This is my 1560th painting and the 155th Painting from the Nature

This is my 4th sketch creation On January 16th, 2023. That day was the first day after a snow in Wuxi. Although I knew that outdoor sketching might be very cold, I didn't want to miss the rare flowering period and wanted to seize the short time of sketching in Wuxi for the first time. After all, I had been looking forward to paint it from the nature for more than ten years, and next year's today may not have the chance to come back here. In addition, the rain and snow had already delayed for three days. I really wanted to know how the plum blossoms have changed today.

So I firmly walked out of the door. Despite the bright sunshine outside, wearing a thick jacket and leather coat, sitting in the wilderness was still very cold. After only 2.5 hours of painting, I had to retreat. When I returned to my car, I felt my fingers numb...

However, I found that although the flowers were covered by the snow were stained with black lines or spots (whether it was due to pollution or the chemical changes formed by yellow petals and snowflakes?), many flowers fell to the ground due to the wind and snow, but it did not prevent them from emitting a refreshing fragrance. It truly allowed me to experience the artistic conception and meaning of "plum blossom fragrance comes from bitter cold", and to understand why Lin Pu (967 - 1028) famous as " Mei qi he zi -- take a plum tree for his wife and cranes for his children"... Therefore, every time when I finish outdoor sketching, I always pick up a few plum blossoms to take home, so that I can organize my daytime sketching at night and observe its details.

In my mind, sketching and creating in the fragrance of plum blossoms and the chirping of birds is truly an incredibly enjoyable process.

What do you think of this small sketch creation? Sincerely hope to receive your comments and guidance.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you are welcome to write to info@ebridge.cn. :-)

--Shirley Yiping Zhang
Edited on Dec 25, 2023; Written on Jan 16,2023