Lilies
Lilies are beautiful flowers.
Dragons
Dragon is deeply rooted in Chinese culture as the supreme auspicious being.
In ancient China, the dragon was the symbol of imperial power and represented the emperor. In addition to secular power, it symbolized nobility, wealth, strength and health.
In China, dragons are considered good, noble and auspicious beings, unlike the evil, dangerous and fearsome dragons of the Western world.
There are countless stories and legends, festivals and rituals, dances and songs dedicated to the dragon and one could write whole books about the symbolism of the different dragon representations.
In Chinese painting, the dragon is often depicted in connection with weather and water.
They live in the sea, rivers and lakes or move elegantly through the sky. They are also often considered a dispenser of rain and wind.
The Chinese name for dragons is “long”.
In Feng Shui, the dragon is an earth element. It also represents one of the four cardinal points of China, the east, where the sun rises.
The Chinese also often refer to themselves as “children of the dragon”.
Bamboo
My favorite subject to paint is bamboo. Apart from the special painting technique, for me bamboo is the plant that represents China or Asia the most. Apart from this, bamboo is the plant most closely associated with traditional Chinese art.
The Chinese often compare bamboo to gentleman for its unique character of being neither cringing nor arrogant.
In addition, bamboo painting is a symbol of modesty and integrity.
In Feng Shui, bamboo symbolizes tenacity, modesty and gradual advancement.
With the high and straight bamboo poles and its joints people therefore also use bamboo painting to express their desire to preserve the a person can be promoted to a higher position or rank.
Bamboo is named as “Zhú” or also “Zhúzi” in Mandarin.
Since Chinese characters evolved from a pictographic script, with a lot of imagination you can still recognize the bamboo as a picture here.
In combination with other flowers or animals refines the interpretation of the symbolism. For example, a painting with bamboo and peonies means wealth, high rank and security. I will discuss individual examples in later blog articles.
Lotos
One of the most famous and beautiful flowers in Chinese and Asian painting is the lotus flower. It is probably one of the most frequently painted motifs.
Chinese painting is strongly influenced by Buddhist symbols and is inextricably linked with this religion. The lotus flower is one of the eight treasures of Buddhism. Many Buddhist deities have a lotus-shaped foundation, because the lotus flower is considered a symbol of the Pure Land in Buddhism and represents Buddha’s noble and sacred character.
The lotus flower is not only a beautiful plant. Its flowers and seeds are growing at the same time, therefor lotus buds are often symbols of fertility and offspring.
The Chinese name for lotus is “lian”. In China, many symbolic meanings are attributed to the same sound of different words. The word “connect” is also pronounced “lian” and therefor the lotus symbolizes deep connection with the family.
It is particularly popular in China to hang lotus pictures in one’s home.
The combination of lotus flowers together with koi fish in a painting has the meaning of “live in prosperity” and “every year may you get more than you wish for”.
In ancient China, the lotus represented the female and the fish the male, so this combination also sugested the union of man and woman.
Flower Painting
One of the most common motifs in Chinese painting are flowers. The special thing is that the focus is not only on the beauty of the depicted flowers, but each flower has its own meaning. In combination with animals and other plants, any imaginable feeling, thought, and a wide variety of symbolic meanings can be represented.
Flower motifs can symbolize female beauty and virtues, happiness and family omens but also political authority.
Flower motifs were popular in all Chinese dynasties and so the number of symbolic meanings is almost immeasurable.
For example, the peony represents a high social position, great wealth and prosperity.
Not only the type of flowers but also their color can change the meaning or sentiment of a painting.
Red peonies represent, among other things, true passion, because red is the color of vitality.
Pink peonies, on the contrary, symbolize love, affection and romance.
Yellow tones wish happiness and prosperity, and white peonies show that you are thinking of someone.
The Chinese word for flower or blossom is “hua”.
GongBi and XieYi
Classical Chinese painting distinguishes two main styles.
GongBi (工笔) often referred to as the exact detailed contour painting and XieYi (写意), the fast free hand painting.
Although both painting techniques place great emphasis on brush strokes and brushwork, they are distinctly different and easy to recognize. XieYi style paintings can be created in a few hours, sometimes even minutes, while GongBi paintings often require weeks or months of work.
However, both genres differ not only in painting technique, but also in visual language and meaning.
The XieYi technique should serve as a means to convey not only the appearance of an object, but express how the artist looks at it, which makes the painting also open to own interpretations.
Opposite to XieYi, the GongBi technique places extreme emphasis on the accurate reproduction of details without leaving much room for interpretation. The image is more representational and descriptive, like a photograph.
The Idea
2023 – A Year for Art
Hello, my name is Birgit! I am a German artist and painter currently living in Mumbai, India.
I want to share my art with you and hope to inspire people to find their inner artist or just to have fun with art or painting.
All my life I have drawn and painted. Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved creating paintings with whatever materials I had on hand. In the beginning I taught myself to paint, later I apprenticed with other artists.
I painted my first larger pictures in oil on canvas and inspired by my travels through Europe, I created Italian landscapes, Dutch sceneries or still lifes.
In 2011 I had the opportunity to live in China for 6 years and there I met Laoshi Chen Jie, a master of traditional Chinese painting. He taught me how to paint in the style of classical Chinese art using ink and Chinese watercolor.
I had fallen in love with Chinese art before, and learning how to paint in this particular genre was a great opportunity.
Back in Germany I realized, how little is known about Chinese art, so I developed the idea for this website.
That’s why I would like to explain this ancient art using my own paintings. You will learn about different painting techniques, the cultural and spiritual aspects of Chinese motifs, their connection with the Chinese way of life , the history of China, the Buddhist religion and much more.
I would like to pay tribute to Chinese art and hope I can pass on a large part of my own enthusiasm.
