PureInsight | November 17, 2003
[PureIngsight.org] I am a practitioner with no special talent. I have never received any professional training in painting. But ever since I was a child, I have liked to paint flying spirits, deities, and those beautiful deity scrolls. When I was little I did not have money to buy a lot of art supplies. Hence, I just used pencils and drew according to my imagination and memory.
When I was in elementary and junior high school, there were art classes. The classes taught students to draw still images using pencil. I did not like those. I continued to draw my deity paintings with pencils, without any colors. From the art teacher I learned here and there that there was a type of painting called "Traditional Chinese Painting," which required using brushes, and paper called "cooked Xuan" and "raw Xuan." The "raw Xuan" is for "freehand" and the "cooked Xuan" is for "realistic painting." But nobody told me more than this, and nobody taught me how to draw beautiful ladies and deities. Painting those was all I knew.
After I moved to Hong Kong, another practitioner did typesetting for a newspaper. She was often worried about lacking pictures for the articles. I asked her, "Why don't we draw some pictures ourselves?" She laughed and said that she just did not have time. I said, "I have time. Let me help you. But I have not learned professional drawing. I don't know if I will be qualified to do this."
She was very pleased to learn that I knew how to draw. Immediately I made a sketch and showed it to her. She was very surprised to see my picture and loudly asked, "Why don't you draw the traditional Chinese paintings? You are cut out to do it! Pencil sketches don't have any colors. If you draw traditional Chinese paintings and include them in the newspaper, it will be beautiful." But I did not know the skills for traditional Chinese painting, neither had I any art supplies. What could I do? She laughed loudly, "I have them! I can give them to you!" It turned out that this practitioner had previously learned the art of traditional Chinese painting. Within a few days she brought a whole set of paper, ink, and an inkstand and [brushes] and gave them to me.
This is how I began to create colorful pictures. I drew two small paintings, thanks to Teacher and Dafa who gave me everything. The other practitioner sent my paintings to the PureInsight web site. Professor Zhang Kunlun from the painting team called me and hoped that I could join "The Three New Domains Art Exhibition." He also hoped that I could write down the whole process of my humble origin how I started drawing.
The purpose for this article was first to testify to our wisdom granted by Dafa; second to encourage other practitioners. I felt that this was good, therefore I wrote this down.
Next, I would like to talk about my personal opinion regarding the "Three New Domains Art Exhibition." After reading Teacher's article, "Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art," this time I understood the requirements for the exhibition. The selection of all the exhibits is strictly professional and serious. However, as a non-professional artist, how should I participate in this event?
I often study the Fa and do Fa-rectification work with other practitioners. I often see the pure heart that these practitioners have toward Dafa. Everyone is usually busy and we do not have much time to sit down and plan things in a detailed manner ahead of the time. When someone suggests a project, those who heard it would evaluate it based on his or her understanding of the Fa and try to find time to work on it. Other practitioners who are not directly involved with the project will see the areas that need assistance and quietly work on those things. Whenever I witness this type of situation, I would smile form the bottom of my heart and feel moved by my fellow practitioners. Aren't they using their excellent xinxing to remedy everything? I believe that no matter how unimportant my life is, I should do what I see my fellow practitioners do all the time. This is how I want to approach everything that I encounter in Fa-rectification and complete my entire journey.
That was the reason I cut off all communications with the outside world and used two weeks to work on one painting. This one painting is one segment of a long painting scroll that I am planning to complete; besides, I am yet not finished with this one. As mentioned above, I don't have any formal art training, therefore, I don't know the professional sketching techniques and the organizing of strokes, the contrasting of light and shadow, nor the arrangement of colors. Furthermore, the waves that I drew were the incorrect shape. Then why did I still draw such a painting? From practitioners' questions in "Teaching the Fa at the Discussion on Creating Fine Art," I realized that practitioners who are professional painters might neither know what the clothing of a deity might look like nor their general appearance. I did my painting to share what I know. I don't know how to explain my paintings in words, but it contains my understanding of Dafa, of all the livings being of the universe, the process of my own cultivation and Fa-rectification, and my predestined relationships. Even if my understanding is insufficient, and even if I am unable to perfectly draw what I want to demonstrate, I hope that the representation of a deity's appearance or posture or a small decoration that adorns a deity in my painting might inspire one or more of our practitioners who are professional artists. This then will be enough. This is the purpose for my participation.
Remember what Teacher said, "Everything I've been doing during the Fa-rectification and everything I want, to spell it out, are the choice of the future cosmos and the needs of the future cosmos. (Applause) So for the beings of the old cosmos, and this includes all the elements of beings, when it comes to the Fa-rectification and what I choose, all beings' harmonizing and completing things according to my choices and contributing their best ideas and approaches–not to change what I want, but to harmonize and complete things according to what I've said-is the best (Shan) thought a being in the cosmos could have. (Applause) ("Fa-Lecture During the 2003 Lantern Festival at the U.S. West Fa Conference")
Translated from: http://www.zhengjian.org/zj/articles/2003/10/29/24253.html
