Golden Khokhloma painting. Message "history of Khokhloma". Decorating a kitchen board: Khokhloma painting on wood step by step


It would seem that, artistic painting there is no longer any place left in the pragmatic 21st century, and it can now only be admired in museums. However, it is still Russia You can find thriving workshops that have preserved the ancient traditions of various artistic paintings and continue to amaze modern people with their skills.

Zhostovo




Origins Zhostovo painting date back to the early 19th century. At that time, in several neighboring villages of the former Troitskaya volost (now the Mytishchi district of the Moscow region), craft workshops arose that were engaged in the production of painted decorative items from papier-mâché, varnished. Artists painted boxes, cigarette cases, sugar bowls and metal trays. Gradually, the number of trays produced increased, thereby displacing other products.
The main motifs of the painting are flower bouquets. At the beginning of the 20th century, with the advent of Soviet power, the villages were united into the “Metal Tray” artel, and the masters had a hard time when new subjects for drawing were imposed on them, dictated by the then trends of realism. However, the artists managed to preserve their originality, and Zhostovo trays moved from the category of household items into decorative panels, which are valued not only in Russia, but also abroad.

Khokhloma





Khokhloma originated in the 17th century in the vicinity of Nizhny Novgorod. The name of the craft comes from the village of Khokhloma, where finished products were brought from nearby villages. The founders of this wood painting are called the Old Believers, who fled the new church way of life. It was they who owned the secrets of “golden” painting on dishes.
By the way, the basis of the painting is not golden, but silver tin powder. A special composition is applied on top of it, then it is subjected to heat treatment, and only then they begin to paint. The main motifs of Khokhloma are bunches of rowan berries, berries, leaves and flowers.

Gzhel




Gzhel called business card Russia in the field of applied crafts. It is believed that Gzhel dates back to the 14th century. Some argue that the name comes from the Gzhelka River (Gzholka), on which stood the village where the craftsmen lived. Others believe that “Gzhel” is a paraphrase of the word “zhgel”, i.e. firing of ceramics. 60 km from Moscow there is the “Gzhel Bush”, which consists of 27 villages where they engage in firing and painting of ceramic products. They were painted with cobalt blue in two ways: overglaze and underglaze. First, the design was applied to wet clay, and then again to glaze. The Gzhel pottery industry flourished, because the rich used silverware, and the common people used coarse earthenware of various sizes. Over time, Gzhel became accessible to all segments of the population, but it did not lose its beauty and relevance.

Fedoskino




The village of Fedoskino (Moscow region) is famous for varnish painting. In the 18th century, near the village there was a Lukutinskaya factory producing lacquer visors for hats. Then she changed direction, and 80 civilian workers began painting products made of papier-mâché and wood with varnish. The amazing glow and shine of boxes and other miniatures was achieved by “through-writing.” This was the name of the technique when, before the actual drawing itself, a thin layer of gold leaf and mother-of-pearl was applied to the surface. The most popular subjects for drawing are related to the life of ordinary people.

Mezen painting





Like many other folk crafts, Mezen painting received its name from the area in which it developed - in this case, from the name of the Mezen River, located in the Arkhangelsk region. The technique in which the craftsmen work dates back to the ancient Slavic tribes. The main ornaments are rhombuses, crosses, solar disks, repeated in a certain sequence.
In Mezen wood painting, only two colors dominate - black (soot) and reddish (ochre). They mainly apply ornaments to household items: boxes, spinning wheels, ladles. After painting the utensils, drying oil is applied to it, which protects the design from erasing and gives it additional shine.
Many contemporary artists continue to practice ancient crafts, while adding something of their own. So the artist from Izhevsk

The Russian folk art craft of making gilded wooden utensils arose in the second half of the 17th century in Trans-Volga villages. The fishery got its name from one of the product sales centers - the village of Khokhloma.
Khokhloma painting is characterized by an original technique of painting wood in a golden color without the use of gold. Objects turned from wood were primed with a clay solution, covered with drying oil and tin powder, on a layer of which a floral pattern was made in a free brush style, then varnished with linseed oil and hardened at high temperatures in an oven.
Two main types of painting are common - “top” (red and black on a golden background) and “under the background” (golden silhouette pattern on a colored background).


Khokhloma painting on wood is believed to have originated in the 17th century in the villages of Bolshie and Malye Bezdeli, Mokushino, Shabashi, Glibino, Khryashi, located on the left bank of the Volga, and reached its peak in the 18th century. The village of Khokhloma, known according to documents since the 17th century and which gave the name to the painting, was a major distribution center where finished products were brought. Currently, the Koverninsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region is considered the birthplace of Khokhloma.


The unique method of painting wooden utensils “like gold” in the forested Trans-Volga region and the very emergence of the Khokhloma craft are often associated with the Old Believers, who, fleeing persecution for the “old faith”, settled in these remote and inaccessible places. The Old Believers brought with them ancient icons and handwritten books. Among them were icon painters and masters of book miniatures who mastered fine brushwork. And the local population possessed turning skills and the skills of making wooden utensils, which were passed on from generation to generation. At the intersection of these two traditions, the Khokhloma craft was born, combining the pictorial culture inherited from icon painters with the traditional forms of turning utensils of the Trans-Volga masters and preserving the secret of making “golden” utensils without the use of gold.


However, there are documents according to which the technology of imitation gilding on wood was known to Nizhny Novgorod artisans even before the split. They used it in the 1640s and 1650s. In the large Nizhny Novgorod craft villages of Lyskovo and Murashkino, the “village of Semenovskoye” (now the city of Semenov), wooden frames, ladles, dishes, etc. were made, painted “for tin work,” that is, using tin powder.


There is also a folk legend explaining the appearance of Khokhloma painting. It tells the story of the outstanding icon painter Andrei Loskut, who was dissatisfied with the reform of Patriarch Nikon and fled the capital. Having settled in the remote forests of the Volga region, he began to paint icons according to the old model and paint wooden utensils. However, someone informed the patriarch about the whereabouts of Andrei Loskut, and he sent soldiers after him. Fleeing from persecution, Andrei voluntarily burned himself in the fire, and before his death he bequeathed to people to preserve his skill.

The high cost of imported tin slowed down the production of Khokhloma dishes for a long time, because only a very rich customer could supply the craftsmen with tin. And such a customer was the Trinity-Sergius Monastery. Documents from the monastery indicate that peasants from the villages of Khokhloma, Skorobogatovo and about 80 other villages along the Uzole and Kerzhenets rivers were brought to work in the Lavra’s workshops from the 17th century. This, apparently, explains the fact that it was these villages and hamlets that became the birthplace of “golden” painting, and their residents to this day retain the secrets of their craft.


The name “Khokhloma painting” or simply “Khokhloma” arose due to the fact that the peasants who made painted wooden dishes took them for sale to the large trading village of Khokhloma, Nizhny Novgorod province. Through the Nizhny Novgorod Fair Khokhloma products dispersed throughout Russia, they were exported to the countries of Asia and Western Europe.


The development of the trade was facilitated by the proximity of the Volga, at that time the main trade artery connecting the Volga cities, which were famous for their marketplaces. It was along the Volga, and then through the Caspian steppes, that Khokhloma dishes were delivered to Central Asia, Persia, and India. European merchants bought it in Arkhangelsk.


Khokhloma painting is a unique Russian folk craft, which has existed for more than three hundred years. Thanks to the Old Believers-icon painters, who owned the ancient secret of “gilding” icons, a unique method of turning simple wooden utensils into “golden” ones without using precious metal. However, Khokhloma products are valued not only for their beauty, but also for their durable varnish coating, thanks to which they can be used in everyday life. Khokhloma dishes will make any table look elegant, and the dishes served in them will not harm them.


The set of traditional forms of Khokhloma products was formed a long time ago. These are carved wooden spoons and turned utensils: cups, bowls, bowls, bowls, barrels, salt pans. Currently, the range of products has expanded significantly. Craftsmen create wooden sets, kitchen shelves, decorative dishes and panels, and much more.


Khokhloma dishes are made from local wood hardwood- linden, aspen, birch. First, they beat the thumbs, that is, they make rough blanks from dried wood. From thin “chairs”, as well as “ridges” sawn into thick blocks, blanks and “blocks” are hewn out. Then on lathe the workpiece is given the required form. The turned products are dried again at a temperature of 22–28 degrees for 3–20 days, depending on the size of the product. Drying ends when the wood moisture content does not exceed 6–8%. If the humidity is higher, the product may end up with bubbles - breaks in the varnish surface.


Then the products are handed over to finishers, who prepare them for painting. Unpainted carved ladles and spoons, bowls and cups are called “linen”.


After drying, the “linen” is puttied with a vaporizer. Vapa is a fine-grained exhumed clay, from which a very liquid solution is made, adding from 25 to 50 percent chalk to it. Then a piece of woolen cloth soaked in the solution is coated with the product. After drying, the operation is repeated again. After priming, the product is placed in a drying cabinet for four to six hours, where the temperature is maintained at 40–50 degrees. To dry products using Khokhloma technology, you need a cabinet in which you can adjust the temperature within 30–120 degrees. The dried workpieces are cooled to room temperature and lightly polished.


The next important step is coating the product with drying oil made from linseed or hemp oil. The quality of wooden utensils and the strength of the painting depend on this operation. The product must be covered with several layers of drying oil by hand. The master dips a special swab made from sheep or calf leather, turned inside out, into a bowl of drying oil, and then quickly rubs it into the surface of the product, turning it so that the drying oil is distributed evenly. After drying for two to three hours at a temperature of 22–25 degrees, when the drying oil no longer sticks to your hands, but the film has not yet completely dried, the product is dryed a second time, applying a thicker layer. If the wood absorbs a lot of drying oil, such as aspen, then the whole process is repeated again; if not enough, it is enough to dry the product twice. The last layer is dried until “slightly tacky” - when the drying oil slightly sticks to the finger, no longer staining it. As soon as the surface of the product acquires an even shine, it can be tinned, that is, coated with aluminum powder.


The next stage is “tinning”, that is, rubbing tin (and currently aluminum) powder into the surface of the product. To apply poluda, special devices are used - dolls, which are a sheepskin tampon, to the working part of which a piece is sewn natural fur(better than sheepskin) with short-cut pile. After tinning, the objects acquire a beautiful white-mirror shine and are ready for painting.


Mostly women work in the dyeing shops. The artists sit at low tables and on low stools. With this position, the knee serves as a support for the object being painted. Khokhloma craftswomen are characterized by hanging work: a small turning object is supported on the knee, held with the left hand, and an ornament is applied to its rounded surface with the right. This method of holding the object to be painted allows you to easily turn it in any direction with any inclination. Brushes, paints, a palette and things in use are conveniently placed on the table.


The paints used for painting Khokhloma products are subject to increased requirements, since many of them can fade from high temperatures during the drying and hardening process. Craftsmen take heat-resistant mineral paints - ocher, red lead, as well as cinnabar and carmine, soot, chrome green, and dilute them with purified turpentine. The main colors that determine the character and recognition of Khokhloma painting are red and black (cinnabar and soot), but others are allowed to enliven the pattern - brown, light green and yellow.


The design in Khokhloma products is based on the use of floral patterns associated with the painting traditions of Ancient Rus'. Flexible, wavy stems with leaves, berries and flowers run around the walls of the vessel, decorate its inner surface, giving the object exceptional elegance. On some objects the flower stems stretch upward, on others they curl or run in a circle.


The floral pattern was made in a free brush style. Painting brushes are made from squirrel tails so that they can draw a very thin line. Khokhloma masters have a special technique for holding a brush, in which not only the fingers, but the whole hand are involved in the writing process, thanks to which it is possible to draw long plastic strokes and a series of strokes on spherical or cylindrical surfaces in one continuous, continuous movement. The hand, placed on the phalanges of the index and middle fingers, is pressed against them with the pad of the thumb, which allows you to slightly rotate it while writing. When painting, sometimes they lean lightly on their little finger, touching it to the product. A thin, hair-tipped brush is placed almost vertically to the surface of the object. They usually lead it towards themselves, rotating it slightly in the direction where the stroke bends.


Many types of ornaments have their own names: “gingerbread” - a geometric figure (square or rhombus) decorated with grass, berries, flowers, usually located inside a cup or dish; “grass” - a pattern of large and small blades of grass; “Kudrina” - leaves and flowers in the form of golden curls on a red or black background, etc. Craftsmen also use simplified ornaments, for example, “speckled”, which is applied with a stamp cut from plates of a puffball mushroom, hat felt and other materials that hold paint well and allow the design to be imprinted on the product. When making “berry” or “flower” motifs, round “pokes” made of folded nylon fabric are often used.


All products are hand-painted, and the painting is not repeated anywhere. Khokhloma painting is represented by two types of writing - “top” and “background”, each of which has its own types of ornaments. “High” painting is applied with plastic strokes on a metallized surface, forming a free openwork pattern. At the same time, elements such as sedges, droplets, tendrils, curls, etc. are “planted” onto the main line of the composition - the criul.


A classic example of horse writing is “grass”, or “grass painting”, with red and black bushes and stems creating a unique graphic pattern on a golden background. “Grass painting” is reminiscent of familiar and familiar grasses to everyone from childhood: sedge, white grass, meadow grass. This is perhaps the most ancient type of painting. It is painted with curls, various strokes, small berries or spikelets on a silver background. “Herbal” drawing has always been popular among Khokhloma painting masters.


A letter in which, in addition to grass, masters include leaves, berries and flowers, is called “under a leaf” or “under a berry.” These paintings differ from “grass” in larger strokes, forming the shape of oval leaves, round berries, left with a poke of the brush. Folk craftsmen take their motifs by stylizing plant forms. Therefore, it is not surprising that on the products of Khokhloma craftsmen we see daisies, bells, leaves of grapes, strawberries, currants, gooseberries, and cranberries. The basis of the leaf-like painting is made up of pointed or rounded leaves, connected in groups of three or five, and berries arranged in groups near a flexible stem. When painting large surfaces, larger motifs are used - cherries, strawberries, gooseberries, grapes. This painting has great decorative potential, since it is more colorful than “grass.” If in “grass” painting they use mainly black and red colors, then in “leaf” or “berry” painting, masters paint leaves in green in combination with brown and yellow. These paintings are enriched with a grass pattern, which is painted with green, red, and brown colors.


The riding letter includes another, simpler and more conventional, type of painting - “gingerbread”, where the sun with rays curled in a circle is placed in the center of a geometric figure - a square or a rhombus.


“Background” painting (“under the background”) is characterized by the use of a black or colored background, while the design itself remains golden. Before filling the background, the contours of the motifs are first applied to the surface to be painted. Painting “under the background” begins with drawing a line of the stem with leaves and flowers, and sometimes with images of birds or fish. Then the background is painted on with paint, most often black. The details of large motifs are drawn on a golden background. The shapes of large motifs are modeled by shading. On top of the painted background, with the tip of the brush, “herbal additions” are made - rhythmic strokes along the main stem; berries and small flowers are “sticked” with a poke of the brush. “Gold” shines through in this type of writing only in the silhouettes of leaves, in large forms flowers, in silhouettes fairy birds. Painting “under the background” is a much more labor-intensive process and not every master can cope with such work. Products with such painting were usually intended for gifts and, as a rule, were made to order and were valued higher.


A more complex type of background writing is “kudrina”. It is distinguished by a stylized image of leaves, flowers, and curls. The space not occupied by them is painted over, and the golden branches look impressive against a bright red or black background. No other colors are used in this type of writing. “Kudrina” got its name from the golden curly curls, the lines of which form bizarre patterned shapes of leaves, flowers and fruits. The Kudrin painting resembles a carpet. Its peculiarity is that the main role is played not by the brush stroke, but by the contour line.


Painted items are coated with a special varnish four to five times (with intermediate drying after each layer) and finally hardened for three to four hours in an oven at a temperature of +150–160°. After “hardening” - the final stage of finishing the product - under the influence of high temperature, the varnish film covering it acquires a honey tint. Its combination with a translucent metallized layer gives a golden effect.


The trade, which was dying out at the beginning of the 20th century, was revived in Soviet times, when in the 1920s and early 1930s craftsmen began to unite in artels. In the 1960s, the Khokhloma Artist factory was created in the homeland of the craft and the Khokhloma Painting production association in Semyonov, which became centers producing dishes, spoons, furniture, souvenirs, etc.


Currently, Khokhloma painting has two centers - the city of Semenov, where the Khokhloma Painting and Semenovskaya Painting factories are located, and the village of Semino, Koverninsky district, where the Khokhloma Artist enterprise operates, uniting masters from the villages of Semino, Kuligino, Novopokrovskoye and others. An enterprise (Promysel LLC) is also located in Semino, producing wooden boxes with Khokhloma painting. Seminsky masters, continuers of the traditions of indigenous Khokhloma, paint mainly traditional, ancient-shaped dishes; they have a keen sense of the beauty of meadow grasses, forest berries. Semyonovsky artists, city dwellers, more often use rich forms of garden flowers in painting, preferring the technique of painting “under the background”. They make extensive use of precise contour drawing and a variety of shading to model motifs.

KHOKHLOMA - AN OLD RUSSIAN FOLK CRAFT

Khokhloma is an ancient Russian folk craft, born in the 17th century on the left bank of the Volga, in the villages of Khokhloma (where the name of the painting came from), Bolshie and Malye Bezdeli, Mokushino, Shabashi, Glibino, Khryashi. Currently, the village of Kovernino in the Nizhny Novgorod region is considered the birthplace of Khokhloma.

Golden Khokhloma!

One of the most famous paintings in Russia. Perhaps, there is no person who has not held a painted wooden spoon in his hands or seen beautiful and amazingly richly designed Khokhloma products. But where did this fabulously beautiful painting come from? What craftsman came up with the idea of ​​applying silver to wood and then covering it with varnish, achieving a golden glow? This is what the material collected in this section is devoted to.
Painting of wooden utensils appeared in Rus' a long time ago - in the 16th century. They released her in large quantities, hundreds, thousands of pieces, since the wood quickly wore out, and dishes were necessary in everyday life. It was sold "at Makariy's", in Moscow and in Ustyug Veliky.
Art historians date the origins of the Khokhloma craft to the second half of the 17th century.
The first mention of this village is found in documents of the 16th century. Even under Ivan the Terrible, Khokhloma was known as a forest area called “Khokhloma Ukhozheya” (Ukhozheya is a place cleared of forest for arable land).
Since ancient times, wooden utensils have been in great use among Russians: ladles and brackets in the shape of a swimming bird, round bowls, dinner bowls, spoons of various shapes and sizes were found in archaeological excavations dating back to the 10th-13th centuries. There are examples that date back several thousand years.
In ancient times, in the dense Trans-Volga forests near the trading village of Khokhloma, the first settlers hiding from persecution were “leaks,” that is, fugitives who took refuge here from persecution for the “old faith,” from tsarist tyranny and landowner oppression. Among them were artists and masters of hand-written miniatures. It was not easy to feed oneself on the meager land by peasant labor, and the fugitive people got used to painting wooden dishes, which local craftsmen had sharpened here since ancient times. A previously unknown painting fabulously transformed modest kitchen utensils. But especially beautiful and unique were the various holders, bowls and cups that came out of the hand of one famous master. It seemed that his painting had absorbed the sun's rays - golden, which are at noon, and red - cinnabar at dawn.
People said that the artist painted his dishes not with simple, but with a magic brush woven from the sun's rays. Bright, holiday dishes fell in love not only with the residents in the area, its fame spread throughout Rus'. Seeing the Khokhloma dishes, the tsar immediately guessed who was painting them, and sent guards to the Trans-Volga forests. The forewarned painter managed to escape, but he taught the intricacies of the extraordinary craft to the local residents and left them paints and a magic brush. This is the old legend about the birth of the bright and original art of Khokhloma painting, which is often called golden, fiery, or fiery. And this is no accident; the art of Khokhloma could not have been born without fire, without hardening products in a Russian oven.
This legend explains how a close connection arose between the Trans-Volga and northern Old Believers, which had a great influence on the art of Khokhloma.
The proximity to a large river and a fair created favorable conditions for various crafts and trade. Fairs were held on the banks of the river, to which goods were brought from the north and south of Russia. The territory of the region looked like a large workshop. Residents of the Trans-Volga villages, scattered in the Nizhny Novgorod and Kostroma provinces, were engaged in various crafts. Peasants who produced the same things settled nearby in nearby villages, and every week they sold their products in a large trading village. Products from all over the area were brought here. They came from Kostroma and Vetluga and brought a variety of painted and carved objects. But wood chips - wooden spoons, cups, bowls - were in particular demand. Dyers at such fairs bought wooden blanks and sold their products. Turners and spoon makers exchanged their goods for wood for further work. Merchants bought the finished products, loaded them onto carts in the summer and sleighs in the winter, and took them to the fair “to Macarius.”


















New Year's balls with Khokhloma painting.

Khokhloma is an ancient Russian folk craft, born in the 17th century in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Khokhloma is a decorative painting of wooden utensils and furniture, done in red, green and black on a gold background.
The painting looks bright, although the background is black. The colors used are... red, yellow, orange, a little green and blue, and of course a black background. The golden color is very often used. Traditional elements of Khokhloma are red juicy rowan berries and strawberries, flowers and branches. Birds, fish and animals are often found





If you love to do handicrafts and want to master new technology artistic skill, read our article on how to learn to draw Khokhloma. Try to make the simplest option - a cutting board. It is not difficult to make, since the entire drawing is done on one flat surface. Step-by-step drawing tips will allow you to make a beautiful gift in hand-made style.

Types of folk crafts and paintings

Russian regions are rich and diverse both in their landscapes and in their customs and traditions. Many places even have their own dialect. All this shaped the culture of every corner of our country. For a long time, different traditions of folk crafts have developed. The most famous include the following:

  • Dymkovo, Filimonovskaya, Bogorodskaya toy;
  • Gzhel ceramics;
  • Vologda and Vyatka lace;
  • Tula samovars;
  • Rostov enamel;
  • Msterskaya, Fedoskino, ;
  • Zhostovo trays;
  • Gorodets, Khokhloma painting.

Each of them is very original and unique, but they all reflect the culture and spirituality of the Russian people.

What to choose

If you are doing handicrafts and decide to do something... folk motives, Khokhloma painting is best suited. Step by step drawing will greatly facilitate the process of creating a souvenir. The choice of this particular technique is due to the fact that in this case it is easy to find a wooden base for decoration, no complex equipment is required, all materials are available and inexpensive.

What objects are decorated with Khokhloma painting

Traditionally, any household items made of wood were made in this style:

  • spoons;
  • nesting dolls;
  • trays;
  • dishes;
  • caskets;
  • chests;
  • barrels;
  • boxes;
  • spinning wheels;
  • handles and handles;
  • vases;
  • cutting and decorative boards.

In its modern version, when interest in Russian folk motifs is quite high, Khokhloma painting sometimes appears on very exotic surfaces:

  • fabric (for bed linen, for example);
  • nails;
  • keychains;
  • lighters;
  • screen and panels of a smartphone or laptop;
  • body (tattoo and body art);
  • cars (airbrushing);
  • bags (paper and plastic).

Thus, almost any object can now be decorated with Khokhloma painting.

Samples on paper

If you are new to this business and are just starting to master the basics of drawing Khokhloma painting, it is better to practice on ordinary Whatman paper. As exercises for positioning your arm, choose to do simple elements: berries, leaves.

All of them are based on certain movements of the brush. Even if you later work on the finished pencil outline, the circles and curls should be even. It is better to do them in one go.

If you want to learn for a child, it is best to master this technique with him, also on paper. The same type of exercise in the form of leaves and berries quickly gets boring for children, so suggest depicting a round tray, plate, spoon or vase. Make the shape of the object yourself, and give your child the opportunity to decorate the object.

Learn to draw Khokhloma

Trial tasks on paper will take a different amount of time for everyone. It depends on your level of preparation. If you have some initial skills, you can quickly learn how to do circles, berries and curls. When you have mastered drawing elements of Khokhloma painting, you can begin to design specific objects. At first, choose things that are simple in shape, preferably with flat surface. These are the following objects:

  • tray;
  • table;
  • chair;
  • textile;
  • phone or laptop panel;
  • cutting board.

The last option is suitable for those who do not feel confident in their abilities. will take a lot of time. Non-standard application surfaces, such as silk, plastic, body for temporary tattoos, require special paints. A cutting board is a great gift option, beautiful and functional. It's quite simple to do.

Painting a cutting board step by step

To ensure that your first pancake doesn’t turn out lumpy, you need to think through everything in advance. Let's consider the preparatory activities.

Purchasing materials

Choose the right base. The shape can be round, rectangular, square, or complex carved. It is better if the board has a hole to hang it on a nail or hook. Avoid using plywood or untreated wood. The surface for applying the pattern must be smooth, without depressions, notches and burrs. The easiest way is to buy a high-quality base at a craft store. If this is not possible, but there is a board ready to size, properly treat the surface with sandpaper. If this is not done, all the unevenness will remain after applying the paint. They can interfere with the perception of the drawing and will interfere with drawing.

Pattern selection

Choose a suitable ornament motif. It doesn’t matter whether your Khokhloma painting will be simple or complex. Step-by-step drawing of each element will help to depict any object from a combination of twigs, leaves and berries to an exclusive bird of paradise. You just need to do everything piece by piece from simple to complex. Given the availability of computer technology, anyone can find the necessary image on the Internet, print it, for example, on film, and transfer the contours to a wooden base. It is more difficult to draw lines on a round surface. However, in this case, you can simplify your task by making several stencils of repeating elements.

Which color to choose?

You will need paints that are suitable for wood surfaces. The simplest and cheapest option is gouache. However, it does not form a waterproof surface once dry. It is necessary to add PVA glue to it, about a quarter of the volume of pigment, but not every color will respond well to this combination. It’s better not to take risks, but simply coat the finished product with transparent wood varnish. This will protect the drawing from moisture and other adverse factors. Another option is to use acrylic paints. They are waterproof and suitable for wood. Moreover, after such a layer has dried, you can even apply gouache on top. This means that the black background can be done with acrylic, and the pattern itself can be done with gouache.

Buy several brushes with fine tips. Squirrel, kolinsky and synthetic numbers from the first and above are suitable. The quantity and size depend on your design. You will need a thin brush in any case, and you can determine the maximum size visually depending on the planned design.

Let's get started

1. First, cover the surface of the selected pattern - black or gold acrylic, for example. If the drawing occupies almost the entire surface, and there is almost no background, you can paint in one layer, without first applying the background. Alternatively, you can pre-prime the wood with egg white.

2. After the background has dried, apply the lines of the ornament using a stencil or by hand. If you are confident in your abilities and have a paper sample in front of you, you don’t have to draw the contours, but do everything at once with a brush.

3. The next step is to complete the pattern. Here it is appropriate to propose several work schemes. The first option is to draw the ornament by compositional parts, for example, from the main element to the secondary ones. Another way is to paint by color: first all the red objects, then the golden ones, then the green ones. You can also choose the sequence of using brushes of different thicknesses, that is, first you paint large details with a large one, then medium ones, and finally, with a thin one, you draw small decor.

4. After drying, coat with clear varnish if necessary. A wonderful souvenir is ready.

You learned in more detail what Khokhloma painting is. Step-by-step drawing on the surface of any object will help turn it into a real masterpiece. Study, train, please yourself, relatives and friends wonderful gifts self made.

Master class: Painting the plate “Autumn leaf”

Purpose: The product is intended for decorating a service office.

All the leaves are like leaves,

Here everyone is golden.

Such beauty people

They call it Khokhloma!

For work we will need:

1. Disposable plate

2. Wooden spoon

3. Acrylic paints red, yellow and black colors

4. Brushes, pencil, palette, water jar

5. Clear varnish

6. Ornament of future painting

Khokhloma is an ancient Russian folk craft, born in the 17th century in the Nizhny Novgorod region. Khokhloma is a decorative painting of wooden utensils and furniture, 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.

So today we will try to paint a plate and spoon with Khokhloma patterns.

The pattern will fit into a circle.

We come up with (or take from the Internet) a suitable ornament and transfer it to our plate.

Golden leaves with dark berries will look very good against a red background. Carefully fill the background with red, outlining every leaf and curl.

Since initially there was a colored edging on the plate, which we didn’t need at all, and we couldn’t drown it out with red, we made a black rim in the inside of the plate and along the very edge.