http://www.darlenekaplan.com
| Soft Brush Studio Oriental Brush Painting lessons taught by award winning artist, Darlene Kaplan in Soft Brush Studio. Classes are ongoing, you may join us anytime. chineseart@darlenekaplan.com |
| Soft Brush Studio Buy Oriental Brush Paintings / Chinese Watercolor Paintings & Oils for private, business, and or corporate art collectors. For private viewing 703-922-4175 |
| About the Art The Chinese Watercolor Paintings often referred to as Chinese Brush Paintings (which are the bulk of my paintings now) in my art gallery are rendered on rice paper, then mounted on a thicker paper using glue. The color is ground from minerals or plants and mixed with glue so it will stick to the paper. The ink comes in liquid form or ink sticks that are ground on an ink stone made of slate and mixed with water. The ink stick is preferred over the liquid ink. The brushes are soft (rabbit hair), medium (mixed fox and horse hair), or hard (horse hair), and are loaded with water first, then as many layers of color or ink will be added depending on the subject matter. By loading the brush in this manner it allows the blending of one color into the other gradually in one brush stroke. After the paintings have been mounted the mood seals and chop with name of artist will be added. One chop has my name while the mood seals are poetical sayings or a symbol, which has a connection with the painting. The seals are pressed into a tin of cinnabar paste, a scarlet red color, and is pressed onto the painting. When using a red seal on a monochrome painting, it is said to be adding the eye to the dragon. Besides the signature seal, my work also has my name in Chinese characters, and my signature in English. The subject matter for my Chinese Art varies from birds, to flowers, fish, landscapes, animals, insects and so on. Much of the subject matter has symbolic meaning. For instance,if a couple were getting married, or moving into a new house, a great gift would be a painting with fish. Fish symbolize long life and happiness. If you have fish in the work place it keep cash flowing, so a painting of fish in the office would be a great choice. Landscapes symbolize tranquility, which makes a living room a great place for a landscape painting. Both Crane and pine tree are strong and is a symbol of long life . These paintings are used by many interior decorators to feng shui home and or office for their clients. |
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| ART EXHIBITIONS Have had gallery representation and art exhibitions in SoHo district of N.Y. City, Alabama, Tennessee, Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia. All the exhibitions have been juried shows, either one person or group shows. My Oriental brush paintings and Oil paintings are collected by private, business, and corporations worldwide. Yearly exhibitions at Soft Brush Studio in VA. with over 200 paintings of Chinese watercolor arts. The shows have been very successful. I get to meet all my guest, and can answer any questions that they may have about my work. It would be my pleasure to give a private viewing to any client that is interested in seeing my work. To make an appointment, please e-mail chineseart@darlenekaplan.com or phone 703-922-4175 Monday-Friday from 10 am till 6 pm, Sat from 10 am till 6pm.. Active member of and Past President of Springfield Art Guild, member of Sumi-e Society, Virginia Watercolor Society, The Art League/Torpedo Factory, Vienna Arts League, National League of American Pen Women, McLean Art League, GRACE, and The Fairfax Arts Council, Associate member of Workhouse Arts Center, Lorton VA, President of Gallery West, Alexandria, VA.. My art may be viewed at Soft Brush Studio, 4609 Franconia Road, Alexandria, VA, Gallery West, Alexandria, VA, Workhouse Arts Center Building 16, Lorton, VA, and at ABACA Imports, 1120 N. Fairfax Street, Alex., VA 22314. |
| Soft Brush Art Studio located in Northern VA. Oriental Brush Paintings and Oil Paintings by artist, Darlene Kaplan |
| Chinese Art & Oil Paintings at Soft Brush Studio by Darlene Kaplan |
| What I Do For many years I painted realism in oils before making the change to oriental brush painting. Studying martial arts for years inspired me to try this medium, which I fell in love with right away. The calming effect of grinding the ink before painting, the energy that is put into throwing ink on paper is just the greatest of pleasures that only this style of art allows me to feel. I grew up in the country in Tennessee where all of my spare time was spent walking in the woods searching out bugs, plants and anything else that was alive. Those childhood days spent with nature is brought alive every time I put a brush stroke down on paper. All of my paintings are derived from nature. The paintings are from the very simple, elegant brush stroke of the bamboo orchid to the complicated soothing landscapes that your eyes can take a journey up into the mountains and off into the mist before returning home. Subtlety of a good painting lies in its being alike and yet unlike the subject where the absence of content can itself create rhythm and variety. I believe that an artist is a person who can see something within the mind that can be brought into reality where it can be seen, felt, touched, heard, and even sometimes smelled. |
| Pigeons of Hawaii Chinese Watercolor Painting by Darlene Kaplan |
| Lotus in the Rain Chinese Brush Painting Darlene Kaplan |