Scribbled Lives Week 5—Heritage

I delved into family stories and did some research on early 20th century Chinese history.

After surviving the Sino-Japanese War and then the Communist Revolution, my parents fled China to begin anew in Canada. Leaving loved ones behind was sorrowful. However, their courage and resilience became our family legacy.

I chose the “crane” character to symbolize that heritage and composed the text. Chinese characters are traditionally written in black ink on white paper. But nothing about leaving and starting again is black and white. I intended to use other colours to communicate a disruption with tradition—to represent a break leading to freedom, survival, and longevity.

Unfortunately, the shell gold and other golds did not cooperate, so I resorted to the traditional colours.

Pointed brush, broad-edge nib, ink, and paper embossed with crane motif (which bled like newsprint…arghhhh!). But the paper has been in my stacks for decades and was perfect for this piece!