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 (continued)
The process takes no more than thirty
seconds. When Bao
Rong’s brush again rests on the table, the
students may let out their collective breath and pause to re-appraise the
piece. It is only know apparent that
their teacher has added a serpentine moshui vine to the scene,
thus changing the aesthetic completely.
What was just moments ago a weightless collection of blooms and
foliage floating across a white background is now anchored firmly in the
views gaze, bold and powerful. The moshui integrates the entire
piece. Without losing the
dimensionless quality of guohua, the
scene now gained depth. A pair of
students carefully lifts the drying paper and hangs it up to be admired by
the class.
Bao
Rong and her students work with a variety of
vibrant watercolor and tempera paints.
More often than not, however, it seems to be moshui that Bao Rong adds to her
students’ homework. Could it be that
the basest of colors is also the most difficult to control? Another student unrolls her homework, the
most promising of five attempts to reproduce a pair of Bao
Rong’s orchids.
The paper is still blank but for two slender plants, one in the
lower left corner growing upward, and the other in the upper right corner
growing downward. It is as though
they are whispering to one another across the empty page. Once again Bao Rong soaks her brush with moshui and begins to apply
broad, sideways brushstrokes to the page.
By varying angle and pressure, she is able to create a sort of rough
texturing effect. The result is a
large rock supporting one of the orchids.
The student stands silently, transfixed by the
transformation her homework has just undergone. “This is much harder than the leaves,”
explains Bao Rong
before reassuring her student. “Don’t worry. You don’t paint the black part just
yet.” It is with a choice of many
vibrant watercolor hues that students rehearse their favorite flowers, but moshui is the
province of the master. Asked about
the role of black
ink in her paintings of flowers, Bao Rong replies simply and with a chuckle. “With moshui it’s good.”
Magnanimous by Name
Wan
Shih-fen has long admired the tree peony for its resplendent beauty, aura
of lushness, and exalted position among the favorite blooms of Chinese
painting. She began studying guohua
through her church. After visiting
one of Bao Rong’s
exhibitions about a year ago, Ms. Wan bought an album of the artist’s
peonies and used it as her new textbook.
After several months of self-study, Ms. Wan convinced Bao Rong to take her as a
student. “We weren’t sure if Bao Rong would be willing
given my mother’s age, but she was very welcoming,” explained Ms. Wan’s daughter.
“She is a wonderful teacher—very kind. My mother loves studying with her and now
she paints every day at home.” Ms.
Wan exclusively paints peonies and is honored to have placed fourth at a
recent exhibition. She is
eighty-three.
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