cats, Murphy, and decided to do a 5 minute spontaneous brush painting of him, just for the laughs. Before I even thought of the idea, I brought some authentic Chinese sumi brushes and liquid ink… I was dying to practice this using the real typical materials.
This is Murphy. (bless him 😛 )
 
And this is my spontaneous 5 minute sketch of the little rascal, entitled, “Murphy Sitting”. I’ll be brutally honest: I’m mildly outraged at the amount of errors here, ( even the chinese lettering I did, which says the title, is stiff and plain), but that isn’t the point of this piece. I wanted to just bury myself in the fun. I find it an achievement that I managed to just let go for once and find solace in playing with the art.
In the image above, you can see the Chinese brushes I brought. And I absolutely love them, you can manipulate the brush, and to some extent, it will keep its shape! The liquid ink I got is totally amazing as well. It has a rich, nearly clingy sort of consistency. Furthermore, the amount you can paint with just one brush stroke is gorgeous. Only a little is needed for excellent coverage, and you can add as little or as much water as you need. Excellent stuff.
And with the finished piece, I put my stamp on the bottom right hand corner. The stamp in this instance, believe it or not, was stamped using the same gorgeous Chinese ink. It really is impressive and versatile in my eyes.
That’s all for now. What do you think? Have you done any similar projects to clear your mind before? What do you do different to unwind? Feel free to comment as usual.
Bye for now all. Have a great weekend!
Lazfar's Gallery 