Artistic Harmony: Artist finds challenge, career with Chinese brush painting

By MICHAEL BECKER, Chronicle Staff Writer

In a sunny gallery at the Emerson Cultural Center, Stephen Boone, practitioner of Chinese brush painting, prepares to make a single brushstroke on a sheet of handmade paper.

Chinese brush painting is meticulous and fluid. Every stroke is planned, yet mistakes are welcomed as part of the composition. It is an art of opposites working in harmony.

It is also an art that is passed down intimately, from teacher to student. And for the last 18 months, Boone has trained students at his gallery, just as his teacher once taught him.

Classes of about five students gather around a large table, discuss compositions, mix paint and practice their brushstrokes over and over again for three hours a week.

"Students leave here exhausted," Boone said. "They can't believe how intense the training is."

Ever the teacher, Boone describes how to make that first mark on a blank sheet of imported "xuan" paper.

First comes the perfect combination of moisture, pigment and ink. Next the grip, designed to make the brush an extension of the whole arm, not just the fingers. Only then is the brush brought near the paper.

"Once the brushstroke is there, it's there," Boone said, showing how the paints soak through the paper. There is no eraser. "It's pass or fail."

One quick and decisive movement results in an imperfect yet beautiful line, a delicate orchid leaf.

"Chinese brush painting is when you internalize all that," Boone said. "You do it. You know it."

At 6 feet 5 inches and 240-pounds, Boone, 39, does not look like an artist. The native Alabaman spent six years in the Marines, and it shows in his impeccable manners and his posture -- standing at-ease while talking about his art.

Boone's parents both are artists, but he said he never expected to become one himself. After the Marines, Boone settled in California, married and worked at a factory that made toilet repair kits.

It was 11 years of good work, and he loved it. But then something new caught his eye: a local-access painting show hosted by brush artist Ning Yeh, a professor at Coastline Community College.

"I was just flipping through the channels and saw this and thought, 'I could do this,'" he said.

Boone spent about three years studying with Yeh, who said that most students are hooked by Chinese brush painting's seeming simplicity.

"From the outset, it's very simple," Yeh, 60, said in a phone interview from Huntington Beach, Calif. "But once people get into it, they find that simple does not equate with easy."

Yeh, a fourth-generation artist who has been painting for more than 50 years, said Boone's success in teaching students is inspiring. "He was one of the most successful art teachers in this field," Yeh said.

With this art, Boone said, there are principles to fall back on. When a student is struggling, Boone can guide them back to the basic techniques from which all serious brush art flows.

"I compare Chinese brush painting to the game of chess," Boone said. The rules are simple -- there are about eight brushstrokes to learn -- but it takes a lifetime to master.

"It's a step by step, stroke by stroke approach," he said. "You can make a nice painting by following the rules."

A nice painting, yes, but the rules only take you so far. When all the preparation and technique becomes transparent, Boone said, it opens the door for spontaneity. And spontaneity makes good paintings.

"It's almost disconnected. You're surprised at how much you like it when you're done," he said, showing his favorite painting, a Chinese orchid. It took two minutes to create.

"When I painted it, when it was happening, everything was flowing."

Of course, it's not easy. Several weeks of practice and planning can precede one of his finished works. And after all that, Boone keeps only about one out of every 10 paintings.

"A good painting may take me 20 tries," he said. "You're not consciously saying you're going to do a good painting. You're just painting."

After some time spent as a woodworker, Boone and his family moved to Montana in 2005. Before long, he saw the opportunity to teach others his art.

"It became something where my whole energy is poured into it," he said. "This is the best job I've ever had."

Boone holds about six, six-week courses per year at his Emerson gallery, room 107C. The next set of classes begins in February and costs $150, plus supplies. Students can enroll by calling 597-0925 or can visit www.studioboone.com for more information.

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