Peony White Sketch Collection

Author: Ma Wenlan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-07-01
Features: Learning to paint, whether of figures, landscapes, or flowers and birds, cannot be separated from copying and sketching. Freehand line drawing is an important technique of sketching. By absorbing beneficial elements from the painting techniques of past generations, one can start with copying, which is called "learning from tradition." To develop, one must innovate, and to innovate, one must learn from nature (i.e., learn from creation), which means going into nature to observe, experience, and sketch. Sketching (including quick sketches) is the foundation of Chinese painting learning and creation. Sketching is the act of observing and depicting objective scenery—the painting subject—to accumulate materials for later use in creating appropriate forms, summarizing, refining, and extracting, concentrating and typifying the sketched scenery into images that are both rooted in nature and beyond it, even more pleasing to the eye, and ultimately creating timeless masterpieces. Sketching peonies is equally important. Through careful observation and sketching, one must fully understand its ecology, characteristics, form, structure, posture, and living habits. Such as: the demeanor under changing weather conditions—wind, rain, dew, and sunny days; the influence of day and night, morning and evening; the different scenes during early, mid, and late blooming periods—all of these are what we should observe. The more meticulous our observation, the more lifelike our creations will be. Only through sketching can our creations possess vitality, individuality, and the "thousand forms of flowers."