The search for the unknown that lies deep in our soul, the untapped potential, the desire for self-expression and spiritual self-development leads many to master Chinese painting and Wu Xing painting. This is a unique opportunity to work on yourself, to develop certain life qualities through art.
Wu Xing is a system of 5 primary elements - wood, fire, earth, metal, water. The entire worldview of ancient China is based on it. In painting, each of them corresponds to 5 specific strokes, with the help of which the artist U-Sin paints his paintings.
The Yin and Yang mandala, consisting of white and black drops, describes the patterns of the surrounding reality. It is this mandala that is the key to understanding wu-sing. Yang, white, is the heavenly principle, Yin, black, is the earthly principle. Yang gives energy, and Yin receives it, qualitatively transforming energy. The sky gives rain, light, warmth, and the Earth absorbs all this and gives birth to various forms of life, such as grass, trees, animals. In Wu Xing painting, the artist’s task is to convey the essence of the subject, not its form. And for this you need to develop your perception of the world, learn to see not with your mind, but with your eyes.
Andrey Shcherbakov - founder of the school of Chinese painting and Wu-Xing painting, artist, teacher - talks in this video about the basics of Wu-Xing painting.
Why do they love so much? Wu Xing painting? This is one of the most effective techniques for learning to draw. It gives everyone the opportunity to learn how to draw from scratch. There is a liberation from templates, creative thinking appears. Wu Xing's painting gives that charge of creativity that is so lacking in our lives. A person, having begun to engage in this art, receives true pleasure from the awareness of his inner capabilities.
Wu Xing painting has a profound art therapeutic effect. Imagine how a person endows the object he is drawing with a certain quality, trying to feel its essence. As a result, while working on the strokes, he develops the corresponding energy in himself. Transferring this knowledge into life makes it balanced and harmonious. A person matches what he sees with what he thinks and what he does.
It is important to note that the Chinese traditional calendar, the Feng Shui system, Chinese astrology, the bodily practices of Zhong Yuan Qigong and Taoist Yoga, and the internal wushu style “Xingyiquan” are based on the principle of wu-xing.
Good afternoon. My name is Andrey Shcherbakov. I am the head of the Moscow Wu-shin School of Painting. Today I would like to introduce you to our work, show you the pictures that we draw and teach our students to draw, and also talk about the relationship between our painting, the five element system of Wu Xing and Chinese traditional painting.
Wu Xing painting is a self-development technique built on the basis of combining the techniques of Chinese Guo Hua painting, the system of 5 elements of Wu Xing and other concepts of Taoist natural philosophy. The depiction of objects, creatures and landscapes using the wu-shin painting technique is associated more with the knowledge of their inner essence than their external form. An artist developing the wu-xing painting technique focuses on learning the principles of following the Tao through the brush. Wu Xing painting has several basic principles.
First principle allows the artist to work out his psychological qualities through movement. At the first stage of training, the artist creates strokes only with the help of hand movements. The second stage is associated with the inclusion of the body in the process of drawing; at the third stage, the creation of a picture turns into a full-fledged dance. At the last stage, it is important for a person practicing wuxing painting to feel the extremely subtle aspects of movement. The process of increasing sensitivity is associated with overcoming stiffness and limitations in movements. It is a well-known fact that a person’s psychological problems are inextricably linked with physical constraints. Therefore, we can say that wuxing painting is a unique type of body-oriented psychotherapy.
Second principle- lies in the Wu Xing system. The 5 elements of wu-sing represent the 5 qualities of energy - wood, fire, earth, metal, water. In painting, each of these elements corresponds to a certain movement, and the artist U-hsin paints his paintings only with these five types of strokes. In this aspect, wu-xing painting is more similar to wushu than to academic painting techniques. There are especially many similarities with Xingyiquan, where the 5 basic forms correspond to the 5 elements of wu-xing.
Third principle consists of combining several arts at once in one drawing. While learning wu-shin painting, the student very quickly goes beyond the scope of painting when he strives to decorate the drawing with a calligraphic inscription. As a result of a passion for calligraphy, as a rule, an interest in learning Chinese awakens. The need to choose a beautiful inscription entails an interest in poetry. Both calligraphy and painting are based on coordination of movements and breathing, so that very soon the student begins to master the elements of qigong. Interest in practicing movements and the need to draw with the whole body gives rise to interest in wushu, dancing and yoga. The creation of a drawing in the Chinese tradition is usually completed with a seal. But it’s also interesting to make a seal yourself, and so the student already begins to get interested in carving and modeling. But the painted picture also needs to be beautifully designed and placed correctly. Etc. Thus, when starting to engage in wu-shin painting, a person finds himself drawn into the process of constant self-improvement.
Fourth principle: in detachment from the artistic result. The goal of an artist developing in wu-shin painting is self-improvement. The resulting picture acts only as a criterion for the artist’s development, without being the goal of the creative process itself.
What are the 5 elements of wu-xing and how this system is embodied in painting.
It's best to watch the video in which I talk about this in detail:
As examples of wu-shin painting, I suggest watching a video with my latest paintings:
The theme of Wu Xing painting is very extensive, the number of paintings is large, so if you want to get to know the work better, I recommend
Let's continue our acquaintance with world culture progressively. We have already studied ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and India. Now let's get acquainted with the no less interesting civilization of China.
They found out that China is at least seven thousand years old, and that the laws there are very strict. They came to the conclusion that the Great Wall of China resembles the backbone of a sleeping dragon. They speculated why Emperor Qin Shihuang needed an entire terracotta army (apparently, so that he could be just as omnipotent in the afterlife).
During the break we worked on archaeological excavations. We came across several Chinese artifacts: money, precious stones and a bell. And how many more finds are hidden in the sand...
But most of all, of course, we are interested in fine art. After all, Chinese painting has greatly influenced world culture. And the Asian visual approach is radically different from the European one. Firstly, in China they did not use the techniques of aerial perspective, the transfer of volume and space. Secondly, they did not use oil paints. They preferred black mascara! This is what we will do.
To better understand the Chinese art philosophy, we decided to practice traditional Chinese wu-xing painting. To do this, we only need black ink, soft small brushes and simple writing paper (by the way, thanks to the Chinese for its invention).
In addition, we had to relearn how to hold a brush. The Chinese do it a little unusually: you need to imagine that you have an apple in your palm, and clasp the brush with your fingertips. In general, by the end of the lesson everyone got used to it.
In this difficult (although at first glance it seems otherwise) painting, artists follow not the eye, but the heart and mind. That is, they strive to convey the essence of the subject, and not just its form. For this purpose, a philosophical approach to drawing was developed. In wu-shin it comes down to this (we take the simplified version, of course) that every touch of a brush to paper reflects the five elements of the universe. These are wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each element can be called male (yang) or female (yin), and also has other qualities.
Element TREE
This is a masculine element, so you need to draw it decisively, even angrily. The hand moves from the shoulder, from bottom to top and as you exhale. By wood here we mean bamboo, which is so valuable in China. And he really looks very courageous, without pretense. The bamboo is drawn according to the number of joints: we draw the first sharp stroke, raise the brush, then place it in the place of separation, continue the second phalanx of the trunk and so on upward, bending it slightly. Then we draw in smaller branches growing from the joints of the tree. And then the leaves that are drawn by the fire element...
Element FIRE
Fire is tongues of flame that live for a split second, so everything fleeting is depicted as fire. For example, swaying leaves on trees or escaping fish. This is also a masculine element, so you need to draw it sharply. Our brush touches the sheet on the fly, while only the hand moves. This element should begin and end thinly, widening towards the middle:
Element EARTH
This is the middle element, it is in the center of the Yin-Yang monad, and therefore does not belong to either side of the circle. The earth is points. But not simple ones. They are applied like this: the brush (as always, strictly vertically) first touches the paper with the tip, and then completely so that the dot is in the shape of a drop. It is very convenient to construct various images from this element:
Element METAL
This is already a feminine element, so it has such qualities as smoothness, humility, fluidity. It is customary to use metal to draw graceful blades of grass. You can draw a line of metal, thickening it towards the center, or you can, on the contrary, bend a blade of grass.
Metal needs to be drawn by moving your elbow like a compass. Breathe calmly and be relaxed. Metal calms, it is impossible to draw it in a non-peaceful state.
It was quite difficult for our boys, but the wood they produced was of very high quality. But for girls it’s the other way around, which is logical (:
Element WATER
It probably never occurred to European artists that they could also paint like this with a brush. And the Chinese have been practicing this for thousands of years! Water is, accordingly, a Yin element. It is drawn like this: we place the brush flat on the sheet and begin to scroll, leaving impressions with hairs. The result is water currents, vortices, whirlpools:
Historically, branches of old cherry trees and fluffy flowers, say, peonies, are usually painted with water. We also tried it and liked it, it’s a fairly easy element to perform and very unpredictable.
The search for the unknown that lies deep in our soul, the untapped potential, the desire for self-expression and spiritual self-development leads many to master wu-shin painting. This is a unique opportunity to work on yourself, to develop certain life qualities through art.
Wu-xing system- the basis for many practices related to China (both direct and indirect). The following are based on the wu-xing principle:
- Chinese traditional calendar;
- Feng Shui system;
- Chinese astrology;
- Body practices of Zhong Yuan Qigong and Taoist yoga;
- Internal style of Wushu Xingyiquan;
- Chinese traditional medicine and much, much more.
Wu-shin- this is a system that came to us from ancient times, when there was no writing yet. Knowledge was passed on from generation to generation in meaningful symbols such as the cross and star. What did these symbols describe? First of all, nature, but not only nature.
Wu Xing is translated from Chinese as “5 movements”, but you can often find the European name “5 elements”, which does not quite correspond to the essence of the system itself. These elements have names:
- mu tree
- fire "huo"
- land "tu",
- metal "jin"
- Shui water.
Wu Xing painting is based on movement. The first of the 6 principles of Chinese traditional painting states: "Qi rhymes with the birth of movement". Qi- this is the vital energy that fills us. The character "Qi" is also often translated as breath. Working in the genre of wu-shin painting, the artist must connect the rhythm of his breathing and movement:
- Active movement, acceleration of the stroke should always be associated with exhalation;
- Pause or slow down - inhale.
Thus, each of the 5 wu-xing strokes has its own breathing rhythm. The key to the wuxing painting technique is movement. After all, if we look up the meaning of the hieroglyph “sin” in the dictionary, the first thing we will see is “movement”.
- For an artist of wu-xing painting, the utmost importance is catch using some type of brush movement unique feature of energy and condition of a given object, of a given phenomenon. For example: a bird, an animal, is fast, so in most cases it is better to draw it with fleeting movements.
- Next, the artist is already faced with the task match the shape of the stroke and the shape of the object. It is at this stage that the artist will have a lot of discoveries related to the fact that in nature there is a certain connection between the shape of an object, the energy of the object, and the energy of the artist himself.
When classifying strokes, movements, and composition according to wu-xing, we must, first of all, follow internal sensations and avoid harsh judgments “from the head.” We must always remember that Wu-shin is a five-dimensional integrity and any object of it will always have 5 parameters. We can build an excellent analogy with the objects of three-dimensional space that is more familiar to us. All objects in our three-dimensional world have three basic parameters (along three axes “x”, “y” and “z”): width, thickness and height. There is no object in nature that is devoid of height, just some are higher and others are lower. It’s the same with the five-dimensionality of wu-sin. There is no movement that can be clearly attributed to the element “Wood” or “Fire”; in any movement all five components are initially present, just some are more pronounced, while others are less so.
When studying movements, the first thing you should pay attention to is that movements can be Yin And Yanskie:
- Yin in the movements of wu-xing painting corresponds to softness, subtlety, tenderness, gradualness, and leisurely action.
- Yang manifests itself through speed, swiftness, sharpness, directness and pressure.
Improving in the art of Chinese painting and wu-hsing painting, the artist goes through a path similar to the path of a calligrapher in the tradition of Chinese calligraphy:
- At the first stage - working out the elements. The calligrapher perfects the basic features, the artist hones the basic strokes.
- Then the calligrapher begins to form complete hieroglyphs from individual features, written in the prescribed kai shu style. At this stage, the artist composes complete objects from individual strokes.
- The next step of the calligrapher is the transition to cursive writing of hieroglyphs, where he already draws a hieroglyph in one movement. And it’s the same with wu-shin painting. At a certain stage, a person needs to move on to “quick drawing”, drawing objects and drawings in one movement and already in this holistic movement rediscover the wu-shin system.
For many people, Chinese painting and wu-xing painting can become an excellent technique for working on oneself, a technique for developing certain life qualities. After all, if a person’s movements are constrained, and the body is enslaved by psychophysical clamps, it is impossible to express the fleeting flight of a butterfly, the subtle beauty of a blade of grass bent over itself, or the straightforward sincerity of bamboo. In order to make such a stroke, you need to change yourself. In this sense, we can talk about wu-xing painting as one of the types of body-oriented psychotherapy.
Why do they love wu-xing painting so much?? This is one of the most effective techniques for learning to draw. It gives everyone the opportunity to learn how to draw from scratch. There is a liberation from templates, creative thinking appears. Wu Xing painting gives that charge of creativity that is so lacking in our lives. A person, having begun to engage in this art, receives true pleasure from the awareness of his inner capabilities.
Wu-xing painting has a deep art therapeutic influence. Imagine how a person endows the object he is drawing with a certain quality, trying to feel its essence. As a result, while working on the strokes, he develops the corresponding energy in himself. Transferring this knowledge into life makes it balanced and harmonious. A person matches what he sees with what he thinks and what he does.
The reason for the eternal youth of this art is that the technique is easy to learn, incredibly effective in application, and has many “levels” in development. What is known for certain is that already during the Han Empire, 2 thousand years ago, painting was already an integral part of Chinese culture.
Being “in tandem” with the art of calligraphy and the ancient schools of wushu, the painting technique, having undergone hundreds of transformations, is developing dynamically today.
Chinese painting is an ancient art that requires special art materials. We will talk about them in this article.
First, we will talk about the “four jewels of the scientist’s cabinet” - this is how the brush, ink, ink pot and rice paper were respectfully called in ancient times.
Brushes
Authentic Chinese brushes are used for Chinese painting. Their feature is a sharp tip, which we use to make strokes, calligraphic lines, as well as the ability to hold a large amount of moisture (ink or water) and gradually release it.
Brushes come in different sizes - from thin contour brushes with a few hairs for the gunbi technique (translated as “working with a brush” or “careful brush”) to huge ones with long handles, with which you can write hieroglyphs or draw while standing, feeling the special amplitude of working with a brush, using the whole body in the process of practice.
Depending on the degree of hardness, brushes can be soft, hard or combined.
Soft(in most cases, goat hair, “yanghao” is used) allow you to make beautiful spots - flower petals, leaves, mountains in the background, they are also used for toning images in landscapes.
Hard brushes (usually with dark bristles, “lanhao”, this can be a wolf, badger, rabbit, horsehair, etc.) are ideal for drawing branches, stems, and contour lines. However, with large brushes you can just as well paint leaves, petals and use them for shading. Here we are talking about the personal preferences of the artist and the special effects that can be achieved using this or that type of pile.
Combination brushes are very good to use: soft bristles on the outside and elastic on the inside. These brushes are very maneuverable.
A good brush is the key to a successful practice. The pile should be cut evenly, should not climb, should be elastic, homogeneous in composition. After use, brushes should be thoroughly rinsed in cool water and hung on a special loop to dry.
Mascara and ink maker
In Chinese painting, ink is more than just “black”; it can be said to be its blood, the basis of its foundations. Chinese ink consists of soot and animal glue. Soot can be obtained from burning the resin of various tree species, vegetable oils, animal fats or natural minerals. The resulting mixture is formed into bars during special technological processing. The resulting carcass bars can be beautifully decorated.
In order to prepare ink for painting or calligraphy, a block of ink is ground on a special ink stone in a small amount of water until the required consistency is obtained. This is a kind of meditation and attunement before practice.
During lessons we use ready-made liquid mascara. It is quite suitable for educational purposes.
Rice paper
Paper for Chinese painting is made from wood and plant fibers, most often fibers from mulberry bark, hemp, bamboo, rice straw, and other natural materials processed in a special way. High quality rice paper is made in large sheets by hand. There are many varieties of rice paper with varying degrees of absorbency, color, and texture. The best rice paper is called "xuan" and is produced in Anhui Province.
Rice paper can be divided into 3 main types. There are different versions of the translation. I will point out some of them:
Unglued, raw, “young” (sheng xuan), highly absorbent, excellent for painting in the free style of se-i (translated from Chinese as “writing a meaning, an idea”), the degree of absorption can be very diverse, as well as special effects that appear at blurring spots;
Glued, processed, “mature” (shu xuan), does not absorb water well, suitable for the gongbi (“careful brush”) style and numerous layers of toning;
Paper for landscapes (neither mature nor young), combines both properties of the above types, allows you to draw the subtle contours of trees and the texture of mountains and do toning.
To get acquainted with Chinese painting and practice works, rice paper in rolls, which can be bought in art stores, is suitable.
Mineral paints
For student purposes, we use ready-made paints from Marie. Paints consist of plant and mineral pigments mixed with glue. You can buy a set of 12 or 18 colors (12 ml each). Then you can buy additional colors separately.
Felt mat
It is necessary that the rice paper does not stick to the table, does not get dirty or tear. It is better to buy a rug measuring 50 by 70 cm.
Instead of a special rug, you can use a piece of felt, a flannelette blanket or something similar :)
Ceramic palettes
To mix paints or dilute shades of mascara, you can use special palettes, although I prefer to use ordinary white ceramic saucers - they allow you to mix the necessary colors and in the required quantities without restrictions.
Seals and cinnabar
A necessary attribute of any work done using the technique of Chinese painting or calligraphy is printing. The seal is a beautiful stone of a wide variety of shapes and sizes, on which hieroglyphs that are important to the customer are carved: a name, a pseudonym, a philosophical phrase, less often - an image of a flower, an animal, etc. Seals are either Yang (red characters on a white background) or Yin (white characters on a red background). They play a big role in the composition of a work of art. Not only artists, but also collectors had stamps. Having acquired an ancient scroll of the famous master, the collector put his imprint on it. That’s why we see so many different seals in the paintings of ancient masters!
For the impression, a special paste is used - cinnabar, it is red. By the way, now in China you can find paste for stamps of various shades.
Accessories
For convenience, you can also purchase stands for brushes so as not to stain the mat, but I don’t use them, because... in a burst of creativity, I usually put the brushes just next to each other on a saucer or draft.
Paperweights of various shapes and sizes are used to secure rice paper. These could be wooden blocks, large metal coins in the design of ancient money, small figurines - you can come up with a suitable option for yourself.
A special theme is brush holders and ceramic water containers. Both are available in large quantities in art stores in China. It is very difficult to choose, because it is all very beautiful. The brush holders are decorated with wood carvings, and the ceramic water bowls are painted with various Chinese painting scenes that we love so much! It's impossible to resist!
We teach how to properly use all these materials and create paintings using the Chinese painting technique!
We provide all the necessary materials for classes in our studio. You can also buy Chinese painting materials from specialized online stores to practice at home.
In conclusion, I would like to say that you should not put up barriers to purchasing materials before your desire to start drawing! After all, you can practice at home on ordinary gray, the cheapest writing paper, with any paints and even with a squirrel brush with a sharp tip. Creativity is present in every person from birth, so if you feel that your creative path lies through painting, try it, and everything will work out!
Sincerely yours,
Elena Kasyanenko
