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  A Little Black Ink: Lessons from a Master
墨色點點：大師解惑
薄瑞安/ Bryan K. Beaudoin (美)
包容老師是現代知名的國畫家，在台灣除了被公認為是畫牡丹的佼佼者，她也畫其他的主題，包括花鳥、山水畫等，而且從前在台灣的音樂界、電影界非常活躍。以畫牡丹為名的包容老師，成功的秘訣是什麼呢？為了克服牡丹花不易繪畫的困難，她幾次專程到大陸各地研究各種各樣的牡丹花。我們只要欣賞包容老師的畫冊，就不難看到她無與倫比的技巧。不過，在這些牡丹燦爛之美的背後，到底包容老師是個什麼樣的人呢？筆者受《中華民國筆會》之邀，專訪了包容老師，希望也能夠與本刊讀者分享包容老師對藝術獨創的想法與她認真教畫的模樣。
A Touch of Moshui
Bao Rong carefully unrolls a
student’s homework, sits back, and surveys the meter-high painting with her
measured gaze. The upper half is
occupied by a mass of assorted blooms and lush verdure. Below, a pair of
mandarin ducks swim in a tranquil pool. Bao Rong’s students hone their guohua—Chinese ink
painting—technique by imitating the master.
A more dedicated student may copy a simple piece five or more times
over the course of a week. Sometimes
it is the most unassuming features—a gently curved orchid leaf, or clod of
earth—that are hardest to reproduce.
This particular homework assignment is elaborate and must have taken
quite some time to complete. The
teacher prepares to instruct her students in the most hands-on of ways—by
augmenting the piece before her.
Using
black ink, or moshui,
Bao Rong zigzags ink
over and across flowers and vegetation.
The process takes no more than thirty seconds. When her brush again rests on the table,
the students may let out their collective breath and pause to re-appraise
the piece. It is only now apparent
that their teacher has added a serpentine moshui vine to the scene,
changing the aesthetic completely. Moshui
integrates the entire piece, and without losing the dimensionless quality
of guohua, the scene has gained depth.
A little
later another student looks anxious after the teacher has similarly
augmented a homework assignment.
“Don’t worry,” Bao Rong
reassures her. “You don’t paint the
black part just yet.” It is with
many vibrant watercolor hues that students rehearse their favorite flowers,
but moshui
is the purview of the master. Asked
about the role of black ink in her paintings of flowers, Bao Rong replies simply and
with a chuckle. “With moshui it’s
good.”
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