How to apply dry brush in painting

Dear friends,

Now, let's discuss more varieties of how the Chinese brush is used: ku pi (dry brush) and po pi (split brush).

A brush with scant moisture is used to achieve a dry texture within a line. The line may be fairly dry, or very dry, depending on the kind of effect that the artist wants to attain.

Dry brush is mainly employed in landscape painting. In calligraphy many artists also like to use this technique to enrich the textural effect. Well-known calligrapher, Chen Hsian- Chang of the 16th century, applied this technique to make Hsing scripts. The dry lines suggest a mature and straightforward expression; in other words, none of the lines are "prettied up" at all. This artist was deeply influenced by Yen Ch'en-Ch'ing of the 7th century. Generally, a dry texture in calligraphy indicates a deep feeling, like the thoughts of a person mellowed by age and experience. It would be difficult for a young person to produce this kind of rugged and direct line. Each dot is full of vitality.

In the painting of landscapes, especially when the po mo, or layered ink method, is used, one usually starts the rough draft of the composition with a very vague outline done in dry brush, or very dry brush, so that there is plenty of room for alteration.

In using dry brush, no matter how dry the brush is, the line must be kept quite clear. It will be muddy if one tries to go back over the line. In order to maintain the clarity of the line, the speed must be kept very low; otherwise, the line quality will be feathery, lacking an expression of strength.

The bark of some mature trees is rough; therefore, it is appropriate to use dry brush to inject that effect of coarseness (see picture). The color and the degree of dryness can be controlled.

Split brush may also be considered as a kind of ku pi, or dry brush, for the effect of the line is caused by the scarcity of water in the brush. This kind of brush stroke usually serves to provide a certain dry textural effect in both painting and calligraphy, and is especially useful in painting such subject matter as dry grass, feathers and fur.

Split brush is achieved by a forced twist of the brush, where the bristles, instead of holding to one point, are parted into many points; actually, the brush is divided into many small brushes. The advantage of split brush is that many lines or dots can be achieved by a single stroke.

Painting a tassel of reed can be done with just a few strokes. One split-brush stroke can represent many seeds. The stroke is done by a stabbing movement of the brush. Other strokes can make a series of lines representing the stems which are holding the seeds. With proper control, each split-brush line can be divided into five, ten or more lines; however, the effect goes beyond mere rendering. With this technique the artist can create the illusion of many lines -- suggesting much more than has actually been painted.

-- David Kwo