Impatiens and butterfly 1947

Qi Baishi made this watercolour, Impatiens and butterfly, with ink and colour on paper. I'm imagining him poised with his brush, hovering just above the surface. There are gorgeous red berries, sketched with only a dab. A butterfly, or perhaps a moth, is captured mid-flight with a quick blot of ink. The foliage has been added with simple lines, almost scribbles. I can see the artist playing with colour in such a direct way. As a painter, you can see a fellow painter searching, trying to capture something essential and alive with the simplest means. Each mark seems like a conversation between the artist, the subject, and the painting itself. It makes me wonder what I can do with just one brushstroke. In the end, painting really is about that ongoing dialogue between artists, always responding and reinventing.