I struggle with making decisions in art and being able to erase is a large part of my drawing process. Making a ‘mistake’ is to be expected. However recently I have begun to paint strokes across a canvas and feel content with how they appear. Yet I always have a way to go back and erase my marks or cover up my brushstrokes with deeper colors.​

 

Working with ink for this project was completely outside of my comfort zone. Mixing ink with water meant I had to test the wash first, something I was a bit unfamiliar with. Was it dark enough? Too light? I often had to adjust, try again. Ink can be diluted- but it can not be erased.

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I gained a deep appreciation for the ink painting genre, more than I had previously when I was only reading about the artists and their work. Working with the ink was difficult and as soon as I began, I realized what it meant to spend hours manipulating ink into something purposeful. Once it touched the paper, the ink was permanent. And so I came to realize that there are no mistakes in an ink painting, there are only decisions and the decisions always remain.

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The works I have created are a response to the modern ink painting genre. I was particularly inspired by Liu Guosong’s Peaks in Contemplation and Hu-Hung Shu’s Separated. I was drawn to the abstract landscape qualities of Peaks in Contemplation. The varying shades of grays are intriguing, as they force the eye across the canvas, they make me think about what I am seeing. Separated does something similar. Though painted with oil, Hu-Hung Shu expertly imitates a watery scene on the canvas. But a scene of what? Trees? Mushrooms?

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I attempted to bring out these visual qualities in the pieces I made for this project, and I wanted to see varying shades of black and gray, of watery lines and the hint of something natural. I leave it up to the viewer to decide what they find in the paintings that I have created.

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