Some more old and new paintings finally mounted.  The lotus was inspired by Bada Shanren’s famous handscroll Flowers on the River.

I love the roofscapes of Anhui province.

And I am fascinated by ancient Chinese vessels.  Silver Moon is a free interpretation of Warring States silver and gold inlay.

I have been enjoying live Zoom Chinese Culture seminars with Madison Plantier.

We’ve explored Chinese poetry, learnt the right way to prepare tea, and drooled over the Eight Great Cuisines!

Madison was a guide on the trip to China that I did last year (including Suzhou, Hongcun, and good food).  She has a wide knowledge of Chinese history and customs.
She is starting a new series of illustrated seminars in September.
It is a great way to spend a few autumn evenings!

I may have got a bit carried away buying masks.

Practicing 3 different types of pine needles.

I was recently introduced to the most complicated Chinese character – biang!  It has 57 strokes!  It is fun to try writing it, though quite hard to get it square and stable.

This character is only used to describe biang-biang noodles, a speciality of Shaanxi, and was probably invented – it doesn’t appear in standard Chinese dictionaries.  Another clue is that the videos showing how to write it vary in their stroke order:

• Clear printed character
• Good Japanese brushstrokes

There are other credible candidates for most complicated character.  If you fancy trying some more, look here.

I have been mounting paintings.  I love painting ancient bronzes, especially the Gu:

More bronzes, including a bell, plus leafy sea dragons!

Autumn and winter:

Cloud Dragon inkstone:

I found this video writing standard script with good brushwork.   The phrase being written is

 清遊暢詩懷

This is the second part of the expression

 道學通正事，清遊暢詩懷

Dàoxué tōng zhèngshì, qīngyóu chàng shī huái

The whole expression means  Study Confucian principles to understand the political affairs;  Leisurely travel lets you write poetry to your heart’s content.