The most critical one is that the image must be duplicated without too much fanfare by just about anybody. Since my demo activity is going to be in cultural fairs and I could not pick and choose my participants, I need something that anybody can follow. I've had kids as young as toddlers ( and most often than not, their parents ended up doing the painting ) and as old as senior citizens. When each session has 20 or more people, it is not likely that I will be able to help draw a proper outline for each and every participant. The importance of properly locating the eyes and the nose necessitates a stencil that dictates such locations. It is my belief that if I can help to place the windows to the soul properly, then the painting is 70 percent complete. I trust this is the reason why Chinese placed such an importance into painting in the eyes on their dragon boats.
As it turned out, there was a third reason that was not readily apparent to me, and it was a rather serendipitous observation, which I will explain later.
I forged ahead with my stencil design
printed the design on my printer and cut out the location for the eyes, nose and mouth.
With this stencil on my Xuan, I used a charcoal stick broadside to create a silhouette on the paper
I am happy with my progress so far. Armed with this gadget and methodology I can assure myself that this process is repeatable, and no prerequisite in brush painting is required.
Next on my agenda is to explore how to transform this sketch with the least amount of brushstrokes and shades of ink into a painting.
Notice the void areas in the last example. The fact that I did not completely filled the template space with ink wash resulted in a back lit effect. The void space above the head and behind the rear quarter not only suggests back lighting, but also lifted the animal away from the paper and giving the painting a 3 dimensional touch. By painting in with charcoal around the border of the template, I am effectively defining the contour of the dog without a harsh ink line. As the ink wash is allowed to dry on Xuan, it bleeds into the surrounding fiber, giving the outline a furry feel. This is the third reason that the template is a good idea in this endeavor. I now need to remind my audience to leave those areas blank!
Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I am able to settle down and concentrate on creating a proper painting using my scheme.
The stencil has pupated into a lovely puppy, suggesting an auspicious new year.
I'm looking forward to the demos now. Let us play!
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