"Angry-bird" in Chinese Ink

OASlife (Oriental Art Supply) on Facebook holds their annual Asian-style painting challenge for the month of November. Last year I participated even though my first love is watercolor painting, but I learned so-ooo much on a related artform that I decided to join again this year. 

To be more precise what I learned last year: 

• the importance of just a few strokes to create an image (wasn't very good at this)
• the importance of a single line
• the huge importance of value -- a very transferrable skill for watercolor painting!!!
• learning to use the Chinese watercolors which have more binder than western watercolors (really not much difference. The big difference between the painting mediums is the material which is painted on, not the paint itself!)
• and of course an introduction to different kinds of papers (the Chinese double and single shuen, raw shuen, semi-sized shuen .... I still don't know how to differentiate these), the Korean hanji paper and the Japanese rice paper, and the two kinds of Japanese shikishi called doobangji in Korea -- the two kinds being a soft shikishi made with mulberry paper mounted on a thin cardboard and the other of a more durable paper mounted on a heavier board and which can take a lot of water abuse!). So true: The paper or the medium that gets painted on is the big controlling factor for the final outcome! This I am continually learning!

So I'm back to learn more this year, but unfortunately this year I'm ultra busy. Tonight I was so tired and just before dropping into bed I remembered that today started the new painting challenge. So five minutes later I submitted and then dropped into bed. I really need to put some more thought into this challenge, or I won't feel good about myself at the end of the month. My shabby five-minute contribution:

Day 1 of the OASlife painting challenge: Evidently day of the angry-bird
Marie's Chinese watercolors on Korean hanji w/ touches of Chinese ink

OASlife members are very supportive, and even feeble efforts are supported, with a few people going out of their way to comment on every contribution ... amazing group support!  So, two back-to-back comments on this bird was: "LOVE the expression on that bird" and "That bird is just too much!" Well, I never saw an emotionally-expressive angry bird before either!