The Vitality of the Author's Portrait with Fingerprint-Like Features Created through Freehand Brushwork in Chinese Painting - Embodies the Author’s Creation Purpose and Individuality expression to the Utmost Extent

The Example of Sai Koh (Qi Hong)’s Freehand Brushwork Chinese Calligraphy:
semi-seal script, cursive script, light ink calligraphy

The Primary Elements of Freehand Brushwork Creation in Chinese Painting - the Personalized Connotation of "Heart, Brush, Eyes" and "Eyes and Heart Act upon Each Other"

“夫運用之方雖由己出規模所設信屬目前差之一豪失之千里苟知其術，適可兼通。”（孫虔禮，《書譜》，唐）。
“Although the method of brush wielding is in a painter's grasp, the overall layout of a painting is indeed a task that the painter currently needs to arrange. With only a slight deviation in a brushstroke, the artistic effect may be a thousand miles away. If a painter understands the knacks of brush wielding, he can use various methods alternately.”(Sun Qianli, "Shu Pu", the Tang Dynasty)

The creation of freehand brushwork in traditional Chinese painting enables an author not only to inherit traditional characteristics of Chinese painting but also to give full play to his individual characteristics. It is a process of the author's coordination of the relationship between the generality of traditional Chinese painting and his individual characteristics. It expresses the author's individual intentions and is the author’s individualized "change in form" of traditional Chinese painting.

During the creation of traditional Chinese painting, the painter works out the composition of a painting in his “heart”, saves its form by the “brush” and makes the viewer see it through “eyes”. In the process of appreciating the painting, the viewer sees the form of the painting through his "eyes", knows the author's "brush skills" and understands the author's creative intention in the "heart". "Eyes and heart act upon each other" is the primary condition for the viewer to experience the artistic conception of the painting and understand the author's creative intentions. Works that that cannot attract the viewer’s attention can be said to be the painter's blind creation.

The author’s criterion for determining the evolving result of his own personalized "change in form" can be said to be the personal criterion used by the author when comparing his own theories and completed works with his own and others’ existing theories and works. It specifically includes the author's intention (heart), the visual commonality of the intention expression form (eye) realized by his intention expression technique (brush), and the judgment of whether the intention and the intention expression are consistent (eyes and heart act upon each other)". They can all be said to be the primary elements of freehand brushwork in traditional Chinese painting.

The primary elements of freehand brushwork creation in traditional Chinese painting include the artist's personalized "heart", "brush", "eyes" and "eyes and heart act upon each other". These elements are the key to determining the artist's creative connotation.

The Example of Sai Koh (Qi Hong)’s Freehand Brushwork Chinese Calligraphy:
semi-seal script, light ink calligraphy

The Extended Connotations of "Calligraphy, Painting and Seal-carving" - Individualized "Freehand Brushwork Calligraphy", "Freehand Brushwork Painting" and "Freehand Brushwork Seal Carving"

The basic process of painting can be said to be the process in which the author perceptually reproduces the two-dimensional natural retina image of the three-dimensional object observed by his own eyes on a blank two-dimensional plane carrier. Visitors who have seen the full view of Tiananmen Square in Beijing during the day will not change their perception of the inherent color of Tiananmen Square although the difference in the brightness of sunlight, the color of the artificial lighting source and the lens color of the sunglasses they wear will cause the color of the Tiananmen image on the retina of their eyes to be different. At the same time, they will not change their perception of the inherent size of Tiananmen even though the size of the Tiananmen image on the retina of their own eyes is different. This is because the visual perception of light color and space produced by the human eye through light is based on the perception of individual constancy derived from individual experience and memory. This perception is invariant to the color and size of light. At the same time, the same viewer can perceive the distance between their location and Tiananmen Square based on the size of the Tiananmen Square image on the retina of their own eyes. The reason is that the human eye's perception of the depth of space is a comparatively inferential individual perception based on the perception of individual constancy. The human eye's perception of spatial change is caused by the individual difference of constancy perception, which is the individual perception induced by movement and illusion with individual differences. The "form-saving and reproduction process of the author's individual perception" in the painting is obviously different from the "reproduction process of the photographic image of the camera's negatives when the different light colors and distances are "faithfully" preserved in various Tiananmen photos. It is also obviously different from the "uniform standardized artificial depiction and reproduction process of drawing technology", in which the technical design of machinery, architecture and circuits uniformly uses methods such as geometric projection and relevant rules and regulations. Therefore, it can be said that the process of perceptual form-saving and reproduction of painting is the "individual ideographic freehand brushwork form-saving and reproduction process", which is based on the author's individual experience and perceptual abilities such as comparative inference and induction of memory connotation. It varies from person to person and is inseparable from the author's individual subjective intentions.

From the perspective of basic techniques of painting, let's take a look at the techniques of saving in form and reproducing the light color and space of natural images on the retina of the human eye. The techniques of light color can be divided into China's native and foreign techniques. China's native light color techniques include the subjective intentional omission method and characteristic coloring method of non-retinal natural image of shadows, reflections, night colors and colors. The external shading method includes the subjective intentional exaggeration method of non-retinal natural image of light and color contrast. China's native and foreign spatial distance methods include the subjective intentional multi-viewpoint superposition method, the inverse distance method, the curve distance method, the far and near division method, the real-virtual shade method and the illusion induction method of non-retinal natural images. All of the above techniques are "personal ideographic freehand brushwork form-saving and representation skills", which are based on the author's individual subjective intention to pursue the visual effect of the personality image.

If the degree of deviation between the image of the painting and the natural image of the real object on the retina of the human eye, the maturity of modeling skills, the angle of intention, and the degree of intention are used as the method of distinguishing the degree of personality freehand brushwork while the natural image of the ordinary human retina is set to zero freehand brushwork, the "personality freehand brushwork degree" of the painted image saved in form and reproduced by the hand painting can be arranged as follows:
The natural image of real objects on the retina of ordinary people (less than) clumsy paintings made by childlike instincts (less than) skillful write-through drawings of objects and photographs (less than) skillful paintings with the law of light and shade or the law of far and near (less than) skillful comics or fine art pattern painting (less than) a skillful closed-eye painting that reproduces the visual experience memory image but the vision is closed when the form is saved (less than) a fabricated painting of a skilled non-real-object image (less than) visionless painting of people with congenital visual impairment, etc.

In short, if the effect plane reproduced by methods similar to camera film imaging or perspective rules or graphics softwares is regarded as a "replica of the natural image of the retina of ordinary people" that is saved in form and reproduced uniformly without individuality standards, in a broad sense, the “calligraphy, painting and seal carving” that are different from the effect plane saved in form and reproduced by freehand can be regarded as individual ideographic handwriting (“personal freehand calligraphy”), individual ideographic hand-painting (“personal freehand painting”) and individual ideographic hand-engraving (“personal freehand seal carving”), which are based on individual subjective intentions and expressions.

The Example of Sai Koh (Qi Hong)’s Freehand Brushwork Chinese Paintings:
Chinese mythology, Chinese romance

The Narrow Connotation of "Freehand Brushwork" in Traditional Chinese Painting-"to Individually Highlight the Key Points in Simple Strokes"

“夫大畫與細畫用筆有殊臻其妙者乃有數體”（張彥遠，《曆代名畫記》卷第二，唐）。
"The painting techniques of freehand painting and meticulous painting are different. There are several styles of painting techniques that reach the excellence." (Zhang Yanyuan, "Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties" , Volume 2, the Tang Dynasty).

Compared with "meticulous brushwork" (also known as "fine brushwork"), "freehand brushwork" (also known as "thick brushwork") is a relatively complementary term that categorizes the intentions and expression skills of traditional Chinese painting. "Freehand brushwork" is divided into "big freehand brushwork" and "small freehand brushwork". The relative intersection of freehand brushwork and meticulous brushwork is the "combination of fine brushwork and freehand brushwork".

“上古之畫跡簡意澹而雅正”；“中古之畫細密精致而臻麗”；“顧陸之神不可見其眄際所謂筆跡周密也張吳之妙筆才一二像已應焉離披點畫時見缺落此雖筆不周而意周也若知畫有疎密二體方可議乎畫”（張彥遠，《曆代名畫記》卷第一、二，唐）。
"Ancient paintings feature simplicity in the trace, quietness in the artistic conception and elegance in the form"；”Medieval paintings feature meticulousness, delicacy and beauty”; “Both Gu Kaizhi and Lu Tanwei are known for their fine and close line drawing, which generally gave people a feeling of fullness and weight. The subtlety of Zhang Sengyou and Wu Daozi's technique lies in the use of concise brush and ink to express the object. The stippling brushwork is casual but does not lose its vividness, and it can achieve desirable artistic effects based on concise brushstrokes. If you want to comment on a painting, you must first know the difference between the sparse body and dense body.” (Zhang Yanyuan, Volume I and II of Famous Paintings in Past Dynasties, the Tang Dynasty).

In view of the authentic works of "Silk Painting of a Lady, Phoenix and Dragon" and "Silk Painting Featuring a Man Asking a Dragon to Go to the Sky" from Chu tombs in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty (770-256 B.C.) and the Period of Warring States (475-221 B.C.), it can be said that just like the evolution of Chinese characters from seal script to regular script, traditional Chinese painting has also experienced the evolution from freehand brushwork to fine brushwork, forming various traditional Chinese painting styles with different intentions and expression skills.

If "meticulous brushwork" tends to be "standardized creation with complicated brushstrokes for meticulousness and thoroughness", "freehand brushwork" tends to "highlight key points in individual creation with simple brushstrokes". It can be said that "meticulous brushwork" and "freehand brushwork" are in different directions and the connection line between the two direction endpoints can be said to cover all the intentions and expression techniques of traditional Chinese painting.

The Example of Sai Koh (Qi Hong)’s Freehand Brushwork Chinese Paintings:
figure painting, literati painting, ink wash painting

The Connotations of the General Elements of "Traditional Chinese Painting"-"Vividness in Form and Spirit", "Preserving the Form of Painting through Brush and Ink" and "Integration of Poetry, Calligraphy, Painting and Seal Carving".

The connotation of the general elements of traditional Chinese painting can be said to be summed up by the individual author through continuous learning, repeated copying, practical summary, and comparison and selection. It reflects the author's personal love and is what the author thinks should be possessed as traditional Chinese painting.

From the Laoguantai painted pottery eight thousand years ago, or the Dadiwan Ground Drawing five thousand years ago, or silk paintings with Flags and Banners from the Tomb of Chu and the murals of the Qin Palace two thousand years ago, we can see that traditional Chinese paintings experienced several stages: natural generation (in the Neolithic period), the beginning of the "color and image preserved with brush"(in the Neolithic period and the Shang Dynasty), the forming of the system featuring “Preserving the Form of Painting through Brush and Ink” and “Vividness in Form and Spirit” (in the Song Dynasty), the forming of “integration of poetry, calligraphy, painting and seal”(in the Yuan Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty), the collision and fusion between the native and the foreign (in the Qing Dynasty), etc. It is a unique outstanding traditional Chinese art form with a long history and continues to this day. Traditional Chinese painting (including traditional Chinese calligraphy) can be said to have an unparalleled position in the traditional concept of Chinese culture, and it is the only "visual plastic arts (fine arts), which are different from "handicrafts".

Compared with other graphic art forms, the connotation of the general elements of traditional Chinese painting can be summarized as the scale to judge whether the intention and expression are consistent, including the artistic appeal connotation (Eyes and Heart act upon each other) of "Vividness in Form and Spirit", the connotation (Brush) of the intentional expression technique of "Preserving the Form of Painting through Brush and Ink" and the connotation (Eye) of the visual commonality of intentional expression form of "Integration of Poetry, Calligraphy, Painting and Seal". At the same time, as the connotation of the general elements of traditional Chinese painting, "Vividness in Form and Spirit", "Preserving the Form of Painting through Brush and Ink" and "Integration of Poetry, Calligraphy, Painting and Seal" can also be said to be freehand creations of traditional Chinese painting that features "a change in form but not in content". The direction and intention of its evolution are different from those of other types of paintings, and the intention of its creative work is to be the "content" that traditional Chinese paintings must preserve.

The Example of Sai Koh (Qi Hong)’s Freehand Brushwork Chinese Paintings:
landscape painting, literati painting, ink wash painting

The Connotations of Essential Elements of the Establishment of Art - Artificial Intention, Artificial Expression, Commonality Resonance Frequency, Interaction, Resonance Demand and Resonance Generation

When ordinary people’s vision interacts with natural objects, for example, when watching natural landscapes, grass and trees, the viewer may experience perceptual and spiritual fluctuations, which are only caused by the viewer's own spontaneity. It is a self-response based on the existence of a certain demand in the viewer's own heart rather than from the intention, expression, commonality resonance frequency and interaction generated by real things such as landscapes, grass and trees. So natural things such as landscapes, grass and trees are arts.

Most of the thirsty soldiers under Cao Cao had eaten plums and understood the sweetness and sourness of "plum juice". When they heard Cao Cao's message that "there is plum forest ahead, the sweet and sour juice of plums can quench thirst", they generated mental fluctuations and salivated. They hurried up to the front and finally found the source of water. Cao Cao evoked the soldiers’ memory of this kind of fruit through the soldiers’ common feelings towards plums so that saliva is produced in their mouth. Therefore, Cao Cao's order at the time is a kind of artistic behavior.Such a saying can be said to be completely established.

However, soldiers who have not heard this order will not have mental fluctuations; in addition, soldiers who have not tasted plums or soldiers who have tasted plums but are not thirty will most likely not salivate even if they hear this order. In other words, it is difficult for the "party that passively accepts art" who is not at the common resonance frequency and has no resonance demand to have artistic resonance with the order of Cao Cao who is the “party that actively transmits art”.

In short, the intentions and expressions of the “party that actively transmits art”, the common resonance frequency and interaction between the “party that actively transmits art” and the “party that passively accepts art”, and the resonance demand and resonance generation of the “party that passively accepts art” can be said to be necessary conditions for the establishment of art and constitute essential element connotation of arts. Among them, the connotation of the common resonance frequency is the key to determining the generation of the connotation of resonance(Refer to “Throwing Away a Brick in order to Get a Gem 5” - Freehand Brushwork Creations of Traditional Chinese Painting on “Writing” Fingerprintive to Create Brush-and-ink Works Which Resemble Natural Structures in Form).

The Example of Sai Koh (Qi Hong)’s Freehand Brushwork Chinese Paintings:
landscape painting, literati painting, ink wash painting

The Connotation of Artistic Appeal of "Traditional Chinese Painting"——the "Vitality" of the Author's Portraits

“非夫神邁識高情超心惠者豈可議乎知畫”；“所謂畫之道也”（張彥遠，《曆代名畫記》卷第二，唐）；“畫亦藝也進乎妙則不知藝之為道道之為藝”（《宣和畫譜》卷一，宋）；“然則象之事又有包乎陰陽之妙理者誠可謂至重矣”（宋濂，《畫原》，明）；“則知畫之所以稱禪矣”（布顏圖，《畫學心法問答》，清）；“畫不遇識如客行於途無分於善惡也”（韓拙，《山水純全集》，宋），等等。
“How can a person who is not farsighted, knowledgeable and high-minded give a fair assessment of the painting”; “The so-called way of painting” (Zhang Yanyuan, Vol 2 of “Famous Paintings in Past Dynasties”, the Tang Dynasty); “Painting is also art. If it reaches the level of exquisiteness, it is difficult to distinguish the difference between art and Tao” (Vol 1 of "Xuanhe Painting Book", the Song Dynasty);“However, the paintings developed from hieroglyphics also contain mysterious yin and yang principles, which are indeed very important”(Song Lian, “Origin of Painting”, the Ming Dynasty); ”So I know why painting is called Zen” (Bu Yan-tu, “Questions and Answers on Mental Cultivation Methods of Painting Learning”, the Qing Dynasty); "Painting works do not meet experts who can appreciate the painting works as if travelers cannot distinguish the good and evil around them during their itinerary." (Han Zhuo, "The Complete Works of Pure Landscape Painting", the Song Dynasty), etc.

Visual plastic arts (fine arts) can be said to be the author's use of the image of the work to cause the viewer to produce visual perception and spiritual fluctuations, which can be summarized as "to move the viewer". The appeal of the art can be said to be the "certain motivation" that moves the viewer. If the work only has some "beautiful" or "odd" elements that greet the viewer's visual perception, such a work cannot fully cover the connotation of the origin of traditional Chinese painting that moves the viewer.

“氣韻生動”（謝赫，《古畫品錄》序，南北朝）；“夫氣韻全而失形似雖活而非形似備而無氣韻雖似而死”（劉道醇，《宋朝名畫評》卷二，宋）；“筆底深秀自然有氣韻此闗系人之學問品詣人品高學問深下筆自然有書卷氣有書卷氣即有氣韻”（蔣驥，《傳神秘要》，清），等等。
”Spirit resonance” (Xie He, Preface to “An Appraisal of Ancient Paintings”, Southern and Northern Dynasties) ; ”The deep and beautiful vigor of strokes in calligraphy or drawing endows the work with natural charm. Whether the work has the spirit and charm is related to the author’s knowledge and moral quality; for a painter with high moral quality and deep learning, his work will naturally have a scholar’s style; if the work carries a scholar’s style, it naturally contains spirit and charm” (Jiang Ji, “The Secret of Expressiveness, the Tang Dynasty); “For the object of the painting that is full of vitality but not alike in the appearance, even though such a painting is vivid, it is not the object originally expected to be created; for the object of the painting that is similar in appearance but lacks the vitality, even though the created object is similar in appearance, it has no vitality at all” (Liu Daochun, Vol 2 of "Comments on Famous Paintings of the Song Dynasty", the Song Dynasty), etc.

It can be said that in the general elements of traditional Chinese painting, the "Form" of "Vividness in Form and Spirit" refers to the external form (eye) of the visual visibility of the image of the work; the "Spirit" refers to the viewer's visual perception of the image of the work and the viewer's understanding of the inner spirit contained in the work, that is, the author's creative intentions, including the author's intention of the work, the intention of the form-preserving techniques, and the consistency (heart) of the intention and techniques; for the viewer, "Vividness in Form and Spirit" is a highly vivid expression of the consistency of "Form and Spirit" of the work. It is also the viewer's visual perception and spirit fluctuation (connotation of appeal) generated by the resonance of "Form and Spirit"; for the author, "Vividness in Form and Spirit" expresses the author's creative intention (heart), shows the author's expressive skills (brush) of his intention and is also the yardstick (eyes and heart act upon each other) for the author to judges the maturity of the expression of his work (eye).

“先觀其氣象后定其去就次根其意終求其理此乃定畫之鈐鍵也”（劉道醇，《宋朝名畫評》序，宋）；“故畫或以金冑雜於桎梏固不可以體與跡論當以情考而理推也”（《宣和畫譜》卷二，宋）；“言心聲也書心畫也聲畫形君子小人見矣”（郭若虛，《圖畫見聞志》卷一，宋），等等。
“The way to appreciate paintings is to observe its spirit and style first, then examine the brushstroke used, trace its purpose, and finally explore the painting theories. This is the key to appreciating paintings”(Liu Daochun, Preface to "Comments on Famous Paintings of the Song Dynasty", the Song Dynasty); “Based on the yin and yang theory, the painter drew a man dressed in golden armour but wearing shackles. He put together the golden armour that expresses wealth and the shackles that express evil in order to show the causal relationship between the two. Therefore, we should not focus only on the surface when looking at paintings but investigate and infer the emotions of the author and the truth behind the painting through the surface form of the painting”(Vol 2 of "Xuanhe Painting Book", the Song Dynasty); “The language reflects the author's inner thoughts and feelings, and the text reflects the author's spiritual outlook; from this we can see the poet's inner world and spiritual character, and judge whether the poet is a man of noble or vile character” (Guo Ruoxu, Vol 1 of "The Observation on Paintings", the Song Dynasty), etc.

Because the visual image of traditional Chinese painting is the author's creative intention and expression form, the connotation of traditional Chinese painting can also be said to be equivalent to the "author's image" expressed by the author's intention. Therefore, it can be said that the characteristics of traditional Chinese paintings such as "Spirit Resonance" and "Vividness in Form and Spirit" are the "spiritual vitality of the theme of the work" generated by the "author's image" when the viewer interacts with the "author's image". The vitality stems from the pre-Qin Taoist philosophy that "Things will develop in the opposite direction when they become extreme." It has cultural commonality and conveys the author's intentions through static images(Refer to Throwing Away a Brick in order to Get a Gem 6 - "The Common and Beneficial Positive Energy of ‘Artistic Conception’ created in the Freehand Brushwork of Traditional Chinese Painting"). Through the understanding of the author's expression intention in form-preserving skills, the viewer will also feel the spirit and vitality reflected in the writer's highly mature skills". The viewer resonates with the vitality of spirit and image that was revealed by the author's creative intention and expression means via the technique of “Nurture of Yin and Yang”. This resonance is the viewer's inference based on the visual comparison of the "vitality" of the author's portrait or the viewer's fluctuations in perception and spirit induced by such "vitality".

Just as people still like to eat hometown food the most, the artistic appeal connotation of traditional Chinese painting can be said to be the "vitality" of the author's portrait originated from Chinese culture with visual commonality.

The Example of Sai Koh (Qi Hong)’s Freehand Brushwork Chinese Paintings:
bird-and-flower painting, literati painting, ink wash painting

The Connotation of Creative Intention and Expression Elements of the "Freehand Brushwork" of Traditional Chinese Painting - “Drawing Freehand Brushwork with the Form, Maintaining Consistency in Brush Strokes and Creating Vividness in Form and Spirit” for the Realization of the Purpose of the Author's Portrait Vitality that Features Fingerprinting

“自昔鑒賞家分品有三曰神曰妙曰能獨唐朱景真撰唐賢畫錄三品之外更增逸品其后黃休復作益州名畫記乃以逸為先而神妙能次之景真雖云逸格不拘常法用表賢愚然逸之高豈得附於三品之末未若休復首推之為當也”（鄧椿，《畫繼》卷九，宋）。
Since ancient times, connoisseurs have divided the works into three categories: Shenpin (literally, the spiritual essence of things depicted in the works has reached the highest level, and such works can also be copied and learned), Miaopin (literally, the works made by exquisite painting techniques and done by high proficiency, and such works can be copied and learned) and Nengpin (literally, vivid works that accurately grasp the image of objective things, and such works can be copied and learned). Only Zhu Jingzhen of the Tang Dynasty wrote in the "On Paintings of the Tang Dynasty" that in addition to the aforesaid three works, there should be Yipin (lietrally, techniques or works of art reach an extraordinary rank, which is the result of "fantastic ideas" and is obtained by chance with a highly skill, and such work cannot be copied and learned). Later, Huang Xiufu wrote "Yizhou Famous Paintings", in which he proposed that "the works should put Yipin in the first place, and the Shenpin, Miaopin and Nengpin should be ranked behind. Jing Zhen once said, "Yipin is not bound by conventional painting methods, and it can exhibit the author's sage or stupidity." Since it is extremely difficult to create Yipin, Why should Yipin rank below the above three? Putting Yipin at the top of all kinds of works is an appropriate approach." (Deng Chun, Volume 9 of "Painting Succession" , the Song Dynasty).

Compared with the "standardized" fine brushwork, freehand brushwork is "individualization" that favors individuality, while "great freehand brushwork" can be said to be "the most individualized way" of highlighting the key points by "bold brushstroke".

The largest individualized evolution space that can be utilized in the great freehand brushwork creation of traditional Chinese paintings can be said to be as much as possible to "pinpoint" the individual intention of the author's work (individual intention); to "make certain" personality intention (personal skill heart) of intention expression skills (individual brush); the maturity of individuality consistency (eyes and heart individually act upon each other) of the form-preserving works (personal eyes) with the cultural and visual commonality that expresses the author’s “maximum unification” creative intention can also be said to be the maximum evolution of the author's personal original fingerprint that features “a change in form but not in content” against the artistic appeal connotation of traditional Chinese painting.

Therefore, it can be said that the "big" connotation of the creative intention and expression elements of "great freehand brushwork" of traditional Chinese painting is "the vitality of the author's portrait of the "big fingerprint"; at the same time, the freehand brushwork creation of traditional Chinese painting can also be summarized as “Drawing freehand brushwork with the form, maintaining consistency in brush strokes and creating vividness in form and spirit” for the realization of the purpose of the author's portrait vitality with fingerprint-like features.

The Example of Sai Koh (Qi Hong)’s Freehand Brushwork Chinese Paintings:
bird-and-flower painting, literati painting, ink wash painting

The Only Objective Foundation of Visual Plastic Arts (Fine Arts)-"Seeing is Believing"

“今人貴耳賤目罕能詳鑒”；“畫之臻妙亦猶於書此須廣見博論不可匆匆一概而取昔裴孝源都不知畫妄定品第大不足觀但好之則貴於金玉不好則賤於瓦礫要之在人豈可言價”（張彥遠，《曆代名畫記》卷第二，唐）；“且貴耳賤目者人之常情在當時猶取重若是況於傳遠乎”（《宣和畫譜》卷二，宋），等等。
"People now value rumors and despise the reality they see with their own eyes. They seldom appreciate the works carefully and accurately." "The subtlety of painting, like that of calligraphy, needs to be seen through by the viewer with a wide range of views and broad theoretical knowledge. It should not be commented after a perfunctory look. The Tang Dynasty painter Pei Xiaoyuan made mistakes in judging the paintings, and he also blindly evaluated the quality of the paintings. His method of judging the paintings cannot be imitated. But people often regard their favorite paintings as gold and jade and discard the paintings that they don’t like in the rubble. Similarly, the value of a painting is determined by the specific person, and we cannot judge the value of the painting according to the price of the painting (Zhang Yanyuan, "Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties" , Volume 2, the Tang Dynasty); "It is human nature to value rumors and despise facts. At the time, rumors seemed to be the actual thing, not to mention that the transmission of rumor from person to person was very wide" (Volume 2 of “Xuanhe Picture Book”, the Song Dynasty), and so on.

The objective foundation of visual plastic arts (fine arts) is the interaction between the work and the viewer's vision. Authoritative recognition, master-and-disciple relationship and academic career, status and fame, talents, anecdote and nicknames, the commodity value of the work and self-made speeches of non-commonality "cryptographic resonance frequency" are not absolutely directly equivalent to the connotation of the work. The so-called authority can be said to be a social organization that promotes arts for the purpose of popularizing public knowledge of artworks or preserving artworks for future generations. It recognizes whether the works have promotion value instead of the focus on the absolute definition of arts; similarly, the master-and-disciple relationship and academic career, status and fame, talents, anecdote and nicknames, etc. are at most only life experiences and not absolutely the definition of arts; in addition, a person's "high" in A respect does not mean that his painting and calligraphy skills in B respect also have the same "high" in A respect; especially in modern times in the West, "Let the viewer listen to the rules of self-made password conversion first, and then let the viewer divert their attention to see the self-made password, let the viewer change the self-made password to resonate with the resonance frequency of the self-made password. The self-made theory of "attracting attention by being eccentric" aims to bid up the commodity value of the work by listing the precondition that”not knowing the conversion of self-made codes is not knowing arts”. Under this theory, some works simply cannot be preserved for a long time and are obviously openly deceptive.

Looking at the comments on other people's works at home and abroad throughout the ages, there are various market hype models such as “The works of well-known painters are always excellent”, “His works are equivalent to his natural talents and conducts”, “One masterpiece equals a hundred fine works”, “The work with a high theory must be wonderful”, “Affirming self-made theories by denying existing theories”, "The independent theory is directly linked to the price of the work", ”The most expensive work sold is the best” and “Works that cannot be sold are rubbish”. They are are not uncommon in terms of ignoring the objective visual image, deviating from the basis of objective interaction, breaking away from the resonance frequency platform of cultural and visual commonality and misleading the viewers to the correct understanding of the work connotation.

For the viewer, although it is an undisputed fact that the viewer who does not have the basis of the resonance frequency of visual commonality cannot fully recognize the connotation of the work, the visually measurable image of the work is the only objective way for the viewer to feel the connotation of the author's work (the connotation of the author's portrait). For the author, the only objective basis for judging one’s own intentions and expression results when creating freehand Chinese paintings with "big fingerprints of the author’s portrait vitality" is also based on whether “seeing is believing” reaches “eyes and heart act upon each other".

The Example of Sai Koh (Qi Hong)’s Freehand Brushwork Chinese Paintings:
ruler painting, imaginary paintin, literati painting, ink wash painting

The Necessary "Eye" for the Creation of Freehand Brushwork in Traditional Chinese Painting - "Human Eyes", "Integrated Eyes", "World Eyes", "Evolutionary Eyes" and "Wisdom Eyes"

"Human Eyes": A necessary creative attitude that respects human culture and visual commonality.

“夫書，，，如對至尊則無不善矣”（蔡邕，《筆論》，漢）；“作字先作人”；“寫字只在不放肆”；“這不褻之道也不可不知”（傅山，《作字示兒孫》，清）。
“To write, you must first sit and think quietly, make your mood comfortable, avoid talking with people, calm your heart and look attentively just like facing the emperor so that there is no bad writing” (Cai Yong, "Brush Theories", the Han Dynasty); “Before learning Yan Zhenqing's calligraphy, we must first watch what Yan Zhenqing said and how he did things, that is, we must first learn Yan Zhenqing's conduct”; ”Practicing calligraphy lies in not being unruly”; “We must not ignore the fact that calligraphy is inviolable”(Fu Shan, “Work of Calligraphy Written to Advise My Children and Grandchildren”, the Qing Dynasty).

The fundamental original intention of freehand brushwork in traditional Chinese painting is to interact with the vision of human viewers. Creation without human visual interaction is not established in art.”

The necessary condition for the author to maximize his creative space characterized by the portrait vitality with fingerprint-like features is to respect the passive object of interaction, that is, the bottom line of the common category of the viewer's human culture and human vision. First of all, the field of vision of ordinary people's eyes is about 60 degrees above, 70 degrees below, and 120 degrees left and right; about 20 degrees from the center is the central field of vision, and the rest are peripheral fields. The closer to the central field of vision, the higher the degree of recognition. Secondly, the human visual perception ability is based on the constancy of experience and memory, which is relatively inferential and inducing. Therefore, the overall image of the work, including the style, is not clearly recognizable in the field of ordinary people's vision; the visual image that extremely repels human culture and common sense of visual perception can be said to be a creation without the mind of respect.

In short, while respecting the author's own personality, we must also respect the viewer, that is, respect the commonality of human vision and culture. Respect for arts is a necessary attitude for the freehand creation of traditional Chinese paintings that reflects the author's portrait vitality with fingerprint-like features.




“Integrated Eyes” refer to the personalized visual perception ability that takes into account the center of the field of vision and the periphery at any time.

The visual perception ability learned by the field of vision can be personalized through the accumulation of intentional experience.

I believe that many of you who have just obtained a driver’s license can only see the narrow area directly in front of the car when driving. With the accumulation of driving experience, your vision will suddenly become able to take care of the front and the diagonal front at any time. If the personal visual perception ability of a driver or an excellent contestant can be called “Integrated Eyes”, only an author with ”Integrated Eyes” can take into account the local and overall relationship of the work plane at any time such as changes in the air distance, intentional monochromatic changes of the fixation points and changes based on the order of form preserving. He can also use the intensity of the ink to naturally improve the visual recognition of the work, thereby creating a work that integrates the image and the carrier. From the perspective of nipping the bud, it can be said that only authors who possessed "Integrated Eyes" can avoid making works with "one-color printing", "one-color pattern", "no priority", "no front and back" and other works of similar connotations. In other words, only they can avoid the creation of fingerprint-like author portraits with connotations such as "Sunglass Eyes" and "Restricted Eyes".




“World Eyes”: The ability to compare each work with the world’s personalized visual inventory works.

“學一家書知其好不知其惡學諸家書好惡了然矣知好不知惡亦能進德不能省過好惡通曉德日進過日退矣”；“苟無是學即勿恃才恃才之過逾於無學無學不過淺近而已恃才弄出許多丑態如何令人不嘔”（趙宧光，《寒山帚談》，明）。
If you only learn the characters of one calligrapher, you can only see its advantages but not its disadvantages; if you learn the calligraphy of multiple calligraphers, the pros and cons of each calligrapher can be clear at a glance. If you only know the advantages but not the disadvantages, you can also improve your painting skills, but you cannot reflect on your own faults. If you know your own strengths and weaknesses at the same time, your painting skills will improve day by day, and your own weaknesses will be reduced day by day"; "If you don't have the knowledge on painting skills, don't be arrogant because the fault of arrogance far exceeds that of no knowledge. Having no knowledge is nothing more than a lack of knowledge, and arrogance will make many ugly behaviors, which is disgusting" (Zhao Yiguang, “A Casual Remark on Calligraphy from Hanshan(Hanshan Zhoutan)", the Ming Dynasty).

The only way to judge whether an author’s new work is successful is to compare it all-roundly, not only with his own existing works but also with artworks at all times and in all countries accumulated in his memory. If the Crab Eyes, which can take the eyes out of the body and bring the world into the field of vision, is called the "World Eyes", only authors who have the "World Eyes" that can compare their own visual inventory can avoid creating works with "individual" connotations such as "garbage eliminated by history", "monks from afar", and "cottage patchwork", that is, to avoid the connotation of "inexperience and ignorance", "self-deception", "self-glorification" and other fingerprint-like author images.




"Evolution Eyes": Persist in continuous self-comparison and self-judgment in order to promote the ability in visual identification with a spirit of self-discipline.

“近代畫者但工一物以擅其名斯即幸矣”（朱景元，《唐朝名畫錄》，唐）；“他人好惡易別自己好惡難識”；“遇好求惡境逆而易逢惡求好境順而難”；“凡為學不進則退無有停機”（趙宧光，《寒山帚談》，明）；“名稱千古必虛心以入其境唯不自矜方能得心應手如自滿之人必未知精微”（潘茂弘，《印章法》，明）；“十幅如一幅胸中丘壑易窮一圖勝一圖腕底煙霞無盡”（笪重光，《畫筌》，清）。
"It is a great honor for modern painters to specialize in one subject in order to gain a reputation for being good at it" (Zhu Jingyuan, Record of Famous Paintings of the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty);"It is easy to tell the strengths and weaknesses of others, but it is difficult to tell the strengths and weaknesses of one's own"; "In good times, hone your weaknesses; Play to your strengths in times of adversity"; "Anyone who pursues learning and does not seek to improve will regress, and there is no chance to rest in the middle" (Zhao Yiguang, “A Casual Remark on Calligraphy from Hanshan (Hanshan Zhoutan)", the Ming Dynasty)."If you want to achieve lasting fame, you must reach the level with an open mind. Only if you are not conceited can you do things with facility. If you are arrogant, you can't see the details" (Pan Maohong, Seal Law, the Ming Dynasty); "The ten paintings like a composition with no change show that the image of mountains and rivers in the author's mind is very poor; only when one picture is better than another, it appears that the landscape in the author's mind is rich and endless."(Tan Zhongguang, "Hua Quan", the Qing Dynasty)

The freehand brushwork of traditional Chinese painting can be said to not only embody the author's personalized on-site state based on "Preserving the Form of Painting through Brush and Ink" but also reflect the author's painting style of continuous improvement due to the continuous enrichment of his life experience. The basic way for an author to judge the success or failure of his own work is to first compare it with his other works.

As far as the author is concerned, if he wants to continuously improve his painting skills in the long-term integration of theory and practice, he must strictly compare each of his works with the spirit of self-discipline and judge the quality of the work. If the author’s continuous improvement ability in visual identification is compared to the “Evolutionary Eyes”, only the author with the “Evolutionary Eyes” can avoid making works of images that reflect the author's biographical dynamics such as “running over the mouse”, “twice-told story” and “more and more presumptuous”, that is, to avoid the connotations such as "instability and immaturity", "walking on a treadmill" and "going from bad to worse".




"Wisdom Eyes": Choosing and locking "brush and ink" as the visual wisdom of the endless personality evolution of the spatial elements of traditional Chinese painting.

“非融心神善縑素精通博覽者不能達是理也”；“夫畫者筆也斯乃心運也索之於未狀之前得之於儀則之后黙契造化與道同機握筦而潛萬象揮毫而掃千里故筆以立其形質墨以分其隂陽山水悉從筆墨而成”（韓拙，《山水純全集》，宋），等等。
“If you have not infused your mind when viewing a painting, if you are not good at calligraphy and painting and if you are not well-read, you will be unable to understand the principles of the painting”; The brush and ink of landscape painting is actually the expression of the artist's mood. Before the painting takes shape, the author seeks his own mind; after projecting a hazy image in his head, the artist paints according to the rules of painting. The hazy image in the heart and the brush and ink in the hand reached consensus and gradually formed the painting under the guidance of inspiration. With inspiration, the brush and ink can create endless scenes. Therefore, the brush is easy to capture and depict the form and texture of the object; the ink divides the yin and yang, through the means of light and dark, assisting the line of the brush and enriching the texture of the object and the level of the picture. Use lines to save form; use ink color changes to construct rivers with flowing water and mountains with floating clouds; use flickering colors to reflect the life of all things in the world. Landscape paintings are generated under the cooperation of brush and ink. (Han Zhuo, A Complete Collection of Mountains and Rivers (Shan Shui Chun Quan Ji), the Song Dynasty).

It can be said that the various works that have reached the peak of the painting level in history are not absolutely perfect but have different characteristics. Their pros and cons are only subjective rankings of the viewers according to their own goals and preferences without absoluteness. However, from the perspective of "copying is not a creation", works with peak characteristics have a huge influence on the creation of future generations. This can be seen from the evolution sequence of regular script fonts such as Ouyang Xiu’s Style, Yan Zhenqing’s Style, Liu Gongquan’s Style and Slender Gold Style. It can be said that creation features that "Blind imitation has no future while innovation has a way out".

The existing works can be described as a vast sea, each with its own characteristics. If the visual wisdom to explore and conclude the origins and destinations of the respective styles or characteristics of these works, to predict the end of the development direction of their respective styles and characteristics and to find the spatial elements in the endless evolution of personality is called the "wisdom eyes", only the author with the "wisdom eyes" can firmly grasp the author's portrait vitality with fingerprint-like features at any time in the creative direction of using "brush and ink" as space elements without derailing. Only in this way can we avoid creating works with "individual" connotations such as "oil painting with Chinese painting as packaging material", "watercolor painting with Chinese painting as packaging material", "pattern painting with Chinese painting as packaging material", that is, to avoid the connotation that "the evolution of traditional Chinese painting goes astray".

The Example of Sai Koh (Qi Hong)’s Freehand Brushwork Chinese seal engraving (Seal Carving, Chinese Seal Cutting) Imprints:
stone seals carved in relief or intaglio

The Prospect of Chinese Great Freehand Brushwork Art - Traditional Chinese Paintings with the Author's Original Fingerprint-Like Features will have Distinct Time Characteristics.

"Fine Arts" and even "Arts" can be said to be an activity that "wants to touch people's hearts"; "aesthetics" or "esthematology" can be said to unify the interpretation of the essence, standards and meaning of "beauty". However, with the development of the times, "artology" was developed based on the research to separate "art" from the interpretation of "aesthetics". Later, "aesthetics" absorbed the idea of "artology" and evolved as its elements. In addition to the obvious difference in the scope of the two, the commonality of their other connotations is becoming more and more obvious. At this stage, it can be said that "aesthetics" is biased towards philosophical explanations while "artology" is biased towards scientific research. It is indeed more and more difficult to "accurately" use these "foreign concepts".

“葢一主於變化出沒必流於戱墨於畫法甚虧若拘於畫法則又乏變化之意”（湯垕，《畫鑒》，元）；“字與文不同者字一筆不似古人即不成字文若為古人作印板當得謂之文耶此中機變不可勝道最難與俗士言”（傅山，《作字示兒孫》，清）。
Most works that want to express the inconsistency and flickering of the paintings, they put too much emphasis on the technique of painting and cannot show the comprehensive painting art, so they will definitely suffer from the technique. If you blindly emphasize the painting method, the work will appear too rigid and lack natural vividness and smoothness (Tang Chi, "Painting Appreciation", the Yuan Dynasty); "Words and sentences are actually different from styles. As long as the words and sentences used are not in accordance with the usage of the ancients, they are not standard words and sentences. If you write an article based on the style of the ancients, can people accept it now? The philosophies contained therein can be said numerous, especially when preaching to people with little knowledge. (Fu Shan, “Work of Calligraphy Written to Advise My Children and Grandchildren”, the Qing Dynasty).

Only from the perspective that art is meant to touch people's hearts, works produced by copying, imitation, copy assembly and mass reproduction also belong to the category of art, but the threshold of these arts is not high. However, from the point of view that copying is not a creation, the fingerprint-like characteristics carried in the works are a necessary part of the creation of freehand brushwork in traditional Chinese painting. It can be said, "When writing an article, one realizes that it is extremely difficult to master the carefree style of the subject; when engraving seals, one knows that it is extremely difficult to master the carefree style of the composition; when creating calligraphy, one realizes that it is extremely difficult to master the carefree style of the brush form; when creating paintings, one realizes that it is extremely difficult to master the carefree style of ink color". As far as the difficulty to create works with the author’s fingerprint-like characteristics, the threshold for creating freehand style works of traditional Chinese Painting that embodies the author's portrait vitality is extremely high.

The creation of freehand brushwork of traditional Chinese painting is the evolution process of the author's original fingerprint-like features that "change in form but not in content", and how to maintain the author's fingerprint-like characteristics and the characteristics of traditional Chinese painting at the same time is also an important issue in the evolution of traditional Chinese painting. Although each author's intentions and expressions have independent personalities, traditional Chinese paintings with characteristics of personality evolution cannot be completely negated and “changed in content” at will. Aside from the explanations and claims of foreign concepts such as “aesthetics”, “art theories”, “classicism’ and “Dadaism”, how to recognize, understand, choose and inherit the characteristics of traditional Chinese painting can be said to be based on the degree of understanding and loving of traditional Chinese culture. The "true love" of traditional Chinese painting can be said to be the original motivation for the author to resolutely safeguard the culture with Chinese characteristics.

I believe that with the constant growth of China’s national power and the increasing convenience of network platforms, the knowledge, understanding, selection, induction and practice of traditional Chinese calligraphy, painting and seal carving will also enter a stage of comprehensive comparison. There will be more and more people who love freehand brushwork. The original works of "Great Freehand Chinese Calligraphy", "Great Freehand Chinese Painting" and "Great Freehand Chinese Seal Carving", which are full of the flavor of the times, will be emerging endlessly, and the Great Freehand Chinese Arts will usher in a brand-new evolution. The flavor of the times with Chinese characteristics reflecting each author's original fingerprints will be more dazzling on all continents.

I sincerely wish that Chinese freehand art will become more and more contending and blossoming!

The above is my superficial view. Please favour me with your valuable opinions!

Sai Koh (Qi Hong)

January 2020