Emma Steele

In pre-modern China handscrolls were a way for artists to tell stories. These objects allowed for an immersive experience on the part of the viewer, operating similarly to a book or a comic. For my creative response I wanted to follow the idea of a continuous narrative and story in a more modern and accessible way. I will create a zine to make the style of a handscroll more accessible. 

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Along with narrative and modern handscroll rendition, my painting falls under the Bird-and-flower category of ink paintings. The zine will include ink and watercolor paintings of flowers, shrubbery, and insects. The painting will have a continuous scene and story that will follow traveling butterflies through a whimsical floral scene. As inspiration for the ink paintings, I chose Qi Baishi (1864-1957), a famous Chinese painter that was notable for his whimsical and loose brushwork. In several works of Qi Baishi’s works, the artist features chrysanthemums, which are flowers that are often pointy and usually display colors of white, yellow and red. These flowers can be seen in works such as Flower and Butterflies, Autumn Flowers, Chrysanthemums and Dragonfly, etc.[1] I plan to replicate these works by combing both Qi Baishi’s style and my own artistic style. 

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I am learning from this process and assignment that it takes time and dedication to create an ink painting, specifically an ink painting that is continuous. I have to be conscious of the last scene that I designed and how the idea progresses through the rest of the pages. Working with ink is not something that I am used to and while ink painting is not my preferred medium, it was interesting and intriguing to practice/experiment with this medium. In comparison to acrylic or oil (a medium I am more familiar) the brushstrokes and movements need to be precise and move in a certain way and direction to create the perfect stroke.

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[1]https://www.christies.com/en/searchentry=Qi+Baishi&page=1&sortby=relevance&tab=sold_lots.