Likvidambra Taiwan and the cicada 1950

This painting by Qi Baishi uses ink and colour to depict Taiwan and a cicada. I can almost feel the artist lightly touching the paper, letting the ink bloom and bleed, creating these translucent, umbrella-shaped leaves. I wonder, what was Qi Baishi thinking as he painted that little cicada, perched so precariously on the leaf? Did he feel a kinship with the insect, another being just trying to find its place in the world? The leaves are painted with such spontaneity, yet the cicada and mantis have a precise attention to detail. It's like a conversation between looseness and control, reminding me that painting is often about finding a balance between intention and chance. You see this across Chinese ink paintings, with the push and pull between the poetic and realistic. It makes you think about how we’re all just adding our own little brushstrokes to a much larger canvas.