The innovation of traditional Chinese painting involved stages of development which are phases in the elaboration and growth of a new language for me to interpret the nature’s rhythms which had also stricken a deep chord of the heart of the former artists.Therefore the precursors told us to have reference to the reality of nature rather than only the studying of the masterpieces of tradition.
Although I had not wandered with my sketchbook or camera to draw inspiration from the natural world where are for most artists an inexhaustible reservoir of energy,images,emotions, rhythms and light,I found that refering to photographic magazines is a great help for the construct and germination of a painting.From the two illustrations here people can see the similarity of the layout of my work and the photo. Nevertheless,I am not copying the details of the appearance of the ingredients being shown in the photo.I would add a swan in my painting and I would refer to other resources to form an ideal elegant image of a swan.Also, there are abundant referential materials helping us to mold the image of the depicting subject to prefection.Furthermore, it is a delightful experience to veiw the photos of the Lotus again and again.
In Egyptian mythology,the Lotus is associated with the sun,because it bloomed by day,and closed by night.The Lotus is even believed to have given birth to the sun! From the photo above,we could see that the light pink lotuses blooming amid the verdure of the leaves seem like luminaries.As the image of the Lotus is analogous to an illumininant,then it is no wonder why Lotus is a sacred flower for Hindus and Buddhists.And it is symbolically equal to the Buddha for Buddhists.The omnipesent power of light can dispel the mist and the endless darkness in our world,and a Buddha’s seat in the form of a lotus flower symbolized a state of pure consciousness, peace,light and joy.So,Buddha is sometimes depicted sitting on a Lotus flower,symbolizing the avatar who had overcame the pain of that prevails in the material world,all the darkness being removed,and merged with the nirvana light.
According to Buddhism,Buddha was an avatar.The true nature of the Buddha,as totally enlightened,is the inexpressible absolute,neither one nor many,identical with the cosmos itself.And the shafts of light being emitted from above show the analogy with the omnipotence of the Buddha.Therefore Lotus is a symbol of both illuminating the world’s darkness and enlightening people’s inner mind to get wisdom.
For this reason,the course of depicting this splendid flower is both finding an art form of perfection and through meditation to approach the ultimate source of enlightenment.My unfinished work only recorded my initial attempt to express the miracle of beauty. light and life of the sarced flower. I made use of the tecnique of gouache to draw the petals as to manifast the shining nature of the lotus while the leaves of it were created with the traditional linear expression to show the continuing changing curvilinear forms of them.
An artwork would come into being stage by stage,and the introspective power to understand the unspeakable message from the nature would also grow little by little
in my mind.
