金秋十月，是收获希望的季节，在化纹学社成立一周年的日子，化纹学社国画展在老家邢台初次亮相，即引起各界强烈关注，观者如织，好评如潮。其中，花鸟画家郭立新以其妩媚多情、清爽可人的写意牡丹，着实给了牛城人一个惊喜。

　　走进立新的牡丹世界，不由得心神俱肃，屏息静赏，浮想连篇。

　　花含情，叶吐意，春风无限，美不胜收；

　　牡丹仙子娉婷袅娜，脉脉含羞，风情无限；

　　人仙一体，相携相恋，醉死梦生，不闻人间烟与火；

　　畅游这天香国度，真真身临其境也，旁观仿佛自己化为彩蝶，翩翩飞舞，与花同春！不知立新常否于梦中化蝶戏花？

　　……

　　关于艺术创作的至高境界，中国文化崇尚“天人合一”。对此，从庄周化蝶的故事开始，古人就留下了许多脍炙人口的哲理性的艺术体验。昔白居易吟“花非花，雾非雾”，苏东坡曾道“其身与竹比，无穷出清新”，陆游亦言“一树梅花一放翁”，郑板桥则说“非唯我爱竹石，即竹石亦爱我也”。近代的梁启超讲得透彻：“境者，心造也。一切物镜皆虚幻，唯心所造之境为真实。”游心于此天香国度，如何不知“立新爱牡丹，牡丹亦爱立新也”？不仅如此，观众与这多情的牡丹亦相互爱慕，恋恋难舍！

　　观者在叹赏之余，不免心思：如此美品，出于何方闺阁？欲睹作者姿容，及见，乃一粗悍金刚，即大跌眼镜。惊愕之余，围住立新，带着好奇，怀着敬意，详细询问，再三求教。

　　立新，字听雪，又鸿羽。其人高大魁伟而聪颖内秀，慷慨谦诚并虑祥思捷。立新自幼酷爱丹青，喜写牡丹花卉。先师从邢台花鸟名家安可俭先生，所绘花中之王润艳动人，有出蓝之誉。近年加入化纹学社，经李清洲老师点引，使意识通灵，心意独抒，笔下牡丹文雅润情，富贵气十足，令人惊羡。友人喜赠雅号“杨贵妃”，盖因杨贵妃与牡丹色相同、性相谐、心相通、情相悦也。由此，足知立新与牡丹仙子是何等地情深意浓了。

　　传统的写意花卉往往寄以文人意趣，发展至今，渐趋程式化了。今日之花鸟界，格调高雅的作品实不多见。许多画家笔下的牡丹，浓妆艳抹，珠围翠绕，无论打扮得如何俏丽，因尽是“妆”“抹”出来的，故失之于自然，观后让人兴味索然。而立新之牡丹，不艳妆却清秀喜人，不打扮而愈发妩媚，妩媚而不妖冶，给人“可远观而不可亵玩”之感，使人爱来使人敬。立新重视牡丹花之物性、物理、物情，关注笔、墨、色的书写性、生动性和丰富性，并醉心与传统花鸟画雅逸俊朗的文人气骨，他追求洗练简约之画风，追求简中之丰富，简中之文采，简中之深意，简中之高贵，简中之真洁，并在不断的创新中寻求自身的娴逸、清爽的现代品格。立新之写意牡丹，既是对传统花鸟画技法、样相的破茧出新，同时也彰显着因与中国经典美学的解悟所生发的阴性美，显示了极至文性的风韵。刘曦林先生曾言：“雅俗不在于题材，不在语体，不在优美或壮美，而在于艺术的修养和文思。”好个“修养与文思”，可谓一语中的！

　　“问渠何得清如许，为有源头活水来”。今天立新的绘画成就始于他对牡丹仙子的痴情，源自他对艺术的执着和对文化的坚守。万春兄曾动情地说：“郭立新常常不惜重金购买经典书籍、工具书，不遗余力地在百忙中听取老师的授课指点，不畏艰难地去啃嚼经典中之一字一句。我见过他在史册、画集上的红笔点点，我见过他在诗词、文集上的蓝笔圈圈，他那种三更灯火五更鸡之求知精神尚属难能可贵。”同在化纹学社，我见证了立新绘画风貌的艰辛的变革蜕化历程，并且多次夜宿立新的洁雅小居，畅怀于他的画室书房，对于万春兄之言，我体悟良深。

　　立新敬业笃勤并虚己纳善。有一次面对他的一幅未完之作，立新认真征求我的意见，作为挚友，加以旁观者清的心理作祟，我毫不客气，说：“他人作牡丹喜配以枝干和灵石，那是人家的事情，你既然不愿屈情作枝，违意拟石，那削杆去石，专写花容花貌也为尚不可。孤花示高洁，两朵表爱情，牡丹万朵庆盛世嘛……”听罢，立新深深地点头。

　　是的，没有最好，只有更好。“为了更好”，化纹同仁相识、相知、相亲、相携，立新今天的成绩，尚属锋芒初露，乃“一点桃花报春意”也。与学社其他同仁一并，立新也把自己的艺术追求放置在经典文化的轨道上，由此，我们相信，明天立新的牡丹世界一定会更加美好，更加喜人！

　　Love and Words for Peonies

　　By Liu Zhenbo

　　Golden autumn in October, it's a season for the harvest of hope. The Society of Cultural Digestion's Chinese paintings exhibition debuts in its hometown Xingtai for the first time on the day of the anniversary of its establishment, which attracted many visitors of several fields and gained plenty of praises. Among them, the flower-and-bird painter Guo Lixin's enchanting and amorous also fresh and lovely peonies gave people a very big surprise.

　　Walking into Lixin's peonies world, people can't help becoming serious for enjoying them and imagining freely.

　　Of those, it seems like the flowers bear emotions and the leaves express their mood. With the tender spring wind, it's so enjoyable;

　　The peony fairy swings gracefully, with charming shyness and countless love;

　　People and peonies become the one, loving and accompanying each other. They live in joy, regardless of those human troubles;

　　……

　　Travelling in the country of this fragrance, it's like you are staying in the real peonies cluster. It's as if you've become a butterfly dancing with the flowers in the spring! I don't know whether Lixin often dreams of becoming a butterfly playing with those flowers?

　　About the highest state, Chinese culture believes in the theory that "man is an integral part of nature". About this, from the story "Zhuang Zhou in dream with the butterfly", the ancients began to leave lots of popular philosophical art experiences. In the past Bai Juyi chanted"Flowers are not flowers and fog is not fog", Su Dongpo said"Man is like the bamboo with always fresh", Lu You also chanted "There is a Fang Weng under the plum blossom", and Zheng Banqiao said"My love for bamboo and stone is not one-way, because they love me, too". Besides, Liang Qichao of neoteric commented thoroughly:"Situation is all created by heart. All of things are illusory, except for the space created by heart."Heart flying in this fragrant sky, how do you know it's not"Lixin loves peonies and peonies love him ,too"? What's more, the appreciators and the peonies also love themselves each other! Visitors are reluctant to leave.

　　When the viewers enjoy and appreciate they can't help thinking: Whose elegant hand are they from such charming works? They want to have a glance of the painter, but all were surprised when they saw him, a rough man. With the curiosity and respect, they surrounded Lixin asking him and learning.

　　Lixin, alias Listening to Snow, also called Hongyu. He has a big and tall figure but is intelligent without seeming so. Besides he is generous with friends, considerate and smart. Lixin has been fond of painting since his childhood, especially for peonies and other flowers. At first he learned from the famous flower-and-bird painter of Xingtai An Kejian, and since then what he painted has been very charming, which was even often praised more excellent than his teacher's. In recent years he joined in the Society of Cultural Digestion. Through his teacher Li Qingzhou's guide, he became more and more awakened in consciousness, expressing his unique mood. Therefore his peonies look elegant, soft and rich, which are admired by others. I guess the reason why a friend of his gave him the nick of "Lady Yang" is perhaps because Lady Yang owns the same beauty, character, heart and mood with those peonies. From this, we all know how deeply Lixin loves peonies.

　　Traditional drawing of flowers often beared the emotions of the drawers, however it has been changed to a fixed pattern today. Nowadays in the field of flower-and-bird, it's very rare to see an elegant work. Many peonies of the painters are so meretricious that no matter how pretty they are decorated, they always seem lacking of nature due to the excessive decoration, so causing the feeling of boring. However Lixin's peonies don't have too much makeup but are lovelier and more enchanting, which leaves people an impression of "can be appreciated but no frivolous playing" , making people love and respect. Lixin attaches great importance to the character, texture and emotion of the peonies, to the writability, vitality and abundance of the lines, ink and color. He is intoxicated in the comely verve of the traditional flower-and-bird paintings, and he seeks for the simple painting style, meantime for the richness, the literary grace, the depth, the elegance and the innocence with the simpleness. What's more important is that he likes to seek for his own character, which is elegant, debonaire and modern. Lixin's peonies drawing is not only an innovation of the skills and appearance of the traditional flower-and-bird, but also reveals the soft beauty of Chinese typical aesthetic concept, which shows the unique charm which is full of extreme literary grace. Liu Xilin Sir has ever said:"Whether it's elegant or stodgy has nothing to do with the theme, the form of expression, or the glory or the elegance, but the artistic cultivation and thoughts."What an "artistic cultivation and thoughts", just right to the point!

　　"Asked why the ditch is so clean, for has running water to come." Lixin's success on peonies comes from his infatuation for them, also from his persistence for art and sticking to culture. brother Wanchun once said feelingly:"Guo Lixin often spends much money on purchasing classical books and reference books without hesitation, and he spares no effort to listen to his teacher's lecture no matter how busy he is. What's more, he likes to chew every word and sentence of those classical readings over regardless of difficulties. I've ever seen his notes in red on the annals of history and the paintings album, as well as the notes in blue on the poetries and corpuses. His diligent learning spirit is very precious."Together in the Society of Cultural  Digestion with him, I witnessed the transformation process of his style of painting. Even I've ever stayed the night in his place for several times, which is very simple but clean. We talked freely in his art studio. So I understand the feeling of brother Wanchun clearly.

　　Lixin is dedicated, diligent and modest. Once faced with a piece of his unfinished works, Lixin asked for my advice seriously. As his sincere friend, plus that I'm just an audience, I directly commented:"Others like to add branches and stones into the picture when drawing peonies, which is their thoughts. Since you don't want to bend your willingness with them, just drawing some peonies alone will also be nice. One alone shows the elegance, two stands for love, and a bunch symbolizes the flourishing age, isn't it?"Hearing that, Lixin nodded with agreement.

　　Yes, there's nothing best but better. "For the better", our colleagues of the society get to know and understand each other、love each other and support each other. The achievement that Lixin has made is just a little show of his good talent, which can be called "several peach blossoms requite the spring". Along with other members of the Society of Cultural Digestion, Lixin sets his artistic pursuit on the orbit of the classical culture. Therefore we believe, Lixin's peonies world of tomorrow certainly will be more wonderful and charming!

作者：刘振波