painting: family

family 2006Yeah, I know... Sunday is normally "Painting Day"... but I'll be indisposed for pretty much the whole day tomorrow, so I figured it would be better to swap days.

This one is actually for my cousin for Christmas... well, technically my cousin and her girls... and it's the Chinese versions of their names that I found online somewhere (and if I have any Chinese speaking readers, keep the translations to yourself *grin*).

Although I did five years of Chinese in high school, and, for the most part, can actually write the few Chinese characters I can remember, I pretty much did this whole thing with stencils... like the seahorse painting... it was just easier that way... and they come out looking a little more "Chinese" than they would have done if I'd attempted them freehand.

The red looks a little sketchy in spots in the photo, but doesn't look too bad in real life. I also did about 15 layers of red on it, just to get the right colour happening... and did a few of the base layers with red and gold paint mixed together... so it has a slight sheen to it in certain lights.

I just wish I'd done the gold "signature" in the bottom corner a little lower and more on the very edge of the canvas... oh well...

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3 comments:

Tom said...

It looks good! It'd be funny if you'd slipped slightly and turned one of the names into something rude! (well, funny to my unsophisticated schoolboy sense of humour anyway!) Chinese characters are quite precise, and one small line at the wrong angle or in the wrong place can totally change the meaning!

yani said...

Yes indeed... and since I'm relying on the kindness of something from the internet to tell me that the things I painted actually mean what I want them to mean, I could be in all kinds of trouble and this could read like a grocery list for all I know... :)

S said...

That's so interesting.

I have never heard of a high school offering Chinese as a possible course.

Another piece of the Yaniboy puzzle is filled in.