And Paint They Did

I like to share with you some of the paintings from these demos

Obviously it is extremely gratifying to see all that preparation producing tangible results.  Everybody thought the Fai Chun was a brilliant idea by adding a finishing touch to the paintings.

I like to mention a few paintings that are especially interesting to me.  In the first example the artist put in his own design by painting in a family portrait if you will:

In the second example, the artist substituted the positions of the hands by simplifying them into a horizontally opposed pose.  Direct and efficient.

In the last example the artist painted what he saw in the pig character.  Mr. Pig now has hair!.   His brushstrokes possessed such virtuoso quality.  Bold and expressive.  Gauging from how he held the brush, he's no stranger to this writing instrument.

 but he was quick to do another version which was more in line with the demo piece.  He did not want to alienate me.  Again his lines were fluid and decisive.

It is worth noting that all 3 examples were done by kids barely 10 years old.  Innocence is precious!
They dare to imagine!

Gearing up for painting demo at cultural fair

I was invited to do painting demo at the Cultural Fair again this year.   I was reluctant to give my nod this year, as the organizer was quite sloppy with the arrangements.  Giving notice a week prior is case in point.  But hey, this is not about me, right?  After all, this is a celebration of the Chinese New Year, so I don't want to be the scrooge.  I should feel wanted.

The last couple of years taught me to subscribe to the KISS axiom.  Keep It Simple, Stupid.  The participants could range from 4 years old toddlers to 80 years old seniors.  My presentation should be focused on fun, and result oriented.  My job is not to "teach" painting, but rather as a facilitator so that everybody will have fun and a sense of accomplishment after painting their own pieces.

I'm sticking with the Zhu Bajie character.  Most Chinese would be familiar with him and identify him as the celebrity pig,  and for everyone else, it should be fun to be exposed to a little Chinese trivia.

Obviously I am going to simplify the image I posted on New Year's day.  My plan is to single out the 2 characteristics of the meme;  a snout and a pudgy face.  If a person can nail these two traits, then a pig is born.  The rest of the painting will just be along for the ride and should not significantly affect the outcome of the painting.

So that I can be consistent with my presentation and get guaranteed results, I've devised the following game plan;

I would have participants mark off the paper into roughly thirds.  At the top one-third line start by drawing a oblong circle, representing the snout of the pig.  Under the snout, write in a thick line for the mouth opening, followed by the lower lip.

Next comes eyes

Now we would assign the pudgy cheeks and the brows.  I want the presence of the cheeks to dictate the persona of the pig.  The open mouth and the round cheeks should give off a sense of where this painting is going.

A pair of floppy ears are now attached to the face.  A cap with an ornament (typically jade) tops off the upper contour of the head.

The snout is now associated with nostrils and the skin folds on the ridge.  The nose is no longer two-dimensional.

Eyeballs are now seated, following the notion that they bestow spirit to the being.

The pose is for Zhu to be holding a scroll or banner, bearing an auspicious writing; the Fai Chun.  The tradition of decorating with Fai Chun is quite popular with the Chinese culture, even today.  The calligraphy is typically done on red paper, the color of jubilation.  The words convey blessings and fortune.  The calligraphy is then used to decorate an entry way, such that one's ingress and egress is always blessed.

Now that we have the head finsihed, the rest of the body should just flow.  I shall start on the right shoulder, and a horizontally bent elbow.  Participants will be asked to paint 4 closed bracket signs to emulate fingers.  If I ask them to paint fingers, invariably a roadblock barges in.  People would claim no prior experience of painting digits.  Now closed brackets are a different story.  Everybody, except for the very young, knows what they look like.  Asking the audience to write brackets takes away the fear or hesitation.  The fingers are to be positioned somewhere around the bottom-third marking.

Collar is written in and a robe is draped over the arm, extending to the bottom of the paper.  I don't think the exact proportion matters that much.  For all practical purposes, we are painting a fictional figure to begin with.  Who's to say the arm or fingers are too long or short.  Zhu is however you imagined, as long as it is a pig.

We can now proceed to the left side of Zhu.  Here the fingers are represented as open brackets or a series of the letter C.  A waist belt is fitted and the bottom garment painted in.  Paint in a rectangle to fit between the upper fingers and the lower fingers and we have ourselves a banner.

I do not expect the participants to be able to write the Chinese characters.  I therefore wrote 3 different versions of the Fai Chun myself and took pictures

This is the cliche "Happy New Year"

"Safe Entry and Exit, safe journey"

"The wind suits well, and the rain is all right" ( Everything is going my way)

These calligraphy pieces were then printed on red construction paper.  They were cut up into individual pieces, which would go on the banner in the painting.

So these pieces of red strips are actually the hook for the painting project.  Once the person is finished with his/her painting, they can choose their Fai Chun and glue it in place.

Now all participants will have a finsihed piece to bring home.  A piece that looks polished, and a meaningful memorabilia for the Year of the Pig.  They themselves painted the piece; and that is the only thing that matters.

Presenting Mr. Pig

I decided to mount my Mr. Pig painting and frame it for a proper presentation.  This is the Year Of The Pig after all and due respect must be paid.

I went with my Suliao Xuen Ban method again.  After the Xuan  paper was tailored and mounted to the proper location of the clear plastic, the fun began.

This is going to be a celebratory painting so I need to jazz it up a little bit.  I wanted it to blink a little.  I had some gold glittered Christmas ribbon laying around so I drafted it for my project.  I harvested the glitter by scraping the ribbon with a knife.

I didn't want it to sparkle like a Swarovski  piece, but definitely enough to make it noticeable.  Since the painting depicted a bountiful harvest with the stalks of grain, I applied a heavy sprinkle onto that area to emphasize its presence.

After the application of glitter, I sprayed the the painting and the plastic with Urethane.  The aerosol helped to fix the glitter and rendered the clear border semi-opaque ( newspaper is blurry now in the background).  It also helped to provide additional shielding from the elements.

I built a frame with poplar for the piece and painted it gold to adorn my painting, befitting a regal and auspicious year.   I wanted quiet simplicity and  elegance.  Two holes were drilled on the vertical member of the frame for hanging.  A small hole on the inside for the transparent fishing lines to pass through and a larger one on the back side to hide the knots which secured the fishing line.

The fishing lines were threaded through a short piece of heat-shrink tubing.  This little tube would fit around the lines snugly once a heat source is applied, i.e. with a heat gun or a flame.  I chose to let it ride freely on the lines.  This was meant to be an added protection of the lines from abrasion.  Just an insurance policy against premature breakage from normal wear and tear.

My set up allows the frame to sit perfectly flat against the wall without any tilt.  Fishing line was used such that it is less obtrusive through the semi-opaque border of the plastic piece,  accentuating the float effect of the painting.  I hope to create the illusion that Mr. Pig just appeared in thin air.  He is a diety after all. 

Here is the framed piece.

Auspicious Year Of The Pig, Harbinger Of Abundance

May your new year be blessed with an abundance of good fortune.