Last Sunday, 2nd February, several art club members enjoyed 'something completely different' in the form of a demonstration of Chinese Brush Painting by Chi Zhang. Chi is a renowned artist based in Edinburgh at the Confucious Institute for Scotland. Initially Chi talked through the brushes, made from animal hair, and demonstrated their use, by showing various strokes. This was done on rice paper. Chi stressed the importance of having several practice strokes before transferring to the finished piece. It was surprising to learn that shadows and perspective do not feature in Chinese painting and some things are left to the imagination of the viewer. While demonstrating by painting various flowers, leaves and bamboo Chi explained that Chinese artists mainly used monochrome, black ink diluted to produce a range of shades between black and white, lighter and darker hues. The simplicity of the pieces produced by Chi were an inspiration, leaving several members keen to try out these techniques. (review by Betty Roy).
Next Sunday, 9th February, 2-4pm, Philippa Mitchell , one of the East Neuk artists, will demonstrate her skills in developing paintings using oils.
Then, on Thursday 13th February, 7-9 pm, Ceri White Ceramics will demonstrate her work in the pottery.
Below pictures of Chi Zhang's demo