The key of working out a good bronze wire painting lies in the draft drawing. Due to the particularity of bronze wire painting, it is hard to make copies of existing works, which makes the draft drawing extremely difficult. To create an ideal painting, Wang usually starts by drawing a great many sketches, before selecting the one that can best represent his design concept. Then, he will make further and repetitive revisions to the drawing.
Having finished the draft drawing, Wang then sets out to carve grooves on the glass with an iron pen by placing the draft under the glass. Prior to this, the wires have to be processed in a special liquid medicine so that they will not rust. The next step is to place the bronze wires to the grooves, and then meticulously and painstakingly adhere them by glue.
The next important step is color spraying. To do this well, one has to control the thickness of the colors to spray over the right place. The size of a picture determines the type of spray pens to be used. Usually, a small one is used for a small picture. The preparation of pigments also counts, and the smaller the pigment particles, the better for color spraying.
Although strictly speaking, bronze wire paintings are done by replacing the lines of traditional Chinese realistic painting with bronze wires, there is a color limitation. Such paintings cannot be colored in the way they look like in real life because not only will that eliminate the three-dimensional and relivo-like effects of the bronze wire, but also cause additional difficulties to the spraying. Therefore, the colors of bronze wire paintings are not complex at all, as only five colors are used.
Any kind of folk artworks is characterized with a strong local and folk flavor, so is bronze wire painting. Though unique in their making techniques, the paintings invariably embody the environment and experience of the folk artists, whose works are inspired by the many of local customs and morals. The greatest feature of Wang Jianhua' works, as he said himself, is the fact that he draws on many of the traditional aesthetic characteristics of Chinese folk arts, especially fromNew Year Pictures, and makes innovations on the way of expression in his creation of bronze wire paintings.
The success of bronze wire painting marks a new breakthrough in the world of folk arts. Though still very young, such unique folk customs are bound to gain further development with the enormous efforts of the devoted folk artists.