I studied calligraphy with my father when I was 4 years old, and later learned Western painting. I wanted to become a teacher of the local Mr. Liang, but he refused to take me in because my ideas and routines in painting were too ridiculous. He turned to self-study Chinese painting, and later became obsessed with seal cutting. I remember that when I was 15 years old, because I didn’t like to study topics such as “3+2=5” that had only one answer, I would take a knife to the eraser for fun during such classes. Day after day, I didn't feel bored. Finally, I couldn't get enough of the rubber, so I turned the materials to the desk. It was a brand new desk painted with red paint. After the stamp was cut out, it was as fresh and pleasant as a seal stamped onto the table. I spent a whole morning carving the name "Jixianzhai" for my study, which I thought was very elegant at the time. At that time, my classmates all watched and praised me, and they followed suit. But the good times didn't last long. The teacher finally discovered the seals I had just "published" and punished me severely. Finally, I called my parents and fined me 5 yuan before settling the matter. The "masterpiece" on the desktop was not repeated, but my interest was out of control.
When I was 18 years old, I came to ask for help from Mr. Wang Chaorui, a senior fellow in the countryside. After he carefully read through my manuscripts, he warned me, "You must not blindly learn from modern people, but copy the Qin and Han Dynasties." print". For a long period of time, I followed the teachings of Teacher Wang Chaorui and took great pleasure in tracing the Qin and Han Dynasties and recreating the style of the Indian people in the past dynasties. During this period of time, I carved and created more than 5,000 seals in the Qin and Han Dynasty style.
When I was 26 years old, I took the liberty of sending some manuscripts and a long letter asking for advice to Mr. Mei Mosheng. Only a few days later, my husband wrote back to me, saying that my seals were "remarkable" and "very appreciated". He also pointed out two ways for me, one is to pursue exquisiteness and maximize one's ability; the other is to pursue simplicity. , returning humanity to astronomy. Let me carefully analyze the history of seal studies by tracing the seals of the Qin, Han, Ming and Qing dynasties and find my own style.
In exploring the understanding of seals and seal schools in the past, I began to summarize the goals of "change" based on tranquility, implicitness, etherealness, and restraint. I think that the effect of emphasizing the strangeness and wildness can get an extraordinary first impression. However, after watching it for a long time, I feel a little careless. I have more than enough roughness but not enough precision. Most people don't want to go back to it after only half a month. View. Throughout the history of seal painting, the beauty of the works of masters is that they hide wonder in the ordinary and seek movement in stability. They may seem ordinary, but in fact they have infinite connotations, which are indeed beyond the reach of ordinary people. Change means striving to be different from the ancients and modern people in terms of seal writing, composition, and knife skills. Only by constantly changing and always being new can the artistic life be everlasting.
Since 2002, I have been concentrating on the study of bird and insect seal script, and "bird-insectized" and then "printed" all ancient characters (only Zhu characters, white characters with French and Han seals), which is the same as Wu Changshuo's "Shigu" The same as Qi Baishi's "Three-broken Stele Transformation". If you create some external forms of seals, such as carving them into tile-shaped or ancient coin-shaped ones, it is not the essence of "innovation". After the seal text is "bird-like", the tranquility, subtlety, ethereal and restrained appearance of the seal are all conveyed by its calligraphy characteristics. In the processing of the seal surface, I combined some Western space processing methods and treated each stipple as a whole, even the small dots when the seal surface was incomplete. I was so rigorous that one dot was too much. One less is too few. As everyone knows, underneath the natural appearance of wielding the knife vertically and horizontally, there are careful deliberation and careful thinking. When it comes to using a knife, it doesn’t matter about punching. We strive to use the corners, edges, and sides of the knife to create various effects.
Thinking and pursuing prints cannot replace the creation itself. In the process of creation, I dare not stray too far from the "tradition", and sometimes I feel confused. It is of course meaningless to apply traditional methods, and deviating from tradition will lead to a strange and annoying tone. After all, "new is not good". It’s better to be good but not new”. It is in this "dilemma" that I am exploring myself and moving forward slowly. The formation of style is indeed a natural thing. If you act too hastily, you will definitely be disappointed.
Here are some recent works, all of which are attempts. I don't know if there is any merit in my meaning, or how much they actually match my meaning. I hope someone who knows me can enlighten me.