I remember when I first saw Qi Baishi's paintings, my first impression was cute, even childish and ridiculous. You know what he reminds me of. In fact, he was the first pupil to learn Chinese characters. Later, after watching more, I found something, childlike innocence, a mentality of always pursuing art!
Looking back at the handwriting of primary school students now gives me great inspiration. I think what I have lost is this form, this "real" form, this very simple and hard-working writing form, but it still looks crooked and can't be a rule.
I think a large part of Qi Baishi's paintings are painted with this mentality. Of course, he is different from the pupils in writing. At the very least, primary school students are trying to master the regular modeling of characters. Qi Baishi created the "spirit" of art from the understanding of form and the beauty of "innocence and childlike interest".
I looked at his paintings and I admired his courage in writing. In my opinion, as long as I see him sitting there, even if he just talks and waves his shirt, it is a beautiful painting. It seems that he doesn't need a pen at all when he paints. He can pick up a straw by the roadside and dip it in ink to draw a good picture. It seems that sometimes he doesn't consider the distinction between the five colors or the truth of the form at all, and the painting will flow out from the bottom of his pen.
I have never seen anything that he painted with great momentum, but most of them are trivial things that we usually see with our eyes, but we often look at these things in a way that we don't directly mention, just like when we grow up, we are afraid that others will say we are naive. Before his death, he painted a peony, which is also the most imposing one for me. That kind of freedom, that kind of freedom, that kind of detachment, unparalleled!