CBPS keeps a list of reliable mail-order suppliers.

There is a lot of CBP material available on the internet, but it can be hard to judge the quality, and what is available may change.  Here is current information from our Teachers and Group representatives.  It also helps if you know what you are looking for, especially with paper: our Getting Started page has a lot of information on CBP materials.

Marion Dearlove uses these mixed hair brushes for her students.

Desmond Chung says “I’ve recently ordered from this shop in Taiwan. Quite good quality and excellent service. There’ll be shipping fees.”    This site is in Chinese, but you can make reasonable sense of it with Google translate.  Note that overseas suppliers may incur import customs charges.

Judy Bell: “You could try the Heaton Cooper Gallery at Grasmere. I managed to persuade them years ago to stock some Chinese Brush materials. It would be helpful if any members visiting The Lakes could pop in and buy the odd thing so that they will continue to hold some stock”.   They have “rice paper” and Wenzhou bark paper rolls.

“Rice paper” seems to be a general term used online for Chinese painting and calligraphy paper, but it is hard to tell exactly what it is for our purposes – eg is it xuan, sized or unsized etc.  Bark paper ( 温州皮纸 wenzhou pizhi) often seems to be called rice paper (eg here), though it is made from the the bark of the Paper Mulberry tree (Broussonetia papyrifera).  Google translates xuan paper 宣紙 as rice paper.

Anne Allan: “Have you tried temu – I’ve had good success with purchases (though others have not) but I have bought mainly shikishi boards and not xuan.”   This does explain if xuan is raw (unsized) or half-cooked (semi-sized).

Peta Allingham: “I purchase packs of raw Xuan paper from T La Art and Craft shop in Manchester (16 Nicholas Street ph. 0161 236 2333 https://orientalworld.co.uk/ ).  The sheets are around A2 in size and cost £6 per pack (over 20 sheets but I haven’t actually counted them).  I also purchase 250 ml bottles of my favourite Cheong Hwa ink for £5.50 each (the one with the eagle on the box).  They can post orders promptly using Royal Mail.  Very good service.  They do have an online shop where the paper is listed as rice paper but you can phone between 10am and 6pm seven days of the week.”  The rolls of paper on this site seems to be Japanese Moon Palace.

Sharon Wybrow: “In answer to your query about paper, I used this one from Amazon for a Calligraphy course I did a couple of years ago with the Chopsticks Club and as recommended by them.  I found it a really good and quite kind practice paper especially for the Calligraphy. As it’s white the black ink shows up better than on yellowy grass paper.”  The page does state that this is “semi-treated” ie semi-sized.

Angela Reich: “I was looking for a source of  “grass paper” for student practice.  Sidewinder used to do very useful packs of A3 size, but I could not find obvious equivalent online.  Indeed, searching for “bamboo paper” came up with loo rolls!
So I decided to try this one – “Stone Rice calligraphy painting long roll”.  As it comes from Hong Kong the delivery charge was quite high.  Unfortunately the supplier marked the parcel as GIFT, which meant I had to pay UK VAT  plus handling fee – the supplier did refund half as a goodwill gesture.  So the paper worked out at about 87pence per metre.  The paper has definite smooth and rough sides and does not run, so should be useful for beginners’ practice.”

The Sidewinder paper may be “Grass Paper” P49 from Man Luen Choon.

“Grass” paper (buff practice paper) is made from bamboo.

Pat Jones: making mulberry paper “For information.  Good photos too”

Notes on Xuan paper.  Xuan can be sized (“cooked”) or unsized (“raw”).

The Three Perfections extolled by the Huizong Emperor are Poetry, Calligraphy and Painting.  Here are two of the Perfections exemplified by members.

CBPS Honorary President Jane Evans and her husband Martin  have published  Reflections,  which features 45 of Jane’s paintings that she has chosen as having special significance for her.  Martin has written a poem to go with each painting. Buy direct from Jane and Martin, or through the special website.
Il Duomo was inspired by the light coming through the cupola as you look up in the Duomo in Florence.

Member Xincai Tan write his own poems for his paintings.
国色牡丹
根正花纯傲碧霄，孤芳却引探花潮。
满天艳色千人叹，一地枯容几客瞧
National Beauty Peony
The peony roots stand with authentic and their flowers are pure shining proudly under the blue sky,
Flower-visiting tides continuously come though they want to keep their solitary fragrance in private.
Thousands of people praise their beauty when the colourful flowers are full of the site.
Few visitors will look up to their appearances underground when their fresh had withered away.

翠竹
庭园绿玉芳，四季耀青光。
永世直身立，云天舞凤章。
Emerald Green Bamboos
The green bamboos in the garden are jade-like and fully scented.
Their appearances are always shining with blue brightness in all seasons.
They stand upright with honest and firm structure forever.
They dance with clouds in the sky and compose phoenix badges.

We had a great CBPS AGM Weekend by Zoom !

Saturday 4 November 11.00am – 12.30pm: AGM
Included reports by Treasurer and other officers & votes to re-elect existing Committee and one new member.   There were no proposed resolutions.
Jane Evans  one of our Honorary Presidents, said a few words, and  there was opportunity for member’s views and questions during the Open Forum.
A summary will appear in the next Newsletter.

Saturday 4 November 2.00pm – 3.30pm: illustrated talk
Peter Huang gave an illustrated talk on the origins of Buddhism and Buddhist art in China.   Here are some of the many interesting places and sculpture forms that Peter mentioned :  Mathura style,  Gandara style,  Mogao Caves,  Tiantishan Caves,Bingling Temple,  Maijishan Grottoes,   Shuiliandong.
An  alternative view of Stein and the context of his expeditions.
This talk was recorded and will made available to members for a limited period .

Sunday 5th November 10.30am – 12.30
A paint-along demonstration by Desmond Chung.
Desmond showed us how to paint the lovely moon lady Chang-e and her rabbit companion.   Other mythologies feature a moon rabbit.
In Desmond’s painting she is gliding through clouds holding a fan behind her and cradling her rabbit in her left arm – he is peeking back over her shoulder.
This demonstration was recorded and will be made available to members for a limited period.

Here are some of the wonderful paintings produced by members in the paint-along!

Member Jess M shared this link to Yoshitoshi’s print of Chang-e.

Rattan

Rattan is a lovely delicate transparent yellow, not a strong or dense colour.
As member Zara pointed out, it  is not the same plant as used for furniture.  Natural rattan is the resin of the Garcinia hanburyi tree (mangosteen).
It is hard to find large chunks of rattan.  You can get small lumps from: Oriental Arts or Inkston
They sell small amounts which should last quite a while.

Put the lumps in a small shallow china dish
To use it, spray lightly with water, and just take the colour off with a brush.
Let it dry out after use.  It will gradually get wrinkly-looking, but that does not affect its use.
Leave the dish open.
Remember that natural rattan is poisonous, so wash your hands after touching it and do not ingest it.

Mineral Blue and Green

If you want to use these, you have a choice of  form – tubes. chips or powder:  have a look at our CBPS notes on colours.
Tubes are the most convenient, chips are fairly easy to use, powder most difficult.  We have listed the  Marie tube numbers for convenience.  Tubes are available from eg Oriental Arts.
Inkston sell blue and green “chips”, but you may need a mortar and pestle to crush them for use.  They are harmful if swallowed or inhaled (including their dust) and you should wash your hands after touching.  Note any hazard labels or warnings on their website.

Cake Colours

To complement the freehand figures in our July 2023 Newsletter, Peng has shared a few videos featuring contemporary figure painter Fan Zeng 范曾.

• Some of his paintings.
• Videos 1, 2, 3 .
• Fan Zeng’s painting of Laozi – and a connection to Stephen Hawking!
• Interview and a portrait of Einstein!  Plus an insight into how Rong Bao Zhai recreates paintings by woodblock printing.  They seem to have published at least one book of his work.

Figures are often depicted in gardens – lovely ladies by characterful rocks or scholars at an elegant gathering.    On gardens:

• The Huntington has a Chinese Garden, and has made podcasts of a conference on Chinese garden scholarship: interesting, though it is frustrating that we can’t see the images mentioned.
• Angela loves Chinese gardens – including a few outside China.

Liang Kai (Song dynasty)  painted the Sixth Chan Patriarch Chopping Bamboo – wonderfully expressive brushwork!  Strangely, the sound of chopping bamboo is a thing on the internet, including two whole hours of it!  Different sounds of bamboo – bamboo musical instruments worldwide.

Note: when accessing any links given, take notice of warnings from your virus-checking/ security programme as CBPS cannot take any responsibility for problems with web addresses given in good faith.

Pauline T says ” When studying Chinese it might be helpful for people to remember this little phrase for forming  sentences :- ‘Somebody  Somewhere  Doing Something ‘ ( Or  think the phrase ‘ Some Thing Somewhere Doing Something )
For example,  in English we would say  “Mr Dong lives in China” but in Chinese it is “ Mr Dong  in China lives “.   ( Remembering  that the title  ‘ Mr’   comes after the surname in the Chinese language) .
An example for a  longer sentence in English  is : Mr Dong lives in China and he teaches us how to paint birds on Zoom.
In Chinese it becomes : Mr Dong in China lives and he on Zoom teaches us how to paint birds.
Happy Studying !”

And from Irene B “If you are interested in the ancient Chinese Classics, have a play on this website.  Example:

• Click “Lun-Yu” The Analects of Confucius on the list of books at the “far left panel”
• An Introduction of Lun-Yu:
• http://wengu.tartarie.com/wg/wengu.php?l=Lunyu&no=0
• Near the top of the screen, a list of “I” to “XX”, 20 books:
• Click “I” to display book I
• http://wengu.tartarie.com/wg/wengu.php?l=Lunyu&no=1
• There are 16 chapters in book I
• Highlight each Chinese character to display the sound and meaning for each character.  Click each character to display further meaning and phrases.
• Have a look at Yi-Jing.  I feel one needs quite deep knowledge and understanding of the Chinese language, culture and history to grasp the meaning of Yi-Jing.

Gresham lectures by Professor Craig Clunas :

•  https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/china-new-nation-new-art-1911-32
• https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/china-new-nation-new-art-1911-32
• https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/china-art-power-and-revolutions-1950-1976

The Met (New York) has an exhibition on a subject dear to our hearts – learning to paint in Premodern China.  You can see all the exhibits via the link.

Also in New York, China Institute Gallery has  and Exhibition of Chinese Flower-and-Bird Paintings .  If you saw the V&A Masterpeices in 2014, you will recognise at Bada Shanren’s handscroll.

Court Ladies in Chinese paintings.

Some Bada Shanren that you may not have seen before.

Pat J shared this modern poem on Plum Blossom.

A Chinese poem about Plum Blossom.

Following up on Jing’s article, more by Wang Yishi, and a downloadable catalogue.  Click through the pages here to get a good idea of his impasto in oils.

Nature symbolism in Chinese Art.

Iris were very popular with Japanese painters, particularly gorgeous screens.

Some Song, Yuan and Ming flower and other paintings in the Bi Gong Yuan album described by Professor Janes Cahill (skip to minute 15.30 if you are less interested in his career and books).

Member Sylvia Radius has created cherry blossom (Sakura) and orchids on ceramics: “it was very unusual to paint with a bamboo pencil  on a convex shape or a hollow shape. But very nice to practice.  My friend Cecilia Vervoort made the ceramics.”

Some blossoms to anticipate spring:

• Places to see cherry blossom in China
• Blossom, lights & fireworks
• Plum blossom links to painters & videos
• Jin Nong’s plum blossom album
• Plum blossom is one of the Three Friends of Winter
• Bamboo, Plum and Other Plants
• Did you know that Wisteria was named after Caspar Wistar?  There is a wisteria bridge in Lingering Garden.
• Poetic winter– thanks to Marion D & Anne A for sharing
• Purple and Red – flowers in National Palace Museum
• Music:
  • Flower Goddess album – soothing traditional music from a contemporary composer
  • Cherry blossom song and hanfu
  • Flower Goddess dance from Zide Guqin studio

Why not relax with a nice cup of tea from member Ann M.

Spring comes to Emperor Qianlong’s capital

Qu Leilei is one of CBP’s  Honorary Presidents.
We were delighted that he and his wife, artist Caroline Deane, ran our AGM 2022 workshop.
Here is an interview with them both, and another with Leilei (Chinese with subtitles).

The British Museum has an extensive Chinese collection, and has recently added to its main Chinese Civilisation display with modern and contemporary works including drawings done by Leilei during the Cultural revolution:  Wind was  pasted on Democracy Wall, and appeared in the Stars outdoor exhibition; Worry was a response to the Tangshan earthquake.   Leilei was a founder member of the Stars Art Group and the BM collection includes this photo of them at their outdoor display.

Leilei has two more works in the British Museum collection: Journey and Lei Feng.

Leilei’s latest project uses large-scale calligraphy to express his concern about misinformation and its threat to debate and questioning.

The  famous Qing Dynasty handscroll “Along the River During the Qingming Festival” is more than 11 metres long, with over 4000 tiny figures and animals.  You might think that could not be equalled, but a team of Chinese stonecutters is determined to recreate it in decorative rock!  You can see their version of the section above in this video.

The Classic of Mountains & Seas is an a collection of myths and stories assembled in the Han Dynasty, featuring figures such as  Yu the Great and the Queen Mother of the West.  Here is a 5-minute version, plus an animation of some of the strange creatures.  And there is a modern satirical version!

CBPS Member Anne A pointed to these Fine Chinese Modern and Contemporary Ink Paintings.

CBPS member Peng has found several interesting contemporary artists:

• “Tattoo artist Yuki Zerkjad based in London. I love her reinterpretation of Zhao Shao’ang’s work.”
• “I met Nikole Lowe a couple years ago in London. She is very versatile in painting styles blending traditions from various art schools with her own distinctive touch on colour. She is among my favorite Lingnan school artists alongside Desmond Chung.”   She is also a tattoo artist [warning: nudity]  and creates spectacular wallpaper.
• “A very talented artist Fan Zhibin (范治斌). He repeatedly features on top of the recommended CBP videos on TikTok. It feels very difficult to hold the brush that low while maintaining sense of flow and freedom like he does.  His use of flat brush technique reminds me of some landscape artists in the 90s”.
• “A young artist and art lecturer Wei Zhijie (韦智杰). His brushwork and understanding of traditional culture are just incredible. Famous for peonies.”

Go large! Tong Yang-tze’s calligraphy.

Scholar rocks with twist.  Moving Lines.  Inky landscapes.

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Fabulous cake made my member Tricia


Baby pandas!
Thanks to member Ann M for sharing this panda enjoying the snow.

Wu Zuoren was instrumental in making the panda the mascot of China.

Giant Panda shakes up famous paintings – I love this!!
Tang lady     Ladies making silk     Famous Emperor
Ink Immortal     Famous painting!   and others …

Various pandas in Chengdu.