Art Appreciation | She Painted Animals with Mineral Color, Adults and Children Both Praise "too Dreamy"!

Artists can paint beautiful things for people to appreciate, or express happiness through works.

--Hong Bao

Listening to the Time, 63ⅹ63cm

Dunhuang has always been a popular tourist attraction. Recently, the broadcast of the variety show "Paintings Hidden in Dunhuang" has made Dunhuang a hit. The exploration of the secret of the "Nine-Colored Deer" mural that has never faded for thousands of years in the show has amazed many viewers.

Afternoon Time, 33ⅹ33cm

The secret of the unfading color of the murals for thousands of years is attributed to the magical mineral material of rock color, which is hailed as true oriental color, as a painting material derived from the random smearing of primitive humans.

How Many Seconds Does the Fish Remember? 46ⅹ42cm

The young artist Hong Bao said: Most of the mineral paint itself is stone, and its life span can be said to be with the earth. Like Egyptian murals, Indian murals, and Dunhuang murals, their appearance has not changed after thousands of years. Even if it gets damp, the paint itself will not undergo chemical changes. In other words, if I record my emotions at a certain moment, it will last for thousands of years and become eternal.

Hong Bao has been obsessed with mineral painting creation for many years, she has rich experience in the research of modern mineral painting, and uses this ancient technique to depict the interest of daily life. Her works are gorgeous and warm, artistic and decorative, and are very popular among people living in luxury houses.

Hong Bao said: “One of the characteristics of mineral painting that attracts me is its material, it has a kind of rusty texture, and there is some sparkle under the light, which is very suitable for expressing the dreamy and innocent peach blossom land in my heart.”

Hong Bao studied fine brushwork and ink painting when she was an undergraduate, mainly in fresh light colors. Later, she was impressed by the rich colors of mineral painting. So she studied mineral painting with Ma Wenxi (one of the first domestic teachers went to study mineral painting in Japan) at the postgraduate stage for more than ten years until now.

Accompany, 50ⅹ50cm

During the postgraduate period, Hong Bao and her teacher Ma Wenxi went to the Western Regions to collect customs. In more than a month, they investigated the Dunhuang Grottoes and Xinjiang Grottoes in depth.

The content of the murals in the Grottoes is very rich. Although it is related to religion, it also depicts the daily life scenes of people at that time. There are other interesting things, like animals, landscapes and houses. There are also scenes where people dance, sing, eat, or travel. This has brought a wealth of creative inspiration to Hong Bao.

Radish Candy, 83ⅹ83cm

Most of Hong Bao's works depict big and small things in life, such as nature, animals, and children. Combined with her imagination, her works bring us a poetic and romantic sense of "earthly snug". This kind of childlike, dreamy and gorgeous, picture forms a unique charm of Hong Bao's works.

Painting with mineral color is quite extravagant. The azurite paint is about 10 yuan a gram, and the material cost of a painting is no less than four figures. "The preciousness of materials makes people take every painting, every stroke, and every moment seriously." Hong Bao said.

Due to the expensive materials, traditional techniques, and time-consuming of mineral painting, there are not many artists who are interested in it. According to industry statistics, "There are no more than 1,000 professional mineral painters across in the whole country."