Verdant Summer Hill
夏山苍翠图
Winding rivers across ten thousand ravines
Reveal the leisurely pleasure of the ancients
White clouds float above the high, green mountains
Pavilions all about links my sight to the faraway islets
An enormous dragon clings onto the sides of the cliffs
And a flock of cranes cries in the clear autumn
Meeting a friend, the elder puts on his clogs
While the wanderer sails on a jade vessel without a care
Such is the wonderful scenery of the mulberry forest,
That I could glimpse the immortals’ dwellings.
The hardest component of landscape painting is to depict activities. The natural landscape never changes, but each master brings his own style to the genre.
To paint the scene realistically can only be deemed to be from the hand of an amateur. An artist needs to capture the spirit of a landscape and with spirit resonance, the painting can be considered to be a masterpiece. Therefore, to paint activities well requires one to read widely. When one reads widely, he becomes used to the vicissitudes of life and is cured of ignorance. Naturally, one’s heart becomes clear, and the unique qualities of mountains and ravines enters one’s character. By learning from nature, we find the source of our hearts.
In the summer of Dinghai, on Duanwu festival, painted by Jiafang of Jiading in Shanghai.
万壑江水曲
悠然高古趣
苍山高处白云浮
楼阁参差带远洲
千尺虬龙依绝壁
一群鹳鹤唳清秋
山翁有约凭双屐
野客无心溯碧舟
自是桑林好风景
居然尺五见丹丘
山水之道，为绘事最难之。自然之山，万古不变，然各代大家所画山水自有风格。对景写实，只为能事所写真。山水需得其神，气韵生动，尚为神品也。故绘事须多读书，读书多，见古今事变多，不狃狭劣见闻，自然胸次廊彻，山川奇透入性也。师法自然，中得心源。
岁次丁亥夏月端午
海上 嘉定 家芳