Chinese Cow

Click Photo to see & print a larger version
Wendy Shortland, 1999
Newtown, Sydney, NSW, Australia
wendy_shortland@bigpond.com

Level: Beginners to Advanced

This piece has been inspired by a Chinese papercut. These papercuts are cut from one piece of paper and are very ornate. The decoration is in the intricate way they are cut, however many of them are coloured, also. I consulted my friend Doris Yau-Chong Jones for suitable themes for Chinese memory boxes. She suggests also, fish, or mandarin oranges. Red with a gold trim is a very Chinese colour scheme, but Doris says that blue is also very suitable.

Use the paints and the brushes you have. Use any nice bright red for the box. Use any light whitish colour for the top of the box. Use any dark colour to paint the calf and any bright cheerful colours to decorate it. Have fun. Enjoy painting the calf, and decorate it any way that pleases you. This piece can be as simple or as complicated as you like. You can omit the 'landscape'. You can cut a stencil from the calf's outline.

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Palette: Jo Sonya tube colours: Jo Sonja Clear Glaze Medium Jo Sonja Sealer Jo Sonja's Polyurethane Varnish Gloss Finish Basecoat: Matisse China Red (or red of your choice) Jo Sonja Retarder Pale Gold Titanium White or Warm White Pine Green Sapphire Blue Paynes Grey Brilliant Green Diox Purple Brilliant Violet Trans Magenta Yellow Deep Unbleached Titanium Smoked Pearl Napthol Crimson

Brushes: Various round brushes between No 1 and No 4 One-inch flat brush Liner brush Other Supplies: Magic Tape Papier Mache Box

Preparation:

Paint the box inside and out with one coat of Jo Sonja Sealer. Paint the top of the lid of the box with two coats of any white, or Smoked Pearl, or Unbleached Titanium. Paint the inside of the lid, and the box itself, inside and out with two coats of Matisse China Red. (You can substitute any red of your choice.)
On the top of your lid, draw the horizon. You should place the horizon either one-third or two-thirds down the lid. (This is known as the 'rule of thirds' and applies in any composition. I learnt it when doing photography). Do not draw your horizon half-way down the piece.

Painting the Landscape

First paint the sky. You will need some Jo Sonja Retarder, Smoked Pearl, Sapphire Blue, and a little Napthol Crimson. With some retarder in your one-inch flat brush, pick up some Smoked Pearl and paint across the top two-thirds of the box with broad strokes. Quickly pick up some Sapphire Blue in your dirty brush and paint across working from the top down, blending a little as you go.. As you reach the middle third of the box, pick up more Smoked Pearl so that the sky is lighter at the bottom. Near the bottom, pick up a fraction of Napthol Crimson and work that in to the Smoked Pearl. If the colour is too strong, just work in more Smoked Pearl. Allow to dry. Paint the grass by picking up some Jo Sonja Retarder in your brush, then Smoked Pearl, then Pine Green. Try to paint a straight line across where the horizon will be, then just paint across in broad strokes, blending a little as you go, until you reach the bottom. Allow to dry.

Transfer your pattern.

Painting the calf:

At this point you need to decide how you are going to paint the calf. I painted the calf with two coats of solid Paynes Grey, omitting only the area around the eye and nose, and the area between the tail and the body. I suggest you also omit the horns and the hooves. You can paint AROUND all the 'holes in the paper', or you can paint them on as comma strokes afterwards, as I did.

Decorating the Calf.

Use a variety of Number 3 brushes to decorate the calf. Use what you have and suit the brush to the size of the comma.
Paint the horns in Trans Magenta with a touch of white. Paint at least two coats. Then, decorate the horns with Unbleached Titanium comma strokes. Paint the hooves in a mix of Trans Magenta and Diox Purple, at least two coats. Paint an Unbleached Titanium comma stroke above each hoof. Paint around the eye and the fringed eyelashes in Napthol Crimson.

Paint the very large comma strokes in the centre of the calf with Brilliant Violet mixed with a touch of white. When dry, paint the smaller comma strokes on top of them in Diox Purple. Using your liner brush, feather out tiny strokes from the side of the comma like a paper cut fringe. Paint the S- strokes between these commas in Yellow Deep, at least two coats. Paint the small comma strokes at the end of the S strokes with a mix of Brilliant Green and any white 1:1. When dry, paint the small comma strokes on top of them in Brilliant Green. Feather out tiny Brilliant Green fringed strokes from the side of the comma with your liner brush.
Paint the plants at the calf's feet in (working from the left) Napthol Crimson, Diox Purple (two) and Brilliant Green with a Napthol Crimson flower.
If you painted AROUND the 'holes in the paper', then you have finished decorating the calf, otherwise paint all remaining comma strokes with Unbleached Titanium.

Finishing.

Paint the top of the box with a coat or two of Jo Sonja Clear Glaze Medium to protect it. Allow to dry thoroughly. Mark in a border around your 'landscape'. My border was 1 cm wide. Mask with Magic Tape. Press down the tape carefully, and coat the JOIN where the tape meets the border area with Clear Glaze Medium. This will prevent the red paint from bleeding under the tape. When dry, paint around the border, and the sides of the lid with two coats of Matisse China Red.
I painted a fine line of Pale Gold around the border. As my box was hexagonal, I also floated Pale Gold down the left side of each section using a dagger brush.

Varnishing:

Leave the paint to cure for 24 hours. Rub out any tracing lines. Varnish with several coats of gloss varnish.

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