Mustard Seed Garden Manual of Painting, Vol. 3

...and used the craft of painting to illustrate the concept of what comes first and what follows. Now, I use the craft of painting to draw parallels with the Classic of Poetry and the Classic of History. This allows one to see the layers of progression—from the outer gates to the inner chambers—as clearly as if looking at one's own palm.

Azurite

original: 石青 (shiqing); a blue mineral pigment derived from the copper ore azurite

When selecting Azurite, one must choose pieces shaped like "plum blossom flakes." These should be crushed and placed in a mortar to be finely ground. Use the water-levigation method original: 漂 (piao); a process of stirring pigment into water and letting it settle to separate different grades of fineness and hue to produce three distinct grades, then dry them in the sun.

The highest grade is light, clear, and pale in color. It is used for painting the front of green leaves to achieve a sense of depth and thickness.

The middle grade is of ideal texture—neither too coarse nor too fine—and possesses a balanced depth of color. This is used for pure blue flower petals and for the heads and backs of birds.

The lowest grade is heavy in texture and deep in color. This is used for the wings and tails of birds, and for backing deep green leaves.

Whenever the blue on a bird's body or a flower petal is light, use Indigo original: 靛青 (dianqing); a vegetable dye used for shading and depth for graded shading. If the blue is deep, use Carmine original: 胭脂 (yanzhi); a red pigment often used for shading blue to create a rich, purplish depth for the shading.

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Malachite

original: 石綠 (shilü); a green mineral pigment derived from the copper ore malachite

The method for grinding and levigating Malachite is the same as that for Azurite. It is also divided into three grades.

The "upper" In this context, the author refers to the densest grade that settles first is deep in color and is only suitable for backing thick, heavy green leaves or painting green grassy slopes.

The middle grade is slightly lighter in color. It is suitable for the green leaves of flowering plants or for the front side of leaves. One may use Grass Green original: 草綠 (caolü); a transparent vegetable green, usually a mix of indigo and gamboge to provide the structural shading, or use it for kingfishers by first applying the mineral green and then using Grass Green for the fine "silk" feather strokes.

The lightest grade is suitable for the "reverse" (underside) of leaves.

Whenever Malachite is used on the front of a leaf, it must be outlined and shaded with Grass Green. For deep tones, the Grass Green should lean toward blue; for light tones, the Grass Green should lean toward yellow.

When using Azurite or Malachite that has begun to dry, use Cantonese Glue original: 廣膠水 (guangjiao shui); a high-quality animal hide glue used as a binder to grind it back into a usable state. The amount of glue must be precise: if there is too much, the pigment will become sticky, sluggish, and unresponsive to the brush; if there is too little, the color will be thin and will easily flake off the surface. One must judge the proportions carefully.

If applying Grass Green to the front of a silk surface, it is best to only use Malachite as a backing on the reverse side. If one applies it...