常常有人问我：怎样画好水彩画？我思考再三，最后仍是那句老生常谈：多写生罢！这是我多年艺术实践后，重新感悟到的。

　　中国唐代画家张璪曾说：外师造化，中得心源。我想这应该是对写生这一形式最好的诠释了。写生不仅表现了画家独特的视觉美感和思维，也让画家逐步寻找到自己的艺术语言。因此，写生是画家成长的必由之路，是画家形成艺术风格的最佳途径。尤其是水彩画家，更要认识到水彩写生是这个画种的重要特征之一。

　　写生是面对实景当场完成作品，面对大自然的千姿百态和鬼斧神工，画家要全身心投入，要迅速捕捉景象特征，抓住感受。每笔下去松了也不行、紧了也不行，松了感觉就苍白了、不实在了。紧了呢？又会让人感到太具体、太呆板，失去了味道。此时你就会苦于眼与手的不相协调，产生很多的苦恼和困惑。那么你唯一的选择是：坚持写生，磨练而又磨练，最终你对水彩艺术所有的疑问就可以得到一个满意的回答。通过写生你可以得到以下两方面的训练：

　　一、驾驭色彩的能力

　　当我们接触水彩画时，认识与表达色彩的能力是我们首要解决的课题。在理论上，我们可以通过多方面来了解色彩的有关知识与规律，但是这些来自书本上间接的认识，绝不可以取代你自身的实践。因为艺术本身往往很难完全用文字去表达。真正控制色彩的能力，还是必须从写生中训练出来。比如大家都知道原色与复色的关系，原色与补色的关系等色彩规律，但是要将这些规律具体运用到作品中去却仍是一件很不容易的事情。因为自然界的色彩是变化无穷的，有时对比强烈，有时变化微妙，哪种对比、哪种和谐、哪种颜色具有力量，都是必须要求我们从实践中积累出来的，尤其是那种恰如其分尺度的把握，更是对色彩高度认识的反映。写生实践可以使水彩画技法得到具体的应用，在写生之初，往往人们都对技法略有所知，甚至有人通读了许多相关书籍，但是当你面对大自然，仍会感到困惑和不知所措。原因何在？因为书本的那些间接经验不足以表现变化万千的大自然。古今中外，不知有多少大师同叹，要师之于自然！那么要认识自然、表现自然，就要掌握自然的规律才能够主动地、生动地从自然的表象中整理、提炼它的本质，使我们对艺术的规律有所认识与掌握。

　　我们都知道色彩的空间透视越远就越冷，或者越远就越灰，还知道近处的对比强，远处的对比弱，更知道受光比背光暖，天光比阴影冷。但是知道之后呢？就应该在大量的写生中将这些规律性的理论，演变成你作品中斑斓的色彩，当你的画技日臻成熟，你就能主动参与这些变化，并且利用他们使自己的颜色更生动，更富表现力，这时你就有了驾驭色彩的能力。

　　二、表现物象的能力

　　法国布丹说：“当场画下来的东西，总是有一种以后在画室里所不可能取得的力量、真实感和笔法的生动性”。这表明了写生的真正内涵。然而当我们面对大自然景物时，往往是非常矛盾的。一方面我们被大自然的美好所迷恋倾倒，另一方面却又不知从何入手加以表现，这正是大多数画家所困惑和思考的问题。通过写生就能够训练你逐步掌握正确的观察方法。“我们要塑造一个形象，就应该知道这个形象是怎样的”吴作人曾这样说，这句普通的话道破了艺术表现的根本。首先是我们画家的眼睛——即观察方法，有人认为写生是训练我们用手的技能，实际上是在训练我们的眼睛，手的表达是通过眼睛传达的信息，那么眼睛看到的是否整体将直接导致手的表现，因此写生是训练我们掌握正确观察方法的首要途径。有了正确的观察方法，才能使人们在纷繁复杂的物象中，抓住要领，通过概括、取舍、夸张，才能够更集中、更典型、更主动的去表达你的感受。这种“主动”的表现与“被动”摹写将产生截然不同的艺术效果。

　　综上所述，不难看出无论是色彩能力的培养与训练，还是观察、表现物象的手段与形式，都离不开踏实的写生实践，只有这样，我们的艺术作品才能够具有生命力，永远立于不败之地。正如梵·高日记中所言“我希望尽可能的多画些习作，因为习作是未来产生绘画作品的种子。”“播种越多，就越渴望丰收”这是艺术之道的真谛。初学者，可以以写生作为学习或色彩训练的目的，也可以把写生当作创作前的准备。但作为成熟的画家，成功的写生本身就是一种创作。常画写生可以破一破画家旧有的套路，刺激一下画家早已麻木的感觉，我们的画家应走出画室的“象牙之塔”奔向大自然那广阔的“十字街头”。

　　关于技法

　　似乎行里行外的画家们谈到水彩画，无不谈到“技法”问题，给人们的感觉是技法是水彩画成功的关键，其实这是一种误区。所谓“技法”一般是指创作过程中的技巧与方法。一件成功的作品是作者艺术综合素养的体现，只掌握了一些所谓“技法”是不可能产生高品位作品的。画者以摆弄绘画技巧，并对能向别人显示自己的技巧而感到沾沾自喜，把技法视为创作成功的百宝箱，这委实是件本末倒置的事。另外，就人们所谓的“技法”来讲，往往水彩界的认识也存在一些片面性，传统一点的技法之说，有“干画法”、“湿画法”及“干湿并举法”云云，而且据说水彩画最多只能画三遍，否则将失去水彩画本体语言——透明性。如果说水彩画与其它画种一样能够表现纷繁不同的社会生活的话，那么这种“技法”显然是一种束缚，局限性不言而喻。罗丹说：“真正的艺术是忽视艺术的”。同样真正的技巧是忽视技巧的。对造型艺术本质上的认识，对色彩深层次的理解及相应基础的训练，提高艺术修养才是水彩画创作应着重思考与解决的课题。

　　下面我就一些具体写生作品谈一下画面中的基本构成因素的表现。

　　1、取景与构图

　　印象主义画家惠斯勒说过：“大自然中固然包含着一切图画的色彩和形式因素……但是一个艺术家就是要科学地取舍和组织这些因素，这样做，其结果才可能是美好的。”实际上，在写生过程中取景很大程度上已经决定了构图，当然，画家在这样的过程中是要起到能动作用的，绝不能沦陷于对景物的客观描摹。画家要把各种事物主观的去调整、归纳并将其置于相应的位置，以便产生明确、清晰和有力的效果。在构图中最难处理的应该是前景，因为透视现象的产生，前景处理不当就会显得大而空，那么在画面中调整前景面积或者移花接木整合其他景物入画，便显得非常重要了，但这样的主观处理，要求艺术家能够把握艺术组建中形式与内涵的贴切，做到即符合自然规律又不能破坏画面的整体意蕴，否则就会变成杂盘拼凑、无法无章。

　　2、色与光

　　我常发现许多学生在为调配色彩而大费气力，我会告诉他们水彩画的色彩表现不仅仅是技巧，关键的问题是在于在什么地方、什么时间、怎样的运用这些缤纷的色彩。文艺复兴时期威尼斯画派画家卫洛内看着雨后泥泞的道路说：“我可以用这种色调表现出一位金发少女”。梵·高也说：“没有黄色，没有橙色，就没有蓝色”。何等的精辟、精彩。作品中的色彩效果产生于色与色的关系之中，而不是孤立的去看待色彩的脏与鲜，只有有效的运用色彩，才能使作品令人赏心悦目，同时又具有内在意义。

　　光是水彩画具有特殊美学价值的表现因素，水彩画材料本身也适合表现光，光线的和理运用往往可以使画面获得意想不到的效果，《造船厂》画面中最精彩的部分要算前景大面积船底和投影，所形成暗部中的那一抹光。这抹光使整个暗部有了精气神儿，又呼应了上半部天光的明亮，画面因这束光显得整体而和谐。但光决不是画面表现的全部，有光、无光都可以呈现画面的和谐，例如《静静的小巷》和《阳光下的古巷》是我在不同天气状态下的写生作品，画《阳光下的古巷》时天气阳光明媚，所以画面我是在大的明暗关系中寻找平衡，这里要强调的是暗部绝不是漆黑一团，画面的丰富性往往都是在暗部中得以体现，但是画面所表现出来的对比强烈，绝不是明暗关系中纯粹明度上的差异，更是由繁简关系辅助达到的。《静静小巷》则是一个阴雨天，没有光，于是我着力表现景物的固有色，在固有色笼罩下的整体灰调子中，充分利用线与形的构成和排布，完成画面语言的丰富表达。

　　3、秩序与构成

　　美国美术史家费尔德曼提出：“我们称谓的美，是任何整体中各个部分之间和谐关系的结果。艺术家的工作就在于把自然界中的秩序运用到作品中去，秩序把瞬间变成了永恒”。自然景物是纷繁复杂的，我们都知道，艺术家要具备能够提炼自然、概括自然的能力。《繁忙的港口》画的是威尼斯水上运输繁忙的场面，场景复杂、物品凌乱，于是我将画面的远景建筑处理成淡淡的大色块以使画面整体协调，中景是我绘画的重点，为了表现繁复的场面，我运用色点和色线以写意的方式进行空间的构成与秩序排布，于是整个画面既保证了统一和谐又将场面的喧闹繁华表现得淋漓尽致。同样，《海滨渔船》一画中，对于船帆的处理也是如此，我并没有仔细的刻画彩旗的数量，因为无论画出多少面旗子，欣赏者看到的都是具体的数字，可我若以色点代替它，就能以一当十，欣赏着看到的就会使是“很多”。“一生二、二生三、三生万物”的道家思想是此类画面表现的真正方法。

　　人们常说，艺常在、技无穷，“一画之理不明”是在谈绘画的技法，但又容易因囿于“法”而形成障碍。事实上，绘画之法诞生于创造性，真正的画法是根据个人面对自然造物感受的不同而创造出来的。就风景而言，西方人对色彩的敏感、对光的关照，与他们的民族文化、地理、气候等因素有关，地中海的阳光使得威尼斯的水中漂荡的是色彩。而中国的南方水乡就不适合用色彩去表现，黛瓦白墙倒映于水中那就是水墨画，着色就会显得不和谐。再拿人物画来说，西方人的骨骼结构较之东方人更加的立体，人种的区别以及历史的沉淀使得东方人含蓄、柔和，体现了东方人美的特质。西方人则性格自由、个性张扬，表达在画面上则色彩丰富、视觉冲击力强。所以在绘画上，东方人的绘画强调线，曲径通幽；西方人强调空间、立体和色块。依此而言，画法就更应该是观念而不是具体、固定的方法，作品必须产生自己的“法”才会使任何障碍都能从作品上消失。

　　上述所谓技法在绘画中互相渗透、利用，无法独立存在，如此分谈只为述说之方便，况且技法之说，挂一漏万，脱离了具体画面，孤立的去谈笔色与技巧所有的技法就都失去了价值，“无法而法，乃为至法”，依然是技法追求的最高境界。

Painting from Nature and Techniques——About Painting from Nature

　　Every time when people ask me about how to paint watercolor well, I would think it over and responses: you'd better go out for painting as much as possible. This is my experience refreshed through years of artistic practice.

　　Zhang Zao—Chinese painter from Tang Dynasty—said that"To learn from the nature outside, to get muse from the heart inside". I regard it as the best explanation to paint from the nature. Because it is not only represent the painter's visual aesthetic feeling, but also helps the painter to find his own art words gradually. That's why we say sketching is the road 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 key feature to watercolor painting.

　　To take a sketch on the spot needs a painter concentrates on nature's panorama of action and shape, and catch the sight and feeling quickly as well. When he starts painting, each stroke should be neither tight 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 to obtain the original taste. At this time, the painter will be tortured by the disunity between eyes and hands. As a result, a lot of puzzlement will come out. If you have such a problem, I think your only choice is to keep on painting from nature, keep on practicing. Then one day you will find a satisfying solution to your problems. I think paint from nature can help you improve in two ways:

　　I.The ability to master colors

　　When we get in touch with watercolor painting, the first problem is to know and represent colors. Theoretically we could know relevant information and principles from many aspects. But this knowledge is so indirect that we can not replace practice with. Art is always difficult to be represented by words. The ability to master colors should be obtained by sketch. For example, we all know the relationship between primary and tertiary colors as well as between primary and complementary colors. But it is still difficult to apply these principles into works. Colors in nature are changing constantly--it is sometimes contrary, sometimes subtle. But no matter what kind of contrast or harmony it is, or which color is powerful, they are determined by painter himself through his accumulation from sketch. So appropriate grasp of colors can show painter's deep understanding about colors.

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

　　We all know the truth that perspective is the further the cooler, or the further the grayer. We know that closer the objects locate, the stronger the contrast is. We also know that receiving light is warmer than backlighting, and skylight is cooler than shadow. How to deal with these principles? We need to transform them into colors in the picture. When your art techniques are becoming mature, you will be involved in the transformation and use them to make the pictures more expressive than ever before. At this moment, you will master the skill of coloring.

　　II. The ability to represent images

　　Boudin from France once said, there is always a kind of irreplaceable, real and vivid spirit in the picture you drew on the spot. It shows the real meaning of paint from nature. But when we face the nature, things may come to be a confusion that many painters will have. For one thing, we are overwhelmed with beauty for the nature. For another, we've no idea about where to start with. This problem can be solved by painting from nature, from which we can master the correct way of observation gradually. "When we are going to shape a figure, we should know what it is."said by Wu Zuoren. This common statement points out the foundation of art representation. Somebody misunderstands the purpose of sketch. They think it is used to train painter's hands. On the contrary, it is used to train painter's eyes. Hands just execute the information that eyes' received and processed. So whether eyes could see the whole thing will influence the hands' performance directly. That's why we repeat that painting from nature is the primary way of practicing observation skill. Observation skill has many functions: it can help us grasp the essence from complicated and disordered images; it can help you to represent feelings more concentrated, typical and positively by way of summary, choosing and exaggeration. This positive representation will have totally different effect compared with negative depiction.

　　Above all, it is easy to see that both training of color and observation of images need sketching. Only through this can our works be guaranteed to be vital and invincible. As Van Gogh said, "I hope 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 true nature for arts. To beginners, paint from nature can be used as exercise for color training, or preparation before invention. But to mature painters, a piece of successful sketch is a piece of works itself. Sketching frequently will help you get rid of routine and stimulate you as well. Good painters should go out of the studio as "Ivory Tower" and run into the nature as a wide "crossroad".

　　Techniques

　　It seems that every painters, no matter trained or untrained, will mention techniques when they refer to arts. So this transits a misunderstanding that techniques are keys to the success of watercolor painting. Techniques are the way you create a piece of works. A successful painting is the result of the painter's comprehensive accomplishments. Only with some techniques could not produce superior works. If a painter flourishes 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 techniques concerned, some one-sideness exists in the watercolor world. The traditional techniques can be summarized as Dry Drawing, Wet Drawing, Wet and Dry Dual-drawing etc. It is said that watercolor pictures can only be painted three times at most, or it will lose the ontology-based words—the transparency exactly. If we say that watercolor painting can represent changes in social life as the other types of paintings, then this technique of watercolor is a kind of constraint. Its limitation is undoubting. Rodin once said that the real art would ignore the art itself. Similarly, the real techniques will neglect themselves too. What watercolor painting needs to think carefully is to deepen the understanding on moulding, coloring and relevant basic training, as well as improving artistic cultivation.

　　Next I will talk with examples about the fundamental elements in pictures.

　　1. Framing and Composition

　　The Impressionist Wistler once said: "Nature includes all the colors and form elements…but a professional artist need to organize and choose these elements scientifically. In this way could the result be fine." In fact, composition in painting from nature is determined mostly by framing. Of course the painter himself will play a role in the whole process in order to avoid any objective depiction. Painters need to adjust and classify these images into proper positions to produce clear and impressive effect. The most difficult thing to handle with in framing is foreground. Because of perspective, weak foreground organization will make the picture be empty and unreal. So adjusting the area of foreground or substituting it for other images seem to be important. But it requires the artist be able to master the appropriation of both form and connotation in the incorporation. That is to say, the painter should obey the natural principles as well as destroy the meaning of the whole painting, or the picture will turn to be a scratchy, badly organized failure.

　　2. Color and Light

　　I always notice that art students make great effort on color scheme. So I tell them that color representation in watercolor painting doesn't mean techniques only. The key lies in where, when and how to use these colors. Wallowney from Venice School in Renaissance could look at the muddy road after rain and saying"I can draw a blond girl with this color". Whereas Van Gogh said: "If there is neither yellow nor orange, there will be no blue."How incisive they are! Color effect doesn't come from isolated attitude towards dirty or fresh colors, but comes from the relationship among colors. Only by applying colors effectively, we can produce beautiful pictures with rich meanings.

　　For one thing, Light is an element which strengthens watercolor painting's aesthetic value. For another, watercolor pigment is apt to represent lights. Appropriate management of lights can cause surprising effects. For example, in the "The Shipyard", the marvelous part in the foreground is a hint of light in the shade formed by a large areas of the bottom of the boat and the projection. This beam of light made the whole shade full of spirit, and chimed with the upper portion's bright skylight. The whole picture seems harmony and unified by it too.

　　However, light is not the only thing 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 "The Silent Alley" and "The Old Alley in the Sunshine" as examples. They were drawn in different whether conditions. "The Old Alley in the Sunshine"was drawn when it was sunny. So I seek the balance with bigger light and shade relation. But I should point out that shade is not dark. A picture's richness is always represented by shade. Strong comparison in the painting is not achieved by comparing light and shade, but by careful handling of their simple and complicated relation. "The Silent Alley"was drawn in a rainy day and there's less light. So I paid more attention on intrinsic colors, made full use of the composition and layout of lines and shapes in the gray hue background.

　　3. Order and Composition

　　The American art historian Feldman says that the beauty what we called is the result of harmony relationship among portions 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 should have the ability to extract and summarize the nature. "A Busy Port" describes the image 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 maintain harmony. And the medium shot is the important part in this painting. I adopted spots and lines with free style to achieve the cubic composition and order. So the whole picture guaranteed unity and represented the natural condition completely as well.

　　Similarly, in the "The Fishing Vessel near the Seashore", I handled with the sail in this way too. I didn't depict the colorful flags according to its real numbers, because audience wouldn't be interested in it. In stead, I used dots to take place of real flags. It came with the same effect. Taoism thought as "The one gave birth successively to two things, three things up to ten thousand" is the very method for painting this kind of image.

　　People always say that the arts exist forever, and techniques varied. "Unclear about the law of one stroke" is referring to drawing techniques, means that each stroke is limited by traditions. As a matter of fact, drawing laws come from creation. They are created by painter's personal feelings toward nature. As scenery concerned, westerners'feeling to color and light is related to culture, geography and climate etc. For example, in Venice, color is seemed to be floating on the surface of river because of Mediterranean sunshine. On the contrary, southern villages along rivers in China are not suitable to be painted with oil painting. The layers of black tiles on the roof of the white houses are suitable to watercolor painting. Oil painting will lead such a picture into disharmonized one.

　　Another example can be raised by portrait painting. Westerner's skeleton is much more cubic than that of eastern people. The difference in human species and history results in two different kinds of people: easterners are implicit and soft; while westerners are free and individualized. Maybe this can explain why westerner's pictures are colorful and impressive. When these characteristics are combined in painting, differences appear: easterners' works emphasize on lines, indirect beautifulness, but westerners'works emphasize on space, cubic and color. In summary, drawing laws are concepts more than concrete or fixed ways. As long as independent drawing laws are formed, obstacles will be got rid of the pictures.

　　The above techniques can not be independent from each other. I talk about them separately because I want to make my explanation clear. Besides, I am afraid to be fragmentary. But we should know that isolated discussion on color and techniques is valueless. "For great is law without limitations", that is the superior condition for pursuing drawing techniques.