Autumn Years Spring 2023

A watercolor demonstration at Van Saun Park, Tenn Lu.

the colors. An example is Mei’s style. She uses only a few colors, applied softly, in the ancient Chinese tradition. She will add ink strokes to define color in a scene, for instance, a few lines show that a green area is a leaf. She recommends adding people in a painting because that gives the viewer a connection with the work. Her calligraphy helps her feel a deeper connection because “when I do them I feel what the calligrapher felt. It’s like when you read a book.” Tenn, his brown eyes sparkling from under the bill of his denim baseball cap, says paintings should evoke a feeling, “It touches the heart. You have to know communication.” Mei gives an example of having seen Russian dancers precisely performing a ballet, but she fell asleep because the feeling wasn’t projected to the audience: “It didn’t catch the heart.” He catches the heart by way of the eyes which see his vibrant Windsor Newton colors such as blue indigio, Prussian blue and red, although he advises that you can’t overdo red. To add interest to his scenes, he leaves white space. He never uses black

Pure Beauty, Mei Lu.

Tenn and Mei both do Chinese watercolor, but Tenn’s style is more flowing and lets the eye fill in the details. He also thinks about what his patrons want, noting that “People buy 30- to 40 inch paintings.” At home, he spends up to a half-day working, and plans to do 40- to 60-inch paintings, which allow him to use his whole arm—“dreaming big, not working section by section” on Canson- or Strathmore-brand paper. Sometimes he paints smaller works in plein air (outdoors, from life). Mei says that her mother used to take them out ing because composition is the primary element for the painting.

and doesn’t use green from a tube, prefer ring to mix shades of green on his palette by blending blue and yellow. Mei says that her teacher advised her that with Chinese brush art, don’t use too-strong colors. Noting that that Tenn “is not afraid of using color,” she says he seems to prefer one color to be domi nant. She will look at Tenn’s work and give honest feedback, sometimes saying “this doesn’t work.” He will listen. “You need another eye,” she says. Retired from her job as an accoun tant at Kamson Corporation, Mei says “When you’re older you open up more, you have a freer style.” Tenn chimes in, “My style is easy—go ahead, no drawing. I think more than I paint.” He explains that he envisions what he wants to put on the paper before doing the paint

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SPRING 2023 I AUTUMN YEARS