Leaves must present a crisp appearance. To accomplish this, the color should be applied with as few strokes as possible. All detail work must be left for the second firing. Large regular leaves can be completed with two strokes—using the dark color for one and lighter color for the other.
The student should aim to make irregular leaves as simple as possible. It stands to reason, however, that more strokes will be necessary for these than for regular ones. In china painting, lights are supplementary. It is the shadows that give real character to the subject. These should be fired first, and the lights second.
FRUIT PAINTING
One of the important points of fruit—and flower painting as well—is the proper form of leaves. Some decorators fall into the habit of painting leaves of blackberries, currants, grapes, plums, etc., all in the same irregular and ragged manner for which there is no excuse other than lack of experience or painting leaves from memory. Above all we advise the student to study the different leaves carefully. There is such a variety of fruits and flowers that volumes could be written in describing them, so we will confine our efforts to instructions on painting the fruits most commonly used as designs for china painting. These are blackberries, cherries, currants, plums, grapes and a few other varieties. Blackberries and wild cherries are laid in with a wash of black for the first firing, which should be applied only on the dark side of the berries. The light part and the highlight should be left pure white. For second firing, apply a wash of banding blue and black with a little purple added to give it warmth. Wipe out one or two sharp highlights just above center of berry to give it fullness and transparency; the piece is then ready for second fire. Should a third fire be required, be careful not to use too much black as dark colors are apt to blister if applied too heavily.
Another combination for a beautiful dark color is first apply a wash of dark green over the dark part of the berry for first firing and going over it with a wash of crimson purple for second fire. You must not omit wiping out highlights which are especially noticeable on fruits with smooth skin.
Red Cherries. For painting red cherries, use dark pompadour for the dark parts and poppy red for the lighter portion. Violet or iron is a good color to use for deep cherries.
Currants. For currants, dark pompadour is a good color to use, but it should be kept thin and the highlights must not be forgotten. Currants of a lighter red may be painted with poppy red.
Plums. Crimson purple and banding blue are used in painting plums—about three parts of blue to one of crimson purple. This same combination may be used for second firing, with a light wash of black for deepest shadows.