When I paint, it is like “the tyrant forcing the bow”, I seldom listen to other people’s advice. I paint as I learn, learn as I paint, mostly I go with my feelings. I do not quite trust theories (except that I do study art history). So many works in art museums, so many books and magazines in art bookstores, what can you say about all those? I have been to many art museums abroad, seen quite many famous paintings, but when I come home and take up the brush, I can only paint according to my intuition. I think good intuition is also a kind of talent, and diligence can make up for deficiency. One can become proficient without a teacher.
Besides, many artists already have ample achievement in formal painting, so I try to explore every picture with a sense of “drama”. Actually, every event in life has some hidden elements of “drama”, what to do is only to discover them, to enlarge them, to step outside the old thinking mode, to be less rigid, to explore and feel more. Thus one can change the painting method, one can transmute the commonplace into the magical; at the same time, artists can avoid repeating each other.
To publish a painting album, financed by myself, I have a bit of freedom --- I myself can say good or bad things, no need to think about other people’s likes or dislikes. Nowadays, so many people write or paint, especially painting, almost all kinds of techniques or ways of painting have been tried by previous masters or living pros. If there is anything new, it is just new bottle filled with old vintage, for fun. I often feel rather confused: why paint? What is the purpose? There seems no answer, but it could be simple: in terms of visual sense, painting is for the eyes to see, no need to talk about other things.