Calligraphy has no seal.

In many people's understanding, the seal is only stained with inkpad, and it will be fine if it is covered. For a good artist, of course, it is not so casual.

If the rice paper is compared to the mother, the brush character is the father and the seal is the son. If you don't pay attention to the seal, it doesn't look like your own son, but you picked it up. Pay attention to details. For example, the color of the inkpad-now many painters and painters don't pay attention to the color of the seal. Some paintings are too white, and if the seal is too bright, it will give people a very abrupt feeling, just like "this son was picked up." How do we coordinate colors? In fact, as long as a little ink is added to the inkpad, its color will not jump so much.

Another example is the style of the work. Freehand brushwork should be accompanied by coarse printing, and meticulous painting should be accompanied by fine printing. Another example is the content of the seal, and it is best to match the work. Different types of works use different seals.

In this respect, the Shanghai painter Zhu Qizhan can be said to be the best. He can carve a seal for a painting. He liked the seal carved by Qi Baishi, and the next day he ordered the seal of Rong Baozhai. Later, he hid more than 100 seals of Qi Baishi. Such a painter and calligrapher can only be described as "rich".

There are many things I don't appreciate about the seals used by painters in Guangzhou. For example, Zhou Yong, a painter of Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts, used seals badly, which was also related to his calligraphy and creative thinking. It is good for Zhou Yong to express his ideas strongly, but he ignores the natural attributes of pen and ink-the brush is soft, the paper and ink are soft, and the lines are smooth. Zhou Yong's calligraphy and painting destroyed the natural smoothness of brush lines, but presented them one by one, a bit like goat excrement. Novelty is novel, but it is not beautiful without traditional bones and muscles.

Now many artists are innovating, and I think innovation must be based on tradition. Tradition is like a skeleton, and innovation is like clothes. Only when the skeleton stands up can the clothes be ever-changing.