On April 7, in a large studio, Wang Baozhu and Liu Xiufen bumped heads and co-created an oil on canvas painting "Delivering Public Food" that reflected rural life in the 1980s. Wang Baozhu is responsible for the structure, lines, oil painting brush brush after the dots, a small bird pecking gradually clear, Liu Xiufen while squeezing the paint into the palette to adjust the color, while saying, "We do not have to rub the color like the academic school, want to use red to use red, want to use black to use black, we are different from the painter's color." ”
Wang Baozhu, 63 years old and Liu Xiufen, 62 years old, are husband and wife, and they are also peasant painters born and raised in Xiayuan Village.
The paintings are all about the memories of the countryside when I was a child
Wang Baozhu's family planted 6 trees, apricot trees, cloves, magnolias, counting the trees that opened and fell underground, and the courtyard was red. The courtyard has a roof with a terrace, the barbecue stove has not yet been collected, and the first night the family's tenant painter Kuroko barbecued on it to entertain his friends.
Wang Baozhu said that the trees were planted in 2003, when the family lived in a teacher who trained art examination students, and the family opened a commissary, often there were painters to buy things, contact more, he often drove a minivan to help painters pull things, take them into the city to see the exhibition, 798, the National Art Museum of China often go.
Liu Xiufen said that in 2004, they tried to paint oil paintings under the influence of painters, "At that time, I doubted myself, can I paint?" If you encourage it more, then try it, anyway, idle is idle, we both drew."
On March 27, Wang Baozhu and his wife collaborated on the oil painting "Delivering Public Grain". Beijing News reporter Chen Jie photographed
What to draw? How to draw? What tools to use? Structure, lines, colors, at first did not understand anything, the painters brought them paint brushes, at the beginning of the triad practice, bandage, brush glue and other basic techniques are learned from scratch.
Liu Xiufen said that their paintings have stories, all of which are the memories of the countryside when they were young, animals, villages, characters, old men wearing small felt hats, plus imagination.
For example, remembering that when she was young, she worked in the production team and saw the mare with the pony, Liu Xiufen painted "Mother and Child"; For example, remembering the scene of collective delivery of public grain in the 1970s and 1980s, she and Wang Baozhu jointly created a painting of "Paying Public Grain" with cars and horses and birds pecking.
Liu Xiufen said that she felt that the bird was not drawn at all, but Kuroko said that it was good not to move. Some other teachers said that there is no need to rub colors like the academic school, we can do whatever we want, if you want to use red, you can use red, and if you want to use black, you can use black, which is not the same as the painter's color. For example, painting the scenery in a small courtyard, the teacher said, the tree must be painted at the bottom, and the middle of the painting will not fall to the ground. Draw some birds and stones, point a few times, and the structure and proportion will be understood.
Wang Baozhu has a special affection for animals, especially small donkeys, and he has painted many small donkeys from freehand to realistic in more than ten years.
The donkey does not have a fixed appearance, Wang Baozhu does not want to paint a heavy sample, "I always think about innovation, change myself", Wang Baozhu said, the first painting of the donkey leg is still a straight side, and then painting, a German looked up and bought it, "that is the farthest place my painting has ever been."
"At the earliest, the lines were not drawn well, and I couldn't see them. At the beginning, I felt very relaxed to paint, the more difficult it was to paint, I always felt that painting was not like, seeing that people could paint so finely, I felt that it was so difficult to learn art, and I did not dare to paint for a year and a half. ”
In the wall painting of this Xiayuan Art Life Season, Wang Baozhu's painting of the little donkey and the child has made a new breakthrough in the sense of form, and the little donkey with a long neck, long legs, long ears and long waist sits on the back of two children, and is leisurely moving forward.
Artists sometimes come to their homes to chat with Wang Baozhu and point out paintings. In recent years, Wang Baozhu also took the initiative to come to the door, followed the sculptor Zheng Yukui to learn to pinch pottery, he used mud to pinch some horses, donkeys, geese, ducks, at first it did not work, as soon as it was done, it collapsed, just this little thing pinched for a month, Teacher Zheng also put them into the kiln and burned them and sent them over. Wang Baozhu accidentally touched the mouth of a small duck, and he immediately went to Zheng Yukui's house, and the two of them chatted while gluing it. Zheng Yukui also told Wang Baozhu that the glue has color, and it is good to rub the glue place with his fingernails.
Painting is a pleasure
Wang Baozhu is also a ranger at the Xinglin Luyuan Collective Forest Farm in Xingshou Town, where he is part of more than 20 rangers, mainly responsible for the maintenance of thousands of acres of ecological forests, including forest protection, tree planting, and pruning of tree branches.
The forest farm is one kilometer away from Xiayuan Village, going to work at 7:30 a.m. and leaving work at 6:00 p.m., working 8 hours a day, resting for two and a half hours at noon, and can go home to eat and rest.
The first work created by Wang Baozhu and his wife. Beijing News reporter Chen Jie photographed
The partners said that you can paint enough to live, and you still come to work, how hard.
Wang Baozhu said that the inspiration for painting is from the experience of life and work, in the past, he worked, that is, to do a good job as required, and now, he has experienced more fun in his work.
He said that now the ecology is getting better and better, many animals are active in the forest, there are all kinds of rare birds, there are many flowers and plants in the forest, these are the objects of his observation, he does not have to look for places to sketch like other artists, his work process is the process of observation and sketching.
Because other rangers have such a colleague who can paint, the usual topics have increased, such as asking Wang Baozhu how to identify the colors of various plants, what is beautiful, and what is beautiful.
Wang Baozhu said that even the repair of branches is different, he said, pruning is to help the growth of the tree, the other is to make the shape of the tree naturally beautiful, how to cut, how to saw, are exquisite.
When she returned home from work, Liu Xiufen would tell Wang Baozhu that when she was guarding the forest, she would get some wild vegetables to come back, willow buds, cabbage, steam some buns or add some sesame oil to mix, that is called a delicious one.
Because of the influence in life, Wang Baozhu's children and grandchildren also love to draw, and the three-year-old grandson of this year has long been scribbling on the canvas with a paintbrush, making him very happy. Paint, picture frames and other tools and materials cost thousands of yuan a year, liu Xiufen does not feel pain, because painting is a happy thing.
"When painting, people have changed, they want to paint when they don't want to eat, and when they are stuck, they sleep at night and think over and over again, how can they paint vividly, and the mood when they paint is particularly comfortable," Liu Xiufen said.
Wang Baozhu said that art gives people a kind of spiritual strength, a pursuit, and painting a good picture is happier than you eat a big meal, and your heart is particularly satisfied.
From 2004 to the present, from small paintings of 30 centimeters × 30 centimeters to large paintings for exhibitions, the couple has painted more than 200 paintings in total, and dozens of them have been bought and collected. The 798 Art Museum and the Yanhuang Art Museum both have paintings by Wang Baozhu.
"It is a great honor to have artists who have brought us together today and instructed many of our teachers, Tian Shixin, Li Xiangming (vice chairman of the Hebei Provincial Artists Association), Jia Fangzhou (critic and curator of art theory), Zheng Yukui, Heizi, Han Yong, and all of them are also in the artist group," Liu Xiufen said.
Liu Xiufen's first oil painting "Mother and Child Donkey". Beijing News reporter Chen Jie photographed
In the view of oil painter Han Yong, Wang Baozhu has a talent, a few strokes, a strong sense of vision. Liu Xiufen's paintings are highly decorative and have a strong atmosphere of life.
"At the beginning, many people in the village said, can you still paint?" What is this painting, stretching out the arms and pulling the legs. At that time, there were still five or six villagers who also learned to draw ink painting at the village university for the elderly, but they did not stick to it. In general, over the past two decades, more than 90% of the people have seen more, understood more, and gradually have their own opinions on how good and ugly to look at," Liu Xiufen said.
In Liu Xiufen's heart, Xiayuan Village is a beautiful village, famous in Beijing, the garbage classification is particularly good, there are such good artist resources, there are rent villagers income is also good, the village is leading in all aspects.
"I thought I had succeeded. Teachers can draw and sell for money, and we can also sell money when we paint. I would like to say that the peasants should be like the two of them, there are ten or eight in the village, and the Xiayuan village is even more different."
Beijing News reporter Liu Min Editor Hu Jie Proofreader Xue Jingning