The Fish King

Yesterday my lovely friend Carol and I went off once again to another Masterclass this time to learn how to paint fish Chinese style.

The class was held at Christchurch Mansion Ipswich which in itself is a joy to behold, not only is it a wonderful building but it is filled with hidden treasure, set in the most wonderful parkland.. and it's free to visit!!

So with interpreter at his side we were off... (He spoke only a few words of English).  He gave us a quick lesson.. a lots of explanation, photographs, more translation, photographs.....you get the idea..

This is the man in action

We used a bamboo paper called xuan zhi which he said cost from as little as a couple of pennies to hundreds of pounds per sheet..We had the cheep stuff ... not that we would know anyway.

 My first efforts

Final piece, that's my name in the corner... I hope.

Master Chen Hong and his work

We did not realise at first was we were about to have a lesson with Grandmaster Chen Hong the internationally renowned calligrapher and painter of fish from Bejing...He is known as 'The Fish King'.


We had a lovely afternoon, learnt alot.. I'm still rubbish.. but I will keep trying as the ideas and methods were wonderful.