Feng Shui Painting 101: How to Choose Paintings for Good Luck

Feng shui is a traditional Chinese practice of orienting places, objects, and structures to create harmony and balance. It is believed that incorporating this ancient art into your home and workspace can attract good luck. Hanging a feng shui painting is one way of decorating any room and bringing positive chi into the lives of the occupants while driving the negative chi away. Paintings for good luck are often placed in the entryway or living room. You can use a bagua to identify the right area where to hang a feng shui painting to promote positive energy like prosperity.

 

Auspicious paintings contribute to the aesthetic appearance of a living or working space. They can also affect the moods of the people with the energy they give off. Select your feng shui painting carefully to obtain the prosperity that you wish for. It is not difficult to look for these paintings as there are emerging artists whose beautiful artworks have used feng shui as subject matter. There are some things you need to know before hanging paintings for good luck. This article shares information that can guide you in choosing a feng shui painting for your home and office.      

 

7 Practical Tips for Selecting Feng Shui Paintings

 

1. Choose a feng shui painting that includes one of the five elements.

The 5 elements of feng shui are wood, water, fire, earth, and metal. You can choose a lucky painting for living room, bedroom, or any part of the house with a feng shui element like the following:

 

• Wood – feng shui painting of flowers, plants, trees, and forest landscapes
• Water – landscapes of rivers, waterfalls, streams, lakes, oceans, seas, and fountains
• Fire – paintings of lanterns, campfires, candles, smoke, fireplaces, and lightning
• Earth – art featuring mountains, crystals, rocks, and stones
• Metal – artworks with jewelry, cars, coins, or silver objects

 

Be careful when choosing paintings that feature more than one element of feng shui because they can strengthen, weaken, or destroy the other elements. While there is a Productive Cycle where one element creates another and a Controlling Cycle that weakens an element, there is also a Destructive Cycle that destroys the other element.

 

• Fire melts Metal
• Metal chops Wood
• Wood depletes Earth
• Earth absorbs Water
• Water extinguishes Fire

 

For instance, do not hang a feng shui painting featuring waterfalls in your bedroom located in the south which has a fire elemental base. Waterfalls symbolize the water element which would put out the fire and can destroy your luck for recognition. Instead, place this feng shui painting at the east and southeast (areas for wood) because water and wood elements are in harmony with each other. 

 

2. Select paintings of flowers and fruits if you cannot decide what to hang.

Flowers and fruits do not have negative impacts on energy so they are safe to choose for painting decorations. A feng shui painting featuring flowers is a good idea because they represent life and good energy. Some of these florals with positive meanings include: 

 

• Chrysanthemums – longevity, wealth, happiness, and balance
• Lotus plant – perfection, faith, purity, beauty, and wealth
• Jade plant - wealth and prosperity
• Peony – love and romance
• Cherry blossoms - vibrant health, new hope, and joy
• Orchids – perfection and spiritual growth
• Magnolias - love and purity
• Narcissus – renewal and fresh energy
• Bamboo – happiness, luck in wealth

 

The common auspicious fruits in feng shui painting are the following:

• Oranges – good fortune
• Peaches – abundance, good health, money, and long life
• Apples – good health and harmony
• Pomegranates – fertility, happiness in the family, for filial and honorable children
• Grapes – wealth and success
• Pineapples – prosperity, fortune, and wealth

 

3. Look for colors that represent the elements in feng shui painting. 

The colors that symbolize each of the five elements are:

 

• Green and brown for the Wood element. These colors signify prosperity and renewal in a feng shui painting.
• Blue and black for Water element. These colors are associated with tranquility and peace.
• Red, orange, strong yellow, pink, and purple for Fire element. Paintings that feature these colors exude vibrancy, passion, joy, and warmth.
• Light yellow, beige, sandy/earthy, and light brown for Earth element. Artworks that have earth elements represent stability, nurturing, grounding, and receptivity.
• White and gray for Metal element. A feng shui painting that features these colors indicates energy that is moving inward, intellectualism, rational thought, and productivity.

 

You can use artwork with these colors to tone down areas with an excessive type of energy. By observing the principles of the Destructive Cycle, water weakens fire, fire weakens metal, metal weakens wood, wood weakens earth, and earth weakens water.

 

4. The energy depends on the sizes and materials of the feng shui painting you choose.

Larger paintings have more energy than smaller works. Watercolors have softer energy than oils or acrylics because they create paintings with less vibrant colors. A lucky painting for living room can be bigger compared to other artworks placed in the other areas of the house. With the lively yang energy of the room, it is fine that the feng shui painting has bolder colors.

 

5. Avoid the negative chi in paintings.

Some artworks produce less useful energies in feng shui. These are paintings that you must avoid displaying at home or in the office:

 

• Paintings of disasters, wars and violence, storms, sunken ships, darkness, unhappiness, and loneliness due to the negative energy they radiate.
• Artworks with fierce animals or beasts such as tigers and lions because they give people a sense of insecurity.
• Paintings of nature that feature falling leaves or sunsets since they represent a negative meaning of a withering and lonely life.

 

6. Choose a feng shui painting that illustrates a specific season.

A season represents a particular feng shui element.   

 

• Spring – associated with Wood. It is a period of new beginnings and new growth like growing trees and plants.
• Winter – represents Water. As the Water element gently moves, winter is a time of reflection and restoration.
• Early summer - related to the Fire element. Summer brings Fire from the scorching heat of the sun and long warm days. It is also associated with vibrant colors.
• Late summer – associated with Earth. The element can bring stability and balance in the last of the warm, light-filled days of summer.
• Autumn - related to the Metal element. It is a time for the gathering of crops. The metal products from raw minerals and ore symbolize harvest and refinement process.

 

7. Focus on the lines when selecting a feng shui painting.

Lines are essential in feng shui. Observe the lines when choosing paintings and art such as the following:

 

• Circles represent balance and cycles of energy and nature.
• Straight lines and sharp angles are considered unfortunate since negative energy travels in a straight line. They can be softened in paintings by including curves and arches.
• Curved lines are regarded as lucky because positive energy travels in a curved path.

 

ALSO READ: How To Spot Valuable Paintings For Your Art Collection

 

Choosing a feng shui painting to decorate the home or office can bring balance and harmony. Paintings for good luck not only generate aesthetic appeal in every space but they can also exude good fortune and positivity. Feng shui paintings curb and prevent negative energy. There are many things to understand if you want to incorporate this ancient Chinese practice into your living and working spaces. You need to know properly the feng shui elements, colors, and objects that symbolize good luck among other things.  If you choose the right feng shui painting, it can help transform the negative energies in your space and bring good fortune and prosperity.

 

Nami Art Gallery offers a variety of artworks including paintings, sculptures, and prints created by talented emerging Filipino artists. Its curated collection allows clients to select beautiful artworks in different styles, mediums, and subjects such as feng shui according to their tastes and preferences. Are you looking for a feng shui painting to decorate your home or office? Visit Nami Art Gallery now.