The use of inscriptions and seals is flexible and changeable, and it is generally necessary to understand the following aspects of knowledge: style. The paragraph can be divided into the upper paragraph and the next paragraph. The owner of the painting in the previous paragraph is mostly the name of the author and the time and place of painting in the next paragraph, and the two are collectively called double paragraphs.

Only the title of the next paragraph is also called a single paragraph. The question of a long article is called a long paragraph. If there are two or more paragraphs, it is called multiple paragraphs. If the composition of the picture is already very full, you can also only inscribe the name or a seal, which is called a poor paragraph. The "knowledge" of the "style" mentioned here refers to the explanatory part of the topic, and the content includes research, commentary, praise, lyricism, memorization, etc., and the genre is prose, poetry, etc. Length.

The length of the title can be determined according to the needs of the picture: the pursuit of the ethereal picture can only be the title of the poor, such as Zhu Qi's "Lotus Bird Picture"; Pursue a long title or a multi-title section with a full composition. Location. The title should be determined according to the blank space of the picture, and the important thing is the need for formal beauty, which can be considered according to the following aspects: the echo relationship between the title and the "opening and closing": generally the image in the painting is opened, and the title seal is combined.

Such as Zhu Qi's "Swimming Fish". The relationship between the inscription and the sparse and the virtual: the excessively sparse places in the painting can make it dense, such as Li Fangying's "Bamboo and Stone Picture", the lower right void of the painting can be enriched with inscriptions and seals, or the secret in the dense and the sparse in the sparse, can be adjusted by the inscription and the seal.

The relationship between the title and the center of gravity: a complete painting, no matter how to pursue adventure, must ultimately return to stability and fairness, such as Zhu Qi's "Chrysanthemum", a chrysanthemum tilts to the left, if there is no inscription and seal on the right side, the picture will lose balance.

The relationship between the title and the color: such as Ren Pre's "Lotus Picture", painting lotus flowers with light ink, although elegant and beautiful, always feel that there are shortcomings in the picture, and the two sides of the vermilion seal play a role in refreshing the color. Direction. The text of the inscription is generally arranged in a top-down, right-to-left pattern. Vertical compositions are mostly written vertically, while horizontal compositions are mostly horizontal.

The font should be determined according to the style of painting, and it is advisable to use regular script, official script, and seal script. The style of the font should be in harmony with the style of the painting, and the size should be appropriate to the size of the frame. Seal. Seals are divided into two categories: name seals and idle seals. The name badge is mostly used after the style, and the idle chapter can be used randomly according to the needs of the picture composition. Sometimes the long paragraph is inscribed on the screen, and the seal can be used next to the first one or two words to echo the name seal at the end of the paragraph, which is called the first chapter.

The introductory chapter is mostly rectangular. In the lower left and right corners of the screen, you can stamp the corner stamp. In addition, the seal is also divided into Zhu Wen and Bai Wen. Zhu Wen is lighter, Bai Wen is heavier, and when used, it should also be reasonably arranged in combination with the style, artistic conception and color matching of the picture.

For example, Zhu Qi's "Duck Picture", the upper left blank space is printed in white text on two sides, and the lower right corner is pressed with a corner seal. In short, after the inscription and seal enter the picture, the business position of the brand painting has more flexibility, and the form and structure are more varied, more complete and more national.

Most of the paintings are made of wood. Generally, it is better to use basswood boards with a less obvious texture. Because of its white color, the wood is delicate and the grain is not obvious. It is suitable for branding a variety of subjects. You can choose according to your personal hobbies, habits and the needs of the subject matter.

The quality of the wooden boards required for painting landscapes and flowers and birds is generally not strict, and all kinds of wooden boards can be used. When painting portraits or works of a specific genre, it is necessary to carefully select the appropriate wood panels. For portraits with coarse and dark complexions, you can choose a wood board with a slightly coarse texture and a calm tone; Portraits of young women or children can be made of wood with delicate textures and white colors. For the painting of the sketch effect, the quality of the wood board selected should be high, and the wood board with no scars on the surface and the same color is the best.

For fans who do not have a certain foundation, rubbing is the best way for them to make a branding sketch, you can print the selected pattern on the paper, glue the carbon paper behind the pattern, use tape to glue the finished rubbing on the wooden board that needs to be branded, and trace the pattern with a pen, and the selected pattern will be easily copied to the wooden board.

Spread the manuscript onto a wooden board, preferably on old carbon paper. The new carbon paper not only pollutes the board, but also leaves a dark stain, which is more difficult to erase when painting, which will affect the picture effect. The new carbon paper can be gently wiped off the surface of the paper with soft paper, and then exposed to the sun before being used.

Another way is to use a sketch pencil to evenly coat the white newspaper with lead powder, ideally instead of carbon paper. It is faster to apply with a charcoal pencil and a brown charcoal stick, and after applying, gently wipe it with soft paper and a soft cloth to make the charcoal powder firm and even.

It is also possible to apply charcoal powder directly on the back of the manuscript, but do not apply it too deeply to avoid spoiling the board. Marks made on this carbon paper can be easily erased with an eraser after the drawing has been completed. Align the artwork with the wooden board and tape it to prevent it from moving. Use a hard pencil to rub along the outlines and structure of the drawing. There is no need for a very detailed depiction, only the precise position of the outgoing line, and be careful not to miss the top.

It is one of the effective ways to learn traditions. For the better works of ancient and modern, through analysis and research, take their essence, remove their dross, and learn their various techniques of brushwork, coloring and composition, rather than superficially imitating their appearance. Copying can avoid detours. The techniques absorbed during copying are applied to the creation of sketches.

Branding painting, also known as branding, scalding, fire strokes, "fire needle embroidery", it is an official martial art that uses a soldering iron as a pen to bake and paint on bamboo, rice paper, silk and other materials after mastering the temperature.

According to legend, at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, there was a branding craftsman surnamed Li in Nanyang City, who was a well-known branding skill, whether it was a person, a flower or a bird, or a mountain and a bird, after he was branded, they were all vivid, painted and colorful.

I heard that in the past, "Wang Mang picked up Liu Xiu", the craftsman surnamed Li had given Liu Xiu a brand gourd as Sichuan capital, after Liu Xiu called the emperor, still did not forget the life-saving grace of the brand flower king, after several visits finally found the trace of the famous brand painting craftsman, then gave a thousand taels of silver, crowned the "brand painting king", and listed the Nanyang brand flower as a tribute, in the future, the Nanyang brand flower is famous all over the world, now although the time has passed for thousands of years, the story of the "brand flower king" is still spreading in Henan.

In Zhengzhou, not far from Nanyang, there is also a post-90s brand painter, although he is quiet, but he has his own common views and efforts on the ancient art of brand painting, and has been praised by many elders in the circle, he is Li Yanjie, the successor of brand painting.

Li Yanjie, inheritor of the intangible civilization heritage brand painting project in Henan Province, the owner of the ancient art hall brand painting, a member of the official literary and artistic association of Henan Province, and a member of the Henan Provincial Civilization Products Seminar.

Li Yanjie was influenced by his grandfather when he was a child, and he also studied painting art piecemeal, and has a deep foundation in fine arts, which laid a solid foundation for his brand painting miracle, and officially began to dispose of brand painting creation in 2007.

Although the method is different, it has a different way with Chinese ink painting, and the "intention is to put the pen first, and the pen is formed", through the mastery of temperature, rate, and strength, and the rich organization and color are ironed.

Li Yanjie's brand paintings are mostly based on mountains and rivers, flowers and birds, people, and historical stories, and he is based on his own understanding of the traditional subject matter.

In 2016, Li Yanjie established his own "Guyitang Branding Studio", which mainly deals with the creation of gourd branding and woodboard branding, from the previous fledgling to the current small achievements, the branding accompanied him through the previous difficult and difficult time, in his opinion, interest is the greatest motivation for him to maintain and create, and he also hopes that more and more people can re-view the ancient martial art of branding because of "interest".

After living overseas for nearly 30 years, Zhu Peixing returned to the land where he was born and raised, looking at the grass and trees in his hometown, the nearly 70-year-old Zhu Peixing is still very emotional, and the fallen leaves always return to the roots, and finally return to the motherland. Zhu Peixing said frankly that he is more like a guest abroad, and this is his hometown. Behind Zhu Peixing's deep feelings for his family and country is his stronger desire: ancient and unique Chinese art should be better inherited and carried forward in China.

Zhu Peixing said that in February this year, at the invitation of Wang Xianmiao, director of the Confucius Institute in Cambodia, he specially demonstrated his calligraphy skills at the Confucius Institute, and presented calligraphy treasures to several old friends, Confucius Institute teachers, and Liu Minhui, general manager of Phnom Penh New Knowledge Books.

Talking about life abroad, Zhu Peixing said that 60%-70% of Phnom Penh are Chinese, and when they go to Cambodia, they don't feel that they are going abroad, the local traditional things are very well preserved, the purchasing power of books is very high, many people buy Chinese books, not Chinese also attach importance to Chinese, and the folk customs are relatively simple.

His wife is the third generation of local overseas Chinese. At the beginning, I substituted for a period of time at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, teaching Chinese, writing calligraphy and the like, because Cambodia is a French colony, learning French a lot, not very conceptual of calligraphy, it is not easy to accept these things, and then I engaged in branding and carving, many local newspapers, TV have reported.

To this day, Zhu Peixing still retains an exclusive interview with Malaysia's "Sin Chew Daily" that year. Its seal carvings and brand paintings have been used as the prelude to the "Phnom Penh Today" column of Cambodian Phnom Penh TV, which has penetrated into thousands of households, and there are still many such reports. "Although there were many people who wanted to be my students during this period, I rejected all foreign friends, including the local Chinese, because I felt that this was Chinese culture and should be passed on by Chinese himself." In this regard, to this day, Zhu Peixing still insists on his "stubbornness".

Zhu Peixing said: "There are many Chinese abroad who want to learn this, but they do not teach students outside, first, the foundation of Chinese culture for foreign children is still relatively weak, it is difficult to truly understand the connotation of Chinese culture, and secondly, there is a very difficult process from learning to draw to taking an electric soldering iron to paint on wooden blocks, and the temperature is very high in Cambodia in summer, and it is difficult to see the effect in a short time."

Pursuing perfection in everything as much as possible, Zhu Peixing still has more than 30 knife marks on his hands when he was branded. Branding is more difficult than painting, the soldering iron must be thought about before approaching the wood, and the lines and positions must be very accurate. But ordinary people often can't sit still, and many people want to learn, and they give up when they find that it is not so easy to get in touch with it.

It looks like painting on a small piece of wood, but the preparation is quite complicated. Zhu Peixing said that if you use plywood to paint, if you don't handle it well, the plywood will loosen layer by layer, which will affect the overall texture of the painting. Later, I thought of using solid wood, but I had to find a worker to slic, polish, and paint the wooden blocks, and after a series of processes, I could paint on them. In addition, the solid wood itself also has requirements for the painting time, if it is left for too long without treatment, the color will turn gray, and it will look old and not so beautiful.

Zhu Peixing's ancestral home is in Huanggang, Hubei, although he was born in the countryside, his family is a scholarly family, and he has been exposed to it since he was a child. Zhu Peixing's great-grandmother's elder brother is the champion of the Ming Dynasty, among the three brothers of his father's generation, the third uncle was a top student of the Normal College at that time, growing up in such a family, Zhu Peixing is particularly sensitive to painting, color and the like, Zhu Peixing said that he began to practice some sketches at the age of 7 or 8, and when he was 11 years old, he painted 3 portraits of ***, and at that time he was painting while studying, and there were old people among his relatives who wanted to paint a portrait, leave a memory or something, and they would find their own help.

The first time he left home was in 92 years, Zhu Peixing felt very lucky, because he could write and draw, after 45 days of life in the recruit company, he was selected to the division headquarters to be a projectionist, at that time there were good people and good things in the army, they made up their own pictures, composed some images, and wrote some things, and when they went to the company to show movies, they used slides to show these good people and good deeds, and they were very happy and encouraged to go to the slides of the higher organs.

The conditions were very difficult, and there were a lot of propaganda tasks every day, and the glass was now blackened with kerosene lamps, and then the contents that needed to be shown on slides were carved with glass knives. At that time, the Youth League Committee of the organ was mainly in charge of propaganda, and every year on May Day, there was a military and civilian party, and I was fortunate to communicate with some famous calligraphers in Shanghai, and often approached them to ask them for advice.

Later, the organization sent him to Fudan University to study, in addition to learning painting, he also had to write some news reports. The study experience at Fudan University played a very key role in my life, but my practice in the army had a greater impact on me, because I could get in touch with writing and painting immediately after arriving at the office, while the classroom at Fudan University mainly copied a model or specimen, and the practice was less than that in the army.

Zhu Peixing said that he didn't think of branding at first, but he was a radio fan since he was a child, and he couldn't afford a radio at that time, so he got some used transistors from the radio company in the division, and he read books, read circuit diagrams, and then came back to install, and he could install them with less than 6 tubes. I first drew it on the board with a pencil, and then burned the lines with an electric soldering iron, and I felt very excited when I was done, and the effect was very good.

My obsession with radio is an inspiration for branding, and it also lays the foundation for the basic skills of branding, because when welding diodes and transistors, it is necessary to be particularly accurate, so I began to brand some small animals, and I can slowly make character portraits in the future.

Zhu Peixing said that the impact of 16 years in the military on him is very great, and now if the children have the opportunity, they must go to the army to make up for this very important lesson in life. At first, you may feel that some of the life in the army is unnecessary formalism, and when you reach a certain point in your life, you will feel that it is very necessary.

In the army, the comrades-in-arms are all from all over the country, and they usually eat, live, and train together, and there are also contradictions and quarrels.

After more than ten years in the army, he dealt with people after being discharged from the army, he would not be restrained or lie, and more importantly, his work in the army was always linked to art, which played an indelible role in his future growth.

Zhu Peixing said that she returned to China from Cambodia and grinded with her wife for 5 years. In Cambodia is the stage of my career development to the peak, but at this time I choose to return to the zero point, I don't want to be a public figure, I hope to have a quiet place, write every day, paint, engage in tree roots, there is not much thirst and extravagance, now I always remember, miss some things when I was a child, I have reached this age, I can look at many things calmly with a normal heart, people always have fun when they are old, and they can do something when they are old, so that the spiritual life will not be very empty.

Zhu Peixing told reporters that writing mood is the highest state of calligraphy, Chinese culture pursues nature, do not be pretentious, do not pay attention to the standard of each stroke, pay attention to the overall layout.

What kind of mood is when writing, what kind of person is it, sometimes it can be seen through calligraphy works, the pen follows my heart, the artistic conception is different, the word pen, the pen is not the same, calligraphy is a hard thing, more difficult than freehand painting, especially some large-scale works, to have long-term training experience to complete.

Talking about the biggest feeling of the current domestic brand painting, Zhu Peixing said that many young people who are engaged in calligraphy now, have not yet started, and want to take shortcuts, from regular script to wild grass, it is impossible to write well without 25 or even 30 years, and calligraphy is to do that bit of effort.

Culture has a heritage, innovation on the basis of inheritance, first inheritance and then innovation, do not pursue standardization, but the pursuit of a natural form, a kind of inadvertent nature, to do these we must understand the ancients in an all-round way, there is a inheritance, understanding is not equal to imitation, take the strengths of each family, draw nutrition from the calligraphy art of the ancients, contact more, vision, artistic conception is constantly changing. If you want to know what beauty is, you have to understand it from the roots, and if you break away from the traditional art of calligraphy, you will be particularly impetuous.

Zhu Peixing's mentality of fame and fortune is convincing, Zhu Peixing said that everything must be natural, at any time, do things seriously, if you don't want to be famous, you will be famous, or there is something to stay in the world.

Art must be strictly prohibited, I don't want to become a public figure, to do a thing, sometimes it is necessary to live a quiet life, in order to free up some energy, I hope that the domestic brand painting industry can be more standardized, the inheritance of the traditional culture of brand painting, if you meet fate, hope to learn this Chinese national painting art, you will never be conservative, is to hope that the art of brand painting can be well known, accepted and loved by everyone!

In the middle of Penglai, in a long alley paved with 999 square millstones, old-fashioned shop banners sway freely in the autumn wind. At nightfall, Mopan Old Street is quiet and peaceful, and the opposite door of the ancestral hall of the national hero Qi Jiguang, in the wooden doors and windows of a quaint shop with strings of gourds as curtains, wafts out a faint fragrance of tea and bursts of hearty laughter.

Pushing the door in, there were three tea drinkers sitting around the ancient Eight Immortals table, and one of them, an elderly man who was clear, smiled and greeted me, he is the protagonist of today's story - Song Yuliang, the inheritor of gourd carving.

I tasted the fragrance of tea and listened to him, a halfway monk gourd branding painter, a persistent and self-taught handicraft master, and an innovative marketing expert who brought the gourd branding process from the art hall of Qu Gao and Widow back to the vibrant folk market.

Reliving the past with me is also Xiao Song, an apprentice he recruited 6 years ago who came all the way from Weihai and learned from his teacher again in person.

2012 is the fifteenth year that Song Yuliang has been engaged in gourd painting, and it is also the fifth year that he has established the Eight Immortals Gourd Handicrafts Company. That year, Song Yuliang carved and painted tens of thousands of gourds, and he has appeared on CCTV three times in a row, being respected and praised by the art world and peers, and is a celebrity in the local and national "gourd circle" in Penglai.

Master Cindy of "the first person to paint the hundred tigers in Nanjing" gave high praise to Song Yuliang's gourd branding paintings: "Song Yuliang's gourd branding paintings are handicrafts integrating painting, calligraphy and branding. ”

A colleague in Henan Province who has been engaged in gourd painting for more than 30 years praised Song Yuliang's works: "Song Yuliang can make gourd painting like this in a very short period of time, which is unmatched by our peers." ”

Song Yuliang's gourd painting is famous, and Song Yuliang at this time has gained fame and fortune, but he lacks one thing, and it is particularly lacking, that is, "talent".

With the increase in popularity, the sales of branded gourds have risen, and Song Yuliang has felt the hardships of "fighting alone". It is true that one person can make a lot of money doing this, but a group of people doing this will definitely expand the influence of gourd branding, and it will also drive a group of people to get rich, so that more people can come to this industry, which is a win-win thing. So, Song Yuliang began to accept apprentices.

There are a lot of people who come to admire, some of them are here to learn, some are to see the excitement, some are to hear the praise of "the first person to paint the hundred tigers in Nanjing" and then challenged, for a time, Song Yuliang's Eight Immortal Gourd Arts and Crafts Company has become a "talent market" where people come and go.

The gourd, whether it is long and regular, or strangely shaped, will radiate new vitality in Song Yuliang's hands. In Song Yuliang's eyes, every gourd has value, and everyone who comes to learn art is a malleable talent.

Therefore, no matter who it is, he will teach it by hand, bleaching, peeling, polishing, sketching, branding, one process after another, polishing again and again, day by day, day by day, many people here for the first time contact with gourd branding, and many people have embarked on their own gourd branding business road from here.

Xiao Song is one of many people. After 15 days of hand-in-hand teaching, Song Yuliang patted him on the shoulder and said, "You are an apprentice."

In 15 days, you learned the craft? Xiao Song has a little doubt, the master's words are bigger than the sky, Xiao Song with a trace of doubt and the master said "yes" to the craft back to his hometown, it is really "very good", he received the first big order in his life with a monthly salary of 1200 before learning art: 100,000 yuan of branding gourd, which is almost equal to his ten-year salary.

Xiao Song, who is now the person in charge of a gourd carving factory in Weihai, has taken advantage of the spring breeze of the first pot of gold, and the gourd carving business is getting bigger and bigger, and the road of life is getting wider and wider. Over the years, he has always maintained close contact with his master Song Yuliang, as soon as the tourist sales season passed, he immediately ran to Penglai to learn from his master Song Yuliang, about the market research and development of products, about the inheritance of gourd culture, about the next step of career development, Song Yu's conscience is endless.

"The vertical connection between production, supply and marketing is a single soldier, but the complementary symbiosis between peers is a horizontal connection, and the gourd painting must continue to prosper, and the horizontal and vertical must be combined", this is Song Yuliang's experience in the gourd rivers and lakes for many years.

Today, there are more than 200 gourd painters taught by Song Yuliang, some of them have opened a large gourd workshop, some have become well-known carvers, and some have become leaders in the industry like Xiao Song, and are active in the provincial and national art and commercial stages.

Under the influence of Song Yuliang, they have tasted the sweetness of getting rich from this intangible cultural heritage project, and have also embarked on the road of inheritance of gourd branding painting.

Relying on the geographical advantages of Penglai tourism, Song Yuliang's gourd painting products have become Penglai special gifts, one of the ten commodities that must be bought in Penglai, the eight immortal gourd handicrafts company will receive a large number of orders every day, the exquisite gourd carving process is indispensable, and the business philosophy of "art and market integration" is a weapon for the eight immortal gourds to cross the sea.

In terms of the market positioning of gourd painting, Song Yuliang said: "There must be art, and I also like to engage in art, but art must be in line with the market." Whether it is popular or not, there is no market, people who do this industry can't make money, and the gourd painting can only become a niche artwork; If the things are made and sold, the market will be on fire, and the people who are engaged in this industry can support themselves and live well, there will be more people willing to engage in this industry and devote themselves to this business. ”

Today's Penglai, gourd painting has formed a vigorous industrial chain, the chain of gourd growers, gourd basic processing, gourd carving, gourd sales several links are interlocking, driving and influencing a group of people to enter the team of intangible cultural heritage.

The gourd painting craft has entered the homes of ordinary people and has become an "art" means for ordinary people to seek a happy life.

In the dazzling and fragrant gourd booth, I saw a vibrant photo of a group of eight or nine-year-old children looking attentive. They hold the gourd in one hand and a branding brush in the other, and paint on the gourd. Standing behind them was Song Yuliang, who was also focused, with a spark of hope flashing in his eyes. This is a scene of intangible cultural heritage research for primary school students in Yantai.

Since 2005, Song Yuliang has often been busy at the sites of various folk culture, handicrafts, and intangible cultural heritage project experiences, as well as in practical classes on primary and secondary school campuses. He brought his own power cord, socket row, electric soldering iron, knife and pen paint and original gourd, and taught the children to make the first artistic gourd in his life.

Gourd painting has become one of the most popular research activities for primary and secondary school students in Yantai, and this intangible cultural heritage, which was almost in decline, has been infinitely continued among young people.

In 1998, Song Yuliang, who had just come into contact with gourd painting, rode a motorcycle to take his mother to the countryside to collect gourds. The country road is narrow, only allowing one person and one car to pass, just like the gourd painting road at the beginning of the business. On the way back, my mother fell to the ground, and two large net gourds were scattered all over the ground. She got up and packed up the gourd, but she didn't notice that her leg was bleeding.

What his mother packed up regardless of her own safety was just an ordinary gourd, but it was this ordinary little gourd that was given a fresh life by Song Yuliang, lighting up the market road of gourd branding and his own life road.

At the end of the interview, the sunset has opened the curtain of the night, and the Mopan Street in the deep alley is an infinite history, and the footsteps echo step by step, like the cheerful echo of ancient culture from the tunnel of time.

Inheritance, let the winding path through the secluded intangible cultural heritage, the peak and the road turn, from then on the vigorous development of the broad road, all the way to the voyage.

Branding painting, also known as hot painting, fire brush painting, is a traditional Chinese art treasure, which uses a hot soldering iron to iron out soldering marks on objects for painting. Branding painting not only has the techniques of Chinese painting, such as outline, strangle, point, dyeing, rubbing, and white drawing, but also can burn out rich layers and tones, with a strong three-dimensional sense, similar to brown sketches and lithographs, so the branding painting can not only maintain the national style of traditional painting, but also achieve the rigorous realistic effect of Western painting.

The unique artistic charm of branding painting gives people a simple and elegant, endless artistic enjoyment. On June 7th, I interviewed Li Feng, a master of brand painting, who is full of brand painting complex in his decades of persistent pursuit.

Li Feng was born in 1964 in a small village in Hanshou County, Changde. He said: "When I was about 5 years old, my uncle used red-hot tongs to write on the wooden board of the furniture, and taught me to read and write, and I couldn't erase the words that I wrote. This is a scene that remains in Li Feng's memory.

Li Feng, who likes to draw and write calligraphy since he was a child, is always indispensable for him to run wall newspapers and carve steel plates in school. When he was in high school, Wu Jiyun, a teacher at Nanjing Academy of Fine Arts, was assigned to Hanshou No. 1 Middle School to teach art because he was classified as a rightist.

Li Feng said: "I have always used a brush to write homework. When Mr. Wu saw my brush skills, he went to my parents at home and told my parents that I was a genius and a natural painter, and asked me to learn to paint with him. In this way, I became his student, and I learned Chinese painting with him every weekend, and I became his most proud student. It was also when I was in high school that I was accepted as a closed disciple by the calligrapher Gao Xiaolan to learn calligraphy. ”

Speaking of branding, Li Feng bought a large soldering iron when he was just in high school in 1979 and occasionally tried branding. When he was in college, he once saw a book on branding in a bookstore in Changsha, and he couldn't put it down and was very interested in branding. After graduating from university with a major in physical education, Li Feng became a people's teacher, first teaching physical education at the West Lake Farm Children's School, and then teaching physical education and art at Hanshou No. 2 Middle School.

He said: "As soon as I was assigned to the West Lake Farm Children's School, Mr. Wu came to me again, lived with me for half a month, and taught me to draw without giving up. Because of the good writing of articles and handwriting, I was seconded to work in the county party committee office for one year, and then worked in the enterprise for another year, and finally gave me the position of deputy head of science and technology in Dongyuemiao Township. ”

This is 1987, Li Feng, who was in his twenties, didn't want an iron job bowl, was obsessed with branding, and his parents broke off relations with him. He bought all the tools and materials he had with his savings of one or two thousand yuan, and devoted himself to painting.

He said: "At that time, it was a long-handed, wood-handled soldering iron, and I was sweating profusely, and I didn't produce a satisfactory work, and after about three months, I lost confidence and muttered in my heart, 'How can you draw such a long handful, so clumsy?!' After a five-month break, I went back to learning to do business. During the business, I once went to a hardware store in Xiangtan and found a soldering iron with a rubber handle, which was small and flexible, bought 2 handfuls, borrowed thousands of yuan to buy materials, and picked up the 'fire pen' again, this time with the feeling of painting. My father loved calligraphy and wrote well. My father also thought it was good for my first branding work, "Pine Crane Painting", so he thought of his ancestor's "Branding Technique".

In 1989, when my uncle came home and saw my brand painting "Pine Crane Picture", my father said to my uncle, our ancestors had a brand painting formula, you are the boss, look for it, see if it is still there. My uncle found the "Recipe for Painting" in a small drawer, and the yellow paper, which looked like straw paper (horse dung paper), had been damaged, and I had carefully sorted it out and saved it on my computer. I have checked, about 9 to 11 generations before our family, there was a well-known carpenter, who was also very famous for branding flowers and plants on furniture. ”

Li Feng's story tells me that his branding began in the family lineage.

Li Feng sorted out the "Li Branding Flower Tips": "Branding flower art has been a thousand years, the craft is passed down all over the world, learning from its method, the original material of the law is the first, white sandalwood is the first choice, the soldering iron head should be complete, the tongue is marked with spherical cones, the branding is orderly near and far away, the dark and light colors are changeable, fast and slow is the key, it is difficult to control the thickness and fineness, pressure and turn when the practice is diligent, change the direction in an instant, the static qi line is intended first, and then the air is dried at low temperature pressure, and the boiling tung oil is poured on its surface. Li Feng has accumulated while practicing, and his works have gradually matured. In 1995, someone bought two branded paintings, and one was sold for 500 yuan, Li Feng was very happy and saw hope.

In 1996, Li Feng arrived in Shenzhen, and with the support of businessman Deng Tiecheng, he became more proficient in branding and painting, and his works were also sought after by the market, he said, and the most expensive one sold for 3,000 yuan. Shenzhen, Hong Kong, Dongguan, 5 years, earned the first pot of gold in his life, but also felt unwell, so, he returned to Changde, with nearly one million yuan of savings, in Hanshou to repair a house, build a studio, train students, sixty or seventy people with him to learn the art of branding. Li Feng's branding paintings have also attracted much attention.

Since 2006, the Propaganda Department of the Hanshou County Party Committee has supported Li Feng's brand painting culture, and has taken him to participate in a variety of art fairs: to Changsha, to participate in the first Hunan Province Arts and Crafts Fair, won the gold medal for the first time, Li Feng was particularly surprised; to Nanchang, participated in the 43rd China Arts and Crafts Fair, won the gold medal; went to Dalian to participate in the China Arts and Crafts and Furniture Fair, "Portrait of Mao Zedong" and "Qingming Riverside Map" both won the gold medal, and Li Feng became a star at the expo; went to Shenzhen, participated in the Cultural Fair, and won the gold medal......

Li Feng recalled the scene with great pride: "Dalian is a city with more than 3,000 brand painting workers, at that time, my brand painting was booth No. 1 and No. 2, at the entrance of the exhibition hall, as soon as people came in my booth, they would not leave, and the radio shouted from time to time, please come in; At the first furniture fair in Hunan Province, all the leaders were at my booth; Every time I participate in the exhibition, the local media report on me and my brand paintings.

In 2015, the former Ministry of Culture, the Provincial Department of Culture organized the 6th Cross-Strait Cultural and Creative Industry Expo held in Taipei, Taiwan, my brand painting treasures appeared on the treasure island of Taiwan, sought after by Taiwan compatriots, Taiwan Chinese Art Association Principle Director, China International Economic and Trade Cultural Association Chairman Shang Jiemei said, these creative brand paintings are natural, wonderful and elegant, people are close, is the absolute highlight of the fair. The conference lasted for 5 days, and he stayed at the brand painting booth for 3 days. ”

For more than 30 years, Li Feng has focused on the inheritance, research and development of the art of branding, so that he has formed the Hunan Changde branding school represented by him, and the expressiveness of the art of branding, in the techniques of portraiture and felines, has achieved a leap breakthrough, laying the foundation of the core techniques for the development of branding art, and the hair of tigers and other felines is natural and realistic, wind-blowing, and lifelike; The painted figure paintings are simple and elegant, with both god and shape, realistic texture, and ready to come out, which has been highly praised by the art world and generally recognized by the society.

Chinese arts and crafts master Song Dingguo teacher after watching his "Woshan Tiger" brand painting praised: "art rhyme, China is a must"; Mr. Huang Jie, a well-known Canadian and well-known collector of Chinese aesthetics, praised his works: "Magical workmanship, elegant things".

There is no doubt that Li Feng's branding is based on persistence.

For more than 30 years, Li Feng has innovated a series of world-leading branding techniques, and has stood out in the field of painting. His works are natural and simple, plain and elegant, which not only has the charm of Chinese ink painting, but also has a unique realistic expressiveness that is different from Western oil painting, and also gives people the visual impact of bas-relief, which has been widely praised and highly praised by experts and widely recognized by all walks of life.

More than 100 brand painting treasures such as "Great Man Mao Zedong", "How Difficult to Prosper the Country" and "The Wind of the King" have been completed, and 80 works have been collected by some units and individuals, and his works and achievements have also been reported by many authoritative media such as "People's Art" and "Chinese Arts and Crafts".

Since the reform and opening up, with the changes in people's aesthetics and market demand, the number of practitioners in branding has doubled, from hundreds of practitioners in the 60s of the 20th century to tens of thousands of people today. Since the 80s of the 20th century, the structure of the painting team has also undergone great changes, in addition to some carpentry and amateur art lovers who like painting, some art college students and teachers have also devoted themselves to the field of painting, some of them have good talent, high level of painting people who love brand painting as a lifelong career, drunk and obsessed with the research and creation of brand painting art, has become a leader in the development of brand painting art today. At present, because of its unique expressiveness, the art of brand painting is constantly recognized and sought after by people, and a group of collectors of brand painting treasures have appeared in the collection world.

Li Feng caught up with the good era of reform and opening up, and brand painting met the good era of mass tourism, cultural tourism, and Internet +, he said that he had no reason not to keep up with the pace of the times, so that the art of brand painting could be integrated into the era of mass tourism, and enter the lives of the people, and at the same time it could be disseminated, inherited, and prosperous.

In 2017, Li Feng came to Changde. In Li Feng's view, Changde is a city with a very deep cultural heritage, and brand painting has a great future in Changde. Therefore, after being introduced, the brand painting settled in the Internet Industrial Park of Wuling District to do the cultural industry; Settled in Changdehe Street, there is a brand painting exhibition hall in the antique city. In 2018, Changdehe Street Tourism Commodity Street was opened, and there was a brand painting store.

At present, Li Feng is planning how to operate brand painting as a tourism commodity: develop decorative paintings of tourism commodities suitable for public demand; It is also planning to acquire 60 to 90 acres of land in Changde City to build the first village of Chinese brand painting, as a research center, museum, training center, creation center and sales center of brand painting, docking Changde tourism, creating Changde brand painting tourist attractions, creating an annual output value of 500 million yuan (production base), with the help of ASEAN "The Belt and Road", let brand painting go to the world. Li Feng said that the R&D team, marketing team, and creative team have been available, and there have been investors docking, and are planning feasibility study reports, and point-to-point market research is also being carried out, striving to be the pioneer of the development of Changde's cultural tourism industry, striving to become a Changde cultural tourism brand, erecting a banner, and contributing to the development of Changde's cultural and artistic industry and building a famous tourism and cultural city in Changde.

Daughter Li Zixuan graduated from Hunan Institute of Arts and Crafts, as the inheritor of brand painting, is now studying for a master's degree in computer science at Hunan University of Forestry and Technology, trying to use computer technology to research and develop brand painting, and walk out of a road of development of Internet + brand painting.

People used fire to heat iron bars to iron out marks on objects to paint, which is the original branding painting. Branding is a treasure of traditional Chinese art, which is rooted in the folk and condenses the wisdom and wisdom of the working people.

Yan Shichang is 47 years old this year and is the fourth generation of Yan family brand painting. Talking about the inheritance of the Yan family's branding paintings, Yan Shichang talked eloquently: when his great-grandfather took his grandfather to do business in Henan, his great-grandfather learned branding from a branding artist at that time, and later passed it on to his grandfather Yan Chengxiang, and his grandfather later met the branding artist Li Fanzhi and learned a lot of branding techniques from him. His father, Yan Jinglan, was influenced by his family and also learned the art of branding.

In the Yan Shichang Branding Painting Studio of the Shuangzhuang Community Party and Mass Service Center in Sucheng District, I saw that the branding works in the room were dazzling and had different forms: lifelike characters, spirited horses, and vivid birds...... These paintings are all from Yan Shichang, a member of the China Branding Art Research Association, the chairman of the Suqian Civil Artists Association, and the inheritor of the city's intangible cultural heritage.

Yan Shichang fondly recalled that his father, Yan Jinglan, was a cadre in the village, and he mainly created brand paintings and cartoons in his spare time. Under the influence of his father, Yan Shichang developed a strong interest in calligraphy and painting. In the summer of 1979, Yan Shichang's father took an iron bar and burned it on the stove, and after a while, when the iron bar burned red, he used it to burn it on a wooden board, and after a while, the little bee on the peony flower appeared in front of Yan Shichang. This was his father's first impression of the painting. After that, under the guidance of his father, he used a wooden board as a paper and an iron bar as a pen, imitating his father's painting on the wooden board, and branded a realistic small animal. Some of the neighbors praised the birds and other animals he branded. Perhaps it was the deep cultural heritage of the family that made him fall in love with brand painting.

In 1990, Yan Shichang was admitted to Shijiazhuang College of Humanities and Arts, fulfilling his dream of studying painting art. After three years of systematic study, he laid a solid foundation for his future artistic creation. After graduating from university in 1993, Yan Shichang went to Nanguan Teaching Instrument Factory to engage in pattern design. Whenever he has free time, he is eager to study branding. After several years of study, his branding skills have improved by leaps and bounds. He was not satisfied with working for others, so he discussed with Li Xinze, who was the teaching director of Shuangzhuang Middle School and the principal of Shuangzhuang No. 2 Middle School: "Let's work together to create." The two hit it off. Yan Shichang resigned from his job and founded the Suyu Branding Art Society with Li Xinze. At first, they just had the same interests and hobbies, and the two came together, and after a long time, they were full of passion, and the soldering pen was flying, and they created many branding paintings. So, they held an exhibition of their brand paintings in the city, and invited local calligraphy and painting masters to come to guide.

After market research, Yan Shichang believed that there was a demand for branding books in primary and secondary schools, so he created many famous sentences about educational content and promoted them to primary and secondary schools, which was the first pot of gold he went to the market. In 2016, he changed the name of Suyu Branding Art Society to Suqian Chuyunxuan Branding Art Co., Ltd.

In September 2005, Beijing held the China Arts and Crafts Expo, and Yan Shichang and Li Xinze happily participated in the fair with their brand paintings. In his free time, Yan Shichang looked around and compared the level of other people's brand paintings with his own. But on the morning of the second day, he went to other booths to observe and found that there was a new booth, and what caught his eye was that Hao Youyou's realistic brand paintings in Hebei Province had a different style and were self-contained, which made him envious.

At the fair, Yan Shichang was fascinated by Hao Youyou's brand paintings. As long as he was free, he ran to Hao Youyou's booth, learned from Hao Youyou, and humbly asked him for branding skills. Hao Youyou was moved by the sincerity of this young man, and patiently and meticulously and unreservedly taught his skills to Yan Shichang.

After the expo, Yan Shichang returned to Suqian to follow the method taught by Hao Youyou, repeatedly figured out, slowly groped and experimented. After a month of practice, Yan Shichang went to Hebei with many questions, visited Hao Youyou again, and learned from him. After he came back, he slowly figured out, comprehended, digested, and absorbed according to the techniques taught by Hao Youyou. Later, Hao Youyou, who was both virtuous and artistic, became the president of the China Branding Painting Research Association, a member of the China Folk Literature and Art Association, and a first-class arts and crafts master in Hebei Province.

In Yan Shichang's studio, it is common to see him engrossed in holding an electric soldering iron on a wooden board to create, moving the soldering iron in his hand little by little, so that the ordinary wooden board becomes a beautifully crafted handicraft in his hands. He said that branding is like a chef stir-frying to master the heat, and he must accurately grasp the heat of the soldering iron. Through the techniques of hooking, streaking, pointing, dyeing, rubbing, and white drawing of the soldering iron, chrome produces a rich and vivid portrait of the person. Due to his ingenious combination of soldering iron and open flame and his skillful control ability, whether it is the landscape scenery, the splashing ink of flowers, birds and animals, or the texture of the human body and still life, all jump on the wooden board, which has a unique charm. His works are fascinating in the representation of people, cows, sheep, horses, donkeys and so on. He works on a wide range of subjects, such as stone mills in farmhouses, old houses, and pavilions in the city. Some of his works make people seem so casual, but behind them are often the knowledge he has learned for decades.

Yan Shichang is engaged in the research and creation of branding books and paintings, and has achieved fruitful results and has a great reputation. But he still always maintains a normal heart and tirelessly cultivates the art world of branding that he loves. His brand painting works have their own uniqueness, and his works have been selected into the "Chinese Artistic Talent Collection" and "Cross-Century Calligraphy and Painting Collection". Over the years, he has created hundreds of branding paintings with local characteristics, which have been presented as special gifts by some departments to friendly people in 16 countries and regions such as the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, and his deeds have also been reported by CCTV, provincial and municipal television stations. Last year, famous film actors Chen Kaige and Chen Hong came to Suqian, and he specially painted a portrait of Chen Hong, which was highly praised. In 2017, he was awarded the titles of "Suqian May Day Labor Medal", "Top Ten Suqian Craftsmen", "Jiangsu Province Local Talent 'Three Belts' Expert" and "Jiangsu Province Local Talent 'Three Belts' Celebrity".

For the future of brand painting, Yan Shichang is full of confidence. Nowadays, people have less contact and understanding of brand painting, so he often holds brand painting lectures, not only to introduce theoretical knowledge, but also to guide students to make some simple brand paintings. He said happily: "I am now going to the Suqian Minor Education Base, the Yellow River Branch of the Municipal Experimental Primary School and the Suqian Zeda Vocational and Technical College to set up a brand painting experience class for the students, teach the students brand painting, lead them to create, and popularize and inherit the brand painting. These activities have been going on until now, and it has been seven years. In society, I brought out 10 apprentices such as Ji Qiancai, Dong Yuanbin, and Shen Fang. He realized the importance of the inheritance of skills, and is preparing to turn the oral transmission of branding into a well-documented teaching book, and combine it with the materials he has accumulated on the techniques of branding, and publish it in a collection to promote and pass on the art of branding.

Talking about the cultivation of brand painting inheritors, Yan Shichang said with a smile that his daughter Yan Ying worked in a company in Guangzhou after graduating from university in 2017, and half a year later, she resolutely quit her job and returned to Suqian for development. In the past year, she has designed and produced a variety of branding handicrafts to put on the market, participated in many intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, and followed her to carry out the popularization and promotion of branding and branding books for primary school students. He is also a little relieved to have his daughter inherit his skills.

Branding painting, Suqian municipal intangible cultural heritage project. Branding painting, also known as hot painting, hot painting, hot flower, fire brush painting, it uses high-temperature iron bars on bamboo, rice paper, cotton, silk and other materials to iron out the brand marks to paint, forming a unique work of art. According to historical records, brand painting originated in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Eastern Han Dynasty, with a history of more than 2,000 years. During the Qing Dynasty, branding reached its peak.

Nowadays, people mostly use an electric soldering iron to create branding paintings. While grasping the heat and strength, the brand painting creation pays attention to the "intention of the pen first, the pen is formed", so that it has a unique artistic charm, so that it gives people a simple and elegant, endless aftertaste of artistic enjoyment. The materials of the painting can be wood, board, bamboo, cotton, silk, rice paper, etc. Shade, lightness, solidity, urgency...... It is not only necessary for the craftsman to have strict control over the temperature, speed and strength, but also for the painter to have excellent painting skills and strong artistic inspiration.

Branded painting, with dark brown or light brown as the main color, shows a strong ink charm, which not only maintains the national style of traditional Han painting, but also can achieve the rigorous realistic effect of Western painting, clear and beautiful, simple and elegant, with a strong three-dimensional sense, similar to brown sketches and lithographs.

Branding painting, also known as fire painting, has the longest history among all human paintings, dating back to prehistoric times. At that time, the ancestors were around the campfire, yrography --- branding, which means "writing and fire", from the Greek PUR (fire) and GraphOS (writing). Including ancient Egypt and some African tribes, branding is a direct response to the human nature of decoration. At that time, people not only used heated metal to make paintings, but also used a variety of materials, from wood to papyrus, linen, and leather. They even use a magnifying glass to gather sunlight to burn their paintings. Light-colored woods such as sycamore, basswood, hardwood, beech and birch were the most commonly used, and from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century, branding reached a very high standard in the West.

During the Han Dynasty in China, branding was called "fire needle embroidery". In Europe, in the Victorian era, the invention of the branding machine made this craft attract widespread attention, and it was at this time that the word "branding" appeared. At the end of the 19th century, AlfredSmart discovered that water-based paints could be applied to branding, improving the expressiveness of the branding process, which was not possible before. In the early twenties of the last century, the perfection of the electric wire branding machine made the branding process develop unprecedentedly, and all kinds of branding items were welcomed. In those days. Branding is also a traditional folk art that has been used in many parts of Europe, including Romania, Hungary, and Flanders, as well as Argentina, the southern United States, to form the modern art of branding.

In China, we generally think of brand painting, and basically think of gourd brand painting. Because the brand painting that we can usually see is mainly reflected in the gourd, even in the gourd creator, compared with carving or painting, etc., the genre and technique of brand painting also occupy the absolute main position. In fact, domestic brand paintings are also divided into many themes and styles. In addition to gourds, traditional crafts also include rice paper branding, sandalwood fan branding, and (glued) wood board branding, which are new types that have emerged in recent years.

The gourd painting works here are basically award-winning works, which can represent a high level in China.

Traditional branding has also gone through several stages around the improvement of tools: in the era when there was no electricity, branding artists generally used oil lamps to heat, that is, to pass the iron skewer through the center of the flame of the oil lamp, so as to keep the temperature of the branding brush unchanged, and then burn on the medium. However, the freedom of the brush is severely limited, and the oil smoke is smoky, which can damage people's eyes and lungs, so it is a very difficult process. After the advent of electricity, artists used to use their own improved electronics to use electric soldering irons to paint, but they were heavy, inconvenient, and the brushstrokes were not rich enough. It was not until the advent of the modern branding machine that branding became a widely understood art.

The modern Western art of branding is very well developed, and the main medium is still wood. Painting on the gourd is not simply the use of this single process. Often combined with engraving and painting, the painting on paper and canvas is complemented by watercolor, and the effect is very thick and rich.

For Western artists, branding is actually a sketch. Plus painted is a pastel sketch. On the basis of the aesthetic psychology of sketches and oil paintings, it is natural to pursue the texture and richness of the layers.

Domestic brand painting, in fact, is Chinese painting, and there is always the thinking of ink and wash in it, so it is not very active to pursue texture and tone. It is also because of the inertia of Chinese painting that it does not pursue the richness of color. In terms of technique, he emphasizes the richness of brushstrokes and the delicacy of details, and explores them in a particularly in-depth manner. It can be said that Western branding is broad and broad, and our branding is deep.

Sketching is about layered performance and training. It is logical what kind of content the sketch-like tone represents. The different brushstrokes are also designed to enrich the expressiveness.

First use the side knife to open the outline, and then enter the details of the finishing, Western-style rigor. But in the end, it's all about tone and layering.

On the gourd, branding is part of the overall modeling service, and it is never the whole story.

It's a brand on paper.

It's very clear what the final manifestation is. Domestic branding painting always seems to be branding for the sake of branding, showing off the technique, and the result of relish about the craft itself is that the content is secondary.

"Plant Jade" --- miniature branding painting on the Bodhi Ziren.

The branding paintings of different nationalities must have different styles and craft skills, and Western art is strong and straightforward, and it is clear at a glance. The essential difference between our brand painting and Western brand painting should come from a deep understanding of our own traditional art and culture, give full play to the delicate and profound characteristics of our nation, create our own brand painting art system, and bring the things of our ancestors to life.

Branding painting was called "fire needle embroidery" in ancient times, and was also known as "fire brush painting", "hot painting", etc., which is an extremely precious and rare painting in ancient China. According to historical records, brand painting originated in the Western Han Dynasty and flourished in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

Later, due to years of famine and war, it was once lost, until the third year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty, it was rediscovered and sorted out by a folk artist named "Zhao Xing" in Nanyang, Henan, and then gradually formed several major factions represented by Henan, Hebei and other places. In the past, branding was limited to branding on wooden materials such as planks, bark, gourds, etc.

The uneven texture changes naturally on the picture, with a certain relief effect, and the color is dark, light brown and even black. Branding is a craft painting made by using a special iron pen on fan bones, comb grates, wooden furniture, and paper silk. Modern bold use of rice paper, silk and other materials, thus enriching the art form of branding. It is produced in Henan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Anhui.

Nanyang, known as "Wan" in ancient times, is a famous historical and cultural city in China. More than 5,000 years ago, the Chinese ancestors created an ancient civilization here. Since then, it has become the hinterland of the Xia people, the southern land of Shang, and the country of Shenlu of Zhou. In the spring and autumn period, Wanyi has become an iron-smelting center and one of the five major metropolises in the country. Qinzhi Nanyang County.

Because Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, was born in Nanyang and became the capital of Luoyang, so the history of Nanyang has the reputation of "Southern Capital" and "Emperor's Township". Historically, the Nanyang calendar is the seat of the county government (county), "according to Jingxiang in the south, Ruluo in the north", "business all over the world, rich crown in the sea". Thus laying a deep material foundation for the production and development of the art of branding.

Branding painting, also known as branding, hot flowering, fire brush painting, "fire needle embroidery", it is the use of carbonization principle, through temperature control techniques, without any pigment to brand as the main set of color supplemented by the expression of the technique, in bamboo, rice paper, silk and other materials on the sketching and baking painting, ingenious and natural painting art of various expression techniques and the art of painting into one, forming their own artistic style.

According to legend, the brand painting originated in the Qin Dynasty, but there is no evidence or historical data. According to folklore, it was first seen in the late Western Han Dynasty and has a history of more than 2,000 years.

Legend has it that there was a branding craftsman surnamed Li Mingwen in Nanyang City at that time, who was a well-known branding master, whether it was a ruler, chopsticks, or a walking stick, a fan pendant, after he was branded, all kinds of characters, flowers and birds, landscapes, and beasts, lifelike, leaping on the paper, exquisite, ingenious, known as the king of branding flowers.

He was loyal and kind-hearted, and opened a façade in the city, which was well known and well-known within a radius of hundreds of miles. Legend has it that "Wang Mang chased Liu Xiu" (Nanyang folklore), Li Wen once saved Liu Xiu and sent him a brand gourd to be entangled, Liu Xiu was not grateful, and after a lot of hardships, he never sold the brand flower gourd.

In 25 A.D., after Liu Xiu was called the emperor, he still did not forget the life-saving grace of the king of the branded flowers, and after visiting him, he immediately announced that he entered Beijing, gave a thousand taels of silver, and crowned the "king of branding paintings", and listed the Nanyang branding paintings as tributes for the royal court. Since then, Nanyang brand painting culture has flourished and become famous all over the world. The story of "Branded Flower King" has also been passed down to this day. There are many stories and folklore about the origin of Nanyang branding, but here is just one of them.

According to the chronicles, in the third year of Guangxu in the Qing Dynasty (1877 AD), Zhao Xingsan, a native of Nanyang who was good at painting, was addicted to opium once, and after being addicted to smoking, he suddenly became a painter, and painted with a red-hot cigarette on the cigarette stick, got a sketch, and was overjoyed, and then performed art on other wooden toys, all of which were successful.

His brand paintings have gradually become a good gift between dignitaries and nobles, so that they entered the Qing court as a tribute to Nanyang, and some of the top brand paintings were favored by the emperor's relatives. Later, Zhao Xingsan accepted four more apprentices, the eldest apprentice Li Fanzhi can write and paint, proficient in various colors, skilled, specializing in characters; The second apprentice, Qiu Yiting, is good at Bogu; The third apprentice, Yang Diankui, specializes in flowers and birds; The fourth apprentice, Zhang Xifan, led the coquettish landscape.

In the twenties of the twentieth century, brand painting has formed a special handicraft industry, and brand painting has also become a well-known folk art in Nanyang and is well-known in China. At that time, there were six or seven shops specializing in brand painting in Nanyang City, among which Fang Yutang's "Fu Ju Heng" chopstick shop was the most famous, and Zhao Xingsan's four apprentices became the pillars of "Fu Ju Heng".

"Fu Juheng" business is prosperous, the day into the gold, the products are well-known, exported to Beijing, Xi'an, Tianjin, Kaifeng and other places. By the early 40s, the "Fu Juheng" family alone, the staff and artists had grown to more than 30 people, and they began to take shape.

In addition to Nanyang, Henan, Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Anhui and other places are also very active in the art of branding, which can be said to be a master of many masters. In the Qing Dynasty, Wu Tian, a famous craftsman in Wuding County, Yunnan Province, was able to paint the famous painter Yan Liben's "Yingzhou Ancient Eight Bachelors" on the chopsticks that were not too long.

In the 13th year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1874), the painter Chen Wan of Guangdong Xinhui created a fire painting fan and painted it on the surface of the fan with an iron needle. Chen Wan passed on his discipleship to Zhong Heng, and has been passed down in the Zhao family since then. For example, Zhao Zhaoming, who was alive in the early years of the Republic of China, was able to paint "Seven Sages of the Bamboo Forest" and "Dongshan Annunciation" and other characters and complex backgrounds on the Kwai fan. Zhao's younger brother, Zhao Huang, died in 1960 and had been engaged in branding for 50 years. Zhao Zhaoming's son, Zhao Yuan, is also a household name in Xinhui County, Guangdong Province, and his fifth generation is still engaged in the production of fire painting fans.

Jiangsu, Hangzhou, and Nanjing have also seen many famous painters, such as Zhang Youqin, Liu Jintang, Qian Huaijin, Pan Sansi, etc. Liu Jintang has exquisite skills, mainly fan bones and comb grates, and is good at scalding flowers, birds and ladies; Qian Huaijin is good at calligraphy and painting, and his works are mainly fan bones and pen holders, without drafting, and his soldering thread is as thin as hair, and he is good at branding Coats characters. Li Huanqing, a student of Qian Huaijin, is also good at branding character Coats patterns. At the beginning of the reform and opening up, Gong Fuqi, a famous Suzhou brand painter, was a student of Liu Jintang.

After the liberation, the party and the government attached great importance to the excavation, sorting and development of this traditional folk art, and organized the flower artists scattered in various parts of Nanyang, and successively established mutual aid groups and cooperatives. Under the correct leadership of the party and the government, the flower artists continue to inherit and carry forward the excellent traditions of their predecessors, bring forth the new, and improve the craftsmanship and tools, so as to push the art of brand painting onto a broader road of development.

Chinese painting is often referred to as "ink and blue", and between the ink and color, there is a long artistic conception and chic. However, there is another kind of Chinese painting, which has no interest in ink painting at all, but generates landscapes, flowers, birds, and figures in the fireworks, and it is brand painting.

After 40 years of experience in branding, Xu Jianli feels that the beauty of branding lies not only in its strong expressiveness, but also in its inclusiveness, which accommodates various painting styles and genres, and even the defects of materials. He said: "For example, when painting on a gourd, sometimes the flaws of the gourd itself can become a part of the painting and add color to the whole painting. ”

Born in Beijing in 1962. Since childhood, he has been fond of painting art and has studied and studied Chinese landscape painting seriously, especially for Chinese folk art, and has profound skills in the art of brand painting. The artistic conception of the landscape painting branded on the gourd is far-reaching, and it has a unique feeling. In 2006, he participated in the "Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Exhibition" in Beijing (included in the first batch of intangible cultural heritage list of Haidian District). In December 2011, it was awarded the first "Cultural Guardian Star" in Haidian District, Beijing. In December 2012, his work won the Beijing Folk Art Gold Award. He is now a member of the China Folk Literature and Art Association and a member of the Beijing Arts and Crafts Society.

The history of brand painting, almost comparable with ink painting, has appeared as early as the Qin and Han dynasties, according to legend, when Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty Liu Xiu was down, he was given a brand painting gourd, thought it was entangled, after the development, the great revival of brand painting, as one of the court arts. However, compared with ink painting, brand painting is a niche art after all, and it is really recorded in writing in the late Qing Dynasty.

Xu Jianli said: "It was about the Guangxu era of the Qing Dynasty, a Xiucai who lived in the temple, bored with incense on the gourd to burn out the painting, but after taking it out, people competed for it, and for a time the brand painting became a trend. ”

There are many materials available for painting, such as wood, silk, rice paper, etc., in addition, chopsticks and furniture can also be painted. Xu Jianli said: "Especially in the past, when the economic conditions were not high, people made their own furniture, all of which were plain boards, and there were no patterns on them. In the south, there are also those painted on banana fans, which are also interesting. ”

In the past, incense sticks and copper bars were mostly used, Xu Jianli said: "Just like the five colors of ink, the lines of the branding painting also have shades and thicknesses, so as to achieve a good painting." And the scorch marks left by the high temperature have a luster, which is its unique beauty. ”

In Beijing, the cricket jar made of gourd is the place where the brand painting appears the most, the gourd is suitable for brand painting, and the people who play with the cricket are often either rich or expensive, and can lead the atmosphere the most, so the brand painting is more and more widespread.

Xu Jianli said: "The gourd has a lot of meanings in Chinese culture, simply put, the homonym of the gourd is 'Fulu', and at the same time, the gourd has been respected by Confucianism and Taoist scholars throughout the history, linking it with various natural and humanistic principles, which is very characteristic of Chinese culture." In reality, the gourd is also a favorite plaything ornament for many people, whether it is held in the hand to play, or placed in the home decoration, it is a good choice. ”

Xu Jianli studied Chinese painting since he was a child, is good at landscapes, and began to teach himself brand painting in the 70s of the last century. He said: "At first, it was purely fun, but then I went to the factory, worked in a toy factory, and was responsible for making molds, and sometimes when I was in the middle of production, I would go to the electrician's room, where there was a soldering iron, and I would use their soldering iron to make soldering paintings, and it turned out that many people liked it, and some people would ask me to help them paint on the furniture when they made new furniture." ”

In 2004, Xu Jianli left the factory and began to specialize in branding, he said: "At that time, I worshipped an old-timer who gave me a lot of guidance and told me where I was deficient. ”

Branding is not only a Chinese craft, many countries have it, but Chinese branding painting is more distinctive, has a longer history, and various techniques and themes are more complete. Xu Jianli said: "In fact, to this day, the brand painting itself is also integrating different art schools and styles, especially in modern times, when Western culture and art have entered China, brand painting has also absorbed oil painting, printmaking, sketching and other painting methods, but it is still dominated by Chinese painting and calligraphy. It can be said that it is a syncretic art. ”

In addition to the technique, there are many kinds of materials for branding, gourd, wood, rice paper, silk, etc. can be branded, Xu Jianli said: "Xuan paper and silk are the most difficult, a little careless will burn through, but there must be shades of shade, so it must be very fine, not only to control the temperature, but also to grasp the strength." However, in Xu Jianli's view, this is precisely one of the charms of branding, because it can cover different techniques, materials, and even the shortcomings of the materials themselves. He said: "For example, a perfect gourd is of course good, but it is too difficult to find, it is one in a thousand, and most of them always have all kinds of flaws."

In fact, most of the time when you get a gourd, you have to look at its characteristics, size, shape, and what kind of flaws there are, and then find a way to make the flaws part of the painting, such as becoming the nodule of a tree. Therefore, the brand painting actually has the function of making up for the lack of materials, sometimes it is done, and others see it, and feel that this flaw seems to be born naturally for the sake of the branding painting, and it is not good if there is no flaw. ”

The iron pen flows and paints Danqing, and the fragrance is overflowing on the board.

The above description is brand painting, and when it comes to brand painting, we must mention its leading figure, Hao Youyou.

In 1975, Hao Youyou began to get in touch with brand painting, and has been engaged in brand painting for 41 years.

He has held exhibitions at the National Art Museum of China, Xi'an and other places.

His works have been collected by celebrities such as Emperor Hirohito, Fahd and so on.

I saw that once he put the soldering iron in contact with the wooden board, a faint green smoke would float out, and with the sound of "sizzling", the green smoke dissipated, and the three-dimensional outline pattern on the wooden board gradually revealed its rudimentary shape.

Branding painting was called "fire needle embroidery" in ancient times, it is an art that has been inherited for thousands of years, it uses fire as "ink" and metal as the brush, which is a precious and rare kind of painting in China's folk, and can be called "a unique in China".

Branding painting not only has the techniques of Chinese painting, such as hooking, strangle, and point, but also can burn out rich layers and tones, with a strong three-dimensional sense, which can not only maintain the national style of traditional Han painting, but also achieve the rigorous realistic effect of Western painting.

After years of continuous exploration, innovation and improvement, Mr. Hao Youyou has rejuvenated this ancient painting genre and innovated on the basis of inheriting traditional painting, and is known as the master of modern Chinese brand painting.

"In fact, the creation of branding is not an easy task."

Branding is important in terms of priority, depth and shade.

While grasping the heat and strength, the creation pays attention to "the intention is to put the pen first, and the pen is formed". Otherwise, it will be in vain.

Hao Youyou maintains the craftsman spirit of excellence in branding. His greatest wish is to pass on his paintings.

"Nothing in this world can be done overnight, no matter how many years have passed, I will pass on this art, do it well, or even do it better." Take a look at the latest chapters of "Dream Claw Book House in the Great Era" and read it for free for the first time.