Bamboo and Sparrows

Several pale-ink bamboo stalks lean together while two sparrows flutter by the leaves; the generous blankness breathes like wind, clear and alive.

Executed in freehand ink, the culms are laid in light washes with darker touches marking the nodes, the wet strokes trailing soft halos. Leaves are swept with the side of the brush into compact masses of dense black that play against faint gray shadows, setting up a vivid contrast of solid and void. The two sparrows, outlined in ink with small notes of ochre, tumble at the lower left to counterbalance the bamboo cluster to the right. Ample open space and the paper’s subtle speckling lend a poised calm in which the air seems to move.

Category

Ink · Bird & Flower

Year

1998