Sketch on a Summer Day 1981

Li Huasheng painted ‘Sketch on a Summer Day’ with ink and colour on paper. I’m picturing Li outside with his paper, the ink bleeding as it meets the page, and he works quickly, trying to capture it all: the figures, the birds, a house nestled amidst the trees. I imagine the artist’s thought process, the intuitive back and forth, like a dance between perception and mark-making. The whole image is captured with a sense of lightness; the artist’s touch feels incredibly sensitive, each brushstroke purposeful. The lines are so alive! Like Cy Twombly said, "Every line is the actual experience." It makes me think about how painting can embody a way of seeing and feeling, turning a fleeting moment into something permanent. I am inspired to keep the conversation going, to pick up a brush and respond to the world, as Li Huasheng has done so beautifully here.