This is my 519
Chinese Xieyi Painting and
my 944th painting since 2003, the 350th assignment of Chinese National Academy of Arts.
Since Nov 28, I created 4 paintings. Each of them can be a single painting and all of them can be combined together as a big painting (388 cm x 180cm - 152.75 inches x 70.86 inches). Originally, I gave it a title: Peace, Happiness and Luck! Since I am preparing for my 5th in America in August or September, 2015. I wished to thank my sponsors and the local American people with my nice wishes to them. So, I chose the pines, tree peonies, dove of peace and golden pheasant. Because in Chinese culture:
-- Pine means something long live, evergreen
-- The tree peonies means happy, rich and honored;
-- The doves means peaceful;
-- The golden pheasant means lucky.
Anyway, since this painting was painted for 18 days, when I painted the 4th part, a long-term idea ( to paint a big painting to match one of the Chinese Classical Painting Ode to the Tree Peonies by the Tong Dynasty (618-907) Poet Liu Yuxi ) jumped into my mind. And for creating a painting to this poem, I had painted from the nature in the Jingshan Part of Beijing for 7 days and each day 6:00a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in May, 2014.
So, I translated this poem and then I sent my translation to Britain and America. Two of my best friends who are native English speakers and my English teachers Mr. Mike Joyce and Mr. John David Lawson corrected my translation and sent it back to me at once.
Here is the poem:
庭前芍药妖无格 -- Ting qian shaoyao Yao Wu ge，
池上芙蕖净少情 -- Chi shang fu qu jing shao qing。
唯有牡丹真国色 -- Wei you mudan zhen guo se，
花开时节动京城 -- Hua kai shijie dong jingcheng。
Peonies in the front yard are pretty but have no character,
Lotuses in the pool are clean but have little sentiment.
Tree peonies are the only true national beauty,
They move the whole of the capital during their blossoming season.
Then I have not created a piece of music for it yet and I have not written an article for it yet. I am thinking whether I should paint another painting to match the other 3 parts and to make this single painting to match this poem only. :- )
Maybe I should do it and to complete 2 paintings, right? :- )
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, welcome to write to shirley@ebridge.cn,you can also publish your opinions on Message Board . :-)
--Shirley Yiping ZhangDec 14, 2014
