中国画到了现在，有关画和画家的金科玉律，要比画本身创造的成就多得多。千百年来，中国画被分割成了山水、花鸟、人物这些门类，而且是壁垒森严。哪一门类，都有井井有条的说教。还有一些貌似坚挺的论断，譬如画家一定是要劳其筋骨，摧其肝胆，历经磨难，否则，就不会有大成就。又譬如画家要有大成就，一定得有自己确定的风格，要有让人一眼可以认定的面貌，否则，这画家是不会有大名望的。这些个譬如，不能说没有道理，对于泛泛之辈而言，这些东西，称之为金科玉律也不为过。天底下的事多如牛毛，天底下的画理也多如牛毛，这些多如牛毛的画理，相互之间其实并不相干。就像鱼儿在水中，有些在溪流，有些在江河，有些在大海，各自生生灭灭，谁都离不开水，却都不必也未曾相遇。都是鱼儿，内心的道理和在冥冥之中主宰着它们的金科玉律不一样。夏蕙瑛就是不囿于上述金科玉律的一个出色画家。

　　绘画这东西，如其他艺术作为一样，我一直以为让一个出色的女子去做，应该更合适。夏蕙瑛就是一个把这绘画的事儿做得很好的女子。她富有女性特有的精致和敏感，精致和敏感，正是这世上唯一可以真正抵达艺术内心的路径，也是人类所能仅仅具有的神力。而她又具有眼界和胸襟。这种一般女子没有的眼界和胸襟，她可以得心应手地把自己的精致和敏感表达出来，用自己手中的画笔，琳琳琅琅，真真切切地表达出来。因为这一些，夏蕙瑛注定生活在大海。上述的金科玉律，有关溪流、江河的金科玉律，对于她来说，只是一种远方的声音。远方的声音尽管有些悦耳，但不必去深究。一个女子，几乎从懂事的时候起，就在画画，画到了青春年华，这个女子又具有直抵内心的神力，她的画自然展现了自己的景色，大海那样的景色。山水、花鸟、人物，浑然一体，因为这世界上的山水、花鸟、人物本来就浑然一体。这在溪流、江河可能看不清楚，但到大海，这世界可以看得很明白。身为画家，夏蕙瑛自然有了把这一切一揽子画下来的兴致和能力，她的画似乎没有确定的风格。囿于溪流和江河的鱼儿，或者说，即使个体强大的鱼儿囿于溪流、囿于江河，也会失去奔腾之心。而在大海呢，大海需要雄心守侯，在大海，雄心可以不变，什么都不会终结。毕加索、赵无极、吴冠中，他们都有确定的风格吗?他们都有确定的风格，什么风格呢?就是大海的风格，永远在变的大海的风格。夏蕙瑛也是这样，她融合中西古今，无所谓水墨、油彩，仅仅是用一支画笔，十分自豪地对世人证明了自己是一个不断求变，不断求新的画家，而不断求变，不断求新，正是一个出色的画家所必备的能量。

　　一个伟大的人物马丁·路德金说过一句话：“我有一个梦想。”这句看似平常的话，让我无数次感动，在我的少年，在我经历了磨难的时候。这一句话，还在很多的时候让我想到了夏蕙瑛。因为我还有一个梦想，就是盼望在这么纷扰的世界上能有一个纯粹的生命，仅仅属于绘画。而这个人出现了，她就是夏蕙瑛，夏蕙瑛是一个很美的女子，一个从容貌到内心，都很美的女子，她从小就喜欢画画，上苍让她受到了20世纪中国画坛很多大师的真诚引领，她一直在画画，上苍又让她衣食无忧，三十余年至今，她活得那么纯粹，纯粹到了仅仅属于绘画。这是她的一个梦想，上苍让这个梦想开了花，在这么纷扰的世界，在这铁石心肠的世界，夏蕙瑛是一种珍贵，梦想一样的珍贵。

　　(作者为上海市收藏鉴赏家协会会长、作家、诗人)

　　There have been more golden rules concerning paintings and painters than artistic accomplishments in the history of Chinese paintings development. Over the past hundreds of thousands of years， Chinese paintings have been classified into such diversified genres as landscape， flowers and birds and human portraits and each genre has come up with very strict and rigid rules that distinguish themselves from other schools. There have been such sayings which seem to be correct as painters have to be extremely committed to art pursuit by experiencing numerous difficulties and hardship and working persistently and earnestly prior to achieving great success. In addition， it has been said that artists have to create distinctive art style so that people can easily tell your works from many others at the first sight， without which it would be almost out of the question for painters to be successful and reputable otherwise. All the above-mentioned sayings and “have-to” make sense to a certain extent and could be deemed golden rules for average people. There are so many different things in the world and so are the art rules， which are completely independent of each other. Metaphorically speaking， these rules are just like fish in streams， in rivers or seas. Fish are born into the world， live and die. All of them live on water but do not necessarily encounter or know each other. These fish have completely different understandings of the world and ideas of their destiny. Xia Huiying is such an outstanding painter free from rigid commitment of being truthful to stereotypical restrictions of golden rules.

　　I am deeply convinced like many other art genres， an excellent woman is more suitable for pursuing art. Xia has done a great job in this regard. It is only with Xia’s unique feminine sensitivity and exquisiteness， the only magical power of human beings that she has succeeded in touching upon the innermost of art. Meanwhile， Xia is luckily gifted with vision and broad mind， with which she is capable of showcasing her delicacy and exquisiteness by her bold brush. The above-mentioned golden rules， which might make sense but deserve no in-depth study， do not apply to her so that she is destined to live in the sea. She has embarked on road of painting almost from childhood and her brush works are demonstrations of her own understanding of landscape as profound and extensive as sea. She depicts mountains and rivers， birds and flowers and human beings to yield a uniformed beauty because she is of the view that they belong to the same world and coexist in harmony. Streams and rivers may have difficulty seeing and understanding the world clearly and thoroughly but seas have no trouble in this aspect. Naturally， Xia has unique interest and capability to present a clear picture of what the world is all about. Her paintings seem to have no confined styles and characteristics.

　　I wonder if such renowned maters as Picasso， Zhao wuji and Wu guanzhong are confined to certain styles. They have their own styles. What styles do they have? Their styles are as broad as big sea. This is also the case for Xia as she has integrated the west and the east， the ancient and the modern. She has established herself as an artist keen on continuous changing and experimenting in new art realms and diversified art genres like ink paintings， oils and watercolors with her bold brush. The longing for something new and fresh is much needed for an excellent painter.

　　Dr. Martin Luther King once said: I have a dream. What he said has touched me many times， especially when I underwent enormous hardships and experienced many sufferings in my youth. It has also reminded me of Xia Huiying in particular because I have cherished a dream that a pure person would be committed to painting in this chaotic world with and turbulence. Xia turns out to be such a person. Xia is very beautiful both in heart and by look. Fond of painting in early age， she was taught and tutored by many renowned art masters of art community of the 20th century. She is blessed with good luck of not worrying about food and clothing and she has led such a pure life that she belongs to nothing but art alone over the past three decades. Xia has this dream as well and the God has realized this dream. Xia Huiying is as precious as a dream in this turbulent and tough world.

　　The writer is the director of Shanghai Collector Association， who is also a writer and poet.