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Be ready for excitement! Allow the vigor of the grapevines to jump out of your brush. Painting grapes in Chinese brush style is about the boldness of the leaves contrasted with the lushness of the fruit. You can have fun with the twisting vines. They can go anywhere!
Read my tips on painting grapes, leaves and vines by clicking on "read more".
Watch me paint grapes here
See more of my grape paintings here
Purchase my How to Paint Grapes video here
Read my tips on painting grapes, leaves and vines by clicking on "read more".
Watch me paint grapes here
See more of my grape paintings here
Purchase my How to Paint Grapes video here
Leaf Tips:
- Use a big soft brush for the leaves. Load on plenty of color and add heavy black to the tip. Different varieties of grapes have different shapes of leaves. Research the shape and observe how the veins come out of a central spot and go down each lobe, compared to a peony leaf, where they alternate down the mid-rib (see illustration).
- Paint leaves in groups and make sure they overlap. Overlapping immediately creates depth.
- Paint some leaves sideways on; vary the size and shape; stay loose!
- On the vine, the leaves shelter the grapes, so paint most of your big leaves higher than your clusters of fruit and paint the leaves before the fruit.
- Add the veins when the leaves are still damp.
Grape Clusters
Professor Han paints exquisite grapes. He also has exquisite paper. I have yet to find raw xuan paper that holds the moisture without bleeding the way his paper does. He dries off the tip of his brush and then adds a little water (plain or green-tinted) so that his first stroke is light at the tip.
Grape Tips:
Grape Tips:
- Choose a small, hard brush for the grapes. Practice on a piece of scrap paper to make sure it’s the one you want. For purple grapes, use carmine and phthalocyanine blue, or indigo and rouge tint; for red grapes, use rouge tint and any other color that pleases your eye - it could be brown, light green or even orange. For green grapes, make a lemony green. Some painters squeeze and flatten the point and then add a lighter color to the tip. Practice different ideas to find your favorite.
- Start with a “C”, using the tip of the brush, then complete the “O”, filling in all but a highlight spot in the upper left. If you have too much water on your brush, the highlight will disappear. You can always add it back, using a little white. Make the grapes overlap, and place the darker ones behind the lighter ones to give a sense of depth.
Autumn Grapevine
Vine and Branch Tips:
- Have fun! Choose a nice, hard- bristle, springy brush and let it dance! Hold it vertical to the paper to avoid creating ribbons. Load your brush with brown or green and add black to the tip. Avoid straight lines; double back on yourself; pause and lift up the brush, then change direction; let the vines twist and twirl over your paper. Let them surprise you!
- Switch to a smaller brush if you have trouble controlling the size of the tendrils. Let them intertwine.
Playful Grape Fantasy
Go to this post to see how I paint grapes and get more ideas!
4 Comments
Really helpful–thanks so much Virginia! Your grapes always look so juicy & luscious. Also wonderful to see Prof Han.
Glad you enjoyed it, Linda. I'll be putting up more snippets from Prof Han on different flowers over the weeks to come.
You have such lovely paintings. For your colours what do you use? Is it coloured ink, or watercolour pigments? I would love to branch out in colour from my sumi-e but am scared to buy the wrong product!
Hi Georgia, thanks for your comments! I use a combination of chips, Marie's Chinese watercolors and Western watercolors. Oriental Art Supply sells both. If you want to start off small, just buy a small box of Marie's colors. There are other options, such as the traditional Chinese chip colors, which are also good. Good luck and happy painting!