Chinese painting tools and materials

Brush can be divided into long front, center and short front according to the length of its nib, and its performance is different. It is easy to draw beautiful lines before long, dignified and heavy before short, and both before medium and short. Painting landscapes should be centered. According to the size of the nib, brushes are divided into three types: small, medium and large. Various models should be prepared for painting landscapes. Generally, a little wolf hair should be prepared for small scenery, a big wolf hair for big scenery, a sheep brush for small white clouds and big white clouds, and a bigger sheep brush for bucket pens is enough. How sharp the new pen is, it is only suitable for drawing thin lines, and the effect of rubbing, wiping and knocking the old pen is better. Some painters like to paint with a bald pen, and the points and lines drawn have a vigorous and simple beauty.

There are four criteria for making and selecting pens, namely, "sharp, neat, round and healthy", "sharp is smooth and sharp after the pen tip is closed, and sharp is sharp without losing its edge; Neat and flush with the front, neat and easy to change; "A circle is a circle, and a circle does not diverge when writing;" Health is moderately elastic, while health is durable. China's brush is different from the western oil painting brush. China's brush is conical, and the brush for oil painting is flat, similar to China's combination brush. The nature of the pen depends on the manufacturing technology and the type of brush used. Brushes used for painting can be roughly divided into three categories: hard brushes, soft brushes and double brushes in between. The bristles are mainly wolf hair (tail tip hair of weasels) and are made of mink, rat, horse, deer and rabbit hair. Hard brush is vigorous and powerful, suitable for drawing lines. Common ones are Zhu Lan, Xiao Seiko, Xiao Hongmao and Ye Jin.

Pen, clothing pattern pen, book brush, etc. Japanese pens include Yamamoto, Face Brush, Sketch Brush, etc. Soft brushes are mainly made of wool, but there are also bird feathers. Soft and watery, suitable for large-scale rendering. Common soft brushes include "Big Crane Neck", "Bai Gui Pen", "Dyed Pen", "Goose Pen" and "Pure Wool Pen". Japanese pens are "colored pens" and "picking pens". Double-strand brush is made of wool and wolf hair (or rabbit hair), and its nature is between rigid and soft, such as "Seven Purple Three Sheep", "White Cloud Pen" and "Pure Purple Pointed Hair", and Japanese pens include "Miao Ze", "Magnolia" and "Changliu".

A good brush has some common characteristics: roundness, neatness, pointiness and health, so it can be used smoothly. Brush should be cleaned in time after use to avoid ink drying and damage to the brush.

There are two common raw materials for making ink: lampblack and pine smoke. The ink is called lampblack ink and Song Yanmo. Oil fume ink is made of tung oil fume. The ink is black and shiny, which can show the subtle changes of ink color and is suitable for landscape painting. Pine smoke is dark and dull, which is mostly used for feathers and characters' hair, and is not suitable for landscape painting. When choosing ink, look at its color first. Purple light ink is the best, followed by black, followed by cyan, and poor gray ink cannot be used. Listen to the sound again. The sound is crisp when the good ink is struck, delicate when it is ground, slow when it is inferior, and rough when it is ground. Clean water should be used for grinding ink, and the force should be even, and the ink should be slowly ground clockwise until it is thick. The ink used for painting should be freshly ground. The ink that has been stored for a long time is called Su Mo, and there are concentrated dregs in Su Mo. It will get dirty if it is not used well. At present, calligraphy and painting inks produced in Beijing, Tianjin and other places (such as Yidege) are easy to use and have been used by many painters. But the glue in the ink is heavy, so it is best to add a little water and grind it evenly with an ink ingot. The ink color is better.

Paper Chinese painting used silk in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and it was not until the Yuan Dynasty that paper was widely used in painting. The paper used in Chinese painting is different from other kinds of paintings. It is rice paper made of rosewood as the main raw material. Xuan paper was produced in Jingxian County, Anhui Province, and belonged to Xuanzhou in ancient times, so it was called Xuan paper. Xuan paper is divided into raw Xuan, cooked Xuan and semi-cooked Xuan. Cooked rice paper is processed with alum water, and the ink is not easy to penetrate and will not melt when it meets water, but the effect is different from other papers. It can be used for detail description, repeated rendering and coloring, and is suitable for painting green and colorful meticulous landscapes. Raw rice paper is not treated with alum, which is characterized by strong water absorption and water permeability. It melts when it meets water, and it is easy to produce rich Mo Yun changes. It can receive the artistic effect of water-light ink printing, vigorous and beautiful, and is mostly used for freehand brushwork landscape painting. Familiar posters are easy to master, but they are also prone to problems of fluency and stagnation; Sheng Xuan's paintings are interesting, but they penetrate quickly and are difficult to master. Therefore, painting landscapes generally likes to use semi-cooked rice paper. Semi-cooked rice paper melts slowly in water, which not only changes Mo Yun, but also does not penetrate too much. Easy to master rubbing, rubbing, tracing and dyeing, and can show rich brushwork and ink interest. Other paper that can replace Xuan paper for painting include North Korea paper in Northeast China, Jiajiang Xuan paper in Sichuan and Liuji paper in Jiangxi. Their performance is close to that of semi-cooked rice paper.

The most famous inkstones in China are She Yan and Duanyan. She inkstone is produced in Shexian County, Anhui Province, and Duan inkstone is produced in Gaoyao County, Guangdong Province. Okay, inkstone. Generally speaking, it is enough to choose inkstones of various properties for calligraphy and painting. When choosing an inkstone, the stone is delicate and moist, easy to ink and does not absorb water. Wash the inkstone in time after use, keep it clean, and avoid sun exposure and fire roasting. The quality of inkstone has a great influence on the color of ink. The most ideal inkstone is Duan Xi inkstone produced in Zhaoqing, Guangdong, or Anhui inkstone, which is made of stone slips, with fine ink quality, fast ink development and fine grinding, and can be preserved for a long time, but the quality of good inkstone is expensive, and the quality of Luoxi inkstone produced in the second aquatic product of this province is also good. However, it is not appropriate to choose plastic products poured from resin and stone powder. Although it is better to use fine stone, it is too smooth. There are also many styles of inkstone, among which Mohai No.1 is the most convenient and can store a lot of ink. You can cover it after use to prevent the ink from drying up. After a period of time, there is too much residual ink, so it should be soaked in water first, and then washed away to keep the inkstone clean. pigment

Chinese painting developed to the Tang Dynasty, with heavy colors as the mainstream. Since the prevalence of ink painting in Song Dynasty, under the trend of literati, the use of color has gradually declined. However, painters should have a better understanding of traditional painting pigments, develop in many aspects, or better combine with ink painting. There are two kinds of traditional pigments.

Mineral pigments are blended from ores, which are thick in color and strong in coverage. Commonly used are:

(1) Stone Green: It is usually in powder form, and it must be mixed with glue when used. According to the color, azurite can be divided into Touqing, Erqing, Sanqing and Siqing. Touqing is the thickest and greenest, and gradually becomes thinner and lighter.

(2) azurite: Its performance and use are almost the same as azurite. Azurite is divided into cyan, cyan, cyan and cyan. Cephalosporin is coarse, and it is not easy to dye evenly. It needs to be dyed several times.

(3) Zhu Jing: Zhu Jing is also called Chen Jing. Cinnabar is best in bright colors, and some are made into ink. Zhu Jing should not use azurite and azurite.

(4) Zhu system: (Zhu Biao) Zhu Jing is finely ground, mixed with gelatin, and floats in the orange.

(5) Ochre: also known as vermilion, produced from hematite and light brown. At present, most of ochre is refined into water-soluble colloidal blocks, which are not covered.

(6) White powder: it can be divided into lead powder, clam powder and chalk. Clam powder is made by processing and grinding mussel shells in the sea. After a long time, it is easy to "lead back" and turn black, and it can turn white after being gently washed with hydrogen peroxide. As for chalk (white clay powder), it is commonly used in ancient murals and does not change color for a long time. Plant pigment is transparent, thin and uncovered.

Commonly used plant pigments are:

(7) Cyan: blue lagoon is made from the leaves of Polygonum hydropiper or blue, and then cyan pigment is extracted, which is widely used, and Garcinia can be turned into grass green or tender green.

(8) Garcinia Garcinia: Brawly in the southern tropical forest, a hole is drilled from its bark, and a gelatinous yellow liquid flows out, which is taken from a bamboo tube and dried in the sun. Garcinia cambogia is poisonous and cannot be imported.

(9) Rouge (grease): a deep red pigment made from three plants: red and blue flowers, madder and purple stems. But when rouge is used in painting, it will fade with time. At present, it is mostly replaced by magenta. At present, China pigment products are mostly sold after grinding, bleaching or processing, which can be roughly divided into two forms: gluing and degumming; Glue pigments (such as cyanine, ochre, vermilion, etc. ) make it into blocks and store it in small cups, or make it into small pieces and put it into small bags. This kind of pigment is easy to use at any time after dipping in water, but it is best to use "light glue". No glue (such as stone green, ochre, white powder, cinnabar, etc. ) It is mostly powder, and it needs to be mixed with glue to use, which is more troublesome. In recent years, there are more and more substitute pigments, which are replaced by better canned poster colors or watercolor pigments (toothpaste-like). The Japanese also produce box-type simple pigments. Each color is mixed with glue and made into rectangular boxes with the same size, which are neatly arranged in the boxes, suitable for students to use, but the colors are bright and the quality needs to be improved.

In addition to the above pens, inks, inkstones, paper silks and pigments, other tools should be equipped with related appliances:

(1) color matching (color storage) tool: white porcelain products are preferred, and several small plates are prepared for color matching or ink mixing. Plum blossom tray and layered tray are ideal color removal trays, and different pigments should be stored separately.

(2) Water storage kettle: It is better to wash pens or supply clean water, and it is also made of white porcelain.

(3) Thin blanket: painting the lining of the table can prevent the ink from penetrating and polluting the painting, and the picture is not easy to be damaged by the pen after the paper is laid.

(4) Glue and alum: In order to prevent the color from falling off when azurite, azurite, cinnabar and other heavy colors are painted, alum can be covered with powder or block, and the glue includes bottled liquid deer glue, strip or block cow glue, fish glue, deer glue and so on. It is best to prepare a set of cups and alcohol lamps, melt the glue and mix it with water.

(5) Mortar: When the powder pigment particles are too coarse, it needs to be ground with a mortar and then put into a beaker to fly. The pen holder, paper presser, paper cutter, carbon ribbon for drafting, absorbent cotton waste cloth (or waste paper), stamp pad and seal can be prepared as appropriate.

The writing method of Chinese painting and the use of pen and ink

The most striking feature of brush painting in Chinese painting is to express the outline, light and shade and texture of objects based on ink lines, and at the same time, to express the painter's thoughts and spirit through ink lines. The ink line of Chinese painting has its own independent aesthetic value. Therefore, how to use a pen in Chinese painting is the first problem that must be solved to draw Chinese painting well. China's painting and calligraphy are the same. Although everyone's preferences are different and there is no formula for law enforcement, beginners must master the basic essentials. When holding a pen, the thumb and forefinger hold the pen holder in the shape of "longan" or "phoenix eye", and the middle finger holds the pen holder along the forefinger. After holding the pen, the pen holder generally does not exceed the first knuckle of the index finger. Fingers are solid, palms are weak, wrists are flat, and five fingers are Qi Li, so it is natural to run and retract. Calligraphy is more rigorous, painting is more flexible, you can hold the pen straight and hold it slightly higher, so you can rotate the nib flexibly, and the wrist, elbow, shoulder and body cooperate with each other to move and rotate effectively.

3 Chinese painting teaching

Pen and ink are the characteristics and essence of Chinese painting. Without pen and ink, it cannot be called Chinese painting. In a broad sense, the word pen and ink refers to the painting language in weather, color, composition, artistic conception and interest. In a narrow sense, pen and ink refers to the skill of using pen and ink.

1, the six methods in the Catalogue of Ancient Paintings: the bone method with a pen. It means to use a pen with strength and backbone, follow the pen with your heart, and write first. Specifically, lift, press, smooth, reverse, side, hide, fast, slow and so on. When using a pen, you should feel happy, and pay attention to the changes such as lifting, pressing, advancing and retreating, speed, turning, positive side and hidden dew. (see figure 1)

There are three kinds of strokes in landscape painting: center, flank, hidden front, exposed front, reverse front and positive front. The center is vertical, and the nib is in the center of the ink line. The lines drawn in the center are quite strong and smooth, and are often used to outline objects. Side stroke with pen, palm to the left and front tip to the left. Because the side pen is used, the pen line is thick and hairy, which is mostly used for rubbing. (See Figure 2)

The front of Tibetan pen is hidden but not exposed, and it is "standing but not falling", which the ancients called "twists and turns" The lines drawn are calm and subtle, and the power penetrates the back of the paper. It is often used to draw the outline of houses, ships and bridges, as well as the outline of rocks and the double hooks of tree trunks. Lu Feng exposed the sharpness of pointillism, making it look beautiful and full of vitality. Drawing bamboo leaves and wicker is Lu Feng's pen. When lifting the front of the pen, the pen tube leans forward to the right, and when lifting the pen, the nib pushes against the trend, which makes the nib messy and produces white in the strokes. This kind of point and line has rich and spicy pen interest, and can be used for sketching and rubbings of trunks and landscapes. Paddling along the front is the opposite of rowing against the front. Paddling is dragging, so the thumb is light and smooth, delicate and lively. This method is often used to hook the clouds and draw water. (See Figure 3)

Chinese painting pays attention to ten strokes, and has accumulated rich experience since ancient times. For example, Mr. Huang put forward the theory of "five strokes", which means "flat, round, staying, heavy and changing". The so-called "flat" means that when painting a pen, the force is even, the beginning and the end are clear, and the pen is impartial and not picky, just like painting sand with a cone. The so-called "circle" means that the turning point of the pen should be round and powerful, and it should be "like a broken hairpin". The so-called "staying" means that the pen should be subtle, reviewed, unhurried, or slippery, and "like leaking". The so-called "heavy" means calm and heavy, like "falling rocks on the mountain", not like "leaves blown by the wind", that is, "the pen can carry the tripod" as the ancients said. The so-called "change" means changing the pen, or using the center or the winger, which should be changed according to the different performance objects, so we can't stick to it. Second, it means that the strokes should echo each other. "I can't reach the pen, it's broken." (See Figure 4) To sum up, the form of brush lines is nothing more than the change and contrast of thick, thin, curved, straight, rigid, soft, light and heavy when drawing lines, making it a vivid portrayal of the depicted objects. Landscape painting advocates lines: dry and moist, rigid and soft, quality and rhyme. (See Figure 5)

A dry and moist pen should have the wonderful effect of "moistening the spring rain with dry autumn wind". "Too wet means no pen, too dry means no ink", so we must learn to unify with the contradiction between dryness and moistening. How is this pen line drawn? Mr. Li Keran made it very clear: "Don't put too much water in the pen, which will make it pale;" When the pen is heavy and powerful, the water can be squeezed out to make the pen smooth. "Combining rigidity with softness means that the form of pen line should reach the perfect state of neither softness nor rigidity. The combination of rigidity and softness is also a pair of contradictions in the pen. If we don't use this contradiction, we will often lose "rigidity" or "softness". The famous painters Huang, Li Keran and Lu have handled the contradiction between rigidity and softness well, which is an example for us to learn. In Lu's paintings, the outline of rocks, the tip of trees and the tip of moss are vigorous and full of thunder and rain; The brush strokes of clouds and water are light and elegant. The combination of rigidity and softness has produced a powerful charm in the world. Quality and rhyme refer to the unity of meat quantity and shape. Quality is the physical essence of objective images. In painting, no matter how well lines are drawn, if they are divorced from the object to be expressed, they will become worthless pen and ink games. Rhyme is the charm, rhythm and rhythm of line movement.

"Painting is silent music" means that a good painting, like touching notes, constitutes a wonderful and touching music. Quality is the pursuit of the "truth" of the objective object described, that is, it can have both spirit and form; Rhyme refers to the expression of subjective spirit through objective things, that is, it can be vivid and enjoyable. Chinese painting requires the unity of subject and object, and "nature from the outside, heart from the inside" is the lifelong pursuit of Chinese painting. In the Complete Works of Pure Landscape in the Song Dynasty, Han Chunquan put forward: "There are three diseases in using a pen: one is the board; Second, the present; Three sections. " The so-called "board" means that there is no wrist strength, the pen is not flexible, and the drawn pen line is flat and flat, and there is no rounded three-dimensional sense; The so-called "engraving" means that the strokes are too exposed, even angular, unnatural and lifeless; The so-called "knot" means that when you put pen to paper, you can't do it if you want to, but when you don't separate, the pen line will not be smooth. If you make these three mistakes with a pen, you can't talk about the beauty of lines. In addition, it is taboo to be "dry, weak, slippery, sloppy, etc." China painters have always had the theory that "calligraphy and painting are of the same origin" and "calligraphy and painting are interlinked". To avoid the above three taboos, the best way is to practice calligraphy, practice a little originality and seal a little grass, so as to master all kinds of pen skills. To overcome the pen disease, first, we should strengthen our wrist strength and make the pen work for us. Second, conform to nature without affectation. Third, you must be "fully prepared" before writing. 2. Use ink and light, pay attention to hierarchy and seek change. The requirements for ink are clear, moist, heavy and harmonious. Clear and definite. Moisturize, ink color moisten. Heavy, not impetuous. Harmony and mutual integration. Splash ink method: Dip the brush into water and ink with appropriate shade, and drop it boldly on the paper. Ink accumulation method: from shallow to deep (after ink drying), add it layer by layer. Ink-breaking method: draw one ink first, and then break it with different ink when it is not dry. Can be strong or weak, water can be ink, ink can be ink.

4 Chinese painting teaching

Basic painting methods of landscape painting in Chinese painting

Painting trees is also Screaming Trees in landscape painting and occupies a very important position in traditional landscape painting. Even if you only draw trees, you can become a complete work. It is advisable to observe the overall characteristics of trees first, and then observe the branches, because there are many kinds of trees and the ecology of branches is not the same. Beginners should practice from dead or deciduous trees in winter. Branches without leaves are clear in structure and posture, so it is easy to understand the growth law and basic structure of various trees.

The structure of (1) branches can be roughly divided into three categories. One is upward growth type, which is called antlers in traditional painting theory. This type is the most common, such as willow, acacia and camphor tree. The second type is downward bending type, called crab claw branch, such as dragon claw. Third, life forms, which can be called long-arm branches, such as pine, fir, kapok and so on. There are also forms between the above two or three. Before drawing branches, surround the four sides of the tree, observe carefully, and choose the most beautiful trunk and the most suitable angle. Hook the thick branches of the trunk first, then add the thin branches. When painting, first of all, we should pay attention to the principle that the tree is divided into four branches, that is, the trunk is divided into front, back, left and right directions, so as to avoid being in pairs like fishbones, lacking scattered wind. Secondly, pay attention to the arrangement of density and momentum, and you can make a slight choice. In fact, twigs and treetops can be boldly abandoned, and those that conform to the principle of beauty can be chosen from an artistic point of view to sketch. In addition, we must pay attention to the pen holder, be tall and straight, and each branch should be connected with the trunk or thick branch, and it is not allowed to grow in the air. The longer the branches are, the thinner they are. It is not allowed to write thick or thick branches at the tail, which violates plant ecology.

(2) The appearance, character and characteristics of bark and roots can sometimes be distinguished from the texture of bark. Each kind of bark has different textures, such as scaly pine bark, oblique herringbone willow bark, horizontal cherry apricot bark, twisted Bo bark, and many textures are difficult to describe in words, which need careful observation before writing. When drawing a trunk, we should not only pay attention to the texture of the bark, but also draw a three-dimensional sense. When drawing bark, the texture near the two sides should be dense and narrow (or thicker with ink), and the texture near the center of the tree can be widened (or lighter with ink), which conforms to the principle of perspective. Draw the branches and then the roots. As for whether to uproot or not, it depends on the amount of earth and stone or the kind of trees. Usually there are more stones and less soil. In the case of more soil and less stones, more roots are hidden, like banyan trees with more exposed roots. But when painting, you can decide whether to hide roots or expose roots according to the needs of the picture, but you should draw the characteristics of rising from the soil, which is tough and stable, and you can't draw it as if it were inserted in the soil and pushed down.

(3) The arrangement and structure of leaves vary from species to species. No matter what tree you draw, you should first carefully look at the shape and arrangement principle of leaves, and then look at the overall posture and feeling from a distance. The twelve kinds of leaves in the picture below are very common in Taiwan Province Province. The number of trees in nature is the best painting spectrum, which changes endlessly. We should observe more and sketch more. Ancient people used the method of cutting leaves to draw trees, which was first widely used. Each leaf is hooked with more than two lines and then colored. After the prosperity of ink painting, the number of sandwiched leaves gradually decreased, and the number of single leaves (finger leaf method) gradually increased. A stroke is simplified as a symbol of a leaf or a group of leaves. According to its shape, there are many different symbols, such as pepper point, font point, plum blossom point, rat foot point, vine hanging point, pine leaf point, bamboo leaf point, ... However, these symbols are all extracted from the observation of nature by predecessors, which are both general and realistic, and are not fabricated out of thin air. Except for leaves with distinctive image characteristics such as pine, bamboo, willow and phoenix tree. Those whose features are not obvious are generally called miscellaneous trees. When ordering leaves, it should be noted that there are many leaves at the top of the tree, and the leaves near the trunk are usually sparse.

(4) Painting pine trees symbolizes the gentlemanly demeanor and longevity of human beings. The ancients loved to draw pine trees, showing the spirit of being tall and straight, vigorous and indomitable. Pine bark is scaly, so pine bark should be vigorous, hairy and arranged too regularly. Pine leaves are like needles, and there are many different painting methods, such as semicircle, circle, ponytail and zigzag. Pine leaves are dry and straight, and bend when they are born in crevices and cliffs.

(5) Liu Painting The ancients often said: It is difficult to draw a hand when painting a person, but it is difficult to draw a willow when painting a tree. The willows are charming and lean against the water. Necole Liu is ancient and wicker is delicate. Painting wicker should be slightly thick, not sharp, gentle and even with a pen, soft and firm, such as willow leaves, fluffy and changeable.

(6) Bamboo in the bamboo forest painting landscape mostly appears in the form of bamboo forest (jungle), and the leaves can be divided into two forms: drooping bamboo leaves and upturned bamboo leaves (clear forest and new forest). When painting, you can draw bamboo stems first, and the branches are slightly curved. Pay attention to density and embellishment. The arrangement of bamboo leaves should not be neat, and the relationship between overall interest, reality and distance should be considered.