For calligraphy learners, in the process of copying, there are many situations that will hinder our way forward, which should be taboo. Mainly manifested in the following six points.
First avoid assembly line operation.This is the most often encountered in the process of calligraphy practice, and Mr. Deng Sanmu once jokingly called it "cold and fever disease". When you are happy, you can write a thousand words a day without getting tired. When you are unhappy, you put down your pen and go out of business for ten and a half months without thinking about it. It is conceivable that the result of such calligraphy practice of "fishing for three days and drying the net for two days" is conceivable. Song Mifu's "Haiyue Mingyan" "If you don't read for a day, you will feel dull thinking. I think the ancients never had a partial eclipse and useless books." To learn calligraphy, you must first be able to endure loneliness and have the spirit of perseverance. If you can persist in practicing calligraphy every day, you will definitely learn something.
Of course, with the faster and faster pace of people's life, calligraphers often encounter the situation that they can't write posts normally due to work or study tension. Is it impossible to learn calligraphy well? According to my personal experience, it is very important to learn calligraphy and read the calligraphy. It is also very important to read the calligraphy. As long as you regard calligraphy as your closest lover, think about her every day, can you still be far from success?
Second, avoid "one exposure and ten colds".After some book learners choose a copybook, they immerse themselves in the practice of one page a day until they finish writing. When I was about to write, I didn't observe carefully at all, and I didn't analyze and compare after writing. The characters written in "Lin" are completely different from those on the post, no matter whether they are written in pen or in cursive. This kind of handwriting practice can only be called "copying posts". Sun Guoting's "Book Book" says: "The one who observes is more refined, and the one who imitates is more expensive." Therefore, you should face the same page of words every day, and you must not be greedy. After reading it more than ten times, I am familiar with the original post before I can change a page. Before writing a post, you should read the post first (for the knowledge of post reading, there have been many articles in "Chinese Pen Calligraphy", you can refer to it). When writing a post, you must concentrate your mind, concentrate your thoughts, and strive to follow the original post every step of the way, that is, to achieve a state of "self-forgetfulness". After the post, compare it with the words in the ancient post, figure out the gains and losses, and find out the reason. If there are individual characters that are always poorly written, you can also bring them up for special temporary writing until you are satisfied. Only in this way can we avoid the "copied" type of wrong approach to posting and make real progress.
Three taboos "seeing differences and thinking about changing".Some people learn calligraphy, learn Yan today, Liu tomorrow, and Zhao the day after tomorrow. With such changes and changes, the post is a lot, but often nothing is achieved. Prompt post must concentrate on one's mind, must not see the change of mind, half-hearted. Of course, you can buy all the posts of the family (for example, the posts of Yan Zhenqing's deeds include: "Praise of the Portrait of Dongfang Shuo", "The Induction Monument of Duobao Pagoda", "The Story of the Immortal Altar of Magu Mountain", "The Monument of Yan Qinli", "The Monument of Yan Family Temple" , "Self-written and Admitted Posts", etc.), focus on one post, learn from others, persist for a long time, until you "understand" it, you should achieve something.
Four avoid the blind pursuit of "natural". Su Dongpo's poem said, "Poetry does not ask for workmanship, and the characters are not strange, and innocence is my teacher", which is talking about the natural beauty of calligraphy. It is true that works full of natural beauty may look plain and unpretentious, but actually contain profound truth and beauty. Some book scholars who already have a certain foundation know that there is a so-called "natural" principle, so they blindly pursue "natural", and what about the works they create? Neither the use of the pen nor the structure is mentioned. It is all the author's "handwriting" without any rules. Mr. Zhu Yongfang once said in the 542th issue of "Youth Calligraphy News" "Travel to Yanbian": "Many people who have started to learn calligraphy often think that they follow the word of nature, but they don't know that there is no limit." Their understanding of nature is one-sided. and smattering. They don't know that behind the natural beauty, there are great skills, skills and connotations.
Naturally, it must have a strong foundation of traditional skills and a very solid copying skills. Mi Fu collected ancient characters for 40 years before he formed his own "innocent" writing style. Wang Duo "forty years ago, he tried his best to make his characters, and forty years later, he had no intention of co-production, so he became a master" (Fu Shan's "Frost Red Niche Collection"). It can be seen that the realm of nature should come from the artificial and the rules. When we learn calligraphy, we should first calm down, read the posts carefully, and think carefully. It might as well be more "artificial" and less "natural".
Five taboos to be unconventional.In the "Chinese Idiom Dictionary", "unconventional" means "in order to show oneself, deliberately make another set", while in calligraphy, it refers to deliberately pursuing something "new, strange, and strange". At present, there are frequent book competitions of various titles in our country, but some competitions have too much moisture. The "judges" of such competitions often pretend to understand, and regard some so-called "masterpieces" that have no traditional skills but are "weird" as "innovations", which also causes some scholars to go off the right track. When they choose copybooks, they don't like any neat and orderly ones, and they only pick remote ones, damaged ones, and even strangely shaped ones, as the templates for their calligraphy. They want to seek "innovation" from these aspects in order to win "awards". This method of learning books that refuses to start from a formal foundation will never have good results. Mr. Zhang Xuguang emphasized that learning calligraphy must first be in place, and then taste. Don't be afraid of not being innovative enough or modern enough to learn from ancient times. In fact, the more traditional you are, the more modern you are.
Six taboos retreat in spite of difficulties.We all encounter the same situation in the process of calligraphy practice, that is, when we first start practicing calligraphy, we always make rapid progress. I will be very happy when I see the continuous progress, and the more I write, the more vigorous I am. But after a period of time, you will find that your handwriting is getting worse and worse, and even "regressed". This phenomenon is the most common in the process of learning books, and some people compare it to the "plateau phenomenon". Many people were pessimistic and disappointed because of their "regression", and later they simply "retired" and quit their jobs.
If you want to break through the "plateau", you must first know the cause of it. Practicing calligraphy is done with both hands and eyes. When I first started writing posts, my appreciation level was not high, but the progress under my hands is very fast, so I feel that I have improved. But with the passage of time, the level of appreciation will quickly improve, but the progress under the hands can't keep up with the eyes, which is often said "eyes are high, hands are low". The so-called "regression" is just that the eyes have been able to see some features of the post, but the hands are not skilled enough to grasp these features. This is a very natural phenomenon, and there is no need to be discouraged or even stop. Not learn.
So, how to break through the "plateau"? The most important thing is to have firm confidence, whether you are progressing or regressing, you can grit your teeth and persevere. I believe that if you pass this level, there will be a bright future. On this basis, the following methods can also be adopted:
1. Side-by-side method. That is to say, you can put away the original template, and then find a copybook with a similar style to write. After a period of time, you can change to the original copybook, and you will definitely have new discoveries and experiences.
2. Reading method. When you can’t write, you can put away the paper and pen, and read some calligraphy theory books instead, especially books about the inscriptions you are facing, to enrich your knowledge and broaden your horizons, so that you can study further in the future.
3. Rest method. If you really can’t write any more, just put away all the pens, inks and copybooks, don’t write and don’t think about it, let it go for a week or two, and then continue to write, I believe a new realm will appear before your eyes.
