The Alhambra: A Trip of Beauty

In the spring, a study trip to the Alhambra in Spain with tutors and classmates was one of the best learning trips.

On an artistic level, the architectural form of the Alhambra fully embodies the order of nature. Decorated with light, colour and poetry, this building perfectly presents the three most important elements of Middle Eastern art – geometry, interlaced ornamentation, and Arabic calligraphy. In the idyllic and multi-layered garden, under the intricate Mukanas vaults, next to the meandering and devout walls, the art theory and application knowledge learned in the London studio will be studied in the most intuitive way, telling the history of different art media through the most realistic cases, and this organic combination is the best practice of practical art learning.

In addition to the rigorous ruler calculus and serious historical research on the spot, the recording of the most active fragments through field sketching was unanimously praised by the tutors, and also stimulated the new enthusiasm of the students to paint on the spot. Because when I was studying in China, starting from the Central Academy of Fine Arts Affiliated High School, outdoor on-site sketching was the soul skill that ranked first in each subject. Therefore, since then, I have received intensive sketching training from teachers, and I am absolutely handy in this kind of study trip. The British tutors especially appreciated this excellent basic skill brought about by Chinese art education, and also encouraged me to show and explain to everyone at the morning meeting during the study trip, hoping to stimulate the creativity of field exploration. However, under the comments of the onlookers, it is still prudent to draw high-quality sketches, which cannot be practiced in a short period of time, not only has higher requirements for basic skills, but more importantly, the psychological state must be absolutely strong (otherwise it is easy to appear embarrassingly crouching in the corner of the wall because of a few unintentional comments from the onlookers" and "cutting out a three-room and a hall on the ground"). This was indeed very challenging for the students at that time. This made me have to thank the teachers of the Central Academy of Fine Arts and the Attached High School for laying a solid sketching foundation for me, thinking back to myself when I was in my first year of high school and high school, I was hiding in the alley mouth practicing sketching and practicing my fingers twitching, and I definitely couldn't imagine that I could stand on the top of the mountain in Spain a few years later. Although I also flashed a little pride in my heart for a second, like the Internet celebrity saying "I originally wanted to be low-key, but the strength does not allow it", but in the face of the exquisite and beautiful buildings in front of me, compared with the nameless and great craftsmen who once integrated these ingenious details into natural materials through flexible craftsmanship, I realized that I still needed to hone in this silent practice for a long time.

When painting the paradise-like garden of the oasis in the Alhambra, the nib of the pen will be pulled by the never-ending stream of pure water, eager to express the sound of water that can hone the mind, and where the brush depicts, the heart will be quiet, and even the strongest desire for expression will be tamed in this silence. The reflection of the flowing water acts on the surrounding building surface, making the building itself reflect a new dimension through sparkling waves. As far as the painting can be seen, it seems that you can hear the three levels presented by the once nameless craftsmen through the works of water—architectural elements, spiritual meaning, and life and well-being—whispering to themselves. These wise languages have been hidden for centuries in vibrant ponds, between the canals that symbolize the four rivers of heaven, and in the fountains of gardens surrounded by greenery. When the brush depicts the richness and vicissitudes of the great arch on a new page, I always feel that the brushes with a rich modern color system cannot express the tile wall decorations that are decorated with only a few natural colors in any way. Unlike those square ordinary single-color bricks, the colored bricks arranged on the arches are different in size and shape, reflecting symmetry and consistency in the alien shape, and showing uniqueness and eternity in change. The meandering patterns of the lines on the paper can bring new revelations at the moment, through which you can see how the soft collapsed mud is formed through the palms of the hands of the once nameless craftsmen and the kiln fire, and how the unknown craftsmen's rough fingers and sharp chisels are cleverly made into various shapes of alien bricks, and finally through the invisible wisdom and sticky mud to form immortal ornaments. These more and more flexible crafts, in the eyes of people, not only tell the time, but also quietly bring the line of sight back to the origin of nature.

Although it is difficult to get a chance to be taught by the craftsmen who are still engaged in traditional carving, the nib tries to follow the nameless craftsmen of the year in the form of sketches, and to appreciate the cosmology of the universe, nature and humanity conveyed by the intricate ornaments on the walls and vaults. These craftsmanship, which embodies proportion and beauty, express the endless exploration of form and structure by many builders, including mathematicians, which still fascinate and fascinate scholars, architects and artists around the world to this day. The Mukhanas craftsmanship of each decorated vault embodies this exploration to perfection. Tens of thousands of geometric, lumpy stuccoes known as "Adrahas" serve as simple starting elements, which are eventually copied and combined with laws and sublimated in never-ending three-dimensional structures. Echoing the square bricks of the ground, the vaults are usually presented in octagonal shapes and pairs of translucent windows, so that light can travel through the dome at different angles at different times, through the interaction of light and shadow, to achieve a high degree of combination of time and space on the visual and spiritual level.

The reproduction of the architectural beauty of the Alhambra on paper through sketches is part of the study of reflective art. The beauty of this figurative thinking process that permeates the brain and the tip of the pen far outweighs the beauty of travel photographs, emphasizing the contemplation of the different forms of craftsmanship that converges on the building as a whole, rather than simply copying. The lines of varying thicknesses on the nib of the pen show the strength of the transformation of the carving, and the intersection of cold and warm tones reflects the collision of light and form, and the thinking expressed in these details is the long-cherished wish of trying to follow the exquisite craftsmanship of the unknown craftsmen of the past. Sketching does not talk about borders, regardless of region, it reflects the picture that permeates intuition and thinking, is the most basic respect for various art forms in the world, and also provides a space for painters to communicate with the spirit of former creators. Although we are in different historical periods, in the face of the same craft work or the same architectural community, we can further appreciate the creative process that was once full of wisdom and hardship through the brush than a simple touch or photo. Because of the pen skills of sketching, as an art researcher, I also have the opportunity to record and experience the tradition of true beauty in my artistic practice. (The author Li Ran is a doctoral student at the Crown Prince Foundation's School of Traditional Arts)

Source: Shenzhou Scholar, No. 3, 2022

Author: Li Ran