Guo Hua is typically learnt by rote. Practice, memorize and practice some more. Copying is one of the methods employed in the rote system. Students copy their teachers and other masters. Anybody who is serious about studying Guo Hua has labored with the Mustard Seed Garden, copying and studying different techniques and styles, honing their Gi Bun Gong. It is perhaps due to this forced feeding that a lot of the Chinese paintings look similar to each other, especially with regards to subject matter and composition.
Unfortunately we have so-called teachers these days using these as their templates for teaching Chinese Brush painting. The "come-on" is to lure people to paint a fish with a scant few strokes and thus fulfilling the minimalistic presentation of "Asian art". What they don't realize is this is just a gimmick and not a lesson. The emphasis should be on the Bi-Fa..... how to start and finish and what parts of the brush does one need to pay attention to. The result is a painting with all the lines in the right places, but shows no distinctive characteristics of a controlled brushstroke at all ( remember the calligraphy Te?). This is fine as a means to spark a person's desire to learn Chinese brush painting, but not an end. Being able to play "Chopsticks" on the keyboard does not make one a piano player, anymore than the person teaching it a piano teacher.
Qi Baishi (1864 - 1957) is a world renowned Chinese Brush artist. He was born a peasant, became a carpenter, then taught himself how to paint. He also worked on a few fish paintings. In one, he actually wrote the following on the painting,
It is difficult to paint meticulously and be lively at the same time. The difficulty lies in using just a few strokes to capture the shape and attitude of the subject matter. This fish exemplifies the masterful employment of ink tone, the superb brushstrokes, motion and energy.
How is this fish compared with the fish in the "how to" book?
to be continued