Week 3: Demonstration 

The following is from a scanned paper presentation about the eponymous subject.

This week and next are both devoted to painting bamboos (take--竹). This week, the focus is mostly on exercises to develop skills needed for bamboo paintings. It also shows the gyobihō or fishtail technique for painting leaves. Next week will demonstrate bamboo paintings that include secondary subjects like birds. Also shown will be the  kaijihō technique for leaf painting. The difference between gyobihō and kaijihō is easier shown than described.

This first demonstration just practices leaf strokes. They are made by using uneven strokes. Apply the brush to the paper where the base of the leaf is to go. Press down using chokuhitsu (vertical) strokes, push the brush in the direction of the leaf tip, and gradually lift the brush away from the paper.

Three shades of sumi are used. Start with nōboku (dark sumi), continue with chūboku (medium sumi), and and conclude with tanboku (light sumi).

Next comes leaf exercises. The leaves shown below were done using the gyobihō technique. The name comes from the resemblance the leaves in combination have to fish tails. There are different types of gyobihō leaves represented in the samples below.

This week's painting subject is the simple bamboo painting below.

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Here is something extra to work on. Paint a bamboo forest. In other words, practice painting bamboo stalks. All the stalks should be painted using sokuhitsu (slanting) strokes and multiple shades of sumi. Distant stalks should be lighter overall than closer ones to give the forest a feeling of depth. Distant ones are also the first ones to be painted. Then come the middle-ground stalks followed by the darkest stalks in the foreground. Stalks at various distances will tend to vary in thickness with the farthest ones generally being not as thick as nearer ones. The location of knots will vary from stalk to stalk, too. Knots are painted with chokuhitsu (vertical) strokes.

Three shades of sumi are to be used on each stalk. The catch is that the three shades used for distant stalks are not the same three shades as the ones to be used in middle-ground stalks, and the same goes for foreground stalks. Considerable experimentation may be necessary to get the full variety of shades needed for the bamboo forest.

You may find the bamboo forest to be a considerable challenge. It is challenging for me, too. The sample above is something I did very quickly. It takes time and patience to do it right. Practice at it over time and see what you can accomplish. We can talk about it more in class next week. At minimum, you should start to get a feeling for doing bamboo stalks.