This is my 1564th painting the 159th Painting from the Nature

This is my 8th sketch of Lamei in Wuxi in January 2023, written on January 24th (the third day of the Lunar New Year) and organized from February 4th to 6th.

Taking such a long time to organize, with the aim of understanding, adjusting, correcting, and solving problems in sketching:

Firstly, in response to some problems to combine past learning from ancient people with today's real-life sketching. Therefore, I have read as many famous plum blossom works as possible from the Song（960 -1279）, Yuan（1271 - 1368）, Ming（1368 - 1644）, and Qing（1616 - 1912） dynasties, paying special attention to their structure and brushwork.

The second is to study the differences in natural properties between Lamei （winter sweet， chimonanthus fragrans; Japan allspice; calycanthus praecox） and general plum blossoms： such as the former blossoms earlier; its flowers face left, right or downward; branches're mostly opposite and angles often between 45 or even 90 degrees; and also its flower shape, flower center color, and stamen morphology are all different from general plum blossoms.

It is interesting that when I read Yun Nantian(1633 - 1690) 's （winter sweet， chimonanthus fragrans; Japan allspice; calycanthus praecox）, I found that his flower center color was deep rouge, while I saw a light red color. With the doubts about the printing color, I bought some different Lamei (winter sweet， chimonanthus fragrans; Japan allspice; calycanthus praecox）online from Henan province and Jiangsu Province. Then I saw a rouge colored flower center that was exactly the same as Yun Nantian's painting from the mail from Henan.

From this, I thought: learning is probably endless not only in terms of techniques, but also in expanding my horizons and constantly adjusting my knowledge structure? In the cycle of learning, researching, questioning, confirming, and constantly copying ancient people, sketching, and researching?

The process of gaining something every day has made me increasingly interested in sketching. From January 10th to Chinese New Year's Day Holiday, I kept going out for 17 days of sketching, except for 10 days of rain or no parking space, to experience the beauty and inspiration of nature.

At the end of the first day of sketching, a cute golden bellied black feathered bird landed on a tree in front of me, so I wrote it into my painting; The next day when I saw many magpies, I thought of the ancient saying "Joy on the Plum Blossom Shoots"; Then I saw the red billed bluebird, and a small gray bellied green bird four times came to the tree where I was sketching... surprised to see butterflies and bees in January...

I often feel that this may be God's grace, reminding the me to take care of these elfins in nature?

What's even more interesting is that on February 5th, a medium-sized black bird (not sure if it's a magpie or an octopus?) was seen, completely unaffected by the bustling crowds of people in the park. It sat quietly on a tall branch from a distance, so that I couldn't help but think of "bird's-eye view of life... "

And every time when I was waiting in the turning lane, I could see a tall willow tree across the street, with its branches facing upwards and its leaves facing downwards. It's like an elderly man holding his arms high and confiding to the sky, or like a young girl with long hair fluttering, holding a veil in her hand and dancing lightly... The same object, but different feelings vary depending on the person's mood.

Based on the above insights, I have tried to organize this sketch, and I am not sure if it is too childish.

I 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 Feb 4, 2023