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Fiona Sheng @ InkDifferent Studio

Welcome to the magpie & plum blossom freehand (Xie Yi) brush painting course.

The Chinese name of magpie is 喜鹊, literally meaning the happiness or fortune bird. According to the ancient record this name was given based on the fact that people considered it sentient, and thus it could bring auspicious events. The plum blossom, 梅, is a cultural icon in the oriental world. The plum blossom takes the lead in the four gentleman plants, it announces the arrival of Spring, and contains great cultural meanings since ancient times. In China they have been cultivated for over 3,000 years.

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Welcome to the magpie & plum blossom freehand (Xie Yi) brush painting course.

The Chinese name of magpie is 喜鹊, literally meaning the happiness or fortune bird. According to the ancient record this name was given based on the fact that people considered it sentient, and thus it could bring auspicious events. The plum blossom, 梅, is a cultural icon in the oriental world. The plum blossom takes the lead in the four gentleman plants, it announces the arrival of Spring, and contains great cultural meanings since ancient times. In China they have been cultivated for over 3,000 years.

Together these flowers and birds tell you a blessing in code - come find out what the code says ;)

Course Objective

In this course you will learn to paint one of the most fascinating combinations in the oriental art world - the magpie birds and the plum blossoms. Each of these subjects are absolute cultural icons in the Eastern societies, and we will also discuss their cultural significance besides learning to paint each one of them. There will be a small composition of only flowers on trees before finally putting the flower and birds together in a complete painting of your own.

The course overview is covered in the introduction video, make sure you take 10 minutes to watch it.

Course Structure

  1. Overview: magpie & plum blossoms in oriental art, culture & history

  2. Materials

  3. Painting Theory

  • Magpie breakdown

  • Plum blossom painting techniques

4.     Painting Practice

Course Material

You will need to prepare a few oriental painting brushes (very important) of all sizes, raw/half-raw xuan rice paper (also very important), painting colors (watercolor or guache colors could temporarily work), oriental ink (very important), felt, and 1-2 white plates.

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What's inside

Learning objectives

  • Learn to paint the magpie birds
  • Learn to paint the plum blossoms
  • Learn about the cultural aspects related to each of the subjects
  • Learn to put everything in a complete composition

Syllabus

Introduction

In this lecture you will learn about the cultural background of our painting subjects, and the materials required.

Painting Theory
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In this section we will dive into the theoretical aspects of the magpie bird and the plum blossoms.

In this lecture you will learn to paint a magpie directly using a brush.

In this lecture you will learn about the plum blossom flower painting.

In this lecture you will learn to put the flowers and branches together into a complete painting.

In this lecture you will learn to paint a complete plum blossom composition.

Finally you will put all you have learnt and make a complete painting!

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Activities

Coming soon We're preparing activities for Relax with Brush Painting - Magpie & Plum Blossoms. These are activities you can do either before, during, or after a course.

Career center

Learners who complete Relax with Brush Painting - Magpie & Plum Blossoms will develop knowledge and skills that may be useful to these careers:

Reading list

We haven't picked any books for this reading list yet.
Offers a practical guide to studying cultural history, providing students with a step-by-step approach to research and analysis.
Provides a comprehensive overview of the cultural history of China, from its earliest beginnings to the present day.
Provides a comprehensive overview of the cultural history of the United States, from its earliest beginnings to the present day.
Provides a comprehensive overview of the cultural history of literature, from its earliest beginnings to the present day.
Provides a comprehensive overview of the cultural history of science, from its earliest beginnings to the present day.

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