Chinese Painting

Chinese Painting is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world, it is also known in Chinese as Guohua. Traditional painting involves essentially the same techniques as calligraphy which is done with a brush dipped in black or colored ink. Compared with the western style of painting, oils are not used in Chinese Painting. Chinese paintings were usually painted on paper or silk; Traditional painting can also be done on album sheets, walls, folding screens, and other media. Chinese painting is also known as one of the Four Art in China. The Four Arts of the Chinese scholar were the four things that required for Chinese scholar gentleman, and the four arts are Qin, Qi, Shu and Hua. Qin is Chinese stringed instrument, Qi is Chinese Chess, Shu is calligraphy and Hua is Chinese painting. So, in the old time, the people who can do The Four Arts were seen as a very talent person.
It has been a long time of developing for Chinese painting and people are still practicing the techniques right now in China. People like Chinese painting because there is always a soul in each painting. People can really feel the spirit and get inspired by a Chinese painting because they can see through the painting and get the painter’s feeling. And all of the things on Chinese painting are finished by using simple tools. In Chinese paintings, as in calligraphy, artists usually grind ink stick over an ink stone to obtain black ink, but prepared inks are also available. Most ink sticks are made of either pine or oil soot combined with animal glue. An artist puts a few drops of water on an ink stone and grinds the ink stick in a circular motion until a smooth, black ink of the desired concentration is made. Prepared inks are usually of much lower quality. Ink sticks themselves are sometimes ornately decorated with landscapes or flowers in bas-relief and some are highlighted with gold. Ink wash painting brushes are similar to the brushes used for calligraphy and are traditionally