When reading teacher's paintings, you need to start with the brushwork, ink, and aura, because the aura - the aura - is the key to a high-quality Chinese painting. Without paying attention to the style of brushwork, ink and aura, it is difficult for a Chinese painting to have a profound and alluring charm.
Let’s talk about pen Qi first. In fact, it is a display of spiritual energy. Using lines to outline shapes and empty outlines to outline is the most common and most basic linear structure used in Chinese painting. Chinese paintings often use blank space as the body, and this body can only be reflected through the outline of lines. This kind of line outline is like Chinese people making rice dumplings. An experienced aunt with strong hands can wrap a rice dumpling full and tangible with thread. In the same way, if we pinch the thread on a somewhat deflated balloon, we can make the balloon bulge and plump. Using similar methods, you can also tighten loose skin. Tight and elastic skin shows youthfulness and health; while loose and inelastic skin is a sign of aging. This kind of evaluation standard and the underlying principles are actually consistent with the requirements for using brush lines in Chinese painting. Therefore, teachers often say that the line should be used more firmly where it should be real, and the line should be looser where it should be weak.
Shi Tao said in "Painting Quotations" that "where the brush is extremely heavy, it must be lifted off the paper to eliminate the fierceness." This "flying off the paper" after the brush is extremely heavy is the strength of the pen. The embodiment of vitality elasticity brought by pulling out. Of course, this high-level writing skills cannot be achieved overnight, but must be cultivated through years of calligraphy practice to achieve continuous perseverance in writing. Why does Chinese painting require endless brushwork? Although Chinese painting does not use continuous parallel strokes like calligraphy, the structural program will be broken up when painting. However, without continuous brushwork, once the structural program is broken up, the brushwork will not be able to catch up, and the charm of the picture will escape. And the continuous brush power can make the pen break and the breath continue to cope with the complex and changing painting procedures. The power of the brush constantly provides energy support for the process of Chinese painting. In addition to painting, most of the teacher's homework is spent on calligraphy. Therefore, there is always an uninterrupted charm in the teacher's paintings. As he said when teaching the practice of Tai Chi: the movement of the mind drives the movement of the body, continuously and continuously. When it rises, thousands of rivers and mountains rise; when one thought dies, the world changes.
Let’s talk about Mo Qi, it is the appearance of black and white, virtual and real, and a clear reflection of the signs of Yin and Yang Tai Chi. The ink style of calligraphy is an obvious polarity of black and white. Black is actually an extremely solid bulge; while white is emptiness, which is concave compared to the bulge of handwriting. In Chinese paintings, thick black and water are often divided into shades and light levels. If distinguished by the convexity and concavity of qualitative levels, thick ink is thick and convex, while light ink is relatively thin and concave. From blank to light ink, and then to thick ink, the quality and concave and convex levels of the space are differentiated step by step. Therefore, the ink in Chinese painting actually shows the concave and convex levels of the material volume. In particular, it is necessary to use thick to set off light, to use thick to wake up and light, and to show the vividness of ink through contrast.
The ink pays attention to the density, dryness and wetness, but if the density changes too much, it will look broken; when drying and wetting, you must pay attention to the intervals, otherwise it will be greasy if you keep adding it on semi-dry and semi-wet paper. The predecessors said that "to achieve perfection in painting lies in patience" ("On Painting in the Summer Palace"), the practice of brushwork and ink flow requires patience. To be patient, one finger should not use the pen too fast to avoid getting used to it and be trapped by it; secondly, one should pay attention to the intervals between drying and wetting of the ink gas, and one should be able to break the brush while keeping the breath, so that the painting will have a sense of completeness. The development of this kind of ink style is the teacher's ability to be immersed in tradition for a long time and developed in practice. It feels like someone is old with both writing and painting! When you read it, you will find it full of atmosphere, clear and natural; when you taste it, you will feel hearty and have endless aftertaste!
Finally, let’s talk about aura. Check Baidu and it says that aura is a description of the invisible energy emitted by a person. To say that the aura is limited to people is obviously too limiting - is there no aura in the universe? The earthquake centers, typhoon centers and whirlpools that are often mentioned are actually auras of natural activity. The aura that accumulates energy, restricts each other, and generates unrevealed activities can be said to be everywhere in nature.
The teacher’s paintings can be summarized in the following eight words: beyond the image, within the circle. This "ring" that "gets within the ring" is like a "door axis". It is often said that art must "come out of its own machine." This "machine" is also called "the axis of the machine." Although the door can be made larger or smaller and can rotate freely, it cannot be separated from the control of the door axis. The various trajectories generated by the divergence of the aura axis can vary in size and distance, but no matter how the trajectory changes, it is always inseparable from the inevitable control of the stable and unchanging axis of the aura. This is the aura. The secret lies in it.
That is to say, any aura field composed of aura structure must have a core (axis) that dominates its corresponding changes. This core can also be understood as eye painting. Dong Qichang in the Ming Dynasty first proposed eye painting, which is the most touching and beautiful thing in the picture. The modern painter Li Keran once said: "The things that go into the painting should be the most essential things. The small house and the boat should be taken from the most beautiful angle." When creating and appreciating Chinese paintings, we must grasp the painting eye. The painting eye is the highest state of art. Transformation environment. This state of mind is the artist's thoughts and feelings. Through repeated creative processing and long-term tempering and blending, they are finally integrated into the work. Such works are full of the reality of life and the embodiment of the author's thoughts and feelings. The Huizhou architectural spots and young and vigorous trees in the teacher's picture are the most wonderful presentations in the picture.
Therefore, teachers often say: Don’t write rashly, you must write well.