Cover Photo: Cody with Chrysanthemum (Book of the Chrysanthemum by Su-sing Chow), Birds (Drawing Little Birds by O-shi Yang), Spider and Web (Insects by Su-sing Chow), and a Rabbit with Pumpkin.

Download the PDF Version

In this Issue:

Gold Edition - An Instructional Guide by Ning Yeh
Essential Tools Featured in Ning Yeh's Instructional Guide
Autumn is Abundance!
New Full Moon Brushes
Unleash Your Crafting Spirit!
The Importance of Perspective in Art and Life
Seasonal Landscape Tools
Two Beautiful New Gift Lessons
Give Gifts That People Actually Want to Get

Chinese Brush Painting: An Instructional Guide "Gold Edition"

We can hardly contain our excitement. The book we’ve been waiting for is finally here!

Collaborating with Mayee Futterman, Ning Yeh has updated his seminal book Chinese Brush Painting: An Instructional Guide for a whole new generation of Chinese Brush Painting enthusiasts!

Everything that is loved about the original from the step-by-step instruction, to common mistakes to avoid in the "boo boo pad" and the discussion of the cultural significance of each subject is intact while each section has been enhanced with new compositions, the most modern materials, and the most innovative teaching techniques.

There has never been a better time nor has there been a better resource for someone looking for a meaningful and satisfying journey into the beautiful world of Chinese Brush Painting.

BK01G: Non-Autographed $35

BK01G-A: Autographed by Ning Yeh $45

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Essentials Featured in Ning Yeh's Instructional Guide - Gold Edition

Premium Artist Brush Set

This set includes our artist quality Happy Dot, OAS Flow, Orchid Bamboo Large and OAS Large Flow. This brush set includes four brushes that will arm you with the ability to jump into many forms of Chinese brush painting and Sumi-e. You can paint flowers, birds, animals and low moisture landscapes with this basic introductory set.

PBSET01: Premium Artist Brush Set (4 Brushes Included) $70 (reg. $86)

Practice Xuan (Shuen) Paper

OAS’ Practice Xuan is a single xuan paper that is thicker and therefore more forgiving of excess moisture than most other sources’ single xuans. If a masterpiece should happen by accident, then Practice Xuan can be mounted and framed for final presentation beautifully! Comes in packages of 48 cut sheets (13¼” x 18”).

P03BL: Practice Xuan (Shuen) $25

Note: for even better moisture control papers, try our Jade Plate Double Xuan or our Pi Paper

Best Bottle Ink

Best Bottle Ink is a warm brown-black permanent liquid ink. This ink surpasses all other inks in richness, transparency, and smoothness. It is our favorite ink for painting because of its ability to show varying shades of gray and to blend harmoniously with color. Best Bottle Ink cannot be re-wetted or re-used once it dries. It is a permanent, stable ink (does not tend to bleed during the wet-mounting process).

I04: Best Bottle Ink (200mL) $15

Specialty Brushes

These specialty brushes equip you to paint difficult strokes with ease.

Biff Brush Small

The Biff Brush is a short-bristled brush that can be flattened to create perfect bamboo trunks and used for textured strokes such as rocks and leaves when you split the tip.

C4C: Biff Brush Small $19

Mountain Horse Medium

The Mountain Horse Brush has tough hairs that allow you to paint decisive lines(veins, bamboo leaves, or twigs) and you can paint dynamic, textured strokes by painting drier.

H2G: Mountain Horse Medium $20

Three Inch Wash Brush

For more information on the 3” Wash Brush, see Seasonal Landscape Tools.

F5: Three Inch Wash Brush $15

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White-eye bird painting from the book, "Drawing Little Birds" by O-shi Yang

Autumn is Abundance!

by Evan Yeh

Mid-Autumn Festival

Once of the major celebrations in the Chinese calendar is the Mid-Autumn Festival. It traditionally falls on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Chinese calendar. This year it happened on September 10th. There was a three day celebration in many Asian communities where people lit lanterns, ate sweet pastries called moon cakes, and gathered with extended family for large feasts.

Autumn is Abundance!

Universally across many cultures we see the season of autumn associated with abundance. Whether it be the Mid-Autumn Festival, Thanksgiving, Sukkoth (Jewish Harvest Festival) or many others, this time of year has a focus on abundance. Abundance focus is a critical aspect of well being as everything seems to be a little bit easier when the essentials of life are available in abundant supply.

Scarcity Uses and Teachers

Oftentimes, we see people in positions of authority using the idea of scarcity as a mechanism of influence and control. It often starts with parents trying to teach their children the value of things. They see their children treating food or other essentials with disrespect and the easiest way to try to convince the children to have respect is to teach them about scarcity. Scarcity is used in marketing all the time to attempt to create urgency around a buying decision or to explain why things cost what they cost.

Appreciation Rather than Scarcity

I love the word appreciation. I love the fact that it has a double meaning. On one hand, it means to understand the qualities of something. On the other hand, it also means to increase in value. I like to connect the two meanings to the revelation that when you appreciate the qualities of something, it increases in value. In other words, when you appreciate something, it appreciates in value! So it is not necessary for something to be scarce to be valuable, it is only necessary that something is appreciated.

Easy Sources of Abundance Appreciation

I like to identify easy things that almost everyone has in their experience which can help us focus on the abundance that is available to us all. When we focus on abundance, then we experience abundance. Try focusing on these things as sources or symbols of abundance:

• The sun: constant in everyone’s experience. A seemingly limitless source of power, warmth, energy for crops.
• Clean air: most of us have access to places where the air is clean. Breathing deeply a source of clean air has a transformative effect on your well being. Go to a place with lots of trees and appreciate the deliciousness of taking breath after breath of clean, cleansing, life renewing air.
• Clean water: most of us live in areas with ready access to clean water. How useful and essential this is! People in parts of the world will walk miles for a drink of clean water but most of us are experiencing ready access to abundant amounts of clean water to drink, cook with, and to bathe in.

Drawing Little Birds

By limiting her subjects to nine iconic small birds, O-shi Yang is able to provide deeper instruction for each bird, showing a large variety of poses with sequential instructional and an inspiration gallery of final compositions.

O-shi Yang helps demystify the subject of birds and provides a wonderful key that can unlock an almost limitless world of potential subjects in Chinese Bird Painting.

129 pages, Chinese/English
Q015: Drawing Little Birds $30

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Fall in Love with Our Full Moon Brushes!

Two years ago we sent out an email promoting a small batch of vintage brushes that we called the New Moon Brush. They sold out right away and we started building a list for people who were still interested in the brush. We commissioned a brush maker to make a similar brush that we are calling the Full Moon Brush. In addition, we also made a fuller bodied brush that we are calling Big Full Moon.

For those who have a difficult time controlling moisture or creating varying width within a single orchid stroke, this brush can be extremely helpful. The long bristle length combined with a narrow body makes it naturally suited for orchid leaves just as the BIFF brush is a secret weapon for bamboo trunks. Both are lovely, long bristled line brushes with clever tips and surprisingly supple bodies.

Full Moon Brushes

Type: Hard
Uses: Orchid Leaves, Vines, Running Style Calligraphy, and other long strokes

Full Moon Brush

Tip dimensions approx: 23/16” x 7/16”
HSP05: Full Moon Brush - $20 (reg. $27)

Big Full Moon Brush

Tip dimensions approx: 21/8” x 9/16”
HSP05L: Big Full Moon Brush - $28 (reg. $37)

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Unleash Your Crafting Spirit!

The smell of autumn is a distinct, yet indescribable scent. The leaves turn into a kaleidoscope of oranges and crimsons, vacations wind down and artists find the gravitational pull to create.

Allow the quietness of autumn to envelop you and let your creative spirit paint effortlessly.

You can paste your existing artwork onto these Paint Your Own Cards or paint directly on them!

Etegami Postcards - Gasenshi 3

Package includes 10 cards and a mini lesson to do your very own first hand painted card. Postcard size is approximately 6” x 4”

PYOET02: Paint Your Own Etegami Postcard $9

Paint Your Own Cards

Includes ten 10” x 7” Sheets and 10 matching envelopes. This creamy-colored card stock blends well with OAS's popular papers for card painting.

POC: Paint Your Own Cards $12.95

Strathmore Postcards

Includes fifteen 4” x 6” postcards, bound together. Western 'cold-press' watercolor postcard stock made specifically to handle any wet media.

PYOSM01: Strathmore Postcards $8.00

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The Importance of Perspective in Art and in Life

by Evan Yeh

A Powerful Illustration of the Importance of Perspective

Have you ever had the experience of being at the same event as other people and when you hear them talk about it, you question whether or not you were actually at the same event? This is actually a universally common phenomenon and illustrates how each of us has a unique perspective through which we experience life.

This perspective determines what we focus on, how we attach meaning to the things that we experience and what we report to others when we tell the story of our experience.

The sooner we realize this, the easier it becomes to hear another point of view and make the choice to attempt to understand that person’s perspective rather than immediately rejecting their point of view as distorted or outright false.

Your Perspective Makes You Unique as An Artist

For the purposes of our discussion, we will focus on the bigger idea of perspective as meaning the point of view of the artist. Because all of us have a unique background and experience, our art will naturally be unique. This is to be embraced.

Often times, especially when we are starting out as artists we judge ourselves too harshly by comparing what we create to the work of someone else. Of course there are skills as an artist that we all seek to develop and it is good to patiently focus and build those skills. However, we should be wary of the trap of building skills in an effort to make our art the same as someone else. Even if it is an artist we admire or a teacher, we should continue to cultivate our own unique artistic perspective.

The Spontaneity of Chinese Painting Defies Copying

What I love about the spontaneous style of Chinese painting is that the nature of the brushes, ink, color and paper defy copying. This really is an advantage for beginning artists as they can attempt to copy a master artist’s work and the spontaneity of the materials and the art form will likely result in the creation of something unique. This process should be embraced and the student should not be overly critical if their work does not look the same as their source of inspiration.

Develop an appreciation for who you are and how you see the world and an appreciation for your art will flow naturally from this work. Also realize that who you are is constantly evolving and this evolution can and should be an active choice. Nothing you have gone through in the past locks you into anything in the future. In each moment, you have the power to choose who you will be and subsequently what you will create. Chinese Painting is a wonderful medium to participate in and express this personal evolution.

80 Paintings & Ideas by Ning Yeh

Out of Print
The art lover who reads this album on Chinese Brush Painting is in for a treat. The written material is well researched and fascinating. - Suzanne Russell

BK24: Ning Yeh’s Album $50 (reg. $250)

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Seasonal Landscape Tools

Landscape in Four Seasons by Chang Hsiung

When the weather starts turning, cold we are filled with inspiration to capture the spirit of seasonal landscapes. Whether it be a mountain filled with the colors of autumn leaves or trees dusted with snow, this time of year has us wanting to paint landscapes!

An important thing to note about Chinese Landscape Painting is, although the complex compositions make it difficult to offer the stroke-by-stroke instruction that people have become accustomed to in Ning Yeh’s instruction, the use of semi-sized paper and the painting techniques are often more relatable to those with a Western background or art training.

108 pages, Chinese/English

BK18: Landscape in Four Seasons $30

Vintage Mulberry Paper - 26 Year Old Treasure

Aging in our warehouse since 1996, this semi-sized paper is made from raw materials that are almost impossible to find in a handcrafted paper at this price.

The paper handles moisture predictably and ideally for wet-on-wet techniques. The most unique characteristic of this paper is it’s ability to handle moisture without excess bleeding while still showing vibrant colors.

We have very limited quantities of this paper left!

Cut Sheet Size Approximately 24” x 16”

P0696a-06: 6 Cut Sheets Vintage Mulberry Paper $12

P0696a-12: 12 Cut Sheets Vintage Mulberry Paper $20

Wash Brush 3 Inches Wide - Great for Landscapes and More!

Wash brushes are sometimes referred to as hake brushes. One of our favorite sizes of Wash Brush is the 3” Wash Brush. It is large enough to do washes on larger compositions yet small enough to be comfortable in most hands. Wash brushes are used in landscape painting to apply washes of color that fade into the white of the paper. This is a common way mist and clouds are depicted in Chinese Landscape Painting.

F5: 3” Wash Brush $15

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Two Beautiful New Gift Lessons

Did you know that for every $50 spent you can get a free gift lesson? (If you spend $200, you get four free gift lessons!) If you’re shopping online, simply add to your cart and it will automatically discount. If ordering it by phone or mail order, please mention it to ensure we include it in your order. This helps us avoid duplicate releases or patrons who wish not to receive the offer.

We recently released two new lessons - White Daisies with Background Wash and Iris on Semi-Sized Paper. Both lessons are beautifully detailed and walk you through the process of painting the background wash.

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Give Gifts That People Actually Want to Get

Every year it can be a struggle trying to find gifts that our loved ones will love and find enjoyment in rather than being hidden away in the random junk drawer. Sometimes it is even harder to clearly communicate to others what you want. Feel free to cut out this page and give to your loved ones.

Receiving gifts with grace is a smaller piece of allowing yourself to receive the things that you want. So many times we deny ourselves the things that we want out of a false sense of unworthiness. Those that know you best know that you deserve whatever it is that you want. Allow yourself to receive those things whether they be as gifts or through any other means.

Collector Brushes

Unicorn (QiLin) Brush
CSP09: Unicorn Brush $90

Super Flow Brush
C2E: Super Flow Brush $40

Dragon Brush
H3: Dragon Brush $75

Phoenix Brush
C8: Phoenix Brush $90

Lotus Petal Brush
CSP03: Lotus Petal Brush $22

Collectible Ning Yeh Art Paperweights

These elegant paperweights are perfect for keeping your paper flat, adorning your work station or decorating your bookshelf! Paperweight Dimensions: Approximately 2¼” in diameter and 1” tall.

PWNYSET: Set of 4 Paperweights “The Four Gentlemen” - $40 (reg. $48)

PWNY001: Plum Blossom Paperweight - $12

PWNY002: Orchid Paperweight - $12

PWNY003: Bamboo Paperweight - $12

PWNY004: Chrysanthemum Paperweight - $12

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