Biography
When I began to paint over 40 years ago, the basic elements of art, as I view them, had not been established in books. Nor had I been taught them in a satisfactory manner.
Later, I discovered that it was because the elements themselves had not been understood or articulated in their simplest form. The basic elements of visual art should function much like musical scales do for the composer.
They establish a vocabulary by which the
artist
communicates. They provide a
foundation that supports experimentation, enabling students/artists to create their
subjects using a personalized style or technique. My strongest contribution as an artist and educator is that I have distilled the various elements of art, as I view them, into their purest expression, namely Shapes & Light Value.
My career goal, when I began, was to be able to paint any subject directly, without sketching or painting through trial and error. It was an immense challenge. It wasn't until after I developed my light value scale and learned to see my subject as shapes that I was able to succeed. 
My theory has enabled me to paint any subject with confidence and to produce a successful work every time. My future aspirations are to simply continue sharing my theory with fellow painters. It provides an effective, alternative method of painting, and may help them define a direction in their work.
Chin.
Great new site! I love the retro photo.
Hi,
I just purchased your paperback book, Watercolor Basics Shape and Light Value. You say you can get by with just one brush, “which has a point and the proper size to perform all functions”,…. this brush has goat outside, rabbit inside.
The book doesn’t answer the following:
What size brush? Something like a 16 round? What ratio of the two fur? The brushes I have found come in 70% goat-30% rabbit, 70% rabbit-30% goat, and 50% rabbit - 50% goat. Given the rabbit is stiffer, I was thinking 70 rabbit, 30 goat for a beginner?
Thanks..
The Chinese brushes do come in many sizes. The brush I referred to is the most common size sold. There is a chinese character written on it that says “medium” if you can read chinese or ask the seller if he or she is chinese. Basically, you need an average size brush that is not too big or too small. When the brush is too big, you’ll be washing away a lot of paint when you finish painting the shape of the subject. Using a too small brush will mean constant reloading of paint and your stroke will dry faster on the paper resulting in uneven washes. A medium size brush will accommodate all functions.
The brush needs to go to a point in order for you to just use one brush to perform all functions. This is why all the western sable brushes, inspite of their expensive sable hairs are not suitable as they don’t come to a point. The benefit of using one brush for painting is that you are more effective at painting. Your thinking brain won’t have to determine which brushes to use. You can stay in your visual or seeing brain to complete the process. Painting is the process of the seeing brain, not the thinking brain.
The brush with two kinds of hair will retain the point even as it wears down from painting. This means you don’t have to replace it at all. As to the proportion of goat’s hair or rabbit’s hair or wolf’s hair, you can use any one of them once you get used to it. But if the hair is brown on the outside, your brush will loose its point!
All the best! Chin