Flower-and-bird paintings in the Song Dynasty are roughly accurate in outline and vivid in color. In the early Ming Dynasty, Shen Zhou created a small freehand brushwork, emphasizing ink over color, while Chen Daofu created a large freehand brushwork style with simple pen and pure ink. In his last year's "Ink Flower Book", he once said, "What he has done for several years is to play with ink and wash, and no longer to set colors ..." "I don't know what to do when I am drunk" is the best state of this "game ink and wash". The long title on the picture is a passionate worship of Shen Zhou, the former teacher: "... I can still think of my predecessors' romantic life, but I still have the Danqing piece of paper. When the water dries up and the flowers wither, you have to worry. As long as it floats, there is no need to swing a boat. Mr. Ishida tasted a bottle of lotus pictures with this word on it, which was transferred to Linjiang Xian. Today, the boy is effective and pursues peace as right. Daofu. " He called Shen Zhou "Sir" and called himself "Little Boy". His painting of this picture, which followed his words, was only "effective".
Although Chen Daofu and Xu Wei said that both of them have successfully integrated cursive brushstrokes into their paintings, there are still obvious differences in their painting styles. If we compare their calligraphy together, we can find the difference. Historically, cursive scripts have been divided into two categories: big grass and small grass. Big grass, Huai Su's Pentium vertical jump, while the dragon and the phoenix dance; Wang Xizhi, a grass-cutter, is polite and gentle. Although later generations attributed Chen and Xu's calligraphy to the grass, we can still see that Chen Daofu's pen is cautious and neat, which seems to be leisurely; However, Xu Wei's brushwork is wild, with dripping ink and messy strokes, which is commensurate with his madness, and it seems more appropriate to call it "wild grass". And that's the difference between them in painting.