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Self Study I

Study XII - Arc

Arc -- Study of Trees, Yafei Li, ca. 2018

Study XI - Mend

Amend -- Study of Two Trees, Yafei Li, ca. 2018

Study X - Rediscover

Rediscover -- Yafei Li, ca. 2002

I went back home to China during the spring break. This painting was found in the basement. I painted it when I was nine -- 16 years ago. This reminds me early last week -- after Tuesday's class -- I tried to google Edward Hopper after the class. Here is what he did when he was ten -- study of a cube? -- but his is more powerful!

Study of a cube, Edward Hopper, ca. 1892

Study IX - Enchant

Enchant -- Dreaming the Lost Ming, Yafei Li, ca. 2018

Study VIII - Round

Round -- Yafei Li, ca. 2018

I keep doing the works as last time, but sitting at home. Also, I wanted to try something in color, but I failed. I only like one brushstroke in this painting, and that one was by accident. 

Study VII - Hold

Hold -- Dreaming the Lost Ming, Yafei Li, ca. 2018

I was really nervous last week. I chose to paint more. I went to an very good exhibition -- Dreaming the Lost Ming -- in BAMPFA. It was small, but had a few paintings I really like by Shitao -- especially those small album leafs. I stood in front of them, painted on my sketchbook. Everything was hold. Until Monday morning, the Luohans are smiling. I will keep doing this, never forget where I started.

Study VI - Answer

Answer -- Yafei Li, ca. 2018

I showed a few recent paintings to my master -- finally. He was amazed. Starting from a few words -- see more, think more, self-study is good, not constrained. Followed by more words -- in terms of Chinese painting, people who have made great achievements, none were graduated from art academies, all of whom are self-taught. What those masters have achieved cannot be reached by college educators.

Last week I got a gift from my master. He carved this Chinese stamp for me last year after knowing I was taking the class. The text on the stamp means FLY, which is my first name. I haven't used it on my paintings because I think I am not ready.

Answer -- Stamp from My Master

P.S. This is the status of art education in China.

Answer -- Art College Entrance Examination in China

Study V - Shadow

Shadow -- Yafei Li, ca. 2018

My friends and I went to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Park this long weekend. We rent a house in Badger from airbnb. Badger must be an American countryside on a mountain in the canyon. All of our phones had no service. We only found one pizza restaurant around Badger. The house is called The Hummingbird House, which is always surrounded by four or five hummingbirds. This was my first time to see a real hummingbird. A storm was coming when we left. Snow was gathered on the ground. It was hard to find even one hummingbird to say goodbye...

Shadow -- A Piece of Tree from Sequoia NP, Yafei Li, ca. 2018

Study IV - Journey

Journey -- Yafei Li, ca. 2018

Journey -- Yafei Li, ca. 2018

Starting from last week, I have made a few shifts on my paintings -- from a fixed frame to free edges, from light color wash to monochrome ink. James Cahill talked about such a similar shift on ancient Chinese landscape paintings in early Sung dynasty, 

"The quest of the Five Dynasties and early Sung landscapists was for pictorial unification. The subordination or elimination of color was a move toward that end, since the tapestry-like variegation of early landscape had tended to fragment the composition. A new emphasis on brushwork gave surface consistency to the painting. Most important of all, methods were developed to create a spatial continuum within the picture: the use of concealing mists, the convincing depiction of recessions into depth, the drawing of distant objects in thinner tones of ink to suggest a hazy atmosphere. A landscape was no longer an assemblage of individual images, but set forth a coherent vision."

Monochrome ink, elimination of color -- this reminds me the painting Cy Twombly did on a blackboard. White represents totally opaque, black is absolutely translucent, while grey can be hazy.

After the painting for this week, I found three testing papers on my table. I cut them from the same paper as those paintings. I used them to test the color and the humidity of the brush. The left one is from last semester, the middle one from last week, and the right one from this week. Put them side by side -- such a hazy memory -- JOURNEY as well.

Journey -- Testing Papers, Yafei Li, ca. 2018

Study III - Open

Open -- Vain, Yafei Li, ca. 2018

Tune: Bells Ringing in the Rain

Liu Yong, Song Dynasty

Cicadas chill

and drearily shrill,

we stand face to face at an evening hour

before the pavilion, after a sudden shower.

Can I care for drinking before we part?

At the city gate

where we're lingering late,

but the boat is waiting for me to depart.

Hand in hand, we gaze at each other's tearful eyes

and burst into sobs with words congealed on our lips.

I'll go my way

far, far away

on miles and miles of misty waves where sail the ships,

evening clouds hang low in boundless southern skies.

Parting lovers would grieve as of old.
How could I stand this clear autumn day so cold!
Where shall I be found at day's early break
from wine awake?
Moored by a riverbank planted with willow trees
beneath the waning moon and in the morning breeze.
I'll be gone for a year.
In vain would good times and fine scenes appear!
However gallant I am on my part,
to whom can I lay bare my heart?

Translated by Xu Yuanchong

Study II - Field

Field -- Hermit, Yafei Li, ca. 2018

Tune: Sunny Sand -- Autumn Thoughts

Ma Zhiyuan, Yuan Dynasty

Over old trees wreathed with rotten vines fly evening crows;

Under a small bridge near a cottage a stream flows;

On ancient road in the west wind a lean horse goes.

Westward declines the sun;

Far, far from home is the heartbroken one.

Translated by Xu Yuanchong