Part One: The Basic Steps of Landscape Painting
Through centuries of observation, synthesis, selection, and refinement, Chinese landscape painters have codified the painting process into several fundamental stages: outline drawing (goule), texture strokes (cunca), rubbing and washing (caran), dotting with moss (diantai), and color application (shese).
1. Outline Drawing (Goule)
Outline drawing can begin with either side-tip or centered-tip brushwork, always with variation in void-solid relationships and brush pressure. Generally, paint the near ground before the far distance, using slightly dry ink. Large and small stones should be distributed evenly, with balanced clustering and spacing. Avoid painting stones too square or too round — nature's forms occupy the space between geometry and organic irregularity.
2. Texture Stroke Methods (Cunfa)
The character cun originally referred to skin chapped and cracked by cold — in landscape painting, it describes the methods for rendering the volume, texture, and structural patterns of mountains, peaks, and rock formations. There is no single fixed texture-stroke method; the ancients never limited themselves to one type per painting. The goal is always to represent the subject in the most fitting way. Common texture strokes include: hemp-fiber stroke (pima cun), axe-cut stroke (fupi cun), folded-belt stroke (zhedai cun), unravelled-rope stroke (jiesuo cun), ox-hair stroke (niumao cun), and bean-petal stroke (douban cun), among others.
3. Rubbing and Washing (Caran)
In practice, texture-stroking and rubbing often occur simultaneously — when the artist completes a texture stroke and the brush tip is somewhat dry, the rubbing step is accomplished in the same motion. Rubbing primarily adds a sense of朦胧 (haziness) to mountain forms, enhancing verisimilitude. Washing is a crucial step that establishes the painting's light-dark relationships and primary-secondary hierarchy while enriching the textural quality of the rock masses.
4. Moss Dotting (Diantai)
This is the "dotting-the-eyes" stroke of landscape painting — traditional landscape work cannot be considered complete without it. Moss dots serve to clarify the front-to-back layering of mountain and rock forms, and can also function as small groves of trees. The moment moss dots are applied, the entire painting instantly comes alive with renewed vitality.
5. Color Application (Shese)
Color application generally divides into light ochre landscape (qianjiang), light blue-green landscape (xiao qinglü), blue-green landscape (qinglü), and gold-outlined landscape (jinbi). Taking light ochre as an example: once the ink foundation is dry, apply burnt sienna (or burnt sienna mixed with ink) to the light-receiving surfaces of rock masses. Color application is never simple flat-washing — it must modulate according to the front and back faces of mountains. While the burnt sienna is still not fully dry, apply ink-blue (flower blue + gamboge + ink) to the shadow sides. The boundary between burnt sienna and ink-blue will blend naturally, creating the effect of natural vegetation cover.
Part Two: Light Ochre Landscape Method (Qianjiang)
Light ochre is currently the most common type of Chinese landscape painting, primarily using burnt sienna, ink-blue, and sap green (flower blue + gamboge) for its color scheme. Its characteristics are淡雅 (subtle elegance), 明洁 (brightness and purity), and exceptional transparency.
Cool-Color System (Ink-Blue / Sap Green)
Execute the ink draft and allow it to dry completely before applying color. Begin with ink-blue on the shadow sides of mountains. While still damp but not fully dry, wash light burnt sienna onto the sunlit faces — the two colors will naturally blend at their borders without harsh transitions. Once dry, selectively reapply deeper burnt sienna and ink-blue to specific areas. The sap green and ink-blue palette produces a cool-toned, elegantly understated effect.
Warm-Color System (Burnt Sienna)
Apply burnt sienna first to sunlit rock faces, tree trunks, and buildings. Once completely dry, use a deeper burnt sienna to reinforce the principal lines. Simultaneously, apply burnt sienna mixed with ink to the shadow sides for washing and texturing, ensuring smooth transition with the earlier light burnt sienna layer. All color application must be thin, transparent, and uniform. When the entire painting is thoroughly dry, use color or ink dots for moss application to increase layering and textural weight.
Part Three: Ink-Wash Landscape Method
Ink-wash landscape, as the name indicates, substitutes the full range of ink tones for color, using the contrast of black and white to express proximity and distance, primary and secondary, and artistic conception. The ancients said "ink divides into five colors" — meaning that within a single ink-wash landscape, the artist must deploy the full spectrum from dry to wet, concentrated to light, and burnt to clear.
The difficulty of producing a fine ink-wash landscape is considerable: the artist must complete the entire composition without color, and yet the result must never appear messy, dirty, or confused. The ink foundation (mogu) is the critical first step, establishing the basic forms of the landscape. But the most decisive step is washing (ran) — a painting succeeds or fails on the quality of its wash work. In ink-wash landscape, the washing should be slightly deeper than in colored work, since no additional color stage follows. Well-executed washing makes the entire painting vivid and alive.
Part Four: Blue-Green Landscape Method
Blue-green landscape shares its fundamental techniques with ink-wash landscape but is distinguished by its meticulous, decorative character. This is the most traditional approach, flourishing during the Sui and Tang dynasties, also known as gongbi heavy-color landscape. The finished effect is sumptuous, magnificent, and richly decorative.
Blue-green landscape divides into light blue-green (xiao qinglü), deep blue-green (da qinglü), and gold-outlined (jinbi). Because the mineral pigments azurite (shiqing) and malachite (shilü) are relatively bright and can appear garish if not properly grounded, artists typically work on toned paper, building up base colors before applying the mineral blues and greens.
Detailed Process:
Step 1: Using relatively concentrated ink lines, outline the mountains, rocks, and trees, attending carefully to the density-sparsity relationships among the lines. Use light ink to roughly establish the shadow sides of rocks, then wash the entire surface with burnt sienna.
Step 2: For areas that will receive azurite blue, first apply a vermilion wash as an underlayer. Then use ink-blue to differentiate along the contour lines, building a sense of luminosity. Key areas may receive repeated washes to enhance rhythmic structure and textural presence.
Step 3: Begin applying mineral colors. On areas designated for azurite, apply two or three thin washes of pale azurite (erqing or sanqing), reserving space at the mountain bases for malachite green. Maintain two brushes — one for color application and one clean brush for blending edges — to prevent harsh transitions.
Step 4: Once all layers are dry, apply the final azurite and malachite layers. Apply color multiple times — better thin than thick, letting color build gradually without obscuring the ink structure beneath. Color should be applied from top to bottom, left to right, to avoid smudging. On azurite mountain peaks, a touch of concentrated azurite (touqing) adds variation and greater elegance. Buildings are typically touched with light burnt sienna; red trees receive thin vermilion washes built up in layers to reduce the pigment's natural garishness. The completed work receives final moss dots in flower blue and sap green, with selected areas refreshed by burnt ink for structural emphasis.