With An Iron Hand In A Velvet Glove And With Spice Formed Naturally

Hua Yan was a creative and outstanding literatorized professional painter in Qing Dynasty,who was versed in poetry writing,calligraphy and painting.His paintings about flowers and birds were distinctive and full of sentiment in the painting world in Yangzhou during the 18thc,whose artistic style is fresh,clear,straightforward,sparse and thin,gentle and simple.In this article,the author analyzes the distinctive features of his flower-bird paintings from several aspects,which include his innovation in brushwork,using ink,using color,and the features of"spice formed naturally,having both spirit and form"of his works.The author also emphasizes on analyzing the reasons why Hua Yan's works have the dualism of both the characters of literators and common people and why he could form the half freehand brushwork style in his flower-bird paintings,namely"gentle and simple"through different angles of view,such as his innovations of paintin----"I paint by my own means",his up-and-down life experiences,his strong common people's consciousness and his teaching methodology of lifetime diligence and so on.Hua Yan combined the professional painter's strong suit with those of literator painters artfully,which to a large extent,renovate the art flavor.His spirit of innovation and achievement of skills has had far-reaching influence on the flower-bird paintings after him.