Chinese Painting and Art

MA U2: Cheongsam series – reworking Appropriation. Appropriation.

| elizarawlings

After completing two Cheongsam paintings (‘You’re a banana’ and ‘No, I’m an egg’), I wanted to revisit the first Cheongsam painting I made – ‘Appropriation. Appropriation.’ because I felt it was an unfinished piece. I knew it was unfinished at the time but I was eager to move onto the banana and egg paintings, so I left it. After some time had passed, I felt the urge to finish it off. The areas that I was not happy about were:

– The lack of depth in my representation of what I was trying to say.

– In fact, it wasn’t clear what I was trying to say and how it was relevant to my practice.

– It felt like an unfinished or abandoned piece of work.

I am not always bothered about abandoning work, but so much effort had already gone into this piece, the making of the dress, sewing and painting etc.. I felt it would be worthwhile finishing it.

Below is the unfinished work from earlier and the original blog about my feelings towards the Blue Willow pattern:

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MA U2: Cheongsam Series #4 – Appropriation. Appropriation.

METHOD

In carrying out additional research for this piece of work, I referenced a book about the Willow pattern:

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In my earlier blog, I talked about the incorrect depiction of a tree on the Willow design. What should have been a large pine tree that was common in Chinese paintings, was instead depicted in a way that led many to believe it to be a disproportionally large fruit tree. This particular tree was discussed extensively in the ‘Willow!’ book with many suggestions of the different types of fruit tree that it could have been, but without any clue about what tree it really was. So to expose this classic example of an appropriation of something without having basic understanding of what was being appropriated, I decided to add the said tree to my Cheongsam painting and copied some texts from the book to highlight such cultural challenges.

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Texts that were added as part of a fence on the painting were copied from the above pages describing the (pine) tree as leafless, bulbous, grotesquely laden… apple tree. Close up of the texts copied are as follows:

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Another paragraph was copied onto my painting which gave insight into the attitude towards Asia during the time when the Willow pattern was designed:

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Close up of the texts copied:

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The ‘bulbous and grotesquely laden fruit tree’ was added to my painting:

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Masking tape was used to mark out the shape of the fence for the texts:

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The second set of texts was added on the back of the painting next to the large tree with some ornate borders like those on the edge of some Willow plates:

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The finished painting:

Back view
Front view – left
Front view – right

REFLECTIONS

I am pleased that I have reworked this painting because my practice is not just about making work, it is also about examining issues relating to my identity which includes understanding my heritage. In the case of the Willow Pattern, it highlighted the casual and incorrect appropriation of Asian art during the colonial era. My original idea for this piece was always to highlight the mistakes made in the Willow Pattern appropriation. In particular, the pine tree. I have researched numerous design texts about the Willow Pattern and most of them express puzzlement about the disproportionally large ‘fruit tree’ towering over the building. The debate surrounded what kind of fruit it was, apple, pomegranate, peach etc.. All acknowledging that no fruit tree could grow to several storeys high hence description such as ‘grotesquely laden’ was used here. I am certain that if any Chinese artists were asked, they would have said it was a (badly depicted) pine tree.

My research shows that there are many species of pine trees in China. Ranging from the common Pinus tabuliformis which can be 20-30 metres tall, to the famous Pinus hwangshanensis (or Huangshan pine) with some being 1,500 years old. Pine trees are often depicted in Chinese paintings. The pine needles are typically formed in dense round clusters:

The pine needles are often depicted as below in traditional Chinese paintings with a few needles radiating from the centre of the cluster and a thin wash of colour (usually green) to give a sense of the overall round shape of the cluster of needles.

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Here are my pine tree paintings that I made in one of my Chinese brush painting lessons, the left hand image shows the round clusters of needles with a green wash:

My Chinese pine tree paintings

Carvings of pine trees often take on a more accentuated round shape such as this example:

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The Chinese pine tree was depicted as follows by the Williow Pattern designers:

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The Willow Pattern became very popular in Britain as a result of demands generated for Chinese artefacts during the British colonial period. Subsequent generations of people who buy or study the Willow Pattern have wondered what tree that was and due to the rounded shapes coming off the branches, they concluded it was a fruit tree of some kind – such as the hypothesis in the ‘Willow!’ book even though they all acknowledged the disproportionate size.

When I made the discovery of the mistaken identity of the tree on so many design documentation, I wanted to do something to capture my findings and expose the lack of research that I have witnessed. I am not a design historian, nor a botanist, nor am I that experienced a Chinese painter, even I could tell that it was meant to be a pine tree. So it shouldn’t have been difficult to deduce. I could only conclude that people just didn’t really care enough to find out. Even those who were writing books or papers on the Willow design didn’t seem to make that extra effort to find out and just accepted that it was a strange fruit tree or badly depicted overly large and grotesque fruit tree. Hence I wanted to make a painting to express this example of our casual laziness towards other people’s culture. The second set of texts that I copied from the book aptly acknowledged the ‘couldn’t care less’ attitude towards Asia at the time.

When I first did the painting, I stopped before putting in the pine tree. This was because I felt the painting was turning out to be a bit ‘twee’. I didn’t like it. In hindsight, what did I expect when I was copying from a design that was a bit twee! So I left the piece at the time and went onto make two other paintings. I am very pleased that I returned to finish this painting because I had spent much time in researching the Willow Pattern, especially the mystery surrounding the pine tree; I really wanted to say something about it. Hence I am pleased that I returned to complete the pine tree as well as copy some texts that confirmed the casual approach taken towards other people’s culture.

LEARNING

I have learnt a lot about the history of the Willow Pattern. That also helped me to understand more about the British Empire and its history at the time. I am not really that offended by the poor appropriation of the design, it amused me more than anything. However, it highlighted how easy it is to poorly appropriate and that is usually out of laziness, ignorance or not being thorough in research. That is good learning for me and has helped to make me more mindful about my work – if I were to borrow ideas from other cultures, or my own culture, I need to pay more attention to get my facts right. It is often not difficult, just takes a little more time to ask or research. Otherwise, I would be just as bad as those that I’m criticising here.

NEXT STEPS

With completing this painting, I have now done three Cheongsam paintings. I have several ideas of other Cheongsam paintings so I will get on and make some more!

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RESEARCH BACKGROUND – WILLOW PATTERN

Below are some examples of mistaken identification published for the large pine tree in the Blue Willow pattern. The examples shown here assume the tree is a fruit tree.

Example 1: Wikipedia

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willow_pattern

Wikipedia describes the tree as an orange tree even though orange trees do not grow that tall and if the round shapes were fruit then it would have been a leafless fruit tree.

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Example 2: Liverpool University – Victoria Gallery and Museum

https://vgm.liverpool.ac.uk/blog/2021/willow-pattern/

Liverpool University’s Victoria Gallery and Museum has a blog dedicated to the Blue Willow design. It details the key elements of the design but does not mention the largest tree depicted. It does, however, include an insert of an illustration stating that the large tree was an apple tree – did they really think that it could be a leafless apple tree that was nearly twice the size of a three storey building?

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Example 3: Quote from ‘Antiques Collectors’ magazine by ‘World expert on the Willow Pattern’

https://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/articles/willow-pattern/

This article includes a quote from a ‘World expert on the Willow Pattern’ talking about the oranges on the tree, whilst acknowledging that there are accounts of other fruits such as apples or pears being published.

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Example of a correct identification!

Finally, the example below correctly identifies the tree as a pine tree:

https://thebrooklynteacup.com/blogs/blog/blue-willow-china-pattern?srsltid=AfmBOoqLrjlC-ILPuRDrVdf2hHF-jvthiO5xCl6CQV2aTv2vazJg_Xtt

Chinese painting – shrimps, sunflowers, pine trees and more

| elizarawlings

EXPERIENCE

I have been learning Chinese brush painting in parallel to doing my MA Fine Art Digital course. I am new to Chinese painting and there is a lot to learn. So practicing is key. Below are some of my latest Chinese paintings, some of them are copies from books and worksheets that my tutor gave me. I believe it is important to periodically capture my progress but I do not plan to reflect extensively on these paintings because they were mostly learning exercises.

Shrimps – inspired by Qi Baishi

Trying out different compositions, colours and canvas sizes:

Image of one of Qi Baishi’s famous shrimps paintings:

I also tried to paint them in oil to compare the process and effect:

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Sunflowers

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Abstract experiments

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Pine tree

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Mountain water landscape with silk wash

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A basket of grapes

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REFLECTIONS

– I am increasingly enjoying learning Chinese painting and have improved to a stage where I actually can enjoy it rather than get frustrated by it!

– I am particularly interested in learning more about Qi Baishi’s shrimps because I admire his style of painting. I have been advised by my Chinese painting tutor to start with understanding the fundamental anatomy of a shrimp before going free style. I will do that next.

– Much of Chinese painting involves symbolism. After researching more about the symbolic meaning of shrimps, I found (and remember) that the word shrimp in Cantonese sounds like ‘ha’ which is the sound of laughter. In Mandarin, it also sounds like the word ‘laugh’. So it symbolises happiness which is good to bear in mind for future use in my work.

– I was disappointed with how the shrimps turned out in oil. They seem clumsy compared to the ones in Chinese ink.

LEARNING

– Always start with understanding the anatomy and doing some sketches of them (in pencil or thin line paint) before going free style in Chinese painting.

NEXT STEPS

– Do the shrimp anatomy sketches in meticulously style before painting more shrimps!

MA U2: Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphor for cultural identity – Overall reflections for ‘banana’ and ‘egg’

| elizarawlings

This blog details my overall reflections for the Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphor for cultural identity. I made two paintings on this topic and they are captured in the two blogs below:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2024/08/08/ma-y2-u2-cheongsam-series-food-as-metaphors-for-cultural-identity-youre-a-banana/

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2024/08/08/ma-u2-cheongsam-series-food-as-metaphors-for-cultural-identity-no-im-an-egg/

The finished paintings are intended to be displayed as a pair because they respond to each other.

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REFLECTIONS

It has taken me some time to write this blog as I am not sure where to start. My reflections on the making process, composition and technical learning are captured within the individual painting blogs. This blog is meant for reflecting more deeply on what making these paintings has meant for me. I shall capture my thoughts as they come into my mind as a form of free writing.

The dressmaking part:

– Throughout the making of the Cheongsam dresses, I thought a lot about watching my mother dressmaking when I was a child. The way she designed the clothes, for herself and for her children; measuring us, making her patterns on waxy paper, chalking the cloth aided by her special yellow wooden rulers and cutting the fabric with the long sharp scissors. Then sewing using her manual Singer sewing machine with a leather belt that turned the wheel as she pedalled. I remember having fitting sessions with part-finished garments and then she would do the final finishing off. Every button was chosen with care. It’s not until I made these canvas dresses for my paintings that I realised how very clever she was. Although dressmaking is not difficult, making it well requires talents and skills just like any craft. She made evening gowns, tailored jackets and trousers! Those are very difficult items!

– One could ask, so what? Many people made and still make clothes. What’s the big deal? I reflected much about her life while making my canvas dresses because the process of dressmaking is largely unchanged therefore I could clearly visualise my mother going through all the steps that I am now replicating decades later. My mother married at 17 years old and became a mother at 19. Hong Kong in the 1950s and 60s was a very patriarchal society and she as a Chinese woman was confined to her role – wife, mother, cook, cleaner, homemaker etc.. However, it is clear on reflection that she had ambitions that were not fulfilled by her role ‘assigned’ by society. There were few avenues for a woman of her time to express herself and she chose to do it through her dressmaking. She later went onto Chinese painting and became an accomplished artist with many students. Two weeks ago I was shown the various awards that she was given as an artist by cultural institutions in Hong Kong and China – I hope to explore more about her journey as a painter at a later stage.

– As my father’s career advanced in the Colonial Hong Kong Government, my mother would accompany him to official white-tie dinner balls (British style). She would always design and make her own evening dresses. She was the only woman who made her own dresses at those events. She always sought to be different and I believe in those days, her dress design and making was where she found a channel of expression as well as solace. It gave her an escape from the shackles of societal expectations of a traditional Chinese woman.

– I left home when I was a young teenager to boarding school in England and never lived with my parents since. Sadly they both passed before I really had the time or inclination to get to know them properly. So in a way I’m reflecting on her as a stranger with fragmented information from my patchy memory. Despite that, how did I end up picking up art in later life and in a strange way walking her path? I don’t think I have the answers yet but my own artistic journey has given me insight into what she was seeking as a person, as herself.

The painting part:

– It took me a while to decide what to paint. I like using metaphors in my work and when I stumbled across an image of Warhol’s banana, it gave me the idea to paint something in pop art theme as a contrast to the traditional Chinese dress canvas – I like making work that has an undertone of incongruity because that is afterall the metaphor for myself. Furthermore, a banana was the perfect subject as a cultural metaphor – yellow on the outside and white on the inside.

– I researched the use of the word ‘banana’ to describe a westernised East Asian person and I was delighted to find many insightful and humourous articles that resonated with me. The highlight was finding the film clip from the Hollywood movie Crazy Rich Asians talking about the protagonist being a banana – it was for me an endorsement of the phrase and bringing it into contemporary popular culture.

– As I got older and started to take time to look into my heritage, I felt that ‘banana’ alone was an insufficient metaphor for me. Growing up as a child in Hong Kong, a British influenced Chinese society, it was (and still is) so culturally rich that my core is deeply rooted in that heritage. Hence when I read an article about an egg with the yellow core as a cultural metaphor, I was hooked by the idea and felt it was a good response to the ‘banana’ metaphor.

– As I was painting both dresses, I was keen to adhere to the pop art theme painted on the Chinese dress canvas to capture the incongruity, or perhaps the fusion of the different cultures that I seek to represent in my work. At the end, I felt I have largely achieved what I intended despite much time spent on getting the right ‘green’ for the banana dress.

– The most poignant moment came when I was mixing and remixing to search for the correct shade of yellow and white colours to use for the eggs and bananas. I kept asking myself – ‘Is the white ‘white’ enough?’ or ‘Is the yellow too ‘yellow’?’ The constant search for the right shade of colour to use was a good metaphor for my attempt to fit in especially in my early years as a youngster in a new culture. Like many young people in a new environment, one was always working out how to behave, how to dress, how to do the makeup, what jewellery to wear etc. in order to fit in and be an insider. Or not to be treated as an outsider. It was a mutation process over time.

– The making of the two paintings here has turned out to be a better metaphor for my cultural transmutation journey than I ever expected.

LEARNING

I believe this blog concludes the ‘Cheongsam – food as metaphor’ series of work. I want to continue to make more Cheongsam paintings including looking for a more efficient way to make the dress canvas – it is time consuming but I want to continue with the idea so I need to find better ways of making the canvas.

I will continue to use the Cheongsam canvases to explore my identity which is a fundamental part of my practice. I feel using a Cheongsam canvas is a turning point in my practice, the idea came to me just as I was struggling to find a way forward to bring my ideas together. These two paintings are just the beginning of something, not sure exactly what yet, but I feel it’s a beginning.

Since much effort goes into making these canvases, I want to revisit the first Cheongsam painting that I made with the ‘Blue Willow pattern’ to see if I could make more of it so as not to waste the piece because I was not that satisfied with the outcome at the time.

NEXT STEPS

Revisit the Blue Willow pattern painting dress to give it more meaning.

Explore more efficient ways to make the Cheongsam dress canvas.

Make more work!

MA U2: Book art – Part 1

| elizarawlings

During the MA low residency at CSM in March 2024, we had a book art workshop where we learnt to make zines and some simple book. The artist hosting the session mentioned a book art event that takes place in Bristol once every few years. I was delighted to find that it was on this year and I attended the fair.

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There were nearly 100 stands; it was a great opportunity to talk to and learn from experienced book artists. I came away feeling enthusiastic to try this beautiful art form.

Another reason for my enthusiasm was that I recently attended a Suminagashi workshop. Suminagashi is an ancient Japanese technique of making handmade marble paper and washi by floating water-based inks on water, then laying the paper on top to absorb the ink and water pattern. See post:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2024/07/05/suminagashi-workshop-ancient-japanese-paper-marbling-technique/

Here are some of the Suminagashi paper that I made during the workshop:

Small A4 size sheets
Larger A2 size sheets

METHOD

From the techniques learnt during the low residency workshop at CSM, I made a few different types of simple books using the smaller sheets of Suminagashi paper:

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I experimented with some Chinese ink calligraphy on one sheet of paper, then folded it into a simple book:

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On another Suminagashi book that I made, I chose four Tang Dynasty poems and wrote them in the book using Chinese ink calligraphy, each paired with a small painting:

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The seal on the last page of the book is a new Chinese stone seal that I designed. I managed to have it carved in Hong Kong and brought back to the UK by my Chinese painting tutor. The phrase on the seal means ‘The Third Space’, a concept that my art practice is based on so I will use it like my artist’s signature. The seal is carved in an ancient Chinese font.

Below is a video with my narration, reading out the English translation of the poems. Note that traditional Chinese books open from the opposite direction to English, Romance or Germanic language books:

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REFLECTIONS

I was really inspired by the visit to the book art fair. It helped me to understand how broad the scope of this art form can be. I knew very little about book art until the low res workshop earlier this year and I am excited by it. I enjoyed making the simple books in this exploration, especially using the Suminagashi paper. Here is a summary of what I enjoyed about this exploration:

– I enjoyed the quiet pleasure in the act of folding paper carefully, especially with beautiful paper such as the Suminagashi paper. The feel of the material surface, the edges and creases all added to the meditative effect that this art form has to offer.

– I enjoyed learning a new skill in making books. Although I am only making very simple ones at the moment, I am excited by the potential complexity and scope that book making can offer. It is new knowledge and a new challenge for me.

– Once a book is made, it is like having a new canvas calling out for creativity that requires a new way of thinking compared to my other work.

For me, it is a two stage process: (1) Think about how I want ‘the canvas’ to be and realising that idea through physical making; then (2) express my art on the made canvas. The stages are similar to the Cheongsam (Chinese dress) canvases that I have been making for painting. That approach also requires creating a 3D canvas first through a step-by-step ‘technical’ process before any drawing or painting can take place.

The similarities between my book-making and dress-making to create canvases only occurred to me during the writing of the above reflections. I was beginning to feel concerned that I might be going from one thing to another too soon in my practice. I am not dropping the dress-making work, in fact, far from it – I have planned many other projects based on Cheongsam canvases. But I also want to explore book art and I now realise the similarities between the two in the context of my practice. I believe it can be explained as follows:

– The book-making or dress-making processes start by my following some guided steps, this way of making gives me a structured approach to starting a project. Meaning, it is unlike just getting out a plain sheet of paper or a pre-made blank canvas where you are immediately faced with having to decide what to paint. Through the structural and systematic start of the creative process (i.e. making a book or a dress), I can proceed to create ‘productively’ and while I am making the ‘complex canvas’, I can think about what to paint on the canvas or to finalise the ideas in my head. The process of making the canvas (which in the case of a dress can take several days) gives me quality thinking time whilst doing something productive and not just sat in front of a blank canvas feeling bad that nothing was happening.

LEARNING

Attending the book art fair taught me a lot about the scope that this art form can offer. In my own experiments, I have learnt more about the art of making books from a technical perspective – I am at a very early stage right now but I definitely want to learn more to make more complex or larger books.

My reflections above made me realise that the process of making the canvas myself (e.g. a book or a dress) has been a key part to my enjoyment in making art recently because I have been using the canvas making time and process to aid my thinking and to finalise my creative ideas. I have been doing this without consciously knowing it. I value the fact that making items such as a book or a dress are established processes and therefore give me a secure and stable route to start each piece of work. On the contrary, if I were to create a completely free-form assemblage from found items as a starting point, I would be inhibited by such an open and abstract process at the beginning of a piece of work – I would not know where to start and therefore it would be like sitting in front of a blank canvas again. This realisation is very important and useful for me because I can now think about other potential canvases that I can make from an established method in order to expand my practice.

NEXT STEPS

– Continue to make books and learn about book making to expand my knowledge.

– Think about other canvases that I can create in addition to books and dresses that would enable me to have the quality thinking time as part of my creative process and to avoid the ‘starring at a blank canvas’ problem.

UPDATE:

I made another book using a piece of Suminagashi paper folded into a small long book. In it, I wrote four short Tang Dynasty poems in Chinese calligraphy and coloured some areas using Chinese painting colour.

Chinese painting: Meticulous style – heron

| elizarawlings

It has been a while since I last posted about my Chinese brush painting. I continue to attend my monthly Chinese painting class. After completing the Sumi-e classes, we have returned to meticulous style work. I prefer freestyle and would not usually do meticulous style by choice. However, the tutor is rightly insisting on starting a new topic with meticulous style work so that we pay close attention to the anatomy of the subject.

The subject this month is the heron – a beautiful stylish bird that is often depicted in Chinese paintings. The homework was a rather detailed image and we were asked to ‘go big’.

METHOD

To go big, I did a large pencil drawing of the heron so I can use it as a template for the painting. The tutor said that this method of making a template is not ‘cheating’ as long as the template drawing is done by ourselves, i.e. not just using a photocopy of an image for tracing.

Below is my A2 size pencil drawing:

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I chose to use Moon Palace paper for this drawing because it was the widest width Chinese painting paper that I have. The paper was laid over the pencil drawing and the outline of the bird was painted using Chinese ink and brush. The brush here was used in drawing mode for the outline, meaning that only the very tip of the Chinese brush was used like a pencil. This stage requires a very steady hand!

A 30 year old wolf hair brush that belonged to my mother was used for this painting:

Work in progress:

Painting completed with outlines and dark areas ready for colour painting:

Finished work:

Heron – Chinese ink on Moon Palace paper. Size H68cm x W45.5cm.

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REFLECTIONS

This is a meticulous style figurative painting. There is technique involved especially in understanding the materials behaviour and working out the optimum process could be challenging. However for me, I feel the illustrative nature of this type of work does not demand the level of thinking or inquiry like making a piece of contemporary art would. So what can I reflect on?

The thought that kept coming to my mind during the making process was – the image seems ‘universal’, so what makes this a Chinese painting? I used Chinese materials (Chinese ink, moon palace paper and my mother’s Chinese wolf hair brush), but the composition in this case seems universal to me. So I posed a question to myself – what makes a painting a Chinese painting? Is it just the materials or does it have to ‘look Chinese’, meaning does it have to possess certain aesthetic qualities? What makes a piece of art ‘Chinese art’? I am puzzled by this and I don’t have an answer yet. It is something that I’ll continue to think about. I may pose this question at my next Chinese painting class and see what others think.

MA U2: Cheongsam Series #3 – wearable painting

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Following on from Cheongsam Series #2, the plan was to create a wearable painting in the form of a Cheongsam. I have little experience in dressmaking but I remember watching my mother make dresses when I was young. She was a very talented dressmaker and I used to enjoy watching her work. I vaguely remember my grandmother being a dressmaker, too, so I guess my mother must have been inspired by her mother. I also learnt sewing at school so I have some knowledge of the process. I started to research how to make a Cheongsam.

I researched different sewing patterns online looking for one that’s not too complicated and I managed to find one. The reviews of the pattern suggested it was easy to make and I ordered one.

METHOD

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The pattern seemed straightforward and simple which was a great way for me to learn to make a Cheongsam. I measured myself and chose a size on the pattern.

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The fabric I used was a light weight calico cotton canvas material. I felt the light weight yet tough texture of the fabric was suitable for a wearable painting.

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Pieces of canvas material was cut according to the pattern.

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My 40 year old sewing machine which has not been used for many years refused to work due to years of neglect. So I had to hand sew the dress.

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The canvas dress was put onto a dress maker’s mannequin for finishing.

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I was overly generous in my fabric cutting so the dress felt very large. The sewing pattern had provision for darts for a tighter fit. So I marked those out and sewn darts onto the front and back.

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To decide on a primer for the canvas dress, both gesso and diluted white acrylic paint were painted onto fabric samples as experiments.

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Once dried, acrylic paint was applied to both surfaces to see which would perform better. The gesso was preferred because it provided a smoother surface.

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Since the fabric was light weight, the mannequin was wrapped in clingfilm for protection from the painting process.

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White gesso with acrylic blue tint were diluted as primer.

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The canvas dress was primed on both sides. The tint worked well and I could use that as the background for the painting.

The final finishing step was to add the frogs (tradition fabric buttons or fasteners).

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REFLECTIONS

I am pleased with the fact that I managed to make a canvas dress using a bought sewing pattern. This experience has given me confidence to take on other sewing or textile projects which will provide an addition dimension to my practice which I feel excited about. For now, I have made a 3D canvas in the shape of a Cheongsam and primed it. Although the painting was not yet finished, I wanted to pause and reflect on the progress so far and take time to consider what to paint on the dress.

The Cheongsam series started as a result of me finding my mother’s old Cheongsams in my loft, which triggered intrigue and inspiration for me to make work on the Cheongsam subject. I know little about the Cheongsam and I am starting to research about its history especially its evolution and how the style changed over time partly due to influences from the West. E.g. the Cheongsam started off as a loose fitting garment, however, as European designers such as Christian Dior marketed more figure-hugging dresses that were pinched at the waist, the Cheongsam started to evolve as Chinese women wanted to emulate European fashion. From around mid-20th century, the Cheongsam started to evolve as a result of the two cultures coming together and the new figure-hugging silhouette emerged which lasted till today. To this end, I believe the modern Cheongsam is a form of a Third Space phenomenon which fits in well with my overall research topic based on Homi K Bhabha’s book, The Location of Culture. My knowledge on the Cheongsam is very limited and I will be borrowing several books on the subject from CSM library. I look forward to finding out more to inform my Cheongsam series of work.

Having established that the modern Cheongsam is potentially a Third Space phenomenon, I would like to use the 3D canvas dress made here for a painting to show something about the Third Space, perhaps another Third Space phenomenon. I am considering making a series of Cheongsam canvases, each painted with a Third Space phenomenon and all as wearable paintings. I want to make them wearable so that they are metaphors for the uniform that transcultural people wear and the roles that they play as they navigate the different cultures in their environment. This work can help to inform my transcultural identity and heritage research.

LEARNING

I have learnt various techniques while making the dress and the experience will be useful as I go onto making other garments to feed into my practice.

I need to learn more about the history of the Cheongsam because it intrigues me and is an interesting part of the Hong Kong heritage that will help inform my art practice. Especially with my late mother being a skilful dressmaker and I remember clearly the dress that I found being in her wardrobe for many years. My older sister remembers visiting the tailor’s shop with my mother to order the dress. In fact, she has recently found the history of the shop for me – it still exists in Hong Kong.

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NEXT STEPS

Decide what to paint on the canvas and do the painting.

Research about Cheongsam to build on the series of work.

Make, just make and make some more.

MA U2: Cheongsam Series #2 – study drawing

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Following on from Cheongsam series #1:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2024/04/07/ma-y1-u1-cheongsam-series-1/

where I had made an abstract painting after finding my late mother’s Cheongsam in my loft, I was unsure of where to go from there. I enjoyed the making process in series #1 but didn’t feel like building on that particular piece of work. At the end of series #1, I said that I would make some informal work and have a play in my sketchbook. I studied the dress again to get inspiration. When nothing came to mind, I decided to do some drawings and use that time and the act of drawing to facilitate my thinking.

METHOD

A pencil drawing studying the unique shape of the Cheongsam was made as a first exercise:

I have always been mesmerised by the pattern of this particular Cheongsam of my mother’s:

So I made a colour study of the most memorable part of the pattern. This area of the pattern has been imprinted on my mind since I was a little girl.

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Since the fabric and the dress are so delicate, I wanted to use ink for the colour study. Any paint such as oil or acrylic would seem overly heavy.

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The initial blue ink was too bright, so a darker blue ink (Quink) was used to complete the study.

A study of an abstract pattern on a mid-20th century Hong Kong cheongsam. Ink and pen drawing

REFLECTIONS

I was pleased that I managed to follow through on the plan I had set myself after the last painting – to make some informal work, hence the sketches. Also, I kept thinking about my tutor’s advice – just keep making, make anything – objects, images etc. I have not done much drawing since starting my MA and it was good to play in my sketchbook again.

During the drawing, my mind wandered onto what work to make next. I was so mesmerised by the cheongsam and the fabric pattern that I wanted to make one – to make a cheongsam. I didn’t just want to make a dress, I wanted to make a wearable painting cheongsam. I thought about making a cheongsam using a canvas material then painting on the 3D canvas dress. I have had many ideas about making wearable paintings in the past and that thought has just occurred to me again. So I think it’s time to do it.

Making a cheongsam is not easy and I’m not an experienced dress maker. So I researched online to find easy to make dress patterns. Also, I researched online the books available at UAL to find out more about the history of the cheongsam. I have reserved four books at CSM and also purchased one online. I’m looking forward to properly embarking on this research project to inform my cheongsam series of work.

LEARNING

– The drawing exercise was very useful and enjoyable. Since it was not a highly challenging piece of work, I was able to let my mind wander and came up with ideas of making wearable cheongsam paintings. I should use drawing more as a way to explore and think. I know it does work, I just need to do it more.

– I bought a book on the history of cheongsam online and realised I should have looked at the UAL library first. I was delighted by the library’s materials on the cheongsam and the facility to borrow books from other UAL college libraries was very useful. UAL also had a copy of the book I bought, so I could have saved some money – must remember to search the library first next time.

– I am excited about starting the next project on making a wearable painting with opportunities to research the dress’ history as well as the materials for this application.

NEXT STEPS

– Make a wearable cheongsam painting based on the ideas that came to mind during my sketching.

– Research the history of the cheongsam so I can be more informed in my making.

– Keep making, just make. Make anything.

MA U2: Cheongsam Series #1 – oil and cold wax abstract

| elizarawlings

During one of my visits to Hong Kong some 30 years ago when my mother was still alive, she gave me four dresses as keepsakes – two hand tailor-made silk Cheongsams (traditional Chinese dress) from when she was a young woman and two evening dresses that she made herself for dinner balls that she went to with my father. One of the cheongsams was my favourite, it had a distinctive and memorable pattern. I remember very clearly that I used to open her wardrobe as a little girl to admire it and I was mesmerised by the pattern. Everything about it said ‘my mum’ to me. So I was very happy when she gave it to me to keep as it was very precious and had so much history.

Then in 2001 when I moved house (in Bristol, UK), I cleared lots of old things into a skip. As the skip was driven away, I remembered a small suitcase containing the precious dresses was accidentally thrown into the skip but it was too late. It was one of the things that I have regretted all these years.

That was some 22 years ago. Then earlier this year, I was clearing out the loft and found a box containing some old items, inside which was a plastic carrier bag contain the four dresses. It was as close to a miracle as I could image. I hadn’t thrown away those dresses after all! To find them again after all these years was an emotional moment for me.

Here is the distinctive Cheongsam that I adored. It is a traditional Chinese dress made with a contemporary western style abstract patterned fabric of the time (late 1960s). It is a good example of a piece of transcultural garment. It has some deep creases from being folded for so many years but I am unsure of how best to iron or care for it, so until I find out, I decided to refold it for safe keeping. Below are some photos I took before putting it away.

Front view
Back view
Close up of the Madarin collar design
Close up of the abstract pattern that fascinated me as a child
Close up of the details of hand made stitches along a seam

There is so much history to this interesting dress, its rich features and heritage make it very precious and can provide inspiration for my art making. However, I was unsure of what to do and where to start.

When I recently visited the Stuart Hall Library in London as part of my MA Fine Art course Low Residency at CSM, I saw the book called Fusionable Cheongsam. I was unable to spend too much time there because we were on a tight schedule for the day and I hope to return soon to have a good read of the book. However, I had seen enough to convince me that the Cheongsam could be a good focus for my art making. I decided to start with a painting.

METHOD

Photographs of various parts of the Cheongsam fabric pattern were taken and printed on an EPSON EcoTank ET2860 inkjet printer.

Images were selected to fully cover a 30×20 inch canvas board. Dispersion liquid was used to transfer the printed images onto the canvas and left to dry overnight.

The paper was rubbed off leaving the transferred image on the canvas. As expected, the process usually leaves blank patches as it had done here:

Where there were blank spaces, the outline of the abstract shapes were drawn in using a 0.2mm black fine liner pen.

Using the colour charts I prepared a few weeks ago, various colour shades were chosen for the top layer oil and cold wax painting. The oil and cold wax were mixed in 50/50 ratio.

Blocks of colour were painted onto the canvas. The approach was abstract and without pre-planning, I was just responding to the canvas. Towards the bottom centre area, I wanted to paint a dark red triangle, what came out was part of a mouth or lips. The lips led me to start painting an abstract face:

Once the top layer painting was completed, I started to scratch off the paint, firstly in the shape of a small cheongsam.

Then the paint was scraped off and the area cleaned with environmentally friendly solvent:

I liked the image and I then responded to it by making marks of several other cheongsams of various sizes. Bright red paint was used to depict the traditional Chinese buttons used on garments. Strips of Chinese calligraphy with the phrase ‘third space’ was layered onto the paint then pigment was sprinkled to add texture.

I felt troubled by the face, especially the dark eye, it looked too sinister. So I scraped off most of the dark eye to give it a kinder look.

Finished work below – Cheongsam #1. Oil and cold wax on canvas with image transfer. Size 20×30 in.

REFLECTIONS

What I am happy with:

– The colour palette

– The fabric pattern that came through

– The Cheongsam shaped mark making

– The little red buttons as a colour pop

– The inlaying of Chinese calligraphy

– Enjoyed working with oil and cold wax media

What I’m not happy with:

– The composition, the ‘lips’ accidentally appearing led me to subconsciously start creating a face-like composition. I’m not sure if it worked. When the ‘eye’ was completely filled in black, it became a strange and eerie creature. It was too distracting hence I scraped off most of the black to reduce the impact.

– Due to the strange face, it doesn’t sit comfortably with me which perhaps is a good thing. Better than being forgettable.

Other thoughts:

– I wanted to use the cheongsam series to help me to delve into my thoughts about my family, especially my mother, our relationship and my heritage. I am not sure if I achieved this in just this painting because I was overly focusing on making the work and trying to get the composition right. But I am keen to continue the Cheongsam series and feel that I am at the beginning of something.

– I am intrigued by the history of the Cheongsam and want to find out more.

– The fact that such a traditional Chinese garment of my mother’s was made with a western style abstract pattern was intriguing – this is what the Third Space is about and I have accidentally stumbled upon this excellent example – my mother, a Chinese woman from colonised Hong Kong, chose this dress with this fabric. I have not fully processed this finding yet, but I wanted to acknowledge it here and will slowly delve into what I think and how I feel about this.

LEARNING

– Various symbols have emerged from this piece. I am inspired by Fiona Rae’s work where she often uses playful symbols. I can try a playful approach with e.g. lips or butterflies. The collars of the Cheongsam remind me of butterflies, they could be turned into a signature symbol that I use in my work.

– Other symbols such as the distinctive buttons that are used in Cheongsam and traditional Chinese garments, I loved playing with them when I was a child – I can investigate those further.

– I am intrigued by the Cheongsam and I want to research about its history and other related art such as in the book ‘Fusion of Cheongsam’ to get inspiration for making.

– As I was painting, I felt that I was trying too hard especially in the composition of the oil and cold wax layer. It felt deliberate rather than a free response to the canvas. I could use my sketchbook more to plan composition for my work, do more quick trial and error exploration.

NEXT STEPS

– Continue the Cheongsam exploration because I feel excited by the subject – research into its history and related art to get inspiration.

– Keep making, do some informal work. Not every piece has to be a finished painting.

– Play in my sketchbook.

– Relax and enjoy the making process. Take time and don’t try too hard.

MA U2: Exploring aesthetics – Part 3 – Harbour

| elizarawlings

This piece of work was a continuation of my exploration of how to express the third space through aesthetics. It started with a digital collage in a similar way to the piece I did for the MA Interim Show in Part 2:

MA Y1 U1: Exploring Aesthetics – Part 2 – Painting on silk for MA Interim Show

However, after I started this piece, my thinking took me to reflecting on how I felt about my work in the third space so far. My thoughts are captured in this blog:

MA Y1 U1: The elusive Third Space – Reflections from MA interim show and feedback

Although this work did not start as the abstraction approach that I concluded on in my thinking, I have altered part of the image to be less illustrative and more suggestive as a start of this new exploration.

METHOD

A digital collage was created using Adobe Express comprising an image of present time Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, a row of colourful Victorian houses at Bristol Harbour and a traditional Chinese junk. The images were manipulated so that the buildings forming the skyline of the two harbours were combined forming a continuous shoreline with the HK Harbour image changed to a subtle but bright two-tone effect whilst the Bristol houses remained vibrant and unchanged. Various colour effect experiments were carried out to achieve this final image:

I recently started to experiment with using old black and white family photos in my digital collages. For this piece of work, the photos formed a collage on the sails of the junk:

Whilst the previous work for the MA show was printed on silk, I feel this image would suit a woven canvas (e.g. a traditional cotton woven canvas). So my plan is to have this printed on canvas then add brush strokes in the style of Chinese calligraphy. The digital collage was exported to Adobe Freso where I used the painting function to try out different compositions. Below are two examples.

Example 1 – using an abstract image done in Chinese calligraphy style:

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Example 2 – using Chinese characters that meant ‘space’ (as in third space) with a red seal stamp drawn in:

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This is work-in-progress and I will order several printed canvases to try out the calligraphy experiments.

REFLECTIONS

I am happy with the progress so far. I like the way the two harbours came together as one continuous shoreline representing the different parts of my life coming together as a continuum. After my reflections on my third space work so far, my aim here is to create images that are more ambiguous so that both the viewers and I have to think deeper to see what’s there. I am not sure if I have managed to achieve it with this work. I will reserve judgment until the work is complete.

What I am also pleased about is that I am becoming less sensitive about using my family photos. I have always felt that they were too precious to be used, like mining a fragile archeological site. Although I have not used the very precious photos of my close family yet, I am feeling more able to consider the idea.

LEARNING

Since this is still work-in-progress, I’ll leave the full consideration of my learning until the end when the work is finished.

NEXT STEPS

– To order a minimum of four canvases printed with the image to experiment with adding Chinese calligraphy style brush strokes to complete the painting.

– I will go for A1 size to start with; it gives a reasonable area for expression without having to commit too much costs or materials. If I like the outcome then I might consider printing more canvases on a larger scale.

– Other experiments to consider are:

a. Covering the image with a top layer of oil and cold wax abstract painting then complete the painting by scraping off areas to reveal the image underneath.

b. Spray painting in street art style to show further Bristol heritage.

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ADDITIONAL REFLECTIONS

After publishing this blog and giving more thoughts about my blog on the elusive third space, I decided not to take this piece of work further. This is because I feel this image is still rather illustrative with images of only ‘A and B’ (as explained in ‘The Elusive Third Space’ blog). So I’m going to leave this for now and focus on the Cheongsam series which may give me more exploration opportunities. I may come back to this later but I’ll leave it here for now.