Jinshan peasant paintings reflect the cultural heritage of rural communities in the Jinshan District and explore rural themes like fishing, farming, cloth dyeing and market scenes. They convey stories, traditions and the collective memory of the peasant lifestyle.
Artists typically use watercolours or gouache on paper, but they may also paint on other surfaces like fabric or wood. The choice of materials often reflects the accessibility and practicality of resources available to the rural artists.
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Here’s how you can make your own Jinshan peasant painting on paper.
MATERIALS
- A square sheet of paper
- Pencil
- Poster colours
- Sketch pens
- Paintbrushes
- Colour palette
METHOD
- Take a square sheet of paper and use a pencil to draw a village scene. This painting depicts a flower-picker. While drawing, ensure the human figure is neat. The detailed features for the human figure include slit-like eyes, no eyeballs, flat head, distance between eyes and lips, rosy cheeks, puckered lips, petite figure and typical Chinese collars. Draw many flowers, houses with curved roofs and a field. Don’t add any patterns on the painting.
- To paint the face and hands of the girl, mix peach and white poster colours to create a perfect colour combination for her pale skin tone. Use a thin brush and paint over the facial features, which will be added once the paint is dry. Paint her clothes, the houses, the trees and the background. Paint the grass in vertical strokes. Don’t add any patterns or details.
- Add details to the girl’s face and dress using a thin brush. While painting, mix the poster colours to create new colours. Add details to the bag and dress too. To make light colours, first put white paint on your palette and then add small amounts of any other colour and mix well. Don’t use pure colours. Make colours opaque by adding a bit of white to them.
- Add details and patterns to the houses. Use sketch pens for the flowers and leaves. You can also add details with sketch pens. For the grass, use different shades of green and yellow.
- Paint the roofs and complete the field. Outline the houses with a sketch pen. Add other patterns if you want to.
- Your painting is ready!
Dipika Gurnaney studied at the Sir JJ School of Fine Arts and is a recipient of a scholarship from the
Pont Aven School of Contemporary Art in France. Dipika has been teaching children art since 2002.
ACTIVITY: Brush Strokes
Create your own Jinshan peasant painting using nature as your inspiration.
