Plum Blossom

This Chinese painting that took the artist over a month to complete is a masterpiece synthesizing verse, calligraphy, painting and seals into an organic whole. The composition is dense, with ink or color washes touching all borders, but leaves some free spaces, for instance in the above and right parts. The composition is also dynamic with the plum dancing in the wind, but anchored by the two neat and serene inscriptions.

This work portrays an old, bright red plum. The bulk of the plum is contoured with heavy charred ink before ochre is added. Ink and ochre divides the space and arranges the branches freely. The plum is sketched with ink circles and then filled with extremely thick red. The painter makes no distinction between the sides of the leaves, ignores structure and doesn't bother to paint the stamen. He cares only about the division of space. Compared to the plums painted by earlier painters and those grown in the real world, perhaps this plums are more appealing to modern aesthetic tastes in chinese painting field .