Chinese...whispers and waterfalls.

"The Waterfall"
by
Merice Ewart Marshall

Many years ago I had the good fortune to attend a one day course entitled "The Art of Chinese Watercolour". I remember the venue, I remember the details of the instruction but I can't remember (to my regret and shame) the name of the man who conducted this fantastic glimpse into the ancient art of Chinese watercolour painting. I do recall that he came from Doncaster and was a real Yorkshireman. He was so enthusiastic about Chinese art that he had attended classes in Beijing itself...he had loads of knowledge to pass on and we crammed a lot into that six hours. A lot of it stuck with me. Here is the painting I produced under his tutorship:

Bamboo on Rice Paper
by
Glenn Marshall

I was intrigued by the ethos of their style...how each stroke of the brush is like a breath so that there are no unhurried or unplanned marks. I was especially impressed with the Chinese brushes he provided for the occasion and decided to get some for myself. I called in a Chinese Herbalist shop in York and yes..they had some brushes for sale. I bought four of various sizes. They were not very expensive, indeed I remember remarking on the comparative prices to 'Western' brushes - my Yorkshire upbringing of course. Sadly after a few more attempts at bamboo paintings I put them away with my painting kit and forgot all about them. Recently I was talking with an artist friend of mine who had just bought some new brushes for a course he is attending and among them was an 'Oriental' brush. I'm calling it that because I have a vague recollection that it was in fact a Japanese brush but no matter. After listening to his fulsome praise of this brush I recalled my own set hidden away somewhere  and resolved to find them and have another go. My brushes are definitely Chinese. They are made of hogs hair, that's right hair from little piggies. They are brilliant - very tough, hold a lot of water, can be used for large washes but also make the finest point you could wish for to do detailed work. So I started to use them, gradually at first but very quickly integrating them into my essential kit. Here they are:

The writing on the brush

So the next logical step was to paint a traditional Chinese subject albeit somewhat westernized. What could be more traditional than a painting of a waterfall? So I was looking forward to the challenge but decided I needed a real waterfall. I could have made the scene up but a 'real' place makes a 'real' painting. I would love to be able to go trekking up on the moors or the Dales to find a spectacular waterfall. But by the very nature of the thing, the best waterfalls are in fairly inaccessible terrain especially if you have mobility problems as I have. What to do then? Is anybody listening..no...good...come closer and let me whisper in your ear..I used a photograph. Shock and horror say the purists- you have to get out there yourself to capture the real spirit of a place! Fine if you can, I say, but not totally necessary I would argue. Many of the great artists of the past painted from photographs - John Atkinson Grimshaw certainly did and if it was good enough for him, it's good enough for me! I am very lucky that my wife Merice Ewart Marshall is a talented photographic artist so I use hers....and she has never sued me for breach of copyright...yet! The selected photo is at the top of the page. I had no intention of trying to do an exact copy but it would serve as a strong framework to carry the 'look' I would try to achieve. Here's the start:

 

There you are - well I am painting a waterfall, so I started with a waterfall! You can see the drawing I did and the paint is still wet here. I used a very limited palette comprising five colours- ultramarine blue, winsor red, winsor yellow,antwerp blue, and payne's grey and a lot of water and my usual Saunders Waterford 140lbs CP paper. And here it is..the finished painting:

"The Waterfall"
by
Glenn Marshall

I am not going to tell you the location of the waterfall as that would influence the way you look at the painting. I wanted this to be a 'universal' waterfall, a place where we can go enjoy the spectacle and feel the spray of cold, fresh mountain water on our faces....happy days!

www.glennmarshall.org