Qinghai artist paints with his bare hands
Category: Photography & Art
Via: buzz-of-the-orient • 5 years ago • 4 commentsBy: No Author Indicated
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Qinghai artist paints with his bare hands
Ma Jinfu's ceramic paintings. [Photo provided to China News Service]
Ma Jinfu, an elderly man from Xining city, Northwest China's Qinghai province, paints on glass and ceramics using his palms and fingers.
An inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage of Xining glass-painting, Ma first learnt to paint on glass from his grandfather at age 12.
The artwork was very popular when he was young but declined with time.
To move beyond the limits of glass, he tried painting on other materials, including ceramics and coated paper.
Using fingers and palms forms only one part of the traditional art, furthering innovation.
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Ma Jinfu's paints on coated paper. [Photo provided to China News Service]
Dipped in ink, he draws the vivid texture of mountains and rivers with his palm, the charm of plants and trees with his fingertips, and the details of animals like cows and sheep with his fingernails.
Each painting depicts the artist's love for his hometown, marked by many local features.
His favorite painting is of Tibetan antelope. "These antelope are a precious wealth in Qinghai. They are the best illustration of ecological protection here," he explained.
With his works housed in collections across the world, Ma hopes the traditional craft will be handed down to future generations.
"I want more people to experience the beauty of Qinghai through my finger-paintings," Ma said.
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Ma Jinfu's paintings. [Photo provided to China News Service]
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Ma Jinfu's ceramic paintings. [Photo provided to China News Service]
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Ma Jinfu's favorite painting. [Photo provided to China News Service]
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Ma Jinfu's glass-paintings. [Photo provided to China News Service]
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About 4 months after arriving in China I stood, fascinated for an hour or so, watching a similar artist using this technique. He would dip the side of his palm in ink and then roll it on the paper to depict rolling hills, and used the techniques described in this article.
Dear Brother Buzz: We are driving distance to the Corning Museum of Glass.
Some years back Mrs. E. and I journeyed there for a wonderful day at the various buildings and their exhibits.
One worked glass beads into any shape you requested.
She charged a flat fee or for time and materials involved.
I explained what a Yad is, and how it is used to read from a Torah Scroll.
She made a dozen different shapes and colored glass beads samples.
I bought them all. When our grandson becomes Bar Mitzvah in a few years he can choose which one he gets to use when he serves as Baal Koreh for the Parshat Ha Shavuah and when he reads his Haftorah.
Mrs. E. a Tzabarit tutors him, as she did for our son, daughter and other grandchildren.
The arts are good for the soul.
Where ever you go, what ever you do; they enhance life in all its diverse and beautiful formats.
Great post.
Super pictures.
Fascinating topic.
P&AB.
Enoch.
The glass "yad" is a unique gift that one would treasure. I never used one, although my great-grandfather, one of the founders of our little Orthodox synagogue, and its first and long-time cantor, did use one. He sang into his nineties, and I recall watching and listening to him when I was little. Here is a photo of him, as I remember him, my "rock and redeemer" standing in the Royal Botanical Rock Garden near our city.
Dear Brother Buzz: How proud he would be if he were here to read this post, and your memory.
Well done, brother.
Well done indeed.
E.