Wood painting technique and its features. Varieties and rich history of Khokhloma painting Russian painting on wood

What types of Russian folk decorative painting can you name?
Almost everyone can remember the Khokhloma painting. It is bright, beautiful and products painted with Khokhloma can be found most often.

Giant nesting dolls with various types of painting

But that’s not all! Our Russian folk culture is certainly very rich.
I suggest watching a series of TV shows created by the Country Life TV channel, each episode of which is dedicated to a specific type of painting.

Prikamsk painting.
Craftsmen working in the picturesque style of the Kama house painting placed images of fabulous birds and animals, flowering and fruit-bearing plants on the doors and walls of the house and on the furniture. They subtly felt and accurately expressed in their works the poetic and fairy-tale worldview of the Perm peasants, who for a long time retained archaic features in their everyday life.

Pizhemskaya painting.
One of the oldest paintings of the Russian North. The northern Pechora River and its tributaries Tsilma, Pizhma and others are places where in the 19th and early 20th centuries. there was a small center for graphic painting. The Old Believers who fled here were engaged in rewriting secular and religious books, which they decorated with headpieces, initial letters, and drawings.

Mezen painting.
One of the most ancient Russian artistic crafts. Its origins are lost in distant centuries. The fishing reached its peak of popularity in the 19th century. Mezen spinning wheels and boxes were widely distributed along the Pinega River and exported to Pechora, Dvina and Onega. The stylization of the drawing, the laconicism and expressiveness of the paintings, brings them closer to the ancient rock paintings of the Russian North. Mezen lacks the usual Russian folk brightness and multicoloredness.

Gorodets painting.
Folk craft of the Nizhny Novgorod region. It developed in the second half of the 19th century in the Trans-Volga villages near Gorodets.
Gorodets painting is unique in its style, so it is quite difficult to confuse it. Not a single Gorodets product is complete without lush garlands and bouquets of flowers. The subjects of Gorodets products had a kind of unique plot, walks of gentlemen with ladies, riders on horses, scenes of tea drinking in rich interiors.

Zhostovo painting is a folk craft of artistic painting of metal trays that exists in the village of Zhostovo, Mytishchi district, Moscow region. The fishery arose in the middle of the 18th century. in the Urals, where the Demidov metallurgical plants were located.

Over more than two hundred years of history, the shawl manufactory has developed a unique Pavlovo Posad school of shawl design.

Gzhel is one of the traditional Russian centers for the production of ceramics.

Khokhloma- an ancient Russian folk craft, born in the 17th century in the Nizhny Novgorod region. The painting is done in red, green and black on a gold background. Traditional elements of Khokhloma are red juicy rowan and strawberries, flowers and branches. Birds, fish and animals are often found.

Gzhel- one of the traditional Russian centers for the production of ceramics. The word “Gzhel” probably comes from “to burn.” For the first time, the Gzhel area was mentioned among others in the spiritual charter of Ivan Kalita. The colors of Gzhel painting are juicy blue, bright blue, cornflower blue.

Zhostovo painting - folk craft of artistic painting of metal trays, existing in the village of Zhostovo, Mytishchi district, Moscow region.
Painting is usually done on a black background, sometimes on red, blue, green, silver, and the master works on several trays at once.
The main motif of the painting is a simple floral bouquet in which large garden and small wildflowers alternate.

Mezen painting - one of the most ancient Russian artistic crafts. Its origins are lost in the distant centuries of the initial formation of the Slavic tribes.
The main motifs are geometric patterns - solar disks, rhombuses, crosses - reminiscent of similar elements of triangular-notched carving. Available in two colors: black and red. The painted object was covered with drying oil, which protected the paint from being erased and gave the product a golden color.

Gorodets painting - Russian folk art craft. It has existed since the mid-19th century in the area of ​​the city of Gorodets. Gorodets craftsmen used a unique technique - inlay: figures were cut out of a different type of wood and inserted into a recess of the appropriate shape. Inserts made of dark bog oak stand out in relief on the light surface of the bottom. Thus, having only two shades of wood and a simple tool, folk craftsmen turned the surface of the bottom board into a real picture. Later, craftsmen began to use tint for visual richness, a bright combination of yellow with dark oak, the addition of blue, green, red colors made the bottom even more elegant and colorful

Permogorye is a pier on the highest, mountainous bank of the Northern Dvina. The villages of Bolshoi Bereznik are located 4 kilometers away. These villages, united by the common name Mokraya Evdoma, were the center of Permogorsk painting.
The basis of Permogorsk painting is a floral pattern. Three-lobed, slightly curved leaves with sharp tips and tulip-shaped flowers, reminiscent of the ancient krin flower, are strung on flexible shoots. Among them are bushes made of rounded leaves, sirens, and elegant fairy-tale birds. In the folk paintings of the Permogorye region of the 19th century, various genre scenes from peasant life were usually included in the floral pattern on almost all household items.


Mezen painting

Mezen wood painting or palaschel painting is a type of painting of household utensils - spinning wheels, ladles, boxes, bratins, which developed by the beginning of the 19th century in the lower reaches of the Mezen River. The oldest dated spinning wheel with Mezen painting dates back to 1815, although graphic motifs of such painting are found in handwritten books of the 18th century made in the Mezen region. In terms of style, Mezen painting can be classified as one of the most archaic types of painting that survived into the 20th century. The objects are densely dotted with a fractional pattern - stars, crosses, dashes, made in two colors: black - soot and red - “earth paint”, ocher. The main motifs of the geometric ornament - solar disks, rhombuses, crosses - resemble similar elements of triangular-notched carving.

Polkhov-Maidan painting

Polkhov-Maidan painting is one of the youngest artistic crafts in Russia. It got its name from the large village of Polkhovsky Maidan in the south of the Nizhny Novgorod region. Almost every family here makes and sells wooden painted toys. The Polkhov-Maidan toy, or as the masters themselves call it “tararushka,” appeared in the late 1920s. Since the 1960s, residents of the village of Krutets, located near the village of Polkhovsky Maidan, began to make a similar toy. The main motifs of the patterns of this painting are flowers: rose, poppy, chamomile, tulip, rosehip. There is also a plot painting. Most often this is a rural landscape with a river, houses, a church and a mill on the bank, as well as the obligatory red dawn in the sky.

Pizhemskaya painting

Pizhem painting has been known since the 17th century. One of the oldest paintings of the Russian North. The northern Pechora River and its tributaries Tsilma, Pizhma and others are places where in the 19th and early 20th centuries. there was a small center for graphic painting. The formation of the style of Pizhem painting was strongly influenced by the handwritten tradition of the Old Believers since the time of Avvakum. There were entire dynasties of copyists of pre-Nikon books, known throughout Pechora; They marked the beginning of a kind of Pizhem painting. Pizhem painting was done with watercolors - red, green, yellow, black. The main Pizhem painting is a geometric pattern made with black paint (soot using larch resin) in the form of rhombuses, crosses, dots, etc., with a slight addition of red and green paint.

Guslitskaya painting

Guslitsky painting dates back to the 17th century. This painting existed until the 20th century, when the handwritten book was supplanted by the printed one. Guslitsa - this is how the area near Moscow has long been called in the south-eastern part along the Guslitsa River, which flows into the Moscow River (the territory of part of the modern Orekhovo-Zuevsky and Yegoryevsky districts of the Moscow region). In Guslitsy, icon painting, cult copper-cast plastic, and sewing developed. In the 60-70s. XIX century In the settlement of Abramovka, the underground Old Believer printing house of the peasant E.P. Piskunov functioned. The art of copying and decorating books was widespread in the Guslitz area. The Guslitsky singing manuscripts were especially famous. The “Guslitsky” style of book design developed by the last quarter of the 18th century. The specificity of the painting is shining colors: blue, light blue, pink, turquoise, combined with abundant gilding.

Rakul painting

Rakul painting appears in the first half of the 19th century in the village of Ulyanovskaya, located at the confluence of the Rakulka River with the Northern Dvina (now Krasnoborsky district of the Arkhangelsk region). The ornament of the Rakulka painting is very close to the graphics of the miniatures of the famous Vygov manuscripts - liturgical and instructional books produced by the Old Believers. The Rakulka paintings are usually dominated by black and golden-ocher colors, which are accompanied by rich green and brownish-red. The color scheme is very strict and harmonious, the plasticity of the elements is laconic. The elements of the Rakul ornament are large, their shape is limited by a clear black outline. Small decorative elements - vignettes and veins are done in black or white: white is predominantly used to draw leaf veins running along a rich color background.

Sheksninskaya gilded painting

“Sheksninskaya gilded woman” is one of the traditional paintings of the Russian North. It decorated peasant household items and was distributed over a small area - in the southern part of the Sheksninsky district of the Vologda region. Local residents called the painting “gilded”. This name entered the scientific circulation of the newly opened center of folk paintings. The painting is graphic, its color scheme is based on a combination of red, gold and black, traditional for ancient Russian icon painting. Bizarre plants with strange leaves, flowers and fruits, on the branches of which sit proud birds with an eagle look and a tail, sometimes turning into a floral pattern - Here are the main motives of this painting. The origins of Sheksninskaya gilding have roots in ancient Russian culture, reminiscent of the ornaments of icons and handwritten books.

Khokhloma painting

Khokhloma is a decorative painting of wooden utensils and furniture, made in red, green and black tones on a golden background. When painting, it is not gold, but silver-tin powder that is applied to the tree. After this, the product is coated with a special composition and processed three or four times in the oven, which achieves a honey-golden color, giving the light wooden utensils a massive effect. The painting looks bright despite the dark background. To create a picture, colors such as red, yellow, orange, a little green and blue are used. Also, the color of gold is always present in the painting. Traditional elements of Khokhloma are red juicy rowan and strawberries, flowers and branches. Birds, fish and animals are often found.

Boretsk painting

Boretsk painting is a Russian folk art craft, painting on wood. It has existed since the 18th century. Initially, there was one center for painting - the village of Borok (Shenkursky district) in the middle reaches of the Northern Dvina River (it arose on the banks of the Dvina when the Dvina region was settled by Novgorodians in the 11th-12th centuries). The most commonly used colors in painting: red, green, brown, orange, yellow. The ornament consists of rhombuses, circles, droplets, and triangles. All elements are outlined in black. The symbol of Boretsk painting is the Tree of Life. A huge flower with a straight stem, around which flowers, birds, berries, and graceful leaves are depicted. The composition could be based on genre scenes: tea drinking, festivities.

Petersburg painting

St. Petersburg painting arose from the study of trays created in the 19th century in St. Petersburg. Characterized by special sophistication. White flowers with golden leaves on a black background. Leaves and flowers are painted with special, translucent strokes. A special atmosphere is created in St. Petersburg - the city of white nights. The main motifs of the design are flowers: daffodils, peonies, daisies; the composition is characterized by grace and dynamism. A special technique can be considered the active use of the background as an additional visual element. White and gold translucent strokes are placed so that the emerging background creates a unique atmosphere of mystery. Nowadays it is a little-known form of household art. And at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, white, translucent flowers with golden leaves began to bloom on the black background of the trays.

Gorodets painting

Gorodets painting is a Russian folk art craft. It has existed since the mid-19th century in the area of ​​the city of Gorodets. Bright, laconic Gorodets painting (genre scenes, figurines of horses, roosters, floral patterns), made in a free stroke with a white and black graphic outline, decorated spinning wheels, furniture, shutters, and doors. In Nizhny Novgorod paintings, two types can be distinguished - Pavlovsk and Gorodets paintings. Gorodets painting originates from carved Gorodets spinning wheels: figures were cut out of a different type of wood and inserted into a recess of the appropriate shape. Inserts made of dark bog oak stand out in relief on the light surface of the bottom. Having only two shades of wood and a simple tool, folk craftsmen turned the surface of the bottom board into a real picture.

Zhostovo painting

Zhostovo painting is a folk craft of artistic painting of metal trays that exists in the village of Zhostovo, Mytishchi district, Moscow region. It is believed that Zhostovo painting adopted the tradition of the Demidov family to paint tin trays, which was widespread in the Urals, namely in the Tagil and Vyisky factory villages. The Demidov breeders introduced this trade there. The appearance of the Zhostovo painted tray is associated with the surname of the Vishnyakov brothers. The history of Zhostovo and Zhostovo craft dates back to the beginning of the 19th century, when in a number of Moscow region villages and hamlets of the former Troitskaya volost (now Mytishchi district of the Moscow region) - Zhostovo, Ostashkovo, Khlebnikov, Troitsky and others - workshops arose for the production of painted lacquered products from papier-mâché . The main motif of Zhostovo painting, like Tagil painting, is a flower bouquet.

Gzhel painting

Gzhel is one of the traditional Russian centers for the production of ceramics. The broader meaning of the name "Gzhel", which is correct from a historical and cultural point of view, is a vast area consisting of 27 villages united in the "Gzhel Bush". “Gzhel Bush” is located approximately sixty kilometers from Moscow along the Moscow-Murom-Kazan railway line. Now “Gzhel Bush” is part of the Ramensky district of the Moscow region. Before the revolution, this area belonged to Bogorodsky and Bronnitsky districts. The name “Gzhel” itself has Baltic roots and refers more to the natural features of the region than to the process of firing products in pottery production. The word “Gzhel” is closest to the ancient Prussian sound of the word “shrub”, which, with some differences, has taken root in all Baltic languages.

Today we will talk about one of the most ancient types of art - wood painting. Intricate patterns, drawings, characters and scenes from literary works on tablets, trays, boxes and vases still look great in the interior of any room today.

Wood painting is a decorative and applied art that has a long history. Artistic painting on wood was done with bright colors. Painted souvenirs were passed down from generation to generation and were valued by growing youth. Today, wood painting is widely used in the production of furniture, dishes, toys, and musical instruments.

Types of painting on wood

There are many types of wood painting, different traditional techniques and schools. In Khokhloma painting alone there are several subtypes, depending on the type of ornament used!

Today we will look at the three most popular paintings - Khokhloma, Mezen and Gorodets, since they are the most popular and widely known. It is important to remember that besides them there are many other, no less wonderful types of painting: for example, Volkhov, Boretsk, Vladimir, etc.

1. Khokhloma.

This type of painting is an old Russian craft that originated in the vicinity of Nizhny Novgorod around the 17th century.

Wooden utensils have always been held in high esteem in Rus', but untreated wood absorbs moisture and quickly becomes dirty. To avoid this, they began to coat the dishes with boiled linseed oil - drying oil, which covered the surface of a wooden object with an impenetrable film.

A distinctive feature of the technique is giving the product a golden shine without the use of gold.

Khokhloma takes its principle of gilding without gold from ancient icon painting techniques: in order to save money, the background of the icon was painted over with silver (and later with cheaper tin or aluminum), images of saints were applied, and then covered with linseed oil in several layers, drying each layer separately in an oven. Under the influence of temperature, the drying oil film acquired a golden hue and the silver background, located underneath it, also had a golden shimmer.

Basic colors in Khokhloma:

Red;

Gold;

Additional colors:

Green;

Khokhloma painting is done by hand, without preliminary marking. Traditional elements - juicy rowan and strawberries, flowers and branches. Birds, fish and animals are often found.

There are two types of painting: “mountain”, when a drawing in red and black is applied on a silver background (which will turn golden after firing!); and “under the background,” when the outline of the ornament is first outlined, and then the background is filled with black paint, but the design remains golden.

2. Gorodets painting.

This painting also appeared in the Nizhny Novgorod province, but later than Khokhloma - in the 19th century.

The subject compositions in this painting are much more complex, but the masters also applied them without preliminary markings.

Gorodets painting was done on a bright background with tempera paints.

The main painting technique is to first apply the background color to the product, then apply “underpainting” to it - large spots of color. After this, the drawing is worked out with a thin brush, then the painting is completed by “razhivka” - additional thin strokes and dots, usually applied with white paint, emphasizing details and contrast. The main motifs are floral arrangements, fairy-tale and epic scenes, urban scenes.

3. Mezen painting.

An ancient type of decorating wooden utensils and other household items. This painting is a purely ornamental decoration.

The main feature: a fractional pattern - stars, crosses, dashes - made in two colors: black and red.

The main motifs of geometric patterns are solar disks, rhombuses, and crosses. Also used as an ornament are schematic images of animals: horses or deer. All images are very static and only through repeated repetition does a feeling of dynamics arise.

The product is painted on clean, unprimed wood, first with red ocher, and then a black outline is made.

By the way, on our website you can watch several master classes on Mezen painting and its stylization!

Where to start and how to paint on wood

Brushes for painting on wood

The best brushes for painting on wood are soft brushes of natural origin. Particularly valued are squirrel and kolinsky, and less commonly, sable. However, synthetic brushes are also perfect for acrylic paints.

Before the process, it is important to decide on the appropriate sizes for the brushes, which are indicated by numbers. For beginners, it is recommended to take one large, two medium and one thin small brush.

It is important to remember that all ancient trade paintings originated in the peasant class, in the hands of people to whom the plow and hammer were much more familiar than the brush. And if they could do it, so can you! In traditional paintings there is no need to draw faces, figures or maintain portrait likeness. The most important thing is to hone the technique of drawing different elements, learn to freely turn the brush in your hands and mix colors. You need to put in a little patience, drawing the same elements over and over again, and in the end you will learn to draw them perfectly! A fairly small number of simple basic elements and their combinations - that's all!

And it is important to understand that if recognized masters of various types of painting could apply it without first drawing, then we, mere mortals, can not immediately apply the drawing with paints, but use a pencil, stencil, carbon copy or tracing paper to begin with, but not get too carried away. After all, if you constantly resort to ready-made drawings, the ability to independently fantasize is dulled. Remember, the main thing is to always enjoy the painting process.

Wood painting is considered one of the oldest types of creativity and drawing. This method of decoration was widespread in Rus'; wooden boards were painted, panels, trays and boxes were decorated with paints. To learn how to decorate wooden objects yourself, you just need to learn the basic painting techniques.

This type of decorative and applied art has been passed down from generation to generation. Adults and children depicted original patterns based on folk motifs, which were later framed. Decorating with the help of painting various interior items was considered popular. In this form, this art has survived to this day, when furniture, dishes, toys, and musical instruments are decorated with decorative painting on wood.

Craftsmen use coloring compounds for various purposes as materials for their work. You can paint on wood with gouache, acrylic, watercolor and even oil. Making your own beautiful painted board for cutting food is not difficult even for a child: the whole process consists of selecting a design, transferring it to the surface, and gradually decorating it. It is important to achieve the right combination of colors so that the boards look harmonious.

There are three types of painting techniques:

  • Khokhloma - characterized by a black background, as well as yellow and red colors, where fancy flowers are depicted.

  • – the main motifs are drawings dedicated to urban scenes, epics and flower arrangements.

  • - a type of painting on wood, the main subjects of which are ornaments and horses.

To learn how to paint on wood, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic techniques, which you can learn about in the following sections.

How to paint a kitchen board with acrylic paints?

The most convenient material for getting acquainted with folk art and mastering technology is acrylic paints. They are thick enough and can be mixed to achieve a spectacular image. After painting a wooden board with such paints, it is not necessary to varnish the surface, because acrylic creates a durable protective film.

To work you will need:

  • kitchen cutting board with a smooth surface;
  • specified paints of the required colors;
  • tassels;
  • stencils for painting.

Choose high-quality artistic acrylic paints that have sufficient thickness - this is how the drawing will be rich.

The surface of the board must be flat; if there are protrusions on it, it is recommended to use sandpaper and sand the surface of the wood. After this, the masters recommend saturating the base with white acrylic so that subsequent sketches will lie flat on the board. While the workpiece is drying, you need to transfer the design onto wood, you can find out how to do this in the last section of this material.

The peculiarity of the products obtained after painting is that they have a bright and rich color. You need to start painting the board with large elements of the design, gradually moving on to smaller details. To highlight individual details of the image, paint them with a thin brush in black or white.

After painting on wood with acrylic paints, the product must be thoroughly dried. The next step will be varnishing the board if the product is intended to be used for its intended purpose. If the finished result will serve only a decorative function, then there is no need to varnish the board - painting with acrylic paints will stick to the wood on its own.

In the video: painting a cutting board with acrylic paints.

Painting wood with watercolors and its features

The technology of painting wooden bases with watercolors involves quickly applying paint to the surface. Some argue that watercolor is completely unsuitable for such coatings, because excessive wetting of the wood leads to its damage. You can correct the situation and learn how to properly paint on wood with watercolors - you just need to choose the right technique.

For beginners, painting with watercolors should not be a complicated procedure; you can practice on wooden blanks in the form of nesting dolls. After transferring the drawing, you need to brush it once with a wet brush over the area of ​​the workpiece that needs to be painted. This is done for better paint adhesion. Step by step, large areas are first painted, and then colors are added to the details.

The use of watercolor on wood has a number of features:

  • the ability to create light and airy images, equipping them with shadows and color transitions;
  • lack of relief of the stroke, which cannot be said about painting wooden bases with acrylic or oil paints;
  • a face painted on wood in watercolor most accurately conveys the shades truthfully;
  • the ability to mix watercolors with other types of paints for painting on wood.

The finished product can be coated with clear varnish. Watercolors are also used to decorate backgrounds on panels, because this paint is a pigment diluted with water, which is most optimal for large areas.

Gouache for painting as an alternative

A cutting board for the kitchen is one of the practical items of regular use. To make this accessory pleasing to the eye every day, it is recommended to paint it; this can be done with gouache paints on wood. This coloring material is similar to acrylic, but is slightly inferior in saturation.

Painting on wood with gouache consists of the following stages:

  1. Sanding the board. If the surface of the product was not smooth enough, it must be polished with sandpaper.
  2. Structure protection. If the board does not have a varnish coating, it must be treated with stain.
  3. Priming. For this, acrylic of any suitable color is used. The wooden board should be carefully coated with paint without gaps. This will make coloring easy and quick.
  4. Drawing. After translating the image or drawing it yourself, you need to start painting on the board. For beginners, it is better to choose simple patterns or floral motifs. Before painting the tree with gouache, you can add a little PVA glue to the jar for better adhesion.
  5. Varnishing. After finishing the process, it is recommended to open the product with varnish. You can use any composition that you have at home, but odorless acrylic varnish is considered the most suitable.

The master class presented in the photo below is designed for people who do not have the skills to paint kitchen boards. Painting on wood brings pleasure, and the resulting result delights everyone around you.

It is necessary to apply varnish to the finished product in several layers, but after the previous layer has completely dried. The kitchen is a place where moisture is constantly exposed, so this stage is considered mandatory.

Methods for transferring a drawing onto a base

Some fans of painting on wood only with experience begin to draw pictures on wood on their own. Beginners cannot do this, so the question arises, what are the ways to transfer a picture onto a wooden base? You can find out more about them below:

  • Carbon copy. This method is considered the simplest - it requires regular dark or (in the case of a black base) white carbon paper. The printed sheet is placed on a carbon copy, under which a wooden blank is placed. Using a pen, the drawing is completely outlined. As a result, an image is formed on the workpiece that can be painted. The resulting painted product is neat.

  • Tracing paper. To make the painting have beautiful borders, you can use tracing paper. To do this, it is applied to the prepared drawing and traced along its contours. Next, the sheet is turned over and rubbed generously with graphite. After this, tracing paper is placed on the tree and the image is traced with a sharp object. Using this method it is possible to draw even the most complex patterns.

  • Soap. The method is similar to the previous one, but it is good when the templates for painting are transferred to a black surface. It is necessary to repeat the same operations, only rub the tracing paper not with graphite, but with soap.

To hone your skills, experts recommend using different wood painting techniques. It’s also a good idea to paint on a former wooden base for a tray, on a box or other things. The resulting products can be given as a gift or used to decorate your home.

Master classes on painting wood (2 videos)

Various options and ideas (30 photos)