Hello friends!
Today I will show how to paint a flowering plum branch in traditional Chinese technique. I'll show you step by step how I create my picture, and also show the process of compacting rice paper.
Let's go!

Process to paint

Materials:

rice paper,
сhinese ink,
сhinese mineral paint,
felt mat,
brush for сhinese painting,
paper napkin

All these materials you see in this photo. Rice paper can be different. Here I use rice paper for " se-I". Two brushes - one dark (more elastic) for painting branches, white - softer for painting round objects -petals.

I put a felt mat on the table. It absorbs excess moisture.

I absorb excess moisture from the brush with a paper napkin

I do not sketch. Rice paper is too thin for this. I paint the branch with a dry brush with black ink. I left white places where I will paint flowers.

Then I paint thinner branches. Branches should be straight. I watch that three or more branches do not intersect at one point. This will be a mistake.

Now I will paint plum flowers

I use another brush - white. I took a red paint for the flowers of the plum.

I paint a few colors in the place where I left white spots.

Note that the petals of flowers of different shapes, and the flowers are located in different directions to the branch.

Flowers should not be evenly distributed throughout the branch. I painted some bright red "spots". The rest of the flowers I paint on a branch and watch the composition of the picture.

Look! I painted a few red spots.

In Chinese painting there is no customary perspective. Pictures are linear. The feeling of the near plan and the background is transmitted in a tone. Bright, saturated colors - in the foreground, and more pale colors - in the distance. I diluted the paint with water and drew the distant flowers in pink.

Now I take the brush with the thinnest tip. I will paint stamens.

I paint with stamens in black ink stamens on red flowers, and in gray ink stamens on pink flowers.

Also, I paint black irregularities on the branches. The picture is almost ready ...

Process of compacting rice paper

Look at my work! Thin rice paper looks uneven. All a paintings on rice paper need to be smoothed and sealed with a second layer of paper.

Materials:

finished painting
spray with water
paper with a silicone layer
iron

First I wet my picture. I used Chinese mineral paints, not watercolor paints. Chinese mineral paints do not spread from water.

I put the wet picture face down.

I put the paper with the silicone layer on my picture. I stroked it with a hot iron. The silicone layer melts and adheres to the wrong side of the picture.

That's what happened in the end. The picture was smoothed, brighter, and the paper is denser.

I put my author's stamp on the picture

The place for the stamp is selected individually. It should complement the composition, not violate it. The stamps usually cut out the name of the artist or the phrases complementing the work. Here the word "Harmony".