Sights of Lotus and Mountain

     A mountain is considered as having extremely rich connotations in Chinese traditional culture. Its heaviness and thickness have been symbolized as the sign of undertaking responsibility. Its steep cliff and difficult path have been analogized as life with an impassable path. Its kindness and calm are like a strong and powerful embrace from family members. Its summit as high as reaching through the clouds has been considered driving people with strong emotions when they are lonely. In Chinese culture, mountains have always been mentioned in parallel with water and both are collectively called "landscapes". It refers to the place where it is the creator's favorite and most beautiful natural scenery. In addition, some people also like to use the term "River Mountain" to refer to the land of a country. Under the traditional culture, mountains and water are also considered as having a temperament which connects with humanity. Confucius believes, "people with wisdom love water and righteous people love mountains; wise people know how to be flexible and righteous people have peace of mind; smart people are always happy and righteous people have long life." (quotation from “The Analects of Confucius”) Although his comment has different interpretations, it all ends up at the same conclusion of connecting landscape to people's personalities. Landscape painting has eventually been considered as the most "predominant" branch of Chinese painting mainly due to this kind of emotional connection, even though it has not become an independent division until Sui and Tang Dynasties.

     The lotus is an aquatic plant which has a natural blood relationship with water. People would naturally think of a lotus pond when they talk about the lotus. They would think of the water under a cluster of lotus leaves, which is either clear or muddy, silently nourishing the boundless green leaves. Due to this cultural connotation, I have tried to put the lotus pond and mountain into the same picture and used oil painting to express another kind of landscape of feelings. The lotus pond and mountain peak are considered as the sign of gentleness and rigidity. They both seem to be different; however, they can see themselves through each other like the two sides of the world. The change in the atmosphere between heaven and earth is indeed reflected by the hazy landscape of the mountains as well as the ups and downs of the greenery of lotus ponds. I try to use these pictures to show the deep cultural connection between the lotus and mountain through various changes of shape and color. In this way, I can explore another possibility of creating landscapes of oil painting from the themes of lotus and mountain.