"Half life has been ruined and I have become an old man. My independent study is whistling in the evening breeze. There is nowhere to sell the pearls in my pen. I throw them into the wild vines." An old man with a rough road, experienced vicissitudes and unkempt face muttered. . Yesterday, I was just released from the cold, dark and damp prison. Tonight, the villagers brought me old wine that had been stored in the cellar for more than ten years. Feeling the enthusiasm of the villagers, having experienced countless hardships and suffering, Wen Chang no longer has the arrogance of the past. He is weak and staggering. In order to thank the relatives and friends who came to visit, he spread a large piece of rice paper on the ground, held wine in one hand, and splashed ink with the other hand, swaying it casually, and it was done in one go. The leaves have no veins, the branches have no branches and stems, and they follow one's heart. The ink grapes have no deliberate intention, as if they were created by nature.
"Ink Grape Picture" may seem to have an indulgent brushwork, but the picture also contains the careful management of the Tianchi old man. Starting from the near corner of the upper right corner of the picture, a section of branch stretches out, dividing the picture into two parts. The lower part is the painting, and the upper part is the inscription and postscript. It constitutes a poem on the painting that integrates poetry, calligraphy and painting. It is the first stage of "starting" in the composition; The curved branches follow the trend to the lower left, leading to branches and leaves, connecting the past and the following. In the composition of traditional Chinese painting, it is the "inheriting" stage; the large grape ink leaves are very lush, which is the "opening" stage; the main branch sprouts side branches in the lower left corner It is in the shape of an "S", and the grapes in the lower right corner echo the inscription and postscript in the upper left corner, reaching a balance and the picture should be unified. This is the last stage of "unification" in the picture.
The moment the painting was completed, the villagers were full of praise and ecstatic, but Qing Teng felt lonely, surging and sentimental in her heart. Looking at the water grapes with "noisy chatter, big beads and small beads falling on the jade plate", and looking at his open-toed straw sandals, he never imagined that this painting would be so precious today more than 500 years later. This is the greatness of artists. Only truly talented artists can create masterpieces and treasures that will last forever and inherit and carry forward China’s excellent traditional culture.
April 26, 2019
Written by Li Meng at Ancient Ink Academy, Changsha, Hunan
(Li Meng, a native of Runan, Henan, currently lives in Changsha. Vice president of Gumo Academy and senior tutor of calligraphy theory; lecturer and Ph.D. of Central South University of Forestry and Technology; member of Hunan Provincial Calligraphers Association. Won the highest award in the 6th Hunan Province Newcomers and New Works Exhibition. Tianxin District welcomes the first calligraphy exhibition of the 19th National Congress. First prize in the calligraphy competition of the Tianxin District Commission for Discipline Inspection. His works have won many awards in national and provincial calligraphy competitions.)