Four meoricho project completed

Finally I have completed four meoricho project. I was working on them quite a long time. Many things happened in my life during that period, good and bad but at last I managed to finish the dancheong paintings.

The meorichoes (머리초) were painted by temperas on pine wood boards. I used brushes which sizes were 2; 1 and 3/0 for detailed art work. After all I used varnish to secure the paintings. Now you can see the effects.

If you want to know more about dancheong style, please click here --> Dancheong

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me:

모로단청 - Moro Dancheong

Today, I would like to show my other project that I started some time ago. I decided to paint the whole beam in Moro Dancheong style. The dimensions of the wooden board are 97 x 20 cm. I used temperas and brushes with sizes: 4, 2 and 1.

This work includes following patterns: saeksil (색실), hwi (휘) and expanded meoricho motifs (머리초) with three lotuses per each. The Geutgi Dancheong (긋기단청) - painted green background with two black-white lines along the beam's egde was placed in the middle between meorichoes (머리초). The whole work was painted according to the Joseon dancheong (조선시대의 단청) type.

If you want to know more about dancheong style, please click here --> Dancheong

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me:

My current project - 4 meorichos

Just a short review of my four new dancheongs that I am currently painting. As you can see these all are meoricho patterns with the lotus motif. The photos took by night show their present stage and those taken in the day light demonstrate ealrier phase.

If you want to know more about dancheong style, please click here --> Dancheong

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me:

Meoricho - 머리초

This work has already been presented and descibed on this blog in the post The beginnings, but it was shown among others. Now I would like to present it in details in two different types of backgroung (white one and wooden).

If you want to know more about dancheong style, please click here --> Dancheong

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me:

The Green Dragon

Today I would like to show you another dancheong work that I created. It is not going to be an ornamental motif. It will be a picture with the dragon in dancheong style.

At first I would like to tell you some interesting fact about the dragons in Korean art. Almost all dragons which appear in dancheong paintings and other branches of K-art, are blue and yellow beings. It is caused by the fact that Korea borrowed chinese Five Elements Theory (오행, 五行) in which blue dragon is a guardian of the East and yellow one is a ruler of the Center. The pictures which feature those two dragons fighting each other for the fire pearl, are really common in Korea. But what about other dragons? Are there any other colour variants of the dragons in Korean art? Yes, there are. The pictures featuring them are not so common as the examples mentioned above, but there are some. I think that good example of such pictures are dancheong paintings of Seokjongsa Temple (석종사) in Cheongju (청주시, 淸州市). One of them presenting green dragon inspired me to paint the image I am presenting now in this post. You can see green dragons of Seokjongsa in Korean Kanhwa Son Buddhism - Special Report on Onmark Productions website.

It's time to say something about the picture itself. The dragon was painted by temperas on the wooden board with dimensions 55 x 50 cm. I used brush sizes: 4, 2, 1. The Green Dragon was created as a mix of inspirations. It was not only Seokjongsa's green dragon, but also picture of the fighting dragons (yellow one versus blue one) presented on Exhibition of Dancheong Paintings Created by Intangible Cultural Properties No.48. As for the clouds and the dragon's background I was inspired by decorations of Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁, 景福宮) and common dancheong motifs of the temple drums. This work was created two years ago.

If you want to know more about dancheong style, please click here --> Dancheong

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me:

The beginnings

I decided that the first post about my works should have presented my beginnings in dancheong style. The photo pasted above shows my three earliest works. The fourth one (the first from the left side) is a little bit later painting..

All four pictures were painted by temperas on pine wood boards. As their dimensions are small I had to use brush sizes: 2, 1, 3/0 and 4/0. They present meoricho (머리초) patterns' details. Traditionally meorichos are always placed in the beam-ends.

The first work from the right is my very first dancheong. It shows common Buddhist pattern - lotus blossom. To be honest, I am not proud of it today but I do not want to hide it. It is just my history and it is the beginning of my evolution in dancheong painting.

The second painting from the right side was inspired by patterns in Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁, 景福宮).

The third one from the right presents another floral motif. What is special about this work? It is my first dancheong which reached Korea. Now it belongs to Mr Choi from the city of Hwaesong (화성). I must admit it's honour for me that my painting appeared in homeland of the dancheong style.

And the last one (the first from the left side) shows lotus pattern inspired by dancheongs from Anyangsa Temple (안양사, 安養寺).

If you want to know more about dancheong style, please click here --> Dancheong

If you have any questions please feel free to e-mail me: