Chinese calligraphy : an introduction to its aesthetic and technique : with 6 plates and 155 text illustratons

THE STROKES

the ink is very thick, lean if the ink is very thin. The nature of ‘muscle’ in a stroke can be left to the imagination; when the stroke is bony and has the right amount of flesh, muscle is sure to be there. In well-written characters there seem to be muscles joining one stroke to another, and even one character to another. The ‘blood’ of a stroke depends entirely upon the amount of water with which the ink is mixed—the colour. Thus it can be seen that the principle of ‘life’ is borne out even in the technical detail of Chinese calligraphy.

All these are illustrated in the examples (Fig. 102) which we call the ‘ Eight Defects,’ Pa-Ping (/\ iia).

Here no flesh, no bone, no muscle, and no blood are, respectively, shown clearly. Beginners inevitably make some of their strokes like these, but the defects diminish gradually with continual practice, and ultimately the brush can be controlled with ease.

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