Drawing With The Brush (eBook)

Drawing with the brush is simple. Anyone can do it, not just artists. It will enable you to tune in to yourself. It has led me away from ‘me’ to a tranquil, fluid place of pure craft. The starting point is easy mark making that leads to brush practice and on to a world of pure intuition and spontaneity, a place where you can just ‘be’. Nature is the perfect subject as it will always offer a sanctuary, because it is real.

Drawing with the brush is about the activity itself rather than ‘what’ you draw. It involves stepping off an assured path into unknown terrain. I call it ‘brush drawing’ because it is both ‘unfinished’ and yet something complete. It is understated yet it requires discipline too. If you can shake off any doubts, it is the most wonderfully fluid place in the world to be.

Drawing of East Asia

We might refer to drawing of East Asia as ‘calligraphy’ but it is in reality a more mystical exploration of brush usage. The brush has been used for centuries in the East for all forms of communication. The fine marks of calligraphy emerged out of early pictograms and developed into both functional format; the ‘characters’ of language, and something more beautiful – an art form laid down through the artist’s skilled hand. Nature as subject and man’s interaction with it was common ground.

Although this book looks to elements of both calligraphy and painting to capture the essence of brush skill, it is calligraphy that leads the way into the realm of fine art through the exacting use of the brush-drawn line. This traditionally had to be done in the ‘correct’ way. This inheritance from the ancient masters along with their related philosophies included both disciplined and spontaneous brush craft from the earliest dynasties. Paintings and calligraphy from these early times continue to influence artists from all over the world to this day. It is a vast subject that you may wish to explore for yourself.

When I first discovered brush-drawn calligraphy, it was the brushwork skills of the classical Chinese artist that fascinated me. The natural world depicted through the visual aesthetics of line, form and space are held in perfect balance. More recently, it has been contemporary Japanese sumi-e (the art of Japanese brush painting in black ink) that has been my most inspiring guide. It is intuitive and dynamic.

There are two main differences between drawing as most of us understand it in the West, and drawing of the East. The first is different tools: pencil and brush. The second is: drawing in the West has historically been a practical exercise, whereas drawing/calligraphy of the East can be a transformational experience. Drawing universally, though, holds one vital principle: it disregards completion and is always open-ended.

A pencil is held firmly in the hand. The connection of the hand, pencil and paper is easily felt. A ‘pen hold’ of approximately 40 degrees is the norm. A brush sits gently in the hand, the connection to the paper can hardly be felt at all, yet it can be used in many different ways to orchestrate a visual language of fine lines and marks.

This delicate connection between the artist’s brush and the paper allows drawing to become something profound, a realm of personal expression that is available to anyone, at any time. Over the years, my brush has become part of me, not just a tool of art but part of my very existence. This has led me to an open-ended take on life, more in keeping with Buddhist philosophies as I have worked and tried to wring the living out of life through my brushstrokes. Every day is an opportunity to be brave, or as I said to one of my students who wanted to be bolder: find the edge and live on it!

Contemplation

Western culture has strong associations with emotional living and modern life encourages this. This can sometimes lead to negative mental states. The Japanese emphasize the need to be ‘solitary’ sometimes. This is not an emotional place but a self-affirming one. It can be anywhere that has peace and quiet, where we can just ‘be’ and allow gentle reflection.

Brush drawing can become such a place. It will allow you to unveil a pure space to work that is free from desire; a space where you can discover slowly developing skills through regular drawing routines that reward you with delightful studies that will often ‘make themselves’. This is because over time you will be less concerned with ‘making pictures’ as we have been taught to do in the West and move to more contemplative ways of working without worrying about what something looks like. Brush drawing will always speak back to you because just one brush can be turned and swept over the paper in so many different ways. It is a highly visual language that will become entirely unique and intuitive to you alone as you make it.

It is possible to come to a realization that you are someone beyond mere thoughts and emotions; that you are someone of skill who is experiencing through working. Though thoughts may bubble up, they will pass. This is an integral part of East Asian philosophy and of Buddhism. The focus is that of process and brush usage and is just one strand of a very practical learning pathway.

Drawing is always about a beginning, an emergence. It is an active way to stay in the present through ‘doing’ rather than ‘thinking’. This is a very Zen concept, which always holds with the premise of ‘this moment’. This idea, if adopted, can be incredibly freeing.

Starting Out

Brush drawing is a craft that anyone can learn. Patience and practice are all that is required. Ink is permanent so it encourages us to be bold.

So, how can you start? Perhaps you are keen to learn but have little knowledge and are not sure where to begin. I remember, with pencil firmly in hand, drawing the large curls and short, straight lines of the alphabet when I was five. This little memory is still my inspiration. Only now I have a brush in my hand, instead of a pencil.

The brush is the most subtle drawing tool. It aspires in the simplest way to say something. It will teach you how to focus only on what you are doing while building practical skills. Brush drawing has a visual appeal but, far more importantly, it unfolds a profound connection to the artist as they are working.

Start by following these easy, practical exercises that progress through the book. Initially, you will need only one brush, some ink and a pile of paper. Preliminary exercises build confidence through simple lines and shapes. These shapes are then used to create leaves and flowers. Later, these are more fully explored to develop a whole range of plant forms, tree shapes and finally landscapes.

Some exercises are loosely based on traditional East Asian methodologies but many of them are new ideas, honed over time. The following studies assume that the artist is right-handed, so if you are left-handed, please reverse the exercises where necessary.

Only three brushes are used for all the exercises in this book.

European influences such as observational pencil drawing and perspective have always been relevant to the Western artist. On the subject of perspective – a European painting will display a sense of depth, something scenic through the usage of colour and detail. A Chinese painting will have a degree of ‘flatness’, exhibiting more metaphorical interpretations of a scene through textured brushwork and a manipulation of space as a vital aesthetic.

There are many sub-categories and terminologies that are used in Chinese and Japanese painting and calligraphy. It is a vast subject area. I have only touched on those influences that have been relevant to myself and my teaching. The overall approach in this book then is a crossing of cultural boundaries, a fusion of ideas and skills from both East and West.

Regardless of which methodologies first inspired them, the exercises focus on the way brush and ink are used to depict a tree or a flower. Each exercise is best followed as it is laid out in the book, from the start. It may not suit the ‘fast track’ artist. The discipline on which these exercises are based cannot be hurried. Discover instead how to draw directly and simply with lean marks that are not encumbered by the usual elaborations of painting. We look instead to calligraphy’s ‘art of lines’ and how these are put together rather than on colour or something ‘to hang on the wall’. For the artist who is looking for something more decorative, I recommend drawing on watercolour paper.

Complete the exercises in this book as often as you can. This will build your confidence and skill at an even pace, regardless of whether you are new to art, or not. This mix of brush exercises and learning strategies encourages you to discover for yourself how the brush can be employed to render fine lines and freestyle mark making. Over time, you will draw nature’s subjects in your own unique way, with personality and expression.

As your work progresses, you will realize that the repetition of these exercises will find their own rhythm – the arm moving across the paper surface can become a contemplative experience.

Focus only on the task in hand (quite literally!). Enjoy the moment and build your own visual language.