Chinese Landscape Painting Tutorial

Use a bamboo brush to achieve a traditional Chinese landscape effect.

Chinese landscapes have long been prized for their freedom of expression within well-defined parameters. The tradition of Chinese landscape painting is an ancient one, and is closely associated with the scholarly practice of calligraphy. In fact, traditional Chinese landscape painting was done with the same tools of calligraphy: scrolls, ink and the bamboo brush. Fortunately, these materials are widely available at any art supply store, allowing you to begin your own Chinese landscape painting practice in an afternoon.

Things You'll Need

• Long, tall pieces of good-quality drawing, printmaking, rice or watercolor paper
• Bamboo brush
• Bamboo pen (optional)
• Tray for mixing ink
• Black India ink

Instructions

1. Lay your paper down on a flat surface. Some ink or water may spill, so choose an appropriate work table or protect your surface with newspapers.

2. Squirt a small amount of ink into one corner of your tray -- a teaspoon or two should be enough. Add the same amount of water to an opposite corner.

3. Mix a bit of ink and water together in the center of the tray with your bamboo brush. Mix three different shades in different areas of your tray -- a very light gray, a nearly black gray and a middle gray.

4. Clean your brush with water. Dip your brush into your middle gray color and hold it vertically over your paper.

5. Use a flicking wrist motion to sketch the contours of your landscape. Chinese landscapes generally have mountains and clouds at the top of the page, and lakes or buildings at the bottom.

6. Vary your ink tone frequently while you work, cleaning your brush each time you select a new tone. Remember that lighter grays will appear further back in space, while darker lines will jump to the foreground.

References

• Oil Painting Techniques: Sumi Landscape Painting