Dragonfly postcard

Day 28 of the November painting challenge, Asian art. For tonight a simple dragonfly ... with rather wonky-wings ... in the haiga art form. Haiga are Japanese paintings with a haiku-like text written on. I used a picture reference, but couldn't a short but very uplifting quote so just wrote my own sentiment.

Embrace the Moment (haiga)
Marie's watercolors on watercolor postcard 

Whimsical Etegami Notes

Day 25 of the Asian art painting challenge. It's getting harder and harder to snag some time to paint every day, so tonight just did some simple etegami cards. Have been so sleep starved, but these still took me well over an hour, mostly because I had to let layers dry before adding more paint. If I weren't in such a hurry, they could have turned out really cute. Ah well. Tired. 

And then a shot of them together. One of the people on OASlife where the daily painting challenge is being held described these as "whimsical". Yes, perfectly descriptive of them!

All 3 etegami done with Marie's watercolors and Chinese ink on watercolor postcards.

Plein Air Painting at Sochi House

Today is the fifth day in the OAS (Oriental Art Supply) November painting challenge. Since I was traveling this weekend (did templestay at Ssanggye-sa Temple, Jindo Island, Jeollanamdo, South Korea, and because the temple is right beside Sochi House, the traditional home of the famous aristocratic painter, Sochi, penname for Ryun Hur (1808-1893), I did a bit of plein air painting at the traditional house. Actually I started but had to finish at home because before I could finish our templestay group had to hike up the trail to the temple where we were staying.) 

Sochi House

Jindo Island, Jeollanamdo, S Korea. 

Sochi, pen name for Ryun Hur (1808-1893), was a traditional painter and calligrapher with many disciples. Despite his father's wishes, he became a painter (an unstable job that didn't bring in steady income), but though he wasn't loaded with money, he was satisfied with his choice to exercise his creativity. He was a passionate artist, and he became the founding father of 5 generations of artists, with the fifth alive today. He and his artists descendants strongly influenced Korean painting; they seemed to have contributed to a more realistic approach to painting nature. Their pictures show development in depth and tone. Shading and brush stroke were changed to add to the more realistic style. 

Kaleidoscopic Altoid plein air palette --- M Graham paints are too messy for plein air! So are Sennelier too I hear.

Sochi House, home of Korean traditional painter, Ryun Hur (1808-1893)

The pond just in front of Sochi House, Jindo, South Korea

Micron pens and Altoid box plein air painting with M Graham on Fabriano watercolor postcard. (FYI, M Graham and Sennelier are honey consistency paints that are perfectly lousy for plein air painting .... but absolutely smooth and creamy for studio on site painting! My Altoid box is now a kaleidoscopic mess!)