Chinese Brush Painting

We learned about and were shown examples of some amazing Chinese brush paintings. We were then shown how to do the three different strokes that make up a bamboo plant and how to make the ink. We were given little Chinese brush kits with ink to grind, a grinding stone, and some paint brushes. 

On rice paper I created a little bamboo jungle. I loved being able to grind my own paint and make the color I wanted. 

My first layer of bamboo was a very very light color to show depth. I then just kept darkening the ink to create darker shades of colors to have bamboos that appeared closer and closer. 

I really enjoyed this project because it was different than anything you normally see in a classroom. It was fun to get to make my own ink and to learn the traditional paint brush strokes. 

A tutorial for this project can be found here.