📌 This is a series of posts on my art studies using Chien Chung Wei’s book Watercolour Etudes 《水彩练习曲》作者： 简忠威 #chienchungwei #简忠威 #watercolouretudes #水彩练习曲1
The master had written (Translations mine)
| 如果你对前方之路的尽头感到好奇 | If curious about the end of the path ahead |
| 就把这条路走到底, 或许你会发现另一条看不见尽头的路也在吸引着你 | follow it to its end, perhaps you may find another path beckoning you – one that has no end. |
| 世上多的是风景优美的路线, | There is a wealth of picturesque paths in our world |
| 欠缺的是真心探索的意愿 | Sorely lacking is the genuine desire to explore |
I paint out of curiosity. My motivation is to be able to figure out the magician’s tricks and re-create that in a scene. At this moment, I am not sure if I have the desire to explore the full way. I am afraid of being labelled an artist. Or a failed artist (if I don’t sell anything or win anything). It feels at the moment the label is too much for me to bear. The expectations too heavy for someone who is poor at it.
简大师 wrote in his preface explaining the benefits of copying from an artist. Right away, I felt taken care of and reassured. I felt that he truly understood me. A person who started from zero. He explained that following tutorials in painting different objects (Eg clouds) did not translate to confidence in tackling a new object (eg trees). I love the idea of following along guided by him in a series of copy works. He also said that completing this book does not a painter make – there are compositional and creativity skills that needs to be self taught.
I have been experiencing doubts if art can be self studied – mainly because I have been seeing a lot of progress and completed works that my other art friends have made under tutelage. At this moment, tuition fees spending are prioritised for my kids so my plan has always been to self study. That Master Chien laid down the next steps to learn made me feel really safe that he is hand holding me in this journey.
- This is a book bought on Temu and can be found on aliexpress. You can use the chinese text to search for the copy. This book is in Simplified Chinese. There is no English version. ↩︎
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