Fish is an auspicious lucky charm in many Asian countries, families raise fish or have fish paintings at home, to wish for a great harvest of happiness and love. Even on a festival dining table, a fish dish is always a must-have. There are numerous slangs describing situations that involve fish to suggest freedom, affection and love, such as “如鱼得水” which explains how life can be so fortunate that it is as if a fish is in the water, suggesting all is possible, all will be wonderful. The character of fish “鱼” also shares the same sound as surplus, meaning more love, more happiness and more fortune.
Objective & Techniques
In our course of fish painting, you will learn to paint common small fish and then the carp fish. We will start with the very structure of a fish, break it down to each brush stroke, and then after you have the knowledge of how to paint small fish, we will move on to painting carps, where we will also discuss the use of color. We will start with a more generalized way of freehand fish painting, and then you will learn to add more details to the freehand carps. In our fish painting, you will learn the 4 most useful lines in the brush painting, and you will also find out how to use an oriental brush to create the shapes and gradients.
At the end of our course, you should be equipped with the following brush painting techniques:
1. Mix ink and color with a painting brush
2. Use brushes to create shapes with gradient colors
3. Identify and recreate the 4 most common lines in the oriental brush art
4. Create complete paintings
Materials & Resources
We will use xuan rice paper, the raw kind for our course, but the colors will be quite simple, you will only need ink, red and orange. These colors can be replaced by Gouache paints or watercolor paints, but obviously the best paints for the rice paper will still be the Chinese painting colors. You also need to prepare at least a larger and a smaller painting brush. If you are completely new to the oriental brush painting, please check out the corresponding video in the introduction, which will provide you with a better idea. Other than the introduction to brush painting video, there is also a short video teaching you how to prepare and hold a brush, in case you need it. With these videos you should be set to start our course.
Wish you “如鱼得水” in your life!
