This painting was a riot of color I discovered in an ancient Chinese village, Xinchang, about an hour from Shanghai.
Read this blog post for my design thinking for this painting.
Cat. No. 1216 Xinchang Flags, Old Town Shanghai – 40cm x 30cm – Oil on Linen
About the painting
It was the bright colors of the highly saturated flags and the clothing of the people thronging the streets of Xinchang, contrasting with the dark wooden houses that attracted me to this scene. I abstracted the shapes of the figures in order for the painting to not be so literal and to increase the near Visual Music of the brushwork.
The painting was essentially an abstract design of shapes.
Another key element of the design was its notan structure. The painting is basically a dominant dark two-value notan design.
The old town of Xinchang
I was taking part in an invitational paint out with five American and five Chinese artists, amongst whom were my good friends Ken Cadwallader and Kevin Macpherson, two very fine painters.
It was an interesting week that culminated with an exhibition in a beautiful historic building in the center of the old town. Chinese television came to record the event.
Barry John Raybould and Kevin Macpherson at the final exhibition in a historic old building in Xinchang village.
More paintings
Here are some more paintings I did in Xinchang, an ancient Chinese village on the outskirts of Shanghai.
For more information
For more information on some of the techniques I used in this painting see:
Thank You
Thank you for taking the time to read this article. I hope you find it useful. If you would like to get free painting tips by email, please sign up for my free tips newsletter.
If you are interested in a structured approach for learning how to paint, take a look at my online painting classes.
Happy painting!
Barry John Raybould
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