Li Zhao-yu / Text
I like to outdoor sketching, but there is few time for this activity. Monks in the Qing dynasty painter Shi tao has said “search all wild mountains for drafts”, means that ancient painters have paid attention to sketch, The sketching has long tradition. No sketching, painting resources easily dried up, painting is easy to conceptualization and stylized. The sketching in addition to conquer this question, but that has lots of benefits. First of all, go outside, regards nature as the object, with wider vision. Face to scenery to painting, make the images more rich and convincing; Second, sketch in the outdoor, cause the environmental factors, make artists have more pure state of mind, staying focused. After get rid of the disturbances of life bagatelle, artists have more sufficient energy put into images; Third, people in nature far away from noisy and polluted city, it is very good outdoor fitness activity. In addition, if your good friends go with you for sketching, you can learn from each other, not only with happy but also enhance understanding and friendship.
A few days ago, I have to went a small town Huotong nearby Ningde outskirts to sketching with three university students, we stationed town is not big area, no bustling and mature of big city, but people arranged his own life as well here, in night, young “aunts” were dancing the square dance on the only ground, atmosphere and scale are better than city square dance scene, under dim lamps, a small group of children played and chased, very living! This time is the city children writing homework time, by contrast, city children lost their happy childhood, lived very depressed.
During the day, we drove around to looking for sketching place, found the most feeling sketch point and stop to sketching. One in the good state, we can’t stop sketching, often forgot dinner time. Go out for sketching, we preferred to rural scenery, we can felt the rhythm outside the city, countryside full of fresh and simply breath, and should be enough. For people of long-term struggle in the city, looking for the chance is so necessary, however, people always can’t do as their wishes, some for living, some for take care of family, some conditional perhaps found some appropriate excuse, do a real home bird.
Li Zhao-yu 《Old-age house》
One morning, we came to another village sketching, I hunted up the side of the road cement isolation platform to paint. Sketch for soon, just a farmer passed and stayed about half an hour, maybe it’s my painting attracted him, normally I ignore others in sketching, thought that no one around, but the farmer can’t contained his curiosity, asked with slightly hoarse voice:”Teacher, your painting to sell? I looked up him for this question, watched the vicissitudes of his face, perhaps he has seventy to eighty, I replied clearly:”no sell.” Paused and then he asked again:”Where is your salary come from?” the question made me laugh, I say:”painting to play.” The farmer maybe thought that my answer confused him, no longer to ask. Back to the hotel, my conversation with the old farmer has been lingering in the ear, I thought that old farmer is very interesting. Originally the utilitarian consciousness not only exists in city people’s brain, also exists in remote countryside famer’s brain, human’s behavior, the fist thought is the purpose, it’s useful only to do, yeah! No useful who is to do? I paint but not sell, for the old farmer, he can’t understand it. My behavior for farmer just a simple relationship between labor and life, labor——money——living, in this logic, my work not belong to work honestly, belong to pure boring amusement, I can totally understand idea of the old farmer, busy for living is the natural order thing, and me, for what?
Remember the painter He Duo-ling letter to Zhou Chun-ya, it has a paragraph of text written like this:”……think that I was wasting my time, wasting less time, has nothing to do with no money, waste time on earning money is vain.”When utilitarian encounter with conscience, the painter is first awakening conscience. For artists, art creation is the real purpose of his journey in the world, the other is not important. Maybe one day, for the force of living, they had to let conscience gives way to the utility, it’s also brief episode, don’t let the utility engulfed the conscience. In the true sense of the painter, the source of their happiness is the painting itself, instead of painting to return for wealth. As an amateur painter, maybe we haven’t professional painter’s life pressure, should be stick to the pure more. Thinking more highly, you should let art praise for life! Since the sketch can create art, can colored life, we have no reason to give it up. Instead, we need to strengthen the sketch activities, let mood grazing in wildness, do activities in the nature of freedom, restored the true state of life.
2013．November In Xiamen
Li Zhao-yu 《Dream of Huizhou》
Li Zhao-yu 《Yangshang village in Minbei》