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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.