Demonstration

The following illustrations of chrysanthemum leaves are mostly self explanatory. The Japanese word for these kind of 5-lobed leaves is gokiyonketsu. Its meaning is that the leaves are like hands with 5 protruding points like fingers and 4-indentations like the spaces between fingers. The leaves on the left are rendered with 5 strokes each using the mōkkōtsu-hō technique and sokuhitsu (slanting strokes). The leaves on the right use senbyō-hō.

The main emphases below is on the petals. Paint the stamen first. When doing the petals, start with the four petals at the top, bottom, left, and right. Each petal is rendered with 2 vertical (chokuhitsu) strokes, starting from the tip of the petal toward the stamen in the middle. Next do the four petals in the middle of the gaps between the first four. Then fill in the rest of the blossom. This helps to make the blossom symmetrical. To achieve blossoms that appear to be at an angle to the viewer instead of straight on like the illustration below, refer to the oval technique discussed in last week's lesson.

Here is my chrysanthemum demonstration painting.