Title: Yellow Skies in the Sapa Fields
Size: 17.5 x 12.5 cm Medium: Dry Point, Water Color Date: October 2019 Exhibition Text: ¨Yellow Skies in the Sapa Fields¨ is the first landscape piece I have created. The piece uses the medium of dry point and water color to bring out the ethereal beauty of Sapa, Vietnam; a place in my home town that I have always wanted to visit. Using inspired techniques from Huang Gongwang, ¨Dwelling in Fuchun Mountains¨ and Wang Meng, ¨Dwelling in the Qingbing Mountains¨ to quell my homesickness while letting others see the beauty of Vietnam. |
Planning
Inspiration
My first inspiration is from ¨Dwelling in Fuchun Mountains¨ by Huang Gongwang, one of the very few artworks preserved by the legendary landscape painter. ¨Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains¨ can be considered as one of China´s most well-known landscape painting from the Yuan Dynasty as long as the painting master Huang Gongwang; who was considered one of Yuan dynasty´s four masters. I was intrigued by the amount of detail Huang used and the brush work he used to create the bold tones yet subtle shades with only the use of ink and brush. I decided to incorporate the textural strokes and the subtle shading into my piece through this inspirational piece. The textual strokes created with the dry point and some water color while the shading was created entirely with watercolor.
|
The second inspiration another hand scroll that is similar to ¨Dwelling in Fuchun Mountains¨ but the techniques are a bit more different compared to the first. In ¨Dwelling in the Qingbing Mountains¨ by Wang Meng, another master from the Yuan Dynasty, Wang Meng uses different types of strokes to fill up the scroll and creating the lighting and texture. Wang´s tightly compacted strokes creates a strong sense of nervous and serious energy to the piece. Through this piece, I wanted to incorporate the tightly compacted strokes from the dry-point for my rice paddies fields and the similar shading to my piece.
Then for the subject of my piece, since both of my inspiration pieces were landscape pieces I decided to go for a nice landscape to reference as well. Looking at the mountains of the two hand scrolls, I was reminded of the Sapa´s rice fields hills and the green mountains in my country, Vietnam. |
Planning: Sketch
My first sketch was specifically inspired by ¨Young Woman with a Water Jug¨ by Vermeer. I really liked who Vermeer illustrated the traditional dutch lady doing her lady chores, the painting really much reminded me of the hardworking people in Vietnam, inspiring me to be influenced by the painting. So instead of the dutch lady I wanted to incorporate a village Vietnamese lady with her iconic traditional ¨ao ba ba¨ while doing her everyday chores in her house made of hay straws. Through this sketch I wanted to continue incorporating the cultural theme of everyday life . However I did not pick this sketch as it will not be able to utilize what dry point print will bring to a piece and it will be very lackluster to do on drypoint.
|
In the second sketch, I was inspired by a piece of Manet that I personally saw at his exhibit, ¨Manet and Modern Beauty¨ which is ¨Briar Rose¨ a watercolor piece that he created in 1880. I really liked his soft yet broad use of watercolor to bring his flowers to life. So for this sketch, I sketched royal poincianas instead of Manet´s roses. I used my own styles of lines and sketching that I planned for the dry point part and was planning to use Manet´s techniques for the coloring of water color. My goal for this sketch was to be able to show how significant Royal Poincianas are to the Vietnamese culture. Unfortunately, my last sketch beat out this sketch so it was not chosen.
|
My last sketch is my favorite out of the three and the chosen one. Inspired by Huang Gongwang and Wang Meng´s Yuan landscape art, I wanted to incorporate this type of asian technique to Vietnamese landscape yet add a modern influence to it. The original pieces had a very deep serious energy that enraptures the viewer´s attention and awe them as well, I want my piece to be able to do that as well. Along with the techniques used in the two landscape scrolls, I created the underrate scenery of Sapa in Vietnam. The main theme I wanted to capture in this sketch was the scenery of a missed homeland.
|
Process: Experimentation
My experimentations were mostly focused on how much ink were put on the dry point plate and how I wanted to use watercolor on my final print.
My first print turned out incomplete as it lacked ink at the bottom of the piece. I liked how the fine lines on the rice paddies turned out but the ink was still a bit too light and sadly the bottom did not print at all.
|
My third print turned out to be way too heavy with the ink and unfortunately there was still ink left on the bottom right hand corner.
|
My second print ended up missing the top part of the print. The ink came out a little blended with each other. It had the right amount of darkness however I did not like how unclean the lines for the rice paddies look.
For the watercolor process, it was very time consuming but the most rewarding process. I used my failed prints to test out how I would like to lay down the colors on the print. My first try failed as I used too much water and not enough blending. I really liked how I did the top part for one of my sketches and the bottom on one of my other so I decided to incorporate the techniques and shading I used on both of them on the final piece. With the watercolor process, I experimented a lot with what shade of greens would I like for a certain part of the piece, and in the end decided with 4 different shades of green (Forest green, Lime green, Mint and Yellow Green). |
My fourth print was a failure as I was the most disappointed with this print. The left hand side looked very nice as the ink came out dark and clean. However my failure to clean the plate well caused excessive ink to be left on the final print causing the right side hand to be ruined.
|
Process
1. First I put my untouched print making plate on top of my decided sketch and taped it down, so while I am carving down the sketch to the plate with my carving tool, it will not move.
2. Before I start to apply ink on my plate, I soaked the watercolor paper that I will be printing on into a bucket of water for 8 minutes. |
3. Then I start to apply Akua oil base ink on my carved plate with a plastic palette knife. Then I spread the ink evenly with the squeegee, making sure it had just enough ink to cover the lines.
4. After covering the whole plate with ink, I begin using small piece of paper to clean off the ink in circular motions. |
Reflection
Critiques
I am very pleased with how my final product came out as it reached the standards of what I have imagined for it. Though the theme of the piece might be underwhelming, but the presentation aspect makes up for it. ¨Yellow Skies in the Sapa Fields¨ was able to utilize the effect of dry point on the line works of the piece and as well soft and elegance that watercolor bring to the piece. Although the theme of homesickness for a hometown might not be able to decipher right away, the other cultural theme of an ethereal cultural scenery can still be seen. For the techniques inspired by the two pieces ¨Dwelling in Fuchun Mountains¨ and ¨Dwelling in the Qingbing mountains¨ though, I might have been lacking. My line work could only be considered basic compared to the complex line work of Wang meng and Gongwang, but elements of the two inspired paintings can be seen.
Compare and Contrast
|
Similarities- All of the piece have landscape as its main view
- All three have a serene yet serious energy - Use of ink as a medium in all three - Use lines in order to make texture for all - Similar use of darker color shading for the further objects between ¨Fuchun Mountains¨ and mine - Increase use of lines at the edges of the cliffs to highlight the landscape more between ¨Qingbing Mountains¨ and my own - All three uses unity to enhance their piece |
Differences- ¨Yellow Skies in the Sapa Fields¨ have color while the two original works used only black ink
- Different scenery compared to the two mountain piece, mine is hills of rice paddies - The inspired pieces and ¨Yellow Skies in the Sapa Fields¨ have different types of symmetry; Mine uses is symmetric while the other two is more asymmetric - Have different emphasis- the two traditional pieces emphasizes their main subject in the middle of their paintings, while mine emphasizes the whole painting as the subject |
ACT Responses
Clearly explain how you are able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork:
The techniques and energy in the two inspired artwork: ¨Dwelling in Fuchun Mountains¨ (Huang Gongwang) and ¨Dwelling in the Qingbing Mountains¨ (Wang Meng) caused the influence in my piece, ¨Yellow Skies in the Sapa Fields.¨ Along with the techniques from both artists, I utilized the lines and shading work of the two artists as well as incorporation of the serious yet ethereal energy.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author of the research focused on how different the brush strokes of the two landscape master is compared to other masters from other dynasties. The author breaks down the difference between the Yuan dynasty artwork and brush strokes compared to other similar Asian calligraphy art.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I was able to see how much one´s life can effect their art, for example how the pieces from both artist gives out different energy because of their different lives and what was happening to their life when they painted the inspired scrolls.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research was to be able to connect Asiatic art to Vietnamese culture as Vietnamese art only have a few types of mediums that are acknowledged. While the theme still revolves around the nature and culture of Vietnam.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred the techniques that was used in the two pieces and how the life events that occurred during the two artist´s lifetime affected their works and how it differ their piece´s energy from each other.
The techniques and energy in the two inspired artwork: ¨Dwelling in Fuchun Mountains¨ (Huang Gongwang) and ¨Dwelling in the Qingbing Mountains¨ (Wang Meng) caused the influence in my piece, ¨Yellow Skies in the Sapa Fields.¨ Along with the techniques from both artists, I utilized the lines and shading work of the two artists as well as incorporation of the serious yet ethereal energy.
What is the overall approach (pov) the author (from research) has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
The author of the research focused on how different the brush strokes of the two landscape master is compared to other masters from other dynasties. The author breaks down the difference between the Yuan dynasty artwork and brush strokes compared to other similar Asian calligraphy art.
What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I was able to see how much one´s life can effect their art, for example how the pieces from both artist gives out different energy because of their different lives and what was happening to their life when they painted the inspired scrolls.
What was the central idea or theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research was to be able to connect Asiatic art to Vietnamese culture as Vietnamese art only have a few types of mediums that are acknowledged. While the theme still revolves around the nature and culture of Vietnam.
What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I inferred the techniques that was used in the two pieces and how the life events that occurred during the two artist´s lifetime affected their works and how it differ their piece´s energy from each other.
Bibliography
Ebrey, Patricia. “Yuan Landscape Painting.” Wang Meng, Education Division of the National Endowment for the Humanities, depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/painting/4yulawm.htm.
Sheng, Hung. “Huang Gongwang, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, 2015, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/imperial-china/yuan-dynasty/a/gongwang-dwelling-in-the-fuchun-mountains.
Sheng, Hung. “Huang Gongwang, Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains.” Khan Academy, Khan Academy, 2015, www.khanacademy.org/humanities/art-asia/imperial-china/yuan-dynasty/a/gongwang-dwelling-in-the-fuchun-mountains.