Editor's Note:
At the age of 60, the busyness of the first half came to an end and the excitement of the second half of his life began. Through the well-being of the body and mind and the stimulation of interest, the elders can explore the value of different stages of life with a more optimistic and positive attitude towards life, which is a beautiful way of life and the ideal of health care explored by Gonghe Homeland.
In Gonghe Homeland, many elders have their own hobbies and spiritual pursuits, and Uncle Cao Dayuan, the elderly who lives in the homeland, has been unremittingly exploring copper relief calligraphy and painting works for more than 20 years, and constantly expanding the boundaries of their lives through creation and sharing. In October 2021, he won the title of "Bronze Relief Calligraphy Master" in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Silver Developer Selection Activity, and also passed on his positive and upward attitude to more people through the activity. Let us listen to Uncle Cao's dedicated creation and the years accompanied by art, and feel his full enthusiasm for life and the beautiful pension lifestyle he practices.
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1.1
Fight for your career
Discover love at work
Uncle Cao Dayuan, the elder of the homeland, 72 years old, was a non-ferrous metal engineer before retirement, engaged in non-ferrous metal work for 30 years, and won the second prize of Beijing Scientific and Technological Achievements and the first class of Beijing Nonferrous Metals Company. He is intoxicated by the traditional culture of the motherland, loves calligraphy, painting and bronze culture, but also likes the art of copper relief, in Uncle Cao's heart, to understand the motherland's profound culture, is his own spiritual enjoyment.
As a non-ferrous metal engineer, his work is all copper, aluminum and other non-ferrous metals, he knows more about copper, and has been involved in performance experiments, originally like calligraphy art, in the work of broadening his horizons, and copper sculpture art has more attention. He learned that thousands of years ago, the Chinese nation combined calligraphy and painting with bronze, the art of copper relief itself is inseparable from bronze, the relief on bronze can be cast, can also be forged by hand, and inscriptions are a rare calligraphy art. Long-term study and research, let him have a greater interest in the art of copper relief, and initially have the idea of creating copper crafts.
Uncle Cao was 40 years old that year, which was the age when he was fighting for his career wholeheartedly, because he had to take care of work and family, and his personal interests were put second by him, and it was not until he retired that he really had time to explore his personal hobbies.
1.2
Initial exploration after retirement
Multiple tests to determine the selection of materials
After retiring in 1999, Uncle Cao Dayuan began a preliminary exploration of the creation of copper reliefs. The traditional copper relief process is many, the noise dust is large, the production site must be far away from the residential area, and his conditions are limited, only in his own study, take a noise-free operation, so the selection of materials is very important.
Calligraphy is expressed in copper: one is to make samples first and manufacture them by casting methods (such as inscriptions on bronzes, etc.); the other is to use thin copper plates and sheet metal processing, thousands of hammers and hundreds of forgings with tools to make embossed characters or three-dimensional calligraphy. Uncle Cao's practice is to press the finger on the thin copper to write, copper is paper, the special pen is equivalent to a brush, "paper" to be thin and soft to write moving, "pen" to have strength to withstand the pressure. He successively bought dozens of different types of copper of different thicknesses and widths, each up to tens of meters long, and began a long-term processing test. There was no soft copper in the store, so he carefully burned them on the gas stove one by one to make the copper oxidized and thinned, and finally chose 0.08-0.2 mm thick copper and brass as the basic material for handwritten copper relief calligraphy.
After determining the "paper", Uncle Cao Dayuan immediately began to carry out the production experiment of the pen, and the metal pen with a conical nib customized with steel, stainless steel, copper, aluminum and other materials has a small friction field between the copper material, and it is very easy to slide during the writing process, and it is impossible to accurately control the direction of the pen. Finally, he selected hardwood pens and bamboo pens, and used the discarded eating hardwood chopsticks at home to make a special "pen" for copper relief calligraphy.
1.3
With persistence and focus
Keep challenging yourself
The difficulty of copper relief calligraphy lies in writing the recessed reverse character on the back of the copper, he once learned to write the reverse character when he studied seal engraving many years ago, so he has a little foundation, but when he really created it, he found that his basic skills were far from enough. Therefore, from the beginning of the material testing stage, Uncle Cao insisted on training the left hand to write the reverse word. "I don't advocate learning to write reverse characters, you can completely take the way of copying, directly expand the selected words on copper, and you can also make excellent works, but I want to have requirements for myself in calligraphy." In order to master a variety of pen styles such as letters, grass, and seals, he insisted on practicing with different fonts every day, and when he felt that the writing was more skilled, and even had some artistic sense, more than three years had passed.
For 22 years, handwritten copper relief calligraphy and hand-painted copper relief painting have become an indispensable part of his life, from learning experiments to today's skilled creation, large and small failures are commonplace: "Failure is the mother of success, without a lot of experimentation and copper practice, it is impossible to create today, it is love and persistence, let me come to this day." ”
Uncle Cao's wife is also a calligraphy lover and the first to appreciate his work. In the process of creation, my wife made many valuable suggestions for his works, such as the choice of fonts for verses, how to color the relief paintings to highlight the theme of the work, etc.: "Without my wife's care, support and understanding for me, I may encounter more setbacks and failures." ”
1.4
Learning
Painted bronze relief decorative paintings were granted patents
From 2002 to the present, Uncle Cao has produced many large and small works, but there are not many works that make him particularly satisfied. His first work is Bai Juyi's "Long Hate Song , Small Seal Four Screens", the whole poem has more than 600 words, just typing it took him two days, the left hand in the pen at the same time, but also must master the strength of pressing on the copper, the strength is small, the stroke is shallow, the relief effect is poor; the strength is large, the deformation around the word is large, the convexity is excessive, it is not easy to level, and more importantly, it cannot be written with typos, once it is written wrong, it cannot be modified, because of this reason, a lot of materials are wasted. In order not to affect the quality of the calligraphy, he can only write a few dozen words to rest for a while, and this "Long Hate Song" took Uncle Cao more than half a month to complete.
The second work, "Shanshui Liu Tiao Ping", completed in 2003, is based on a famous Gongbi landscape painting in the Qing Dynasty 100% hand-painted copper relief painting, using a combination of exposed original copper part and colored coating part, thin copper ductility is very good, you can use a very fine brush to draw the size of a grain of rice figures, depicting the details of architecture and characters.
Since then, Uncle Cao has successively completed "Potala Palace", "National Color Tianxiang" and a number of small works, and the long volume "Qingming Upper River Map" is also being created. In recent years, he has also developed the idea of creating miniature copper relief calligraphy and miniature relief paintings, such as composing poems on copper materials the size of stamps, making bookmarks, business cards, etc.
In 2017, under the repeated persuasion of his old classmates, he applied for a utility model patent for "painted copper relief decorative painting", which was approved only three months after the patent was declared. The patent agent suggested that he patent the "handwritten copper relief calligraphy" again, saying that this technique is highly professional and difficult, and it will certainly be approved. But Uncle Cao believes that instead of spending a lot of money to apply for patents, it is more practical to buy copper for creation: "There is no end to learning, and there is no end to art." I hope that I can continue to broaden my horizons, learn and innovate, strive to practice and improve my artistic level, and strive to create good works. ”
G O L D E N H O M E
For the pension life, Uncle Cao Dayuan has his own plans and ideas. "In the first half of our lives, we worked hard for the country, for the enterprise, and for the family, and basically didn't have time to learn anything steadily, nor did we have time to enjoy personal hobbies. Now I have a lot of time to complete my personal dreams that I did not realize when I was young, and I can learn and enjoy myself when I am old. ”
Because my wife fell on her leg, I needed a safe and quiet place with a restaurant and convenient medical treatment. In October 2019, he and his wife bought the pension apartment of Shuangqiao Gonghe Homestead, and after moving in for two months, Uncle Cao joined the calligraphy and painting group of the home: "Originally I just wanted to learn calligraphy and painting here, and I didn't think of being the person in charge." Later, I was elected as the leader of the calligraphy and painting group by Mr. Shen Dengle, the founder of the calligraphy and painting group, and Mr. Zhang Xia, the former leader of the calligraphy and painting group, and their meticulous and dedicated spirit touched me, and I accepted this voluntary management work. "Every Tuesday on the activity day of the calligraphy and painting group, everyone discusses and exchanges the art of calligraphy and painting, which not only improves the interest in calligraphy and painting, but also harmonizes the relationship. With the help and support of Mr. Shen, Mr. Zhang Xia and Xiao Xie of the Social Work Department, the members of the calligraphy and painting group increased from a few people at the beginning to more than 20 people, and successfully held a calligraphy and painting exhibition to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the party, which encouraged all the members of the group and also allowed Uncle Cao to get inner encouragement.
He always felt that when people are old, they should remain self-motivated and energetic, and find their own goals and fun in life. He insisted on practicing his favorite musical instrument every day, practicing calligraphy no less than 5 days a week, walking with his wife in the relationship garden of his home and the Eucommia Park next to his home, feeling the beauty of nature and life: "Without the burden of doing all the three meals a day in the past, without the trouble of frequently going to the hospital, walking on the community barrier-free access, feeling that every day is carefree, the sense of security has increased, the sense of happiness has increased, the sense of enjoyment has increased, this is the most beautiful pension life for me and my wife." ”
Lecheng Gonghe Homeland 2021 Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Silver Developed People Selection launched, under the encouragement of the home social worker housekeeper, Uncle Cao Dayuan brought his own "copper relief calligraphy" to participate in the selection, and with his unique artistic works, he was awarded the title of "Copper Relief Calligraphy Master". "Participating in the selection has allowed me to meet many new people, get more encouragement and recognition, and get great spiritual satisfaction."
The rich and diverse living atmosphere of Gonghe Home not only brings him more sense of belonging to his home, but also provides more platforms to share himself and connect with others. In October 2021, Banbidian Gonghe Homestead held a special "Cao Dayuan Personal Theme Works Exhibition" in the Aesthetic Life Hall to exhibit his precious copper relief calligraphy and painting works over the years. Each of the works on display condenses the precipitation of time and his unique understanding of copper reliefs, interpreting not only the beauty of art, but also his full enthusiasm for life.
This exhibition not only provides a platform for Uncle Cao Dayuan to show himself, but also affects more elderly families, making a positive and upward attitude towards life and a "cultural pension" lifestyle a community culture, and also making Gonghe Homestead a home for elders to nourish their bodies and minds and nourish their spirits.
The beauty of the homeland is the shining light of everyone's inner wisdom and spirit.
We are the gift of each other's lives,
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Let's live together in a better way and create a more beautiful life.
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