The Four Seasons (from left to right; Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter). 2021. Watercolour on Paper, 19 x 24cm. In Private Collection.

“Spring”, one in a series of four, titled “The Four Seasons” is exactly as its name suggests. It is also a surrealist response to Spanish artist Joan Miró’s painting,“The Bull fight”.

Each painting in the series takes on motifs that remind me of each season.

For Spring, I’ve painted those from my childhood; the orchid from Chinese New Years spent at grandma’s (also one of the Four Gentlemen), and the butterfly whose treatment is inspired by Portuguese plates.

The moon-like seedling the plant sprouts from has just woken up from hibernation.

“Summer”, the second in a series of four, was actually the first painting I painted from the series. The digital concept for it (swipe to see it), was actually my least favourite of the four and I felt that I needed more time than the others to work on making it look better in the final.

Like for Spring, I painted motifs that reminded me of the season. The fish implicates jumping into cooling waters to escape the scorching heat, whereas the bamboo is taken from the traditional Chinese ink painting motifs of the ‘Four Gentleman’. But of course, it wouldn’t be surrealistic if it was just a bamboo with fishes around it (not that there’s anything realistic about that in the first place).

I’ve always found the bamboo to be an interesting choice to be included in the Four Gentlemen. I didn’t really study Chinese or Chinese art so to have such a sturdy plant, which I associate with pandas, forests, and scaffolding, among the more elegant and, upon appearance, even fragile flowers, was — well the bamboo stuck out like a sore thumb.

It was when I was struggling with the composition, I remembered that my grandma had a small potted bamboo plant that curved rather than ran straight. It was a really brief and faded memory, I must have been about five when she had it. But that curvy, potted bamboo was what I painted.

“Autumn,” was what started the series. When Daphne invited me to join this group show at Alisan Fine Arts, I was immediately drawn to Joan Miró’s ‘The Bull Fight.’ I wanted to do the same for the series of small paintings Daphne asked for; to capture an element of my culture in a more childlike, casual manner of drawing. What came out of a brainstorm session was a composition reflecting the theme of the Mid-Autumn Festival, complete with a moon, a jade-rabbit (a mythical creature that lives on the moon with Chang'e and which I really liked because it spent its days making potions), and a towering chrysanthemum.🌕

Because I was the happiest with this concept, I left it for the end – but I also had the pressure of having to complete two large pieces within a month and a half, which I guess, played a part into a less relaxed painting process. A friend of mine said that my emotions gets translated into my work very easily and that it was obvious my heart wasn’t in the right place for this piece.

What do you think?

(Personally I think that as an individual piece it might not be the best, it balances out well with the other three – there’s a sense of urgency and work between the playful summer and hibernating winter)🐰

If “Summer” was my immediate favourite after completing all four, “Winter” is the one that slowly grew on me. This piece takes on in recreating a more somber atmosphere as life goes into hibernation and migration in the colder season.

Coincidentally, the flower that is representative of Winter is the plum blossom, which is also my surname. So, being the narcissist I am, I painted the flower with the meaning behind my name in mind; for a delicate flower to persist and persevere even in the snow (the plum blossom blooms in the middle of winter, you see).

Yet Winter is also a time I associate with migration, and thus the bird.

To be honest, seasonal changes are basically non-existent in Hong Kong, where Winter feels like Autumn, Autumn and Spring feels like Summer, and Summer is basically hell. These four paintings are my mourning of a city without seasons, and an imagining of what it would be if we did have them. 😪

The exhibition is on show until 7 August 2021 at Alisan Fine Arts – Aberdeen. Open on Fridays and Saturdays, all other times are by appointment only.