Many artists draw with pens and brushes, but few "paint" with knives. Wang Jing, a woman from Shenyang city in northeast China's Liaoning Province, has been engaged in this art form for 27 years.
In 1995, Wang was inspired by an accidental cut by a knife on a piece of red paper, which left a white line, and believed that she may have created something out of the ordinary. Using knives and paper, she then completed a painting of a pair of peacocks that later became a source of motivation for her 27-year endeavor.
Unlike traditional paintings, onto which colors are "added", "knife painting" requires the painter to use blades (刀锋) to take away colors on specially made coated paper. "Knife painters" apply varied pressure on the paper in different directions to create different colors and tones. "Painting on paper with knives is a delicate art and each line in the painting is as thin as a hair," said Wang, adding that once the marks are left on the paper, they cannot be covered, so it requires the painter to be completely absorbed in the work.
The novel art form was known to few people just after Wang created it. Even Wang herself was not expecting to make it something big at the beginning. But thanks to her huge enthusiasm for the art form, she has persisted with it for the past 27 years. So far, she has completed hundreds of paintings about auspicious Chinese culture, figures, landscape, flowers and birds, of which her favorite is a 2.8-meter-long painting that depicts 20 lifelike egrets (白鹭). Wang said she will continue working in the craft and make it known across the world.
