Step-by-step of my Oriental Painting-Inspired-Cloisonne

First oriental painting inspired cloisonne.

20 x 28 inches (approx)

I was able to take pictures of the painting in various stages and here is how it was done.

As with most of my paintings, I draw everything beforehand on Manila paper.  It allows me the freedom to move elements about, erasing and re-drawing several times, without fear of ruining the watercolor paper's surface.

I first map out all the major forms and design with pencil.

I would refine the drawings and ink them when once I am satisfied with the results.

Once the whole drawing has been inked, I proceed with transferring the drawing onto the watercolor paper.  

for help on how to transfer your drawing onto watercolor paper

Shown above, the transferred drawing with its first application of gold acrylic.  While you can do the gold outlines last, I prefer to do it first because the first application is usually the messiest.  There is more tendency to make mistakes.  I use a ruling pen to apply thinned gold arylic and find that sometimes when the nib catches on the paper, your hand can jerk and go out of line or the paint would suddenly blot.  Acrylics are correctable while still wet but are almost permanent when dry.  Because I'm not worrying about watercolor paints already in place, I can erase mistakes easily by re-wetting the area with clear water and blotting with a tissue paper until the errant acrylic is erased.  The succeeding applications of gold outline gets easier because the ruling pen's nib glides onto the smoother first outline application.

In case you are wondering what a ruling pen is.  It functions much like a fountain pen and is used by draftsmen to create straight lines.  It is designed for use with inks which goes into the open barrel (space between the prongs).  You adjust the thickness of the line by rotating the wheel tighter or looser which narrows or widens the nib's opening.  You can use liquid acrylics with this pen.  Picture shows a recycled craft pen I use to inject acrylic into the barrel.   Use acrylic medium or water to get the right consistency for the gold acrylic so it will flow through the nib. 

Next, I would apply the watercolor.  The hard part for me is how to keep everything stylized and less detailed.

I try to imagine how enamel looks like and for each of the outlined spaces, I try to use only a single color and enhance the illusion of it being made from enamel, by applying a darker shade of the color next to where it touches the outlines only.  Next would be the re-application of the gold outlines.

I apply a minimum of 4 to 5 layers of gold acrylic to get that embossed look.  Requires a lot of patience but the result is worth it.   Make sure to dry completely in between.  Despite the thickness, the adherence between the layers is well and the finished painting even withstands shipping and storing in a rolled position.

So that is how it is done.

Thank you for looking

Cloisonne – The Beginning.

From being a watercolor purist and realist to incorporating acrylics, gessoes with watercolors and painting stylized florals, it all came about because of a gift. Actually, several gifts from my friend Rowena. On one of her visits to the country, she gave me a very beautiful painted silk scarf by the artist Haiying. She also gave me a gift set of silk paints, projects (silk squares with gutta drawn designs on it ready for the application of paint, the prepared projects also done by Haiying) and gutta paint. I must admit I had a bit of trouble trying on silk painting. It looked easy but the liquid paints proved hard to control as they spread by themselves with only the gutta holding them back. Inspired by Haiying’s work, I wanted to design my own scarf. Because I was still apprehensive about the new materials and really am just afraid of making mistakes, I felt I needed to do a preliminary drawing or design first before I would even dare touch the guttha. Of course, I would use the materials available to me which are watercolor paper and my watercolors. I had to go on a search and found gold poster paint from the local art/school supplies store to mimic the gutta on paper. The most difficulty I had was with the designing. I’m used to painting very realistically and am very meticulous with details. You can say I’m a bit of an obsessive compulsive when it comes to my floral paintings. But what looks natural and even impressive in a painting may not look so flattering in fabric. I had to adjust to seeing and painting things in their most basic or simpler but still recognizable forms and because I’ve earlier tried the silk paints, I knew the gold outlining would play a major role. My first attempt resulted in Passion Flower No.1.

Rowena liked it and requested I do more. So I explored other flowers and fruits too. Now the silk painting project is on hold because I’m having so much fun doing the paper version. Others who saw the cloissone paintings seemed to like it too. So now it seems this new style will be here to stay. For lack of a name to call the style, I started referring to it as faux cloissone as it reminded me a lot of works in cloissone. Later, after having learned that others have also painted in the same style and have used the term cloissone paintings, I dropped the faux before it. Everybody knew anyway it wasn’t real cloissone being made of paint and paper. The only changes I’ve made is replacing the gold poster paint with artist quality gold acrylic and using acrylic medium to make the gold outlining not only shinnier but more pronounced or embossed.

Below are earlier works in cloissone. These are not available anymore but which I included just to give you an idea on how it looked in the beginning.

Wild Vine 2.

Later, I would realize the plant/vine is actually a passion flower.

Sugar Apple or Atis.

My first try at painting fruits.

Red Flowers.

A few years ago, I took pics of a wild growing red flowered plant in the backyard. Never found out what it was called.

Close up of a passion flower.

Rosal.

This is the Filipino version of the rose. The plant has very fragrant blooms. Much stronger than those of the rose.

My plans for the future will include landscapes, portraits and still life in cloissone. But that may be a long way off still. I’m still doing studies at the moment and testing the lightfastness of the other metallic paints (copper, bronze).

Aside from cloissones, I will still paint in realistic watercolors.

More Cloisonne Paintings

All cloisonne paintings below are of the same size:

7.25 inches x 8.5 inches (painted surface only) with at least an inch border on all sides.

Category is Watermedia. Watercolors + Acrylics.

Red Chrysanthemums.

I think I'll be turning towards more oriental painting inspired designs. Enjoyed the making of this one immensely.

Yellow Cosmos     SOLD

I hope I got the name right. For this piece. I opted to color the leaves in shades of blue and purple to complement the color of the flower.
Now a collection of Miss Kristina Porter.

Thank you Kristina and I'm very happy that 5 of these paintings have found a warm home. Hi to Siana!

Fuschia Bougainvillea No.2    SOLD

Unlike the first one, this is completely covered with paint. The white acrylic I used made the background look enameled. Also falls under watermedia : watercolors and acrylic on paper.

Collection of Miss Kristina Porter

Yellow Cattleyas    SOLD

Playing with texture on this one.

Collection of Miss Kristina Porter

Passion Flower No.4

Passion Flower No.3   SOLD

Collection of Miss Kristina Porter

Chrysanthemum No.1    SOLD

Flowers are pink with purple middles. The gold outlining here is more pronounced. I've recently gotten my hands on an acrylic additive / medium which when used with the gold acrylic paint produces a very metallic and smooth finish. Layered on multiple times, it produces a more embossed gold outlining. I like how it imparts a sense of texture to the finished painting.

Collection of Miss Kristina Porter

Chinese Lantern No. 3

Delicate pink lanterns.

Chinese Lanterns No. 4

Lanterns are yellow orange in color amidst dark greenish-blue leaves. For this painting, I opted to fill in the background with white acrylic. I was going for the enameled look and am pleased with the results.

Fuschia Bougainvillea.

Pink to dark fuschia pink bougainvillea against dark forest green leaves. The dark colors bring out the gold very well.

Yellow Bougainvillea

Well actually it is an orangey yellow. Bougainvilleas are among my favorite subjects.

For my watercolors, I use Winsor and Newton Artist Watercolors and Daniel Smith Artist Watercolors. I use Reeves Artist Acrylic for the gold outlines and for the white background in one of the paintings.

All are painted on Fabriano Uno watercolor paper.

Thank you for looking.  

Clematis with silver outlines.

I've been experimenting lately with other water mediums. For this clematis painting based on pictures sent me by my friend Rowena, I used white acrylic to suggest texture on the flowers and as a fill in to the white background flowers. Silver acrylic was used for the outlines and for the textural effects in the the background.

Clematis with silver outline.

watermedia = Winsor and Newton and Daniel Smith Artist Watercolors, reeves artist acrylic in white and silver on Arches cold pressed watercolor paper.

size: 20.7 cm x 20.7 cm (8 1/8 x 8 1/8 inches) painted area only.

add 1 inch border