Ding Xiyuan, an old friend, appreciates the art of autumn very much. Last year, when he returned to Shanghai from the United States, he made a special phone call and asked me to look at the elegant demeanor of pottery paintings and write some thoughts. Soon, Mr. Qiu sent me more than ten frames of pictures with a brief introduction to the art.

After careful reading, I feel that most of the works have reached a romantic and natural level. Whether it's Spring in the Empty Valley, Autumn in the Xiajiang River, Smoke Village in the Clouds or Sailing in the Qingxi River, it's clear and vivid, innovative in the mirror and full of affection between people who love life and nature.

As for his painting method, there are not only patterns inside and outside the Song and Yuan Dynasties, but also the characteristics of choosing ink and pen in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. He even absorbed Zhang Daqian's splashing water, splashing ink and Lu's brushwork rhythm, and was good at applying freehand brushwork and splashing ink to landscape painting. Obviously, he has a profound traditional skill, and his traditional skill is to make a difference in realizing a new machine, thinking that he attaches importance to inner beauty, so it is intriguing.

It is understood that Qiu, who was born in a peasant family in eastern Guangdong, made his debut in the early 1950s with his understanding of art and hard self-study. 1960 was admitted to China Painting Academy, and studied under Mr. He. Like Fan Kuan in the Northern Song Dynasty, he embarked on a long artistic path of "learning from his predecessors", "learning from all things" (learning from nature) and finally "learning from all hearts" (playing his creative personality).

Although his predecessors drew lessons from He's hand-eye and compiled A Picture of He's Disciples, it was also due to the extreme care of the sages before the law. I have visited Guo, Huang, Wang Meng and other famous works of Song and Yuan Dynasties again and again, in order to grasp the pearl and make it wonderful, and study the pen and ink of Shi Tao and the "Four Kings" in order to gain a comprehensive understanding. Later, he embarked on a journey of nature, climbed the Five Mountains, climbed Mount Huangshan, traveled to Emei, and traveled to Pan-Jiangsu and Zhejiang Provinces, proving his previous family style and breathing the light of nature.

After more than 30 years of repeated research, the jurisprudence and natural charm of his predecessors gradually merged with his heart. The landscape in his works not only reached the "beauty of nature, the brightness of Yin and Yang, the distance of Wan Li, but also achieved the realm advocated by Xu Qin, an art historian in the Ming Dynasty:" The spirit of pen and ink can open the chest, compete with creation and vanish. Its artistic appearance is also unique outside the teacher. If we say, He's landscape paintings can have a lively spirit in the strict management of law, with ups and downs, but remain indifferent to Tsinghua.

For decades, most China painters entered their creative careers from Western-style colleges, but some painters like Qiu finally stood out after studying outside the school. Academic painters often start with sketches, attach importance to the description of reality, and often look at the relationship between man and nature with the eyes of scientists seeking truth. They easily broke away from the stereotyped pen and ink schema of their predecessors, restored the fine tradition of teachers' creation, and quickly became different from their predecessors. However, those who fail to give full play to the role of spiritual source and dig deep into the artistic language and cultural connotation of China's traditional landscape paintings are bound to be less artistic and illusory. In the end, successful painters who study outside school often start from copying, gradually understand the artistic and cultural spirit of traditional landscape painting and the language schema of pen and ink interaction, and then go to nature, while sketching, and at the same time try their best to deeply perceive and understand the scenery of mountains and rivers, experience the unique flavor of the times in personal experience, confirm the ancient laws, and choose ancient methods, that is, correct and develop the tradition called "pre-formed schema" by British art historian Gombrich, and break through the achievements of predecessors. This road is conducive to exploring the inner beauty of mountains and rivers, realizing the illusion of images and giving full play to the initiative of the source of mind, but it takes a long time to realize it, and it is difficult for people who lack great wisdom and courage to become the yardstick of ancient law and ancient meaning. However, in this world, we are not in a hurry to do things well, but are willing to make great efforts. We will not be confused by the temptation of Shang Chao's rolling or storytelling. In the end, we can naturally form an artistic language that contains the painter's unique feelings and adapts to his personality.

It can't be said that Qiu has achieved the ultimate on the road of "teacher's heart". He may still need to make persistent efforts in the tempering of artistic conception and the personalization of language, and further get rid of the traces of other people's painting methods completely in order to achieve great success. But the road of art he represents points out the road to success for those who have never had the opportunity to study in school, and also provides a stone for those who are born in school and have traditional tastes. I don't think this personal meaning has attracted the attention of painters and critics, so I want to draw it here, hoping to attract attention. In his early years, he studied painting style and traveled widely. He visited Guo, Wang Meng, Huang and other famous artists in the Song and Yuan Dynasties to understand his spirit. Put your skills in your hands. The works created are grand and systematic, meticulous and magnificent, with distinctive flavor of the times, while the simplicity, richness and quality of pen and ink follow the spirit of Song and Yuan Dynasties. After the 1980s, learning from the ancients, nature and learning from the ancients gradually merged into one, and the pursuit of love was far-reaching and natural, and the painting style became more and more famous for its richness, generosity, simplicity and spirituality. Especially in recent years, we have been urging new explorers to present a dazzling and misty nature by splashing ink and color on the basis of the original emphasis on skill, ingenuity, roundness and elegance. His idea is to get the brush shape first, then sprinkle it, and then wake it up with fine lines, so he is very experienced in the coordination and control of large pieces of pen and ink and brushwork. He is especially good at expressing the misty artistic conception of mountains and rivers in Emei, Huangshan and Fuchun in Fujian and Zhejiang.

In recent years, Feng Tao has been especially pursuing new explorations. The main force of painting is to get shape first and rhyme with ink, in the studio, and the misty water is only now. -Tang Yun Tang Yun once commented on the cloud: "Tao Di Feng is in full bloom, and with this pen and ink, he will strive for perfection in the future, which is immeasurable." Ceng Yun, a land machine in the Eastern Jin Dynasty: "The stone is full of jade and mountains, and the water is full of pearls and rivers." Now Qiu "has a pearl in his hand" and can show his talents. -Ding Xiyuan