The tutor will demonstrate the painting process of the chosen works and guide you through one or two similar styles with face-to-face and step by step traditional demonstrations.
Wang Xuetao was part of the twentieth century revival of 'guohua', traditional national painting, working in Beijing through the Japanese occupation and the establishment of the People’s Republic. He inherited the excellent traditions from the Song and Yuan dynasties, and was committed to learning from ancient masters and unceasing creativity. He studied Xu Qingteng, a Ming dynasty painter, and Ren Bonian, a Qing dynasty painter, and learned directly from Qi Baishi, a famous modern painter, in the 1920s. His wife, Xu Peiyu, was also an artist, part of the same 'Nine Friends Painting Society.'
He painted a wide range of subjects in a style that was sophisticated, fresh and beautiful. He was good at using flexible and changeable brush strokes. His work is rich in ink delight, combining color with ink, using color to help ink and ink to show color. He integrated the Western use of colour into the traditional approach.
He attached importance to sketching from nature, so that he understood and knew by heart the structure of plants and creatures. He combined this with his brush skills, so his works are accurate and vivid. He believed that all the grass, flowers, birds, fish, insects had spirit, and was good at depicting small animals and insects in nature, such as butterflies, mantis, katydids, frogs, dragonflies and so on.
In the 1950s and 1960s, his flower-and-bird painting reached a high artistic peak, and no one can surpass his small freehand brushwork.

• Large, medium and small Chinese brushes (at least one of each)

• A Bottle of Chinese Ink

• A box of Chinese colour (or, Gamboge, Indigo, Burnt Sienna, Vermillion Carmine, Rouge tint and White colours, each one PCS)

• Some rice paper (raw Xuan paper)

• Felt or old blanket (about 1m2)

• 2 or 3 white dishes to be used as palettes

The tutor will have some materials available for purchase if required:
Ink: a bottle for £4;
Chinese colour: each tube of 12ml for £1; a set of 12 colours for £8.00;
Chinese brushes, in different sizes from £2 - £10;
Suitable papers for the course (E.G. Rice paper (70cm x 135cm) for £1.50).