Cranes in Chinese River Holiday Postcard

Cranes in Chinese River is a brush painting in the traditional Chinese "gongbi" style. Watercolor and ink on rice paper. Since ancient times in China, the crane has been regarded as an auspicious bird, next only to the legendary phoenix among all the birds with a divine poise. It was also a symbol of longevity and incorruptibility. Because a crane was considered the top-ranking bird, it was used as Imperial China's highest demarcation of court status, and its appearance on the rank badge of an official's robe signed that the wearer was a civil servant of the first, or highest, rank. The crane is usually depicted standing alone on a rock that is surrounded by the rising tide, which represents attaining the highest civil rank. As the Chinese word “chao” means both tide and government, dynasty, or having an audience with an emperor. Thus, a crane standing before the tide represents a top-ranking minister standing before his emperor. Even standing alone means "having attained something by one's own efforts," being successful through diligence in studies. GongBi is a careful realist technique in Chinese painting, the opposite of the interpretive and freely expressive XieYi style. The technique calls for brushstrokes to “be as detailed as detailed can be”, using highly detailed brushstrokes that delimit details very precisely and without independent or expressive variation. In addition, it tries to strike a balance between artistic expression and vitality, is often highly coloured, and usually depicts figural or narrative subjects. Gongbi requires drawing with fine lines first to represent the exaggerated likenesses of the objects and then adds washes of ink and colour layer by layer to approach the perfection of exquisiteness and fine art.