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A beginners reflection on painting china. These are lessons learned while learning to paint. In April 2014, my mother past away and I ended up with her china painting stuff. She had painted for over 20 years as a winter Texan, but never during her summer travels when she visited me. She had a small 8x10x10" kiln, paints, patterns, brushes, and many unpainted pieces. I can not remember having an art class so this is a true beginner's look at china painting. I started square one in September 2014 and hope lessons learned along the way will help others.
My China painting journey started by reading a thesis paper of Garth Johnson, a MFA student at Alfred University. He took the anyone can do this approach and provided the basic how to start. Several YouTube videos of professional painters helped me to learn what was possible and not practical for a hobby painter. Mom's bird and flower patterns were beyond my skill level as a new painter, but she never painted them either. I stumbled on a kid's coloring book of wild flowers produced by the USFS. They were easy to paint and a plant person could identify my work after they were done. It was a beginning that has expanded a life of keep practicing and a demand for my art work using China painting.
China painting does not require a steady hand just the know how to incorporate the shake into the desired brush and pen stroke. My early paintings appear 2 dimensional adding background features (clouds, waves, trees, grass bunches, rocks, soil) helps provide a 3-d appearance.
In August 2016, I upgraded my kiln to a Skutt 822 with 3 inch walls. The 2.9 cubic capacity is about right for my current and future work. It has reduced my firings to once a month. Fewer firings has changed how I approach my painting and store work in progress.
In 2020, Ann Korinek produced a good introductory to basic china painting video see https://youtu.be/K21YUpKgqr4. She has some great started ideas and hacks used by traditional china painters.
Pen work outline of feature ready for additional paint to fill in.
3 finished sprayer mugs and 3 mayflies ready for more paint.
Deep in Thought.
Deep in Thought.
China painting is more than birds and flowers. It is what you make it. Enjoy.
Sometimes it is being at the right place and time. Initially I painted a bunch of 4 inch tiles featuring plants and insects as coasters for mugs. The mugs disappeared but the tiles were not wanted. I had a stack of 20 tiles until Tessa came looking for tile for her kitchen backsplash. She took them all and ended up making more to complete the project.
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