漫談寫生與技法 

Painting from Nature and Techniques

關(guān)于寫生

About Painting from Nature

常常有人問我：怎樣畫好水彩畫？我思考再三，最后仍是那句老生常談：多寫生罷！這是我多年藝術(shù)實踐后，重新感悟到的。

Every time when people ask me about how topaint watercolor well, I would think it over and responses: you’d better go outfor painting as much as possible. This is my experience refreshed through yearsof artistic practice.

中國唐代畫家張璪曾說：外師造化，中得心源。我想這應(yīng)該是對寫生這一形式最好的詮釋了。寫生不僅表現(xiàn)了畫家獨特的視覺美感和思維，也讓畫家逐步尋找到自己的藝術(shù)語言。因此，寫生是畫家成長的必由之路，是畫家形成藝術(shù)風(fēng)格的最佳途徑。尤其是水彩畫家，更要認(rèn)識到水彩寫生是這個畫種的重要特征之一。

Zhang Zao—Chinese painter from Tang Dynasty—saidthat “To learn from the nature outside, to get muse from the heart inside”. Iregard it as the best explanation to paint from the nature. Because it is notonly represent the painter’s visual aesthetic feeling, but also helps thepainter to find his own art words gradually. That’s why we say sketching is theroad a painter must follow, and the best way to form the painter’s style.Especially, it is more important to realize that watercolor sketch is a keyfeature to watercolor painting.

寫生是面對實景當(dāng)場完成作品，面對大自然的千姿百態(tài)和鬼斧神工，畫家要全身心投入，要迅速捕捉景象特征，抓住感受。每筆下去松了也不行、緊了也不行，松了感覺就蒼白了、不實在了。緊了呢？又會讓人感到太具體、太呆板，失去了味道。此時你就會苦于眼與手的不相協(xié)調(diào)，產(chǎn)生很多的苦惱和困惑。那么你唯一的選擇是：堅持寫生，磨練而又磨練，最終你對水彩藝術(shù)所有的疑問就可以得到一個滿意的回答。通過寫生你可以得到以下兩方面的訓(xùn)練:

To take a sketch on the spot needs a painterconcentrates on nature’s panorama of action and shape, and catch the sight andfeeling quickly as well. When he starts painting, each stroke should be neithertight nor loose. For being loose will make the picture look pale and unreal,whereas being tight will make the picture look too concrete and sterile toobtain the original taste. At this time, the painter will be tortured by thedisunity between eyes and hands. As a result, a lot of puzzlement will comeout. If you have such a problem, I think your only choice is to keep onpainting from nature, keep on practicing. Then one day you will find asatisfying solution to your problems. I think paint from nature can help youimprove in two ways:

一、駕馭色彩的能力

I.  Theability to master colors

當(dāng)我們接觸水彩畫時，認(rèn)識與表達(dá)色彩的能力是我們首要解決的課題。在理論上，我們可以通過多方面來了解色彩的有關(guān)知識與規(guī)律，但是這些來自書本上間接的認(rèn)識，絕不可以取代你自身的實踐。因為藝術(shù)本身往往很難完全用文字去表達(dá)。真正控制色彩的能力，還是必須從寫生中訓(xùn)練出來。比如大家都知道原色與復(fù)色的關(guān)系，原色與補色的關(guān)系等色彩規(guī)律，但是要將這些規(guī)律具體運用到作品中去卻仍是一件很不容易的事情。因為自然界的色彩是變化無窮的，有時對比強烈，有時變化微妙，哪種對比、哪種和諧、哪種顏色具有力量，都是必須要求我們從實踐中積累出來的，尤其是那種恰如其分尺度的把握，更是對色彩高度認(rèn)識的反映。寫生實踐可以使水彩畫技法得到具體的應(yīng)用，在寫生之初，往往人們都對技法略有所知，甚至有人通讀了許多相關(guān)書籍，但是當(dāng)你面對大自然，仍會感到困惑和不知所措。原因何在？因為書本的那些間接經(jīng)驗不足以表現(xiàn)變化萬千的大自然。古今中外，不知有多少大師同嘆，要師之于自然！那么要認(rèn)識自然、表現(xiàn)自然，就要掌握自然的規(guī)律才能夠主動地、生動地從自然的表象中整理、提煉它的本質(zhì)，使我們對藝術(shù)的規(guī)律有所認(rèn)識與掌握。

When we get in touch withwatercolor painting, the first problem is to know and represent colors.Theoretically we could know relevant information and principles from manyaspects. But this knowledge is so indirect that we can not replace practicewith. Art is always difficult to be represented by words. The ability to mastercolors should be obtained by sketch. For example, we all know the relationshipbetween primary and tertiary colors as well as between primary andcomplementary colors. But it is still difficult to apply these principles intoworks. Colors in nature are changing constantly--it is sometimes contrary,sometimes subtle. But no matter what kind of contrast or harmony it is, orwhich color is powerful, they are determined by painter himself through hisaccumulation from sketch. So appropriate grasp of colors can show painter’sdeep understanding about colors.

The application of watercolortechniques can be improved through paint from nature. At the beginning, peoplealways know ABCs of techniques. Some people even thoroughly read many relevantbooks. In spite of this, one may also feel puzzled in front of nature. Why?Because the indirect experience you read from books cannot represent greatchanges in nature. From ancient to modern, from domestic to abroad, countlessmasters exclaim that we need to learn from nature. In order to know andrepresent nature, we need to master its laws. Only in this way can wepositively and actively classify and extract essence from superficial objects.Then we can study and master these essences at last.

我們都知道色彩的空間透視越遠(yuǎn)就越冷，或者越遠(yuǎn)就越灰，還知道近處的對比強，遠(yuǎn)處的對比弱，更知道受光比背光暖，天光比陰影冷。但是知道之后呢？就應(yīng)該在大量的寫生中將這些規(guī)律性的理論，演變成你作品中斑斕的色彩，當(dāng)你的畫技日臻成熟，你就能主動參與這些變化，并且利用他們使自己的顏色更生動，更富表現(xiàn)力，這時你就有了駕馭色彩的能力。

We all know the truth thatperspective is the further the cooler, or the further the grayer. We know thatcloser the objects locate, the stronger the contrast is. We also know thatreceiving light is warmer than backlighting, and skylight is cooler thanshadow. How to deal with these principles? We need to transform them intocolors in the picture. When your art techniques are becoming mature, you willbe involved in the transformation and use them to make the pictures moreexpressive than ever before. At this moment, you will master the skill ofcoloring.

二、表現(xiàn)物象的能力

II. The ability to representimages

法國布丹說：“當(dāng)場畫下來的東西，總是有一種以后在畫室里所不可能取得的力量、真實感和筆法的生動性”。這表明了寫生的真正內(nèi)涵。然而當(dāng)我們面對大自然景物時，往往是非常矛盾的。一方面我們被大自然的美好所迷戀傾倒，另一方面卻又不知從何入手加以表現(xiàn)，這正是大多數(shù)畫家所困惑和思考的問題。通過寫生就能夠訓(xùn)練你逐步掌握正確的觀察方法?！拔覀円茉煲粋€形象，就應(yīng)該知道這個形象是怎樣的”吳作人曾這樣說，這句普通的話道破了藝術(shù)表現(xiàn)的根本。首先是我們畫家的眼睛——即觀察方法，有人認(rèn)為寫生是訓(xùn)練我們用手的技能，實際上是在訓(xùn)練我們的眼睛，手的表達(dá)是通過眼睛傳達(dá)的信息，那么眼睛看到的是否整體將直接導(dǎo)致手的表現(xiàn)，因此寫生是訓(xùn)練我們掌握正確觀察方法的首要途徑。有了正確的觀察方法，才能使人們在紛繁復(fù)雜的物象中，抓住要領(lǐng)，通過概括、取舍、夸張，才能夠更集中、更典型、更主動的去表達(dá)你的感受。這種“主動”的表現(xiàn)與“被動”摹寫將產(chǎn)生截然不同的藝術(shù)效果。

Boudin from France once said, there is alwaysa kind of irreplaceable, real and vivid spirit in the picture you drew on thespot. It shows the real meaning of paint from nature. But when we face thenature, things may come to be a confusion that many painters will have. For onething, we are overwhelmed with beauty for the nature. For another, we’ve noidea about where to start with. This problem can be solved by painting fromnature, from which we can master the correct way of observation gradually. “Whenwe are going to shape a figure, we should know what it is.” said by Wu Zuoren. Thiscommon statement points out the foundation of art representation. Somebodymisunderstands the purpose of sketch. They think it is used to train painter’shands. On the contrary, it is used to train painter’s eyes. Hands just executethe information that eyes’ received and processed. So whether eyes could seethe whole thing will influence the hands’ performance directly. That’s why werepeat that painting from nature is the primary way of practicing observationskill. Observation skill has many functions: it can help us grasp the essencefrom complicated and disordered images; it can help you to represent feelingsmore concentrated, typical and positively by way of summary, choosing andexaggeration. This positive representation will have totally different effectcompared with negative depiction.

綜上所述，不難看出無論是色彩能力的培養(yǎng)與訓(xùn)練，還是觀察、表現(xiàn)物象的手段與形式，都離不開踏實的寫生實踐，只有這樣，我們的藝術(shù)作品才能夠具有生命力，永遠(yuǎn)立于不敗之地。正如梵·高日記中所言“我希望盡可能的多畫些習(xí)作，因為習(xí)作是未來產(chǎn)生繪畫作品的種子?！薄安シN越多，就越渴望豐收”這是藝術(shù)之道的真諦。初學(xué)者，可以以寫生作為學(xué)習(xí)或色彩訓(xùn)練的目的，也可以把寫生當(dāng)作創(chuàng)作前的準(zhǔn)備。但作為成熟的畫家，成功的寫生本身就是一種創(chuàng)作。常畫寫生可以破一破畫家舊有的套路，刺激一下畫家早已麻木的感覺，我們的畫家應(yīng)走出畫室的“象牙之塔”奔向大自然那廣闊的“十字街頭”。

Above all, it is easy to see that bothtraining of color and observation of images need sketching. Only through thiscan our works be guaranteed to be vital and invincible. As Van Gogh said, “Ihope to do more exercise. It is the seed which will produce works in the future”.“The more you plant, the more you are eager about harvest”—that is the truenature for arts. To beginners, paint from nature can be used as exercise forcolor training, or preparation before invention. But to mature painters, apiece of successful sketch is a piece of works itself. Sketching frequentlywill help you get rid of routine and stimulate you as well. Good paintersshould go out of the studio as “Ivory Tower” and run into the nature as a wide “crossroad”.

關(guān)于技法

Techniques

似乎行里行外的畫家們談到水彩畫，無不談到“技法”問題，給人們的感覺是技法是水彩畫成功的關(guān)鍵，其實這是一種誤區(qū)。所謂“技法”一般是指創(chuàng)作過程中的技巧與方法。一件成功的作品是作者藝術(shù)綜合素養(yǎng)的體現(xiàn)，只掌握了一些所謂“技法”是不可能產(chǎn)生高品位作品的。畫者以擺弄繪畫技巧，并對能向別人顯示自己的技巧而感到沾沾自喜，把技法視為創(chuàng)作成功的百寶箱，這委實是件本末倒置的事。另外，就人們所謂的“技法”來講，往往水彩界的認(rèn)識也存在一些片面性，傳統(tǒng)一點的技法之說，有“干畫法”、“濕畫法”及“干濕并舉法”云云，而且據(jù)說水彩畫最多只能畫三遍，否則將失去水彩畫本體語言——透明性。如果說水彩畫與其它畫種一樣能夠表現(xiàn)紛繁不同的社會生活的話，那么這種“技法”顯然是一種束縛，局限性不言而喻。羅丹說：“真正的藝術(shù)是忽視藝術(shù)的”。同樣真正的技巧是忽視技巧的。對造型藝術(shù)本質(zhì)上的認(rèn)識，對色彩深層次的理解及相應(yīng)基礎(chǔ)的訓(xùn)練，提高藝術(shù)修養(yǎng)才是水彩畫創(chuàng)作應(yīng)著重思考與解決的課題。

It seems that every painters, nomatter trained or untrained, will mention techniques when they refer to arts.So this transits a misunderstanding that techniques are keys to the success ofwatercolor painting. Techniques are the way you create a piece of works. Asuccessful painting is the result of the painter’s comprehensive accomplishments.Only with some techniques could not produce superior works. If a painterflourishes his techniques, swells with pride and regards it as a treasure box,it is like “put the cart before a horse” indeed. Besides, as far as techniquesconcerned, some one-sideness exists in the watercolor world. The traditionaltechniques can be summarized as Dry Drawing, Wet Drawing, Wet and DryDual-drawing etc. It is said that watercolor pictures can only be painted threetimes at most, or it will lose the ontology-based words—the transparencyexactly. If we say that watercolor painting can represent changes in sociallife as the other types of paintings, then this technique of watercolor is akind of constraint. Its limitation is undoubting. Rodin once said that the realart would ignore the art itself. Similarly, the real techniques will neglectthemselves too. What watercolor painting needs to think carefully is to deepenthe understanding on moulding, coloring and relevant basic training, as well asimproving artistic cultivation.

下面我就一些具體寫生作品談一下畫面中的基本構(gòu)成因素的表現(xiàn)。

Next I will talk with examples about the fundamentalelements in pictures.

1、取景與構(gòu)圖

1. Framing and Composition

印象主義畫家惠斯勒說過：“大自然中固然包含著一切圖畫的色彩和形式因素……但是一個藝術(shù)家就是要科學(xué)地取舍和組織這些因素，這樣做，其結(jié)果才可能是美好的。”實際上，在寫生過程中取景很大程度上已經(jīng)決定了構(gòu)圖，當(dāng)然，畫家在這樣的過程中是要起到能動作用的，絕不能淪陷于對景物的客觀描摹。畫家要把各種事物主觀的去調(diào)整、歸納并將其置于相應(yīng)的位置，以便產(chǎn)生明確、清晰和有力的效果。在構(gòu)圖中最難處理的應(yīng)該是前景，因為透視現(xiàn)象的產(chǎn)生，前景處理不當(dāng)就會顯得大而空，那么在畫面中調(diào)整前景面積或者移花接木整合其他景物入畫，便顯得非常重要了，但這樣的主觀處理，要求藝術(shù)家能夠把握藝術(shù)組建中形式與內(nèi)涵的貼切，做到即符合自然規(guī)律又不能破壞畫面的整體意蘊，否則就會變成雜盤拼湊、無法無章。

The Impressionist Wistler oncesaid: “Nature includes all the colors and form elements…but a professionalartist need to organize and choose these elements scientifically. In this waycould the result be fine.” In fact, composition in painting from nature isdetermined mostly by framing. Of course the painter himself will play a role inthe whole process in order to avoid any objective depiction. Painters need toadjust and classify these images into proper positions to produce clear andimpressive effect. The most difficult thing to handle with in framing isforeground. Because of perspective, weak foreground organization will make thepicture be empty and unreal. So adjusting the area of foreground orsubstituting it for other images seem to be important. But it requires theartist be able to master the appropriation of both form and connotation in theincorporation. That is to say, the painter should obey the natural principlesas well as destroy the meaning of the whole painting, or the picture will turnto be a scratchy, badly organized failure.

2、色與光

2. Color and Light

我常發(fā)現(xiàn)許多學(xué)生在為調(diào)配色彩而大費氣力，我會告訴他們水彩畫的色彩表現(xiàn)不僅僅是技巧，關(guān)鍵的問題是在于在什么地方、什么時間、怎樣的運用這些繽紛的色彩。文藝復(fù)興時期威尼斯畫派畫家衛(wèi)洛內(nèi)看著雨后泥濘的道路說：“我可以用這種色調(diào)表現(xiàn)出一位金發(fā)少女”。梵·高也說：“沒有黃色，沒有橙色，就沒有藍(lán)色”。何等的精辟、精彩。作品中的色彩效果產(chǎn)生于色與色的關(guān)系之中，而不是孤立的去看待色彩的臟與鮮，只有有效的運用色彩，才能使作品令人賞心悅目，同時又具有內(nèi)在意義。

I always notice that art studentsmake great effort on color scheme. So I tell them that color representation inwatercolor painting doesn’t mean techniques only. The key lies in where, whenand how to use these colors. Wallowney from Venice School in Renaissance couldlook at the muddy road after rain and saying “I can draw a blond girl with thiscolor”. Whereas Van Gogh said: “If there is neither yellow nor orange, therewill be no blue.” How incisive they are! Color effect doesn’t come fromisolated attitude towards dirty or fresh colors, but comes from therelationship among colors. Only by applying colors effectively, we can producebeautiful pictures with rich meanings.

光是水彩畫具有特殊美學(xué)價值的表現(xiàn)因素，水彩畫材料本身也適合表現(xiàn)光，光線的和理運用往往可以使畫面獲得意想不到的效果，《造船廠》畫面中最精彩的部分要算前景大面積船底和投影，所形成暗部中的那一抹光。這抹光使整個暗部有了精氣神兒，又呼應(yīng)了上半部天光的明亮，畫面因這束光顯得整體而和諧。但光決不是畫面表現(xiàn)的全部，有光、無光都可以呈現(xiàn)畫面的和諧，例如《靜靜的小巷》和《陽光下的古巷》是我在不同天氣狀態(tài)下的寫生作品，畫《陽光下的古巷》時天氣陽光明媚，所以畫面我是在大的明暗關(guān)系中尋找平衡，這里要強調(diào)的是暗部絕不是漆黑一團(tuán)，畫面的豐富性往往都是在暗部中得以體現(xiàn)，但是畫面所表現(xiàn)出來的對比強烈，絕不是明暗關(guān)系中純粹明度上的差異，更是由繁簡關(guān)系輔助達(dá)到的?！鹅o靜小巷》則是一個陰雨天，沒有光，于是我著力表現(xiàn)景物的固有色，在固有色籠罩下的整體灰調(diào)子中，充分利用線與形的構(gòu)成和排布，完成畫面語言的豐富表達(dá)。

For one thing, Light is an elementwhich strengthens watercolor painting’s aesthetic value. For another,watercolor pigment is apt to represent lights. Appropriate management of lightscan cause surprising effects. For example, in the “The Shipyard”, the marvelouspart in the foreground is a hint of light in the shade formed by a large areasof the bottom of the boat and the projection. This beam of light made the wholeshade full of spirit, and chimed with the upper portion’s bright skylight. Thewhole picture seems harmony and unified by it too.

However, light is not the onlything that matters the picture. In fact, no matter there’s light or not,painters can represent the harmony in the picture. Taking my two works “TheSilent Alley” and “The Old Alley in the Sunshine” as examples. They were drawnin different whether conditions. “The Old Alley in the Sunshine” was drawn whenit was sunny. So I seek the balance with bigger light and shade relation. But Ishould point out that shade is not dark. A picture’s richness is alwaysrepresented by shade. Strong comparison in the painting is not achieved bycomparing light and shade, but by careful handling of their simple andcomplicated relation. “The Silent Alley” was drawn in a rainy day and there’sless light. So I paid more attention on intrinsic colors, made full use of thecomposition and layout of lines and shapes in the gray hue background.

3、秩序與構(gòu)成

3. Order and Composition

美國美術(shù)史家費爾德曼提出：“我們稱謂的美，是任何整體中各個部分之間和諧關(guān)系的結(jié)果。藝術(shù)家的工作就在于把自然界中的秩序運用到作品中去，秩序把瞬間變成了永恒”。自然景物是紛繁復(fù)雜的，我們都知道，藝術(shù)家要具備能夠提煉自然、概括自然的能力?！斗泵Φ母劭凇樊嫷氖峭崴顾线\輸繁忙的場面，場景復(fù)雜、物品凌亂，于是我將畫面的遠(yuǎn)景建筑處理成淡淡的大色塊以使畫面整體協(xié)調(diào)，中景是我繪畫的重點，為了表現(xiàn)繁復(fù)的場面，我運用色點和色線以寫意的方式進(jìn)行空間的構(gòu)成與秩序排布，于是整個畫面既保證了統(tǒng)一和諧又將場面的喧鬧繁華表現(xiàn)得淋漓盡致。同樣，《海濱漁船》一畫中，對于船帆的處理也是如此，我并沒有仔細(xì)的刻畫彩旗的數(shù)量，因為無論畫出多少面旗子，欣賞者看到的都是具體的數(shù)字，可我若以色點代替它，就能以一當(dāng)十，欣賞著看到的就會使是“很多”?！耙簧?、二生三、三生萬物”的道家思想是此類畫面表現(xiàn)的真正方法。

The American art historian Feldmansays that the beauty what we called is the result of harmony relationship amongportions of one unity. The artist’s work is to apply natural order in painting.This order turns the moment into the eternity.” We all know that artists shouldhave the ability to extract and summarize the nature. “A Busy Port” describes theimage of busy transportation by boat in Venice. The shoot is complicated and discarded.So I changed the establishing shot into light block tones in order to maintainharmony. And the medium shot is the important part in this painting. I adoptedspots and lines with free style to achieve the cubic composition and order. Sothe whole picture guaranteed unity and represented the natural conditioncompletely as well.

Similarly, in the “The FishingVessel near the Seashore”, I handled with the sail in this way too. I didn’t depictthe colorful flags according to its real numbers, because audience wouldn’t beinterested in it. In stead, I used dots to take place of real flags. It camewith the same effect. Taoism thought as “The one gave birth successively to twothings, three things up to ten thousand” is the very method for painting thiskind of image.

人們常說，藝常在、技無窮，“一畫之理不明”是在談繪畫的技法，但又容易因囿于“法”而形成障礙。事實上，繪畫之法誕生于創(chuàng)造性，真正的畫法是根據(jù)個人面對自然造物感受的不同而創(chuàng)造出來的。就風(fēng)景而言，西方人對色彩的敏感、對光的關(guān)照，與他們的民族文化、地理、氣候等因素有關(guān)，地中海的陽光使得威尼斯的水中漂蕩的是色彩。而中國的南方水鄉(xiāng)就不適合用色彩去表現(xiàn)，黛瓦白墻倒映于水中那就是水墨畫，著色就會顯得不和諧。再拿人物畫來說，西方人的骨骼結(jié)構(gòu)較之東方人更加的立體，人種的區(qū)別以及歷史的沉淀使得東方人含蓄、柔和，體現(xiàn)了東方人美的特質(zhì)。西方人則性格自由、個性張揚，表達(dá)在畫面上則色彩豐富、視覺沖擊力強。所以在繪畫上，東方人的繪畫強調(diào)線，曲徑通幽；西方人強調(diào)空間、立體和色塊。依此而言，畫法就更應(yīng)該是觀念而不是具體、固定的方法，作品必須產(chǎn)生自己的“法”才會使任何障礙都能從作品上消失。

People always say that the artsexist forever, and techniques varied. “Unclear about the law of one stroke” isreferring to drawing techniques, means that each stroke is limited bytraditions. As a matter of fact, drawing laws come from creation. They arecreated by painter’s personal feelings toward nature. As scenery concerned,westerners’ feeling to color and light is related to culture, geography andclimate etc. For example, in Venice, color is seemed to be floating on thesurface of river because of Mediterranean sunshine. On the contrary, southernvillages along rivers in China are not suitable to be painted with oilpainting. The layers of black tiles on the roof of the white houses aresuitable to watercolor painting. Oil painting will lead such a picture into disharmonizedone.

Another example can be raised byportrait painting. Westerner’s skeleton is much more cubic than that of easternpeople. The difference in human species and history results in two differentkinds of people: easterners are implicit and soft; while westerners are freeand individualized. Maybe this can explain why westerner’s pictures arecolorful and impressive. When these characteristics are combined in painting, differencesappear: easterners’ works emphasize on lines, indirect beautifulness, butwesterners’ works emphasize on space, cubic and color. In summary, drawing lawsare concepts more than concrete or fixed ways. As long as independent drawinglaws are formed, obstacles will be got rid of the pictures.

上述所謂技法在繪畫中互相滲透、利用，無法獨立存在，如此分談只為述說之方便，況且技法之說，掛一漏萬，脫離了具體畫面，孤立的去談筆色與技巧所有的技法就都失去了價值，“無法而法，乃為至法”，依然是技法追求的最高境界。

The above techniques can not beindependent from each other. I talk about them separately because I want tomake my explanation clear. Besides, I am afraid to be fragmentary. But weshould know that isolated discussion on color and techniques is valueless. “Forgreat is law without limitations”, that is the superior condition for pursuingdrawing techniques.

                       趙云龍      

Yunlong Zhao      

【作品展示】

水彩研究編輯整理，轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)請注明出處