travel 2007 : yunnan, szechuan-china The Calligrapher

He lived in the hills & earn a living from tourists by using our Chinese

character name to form a poetry, the 1st word always start with the

character of our name ( usually 3 letter character). Thanks for visiting.

He charges RMB50.00 ( approx USD7.50). The 6 of us let him try with our names. Some he easily write out beautiful verse within min, some he take some time to think as the characters are not so easy to form. We admire him for his talent & each take back the poetic verse ( wrap in scroll-like plastic) as momento.

Cherlyn, it's an art isn't it? I used to be able to read (and write) Chinese but have lost it over time from lack of practice. Funny how this can never happen with English. Even worse is when I start reading bilingual versions of Reader's Digest and seeing characters I once knew but have forgotten what it means.

 

Time to revive my Chinese..

I agree with you Michael . As I have not written Chinese for many years ( even worse now there is computer to help you write), I tend to forget some words but luckily I read very often so I still recognise them . I find Chinese character an amazing form of language. You can described mixed / complicated feelings with just one or 2 words that I find that I cannot do with English. Poetry comes out beautifully too, It is an art indeed.

A lovely story. Beautiful calligraphy well captured in the minimalistic photo. Karl

I have enjoyed your photograph and your comments with Michael concerning the language. Thanks for sharing this, it is a nice image and good commentary.

Excellente imagen de gran belleza, especial luz y color con un magnifico encuadre. Saludos cordiales Cherlyn.

Excellent capture! Great light and lovely story! 7/7a. Best regards.

Nice vertical composition, Cherlyn. Excellent capture, light, colors and DOF. Very good shot. Regards!

Cherlyn, I just noticed the calligrapher using a fountain pen - must have been controlling line width using pressure. I wonder why he didn't use traditional brushes. This is really 3 art forms combined - the calligraphy, the poetry and the photography. :-)

AH Michael, but nowadays you seldom even saw people using fountain pens. We use ball-point pens. I think children nowadays didn't even know that there are fountain pens that can be refilled with ink.

Nice composition & dof.

Very beautiful photo with excellent vertical composition. Congrats !

Calligraphy is an art.Chinese ,Japanese & Arabic

calligraphy have been practiced much earlier than in English.In Singapore, Chinese calligraphers write English words,in colours, with almost Chinese letters and incorporate,birds,fish,butterfly,etc.What is amazing that they use one brush to use different colours and that too in a minute. I have a beautiful specimen from Singapore,at my home.

 

Very good cropping and exposure,Cherlyn.

Cheryln. This is a wonderfully composed image. It tells a nice little story of sorts and makes nice use of light and shadows. I like it.

Exciting to see the creation of another art. (My sister, an English professor, insists on using fountain pens. Maybe snobbery... I don't know.) I always enjoy your narrations and photographs.

Original, beautiful and very good done! Warm regards.

The art of Calligraphy has always fascinated me, because of the mastering of the way it is created, when the pressure of the painting hand affect the brushes and the result .My first visit in a Japanese house was to a calligraphy teacher, she demonstrated how she does it, and I was hooked ! she gave me two of her works as a present that I chrish., and entered one of them to my Japanese folder here, there is a member there that explains the differences.

 

It is a very nice composition Cherlyn, even though I agree that the special brushes are having a greater impact,but I like the way you have framed his writing hand.

Beautiful, excellent details, colors and skin tones.

 

Alberto