Du Xue’s current series is based on her prize winning work, Empathy. Her delicate paintings of the female form are executed with acrylic and Chinese ink on silk. Silk as a material has a very different absorbency compared to traditional oil painting canvas. Paint, when applied to silk, typically spreads much faster as well as chromatographically.

Du Xue uses different types of silk – including imported Japanese silk, faux Japanese silk made in China and Chinese silk. The three types of silk have different texture and absorbency and the choice of silk allows her to create different compositions and effects. After a year of experimentation, Du Xue developed a technique of utilizing acrylic for fine brushwork and outline. She makes use of diluted acrylic and Chinese ink together with the characteristic absorbency of silk to create a wash effect. Her technique is a remarkably unique fusion of western painting and Chinese style ink wash.

The effect is all the more amazing considering that she achieves the painted effect by a controlled spread of the ink. “I am never fully in control – the ink often has a life of its own and sometimes defies my attempts to shape the outcome. I am only satisfied with one in three works that I complete.” She often achieves unexpected results – the spread of the pigment creates unusual shapes and forms that she adapts to create human forms from unusual perspectives.