Ox

You may wish to include the Calligraphy for Ox (niú) in your paintings. This can be found on our Zodiac Animals pages.

For information on Ox personality traits, take a look at the Chinese Zodiac Ox page on the Travel China site.

The last Year of the Ox was 2021-22 which had the element Metal to accompany it. In Oriental cultures there is a great tradition of painting the 'Ox and boy'. It has a strong place in the cultural heritage of the East, not least because it led to the famous 'Ox herding' pictures, more of which later...

Feng Shui master Thierry Chow told CNN in 2021, "The Ox, in Chinese culture, is a hardworking zodiac sign. It usually signifies movement so, hopefully, the world will be less static than last year and get moving again in the second half of the year”.

Ox and boy 1 - outline by Paul Maslowski 2018

I started thinking about a picture of the Ox and boy when I taught Oxen to a CBP group some years back.

Starting with something of an outline of an Ox, I added a boy as per a Chinese contemporary artist’s work. You can see the first stage of this painting in case you wanted to have a go with an outline of the same subject or one of the elements...

What you are looking for in the outline, ideally, is as many calligraphic strokes as possible and with a variety of thicknesses as well as variation in wet and dry.

Having placed the outline of the image, I added levels of grey until the shading was as I wanted it for the painting.

Once this was completed I added various colours without ‘colouring in’. It is important that Chinese brush paintings include spontaneous strokes even when the outline is well defined. It is also important that the outline be disregarded on occasion as the energy of the painting asserts itself. In other words, do not worry if the wash spreads beyond the line. Again, ideally, we are actually looking for this to occur in a skilful way:

Ox and boy 2 - coloured by Paul Maslowski 2018

14th February 2021 LCBPG Challengers update:

Our LCBP Challenge Group painted lots of different Oxen in preparation for the Chinese Year of the Ox so here follows our herd...

First of all come four paintings from Claire. The first one, a traditional composition, picks up a couple of themes I am sure a lot of people will be familiar with but in a Chinese style. These are home schooling and exercise in lockdown. The second painting is the classic young boy riding on the back of a buffalo which is a development of the Ox and Boy theme...

Third, we have another version of the Ox and boy but this time both are in repose. Finally, a more contemporary style of Cattle particularly picking up the texture of a Highland Cow's coat:

Home Schooling by Claire Seaton 2021

Ox and boy by Claire Seaton 2021

Relaxing at the river by Claire Seaton 2021

Highland Cow by Claire Seaton 2021

Next, come a couple of Ox relaxing after their incredibly hard toil as Pat explores the nature of the Ox as support for rural cultures and, therefore, beasts of burden. We especially like the Seal Script version of Ox which Pat has included in this painting above.

Ox in cooling waters by Pat Jones 2021

Hard-working Ox resting by Pat Jones 2021

12th February 2021 Chinese New Year update:

I wanted to make the Ox and boy into a complete composition. I decided to place them in a suitable landscape where we can see the journey of them both as they labour toward market:

Ox and boy by Paul Maslowski 2018 and 2021

Should you choose to take up the challenge please do let me know as I would love to see what you do next…

8th July 2020 update:

Janice of the East Midlands CBP group was inspired by this page and produced the painting on the left below. She then went further and produced the lovely work on the right which has a real narrative to it. What do you think is being thought..?

Ox and boy by Janice Biscoe 2020

Spring Ox and boy by Janice Biscoe 2020

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