Crayfish in Water Canvas Print

Crayfish with Banana Leaf is a brush painting in traditional Chinese free style (Xie Yi) technique with ink on rice paper. Crayfish sounds like the word laugh in mandarin, so it symbolises happiness and joy. Sometimes its auspiciousness also represents good fortune and long life. Crayfish is actually more difficulty to be painted than other fishes. Their appearances, features of vivid, transparent, and energetic, are beautiful but not easy to be captured in Chinese paintings. The XieYi technique, also called "Free Style", is painted fresh from the hand and the design of the image is subject to few restrictions. Xie means to write and Yi the meaning. A famous Master of Chinese painting, said that Xieyi indicated the fact of drawing the spirit of the beings. Painting Xieyi uses many techniques of calligraphy which privilege the spontaneity of the line. Free style paintings are thus very quickly carried out. In the style of calligraphy, the image should not be painted, but written. In China the calligraphy always belong to the painting. It’s like the signature from the artist. This one is without the original calligraphy! You can also buy it with the calligraphy! Check out my gallery.