Abstract Beauty of Rain Flower Pebbles

Abstract beauty is an important character of modern arts. Abstract stone may become the development trend of the stone for appreciation in the world. The graceful and dulcet rain flower pebbles, which can be called as the outstanding of abstract stones, bring forth their abstract beauty with unique charm depending on their natural and daedal lines and florid colors. Kong Shangren Â“wrote gently stroking five-color light and fancying the ancestor of characterÂ” in the book named as Liu He Zi(六合子). Mr.Wang Chao Wen, a famous esthetician, ever said that rain flower pebbles are the primogenitor of abstract art. In the paper named Stone Interest, Mr. Ai Xuan, the deceased famous author, said that Â“rain flower pebbles are wordless world and sounds of nature, and it just likes reading the abstract genrepicture carefully and listening to hazy groupÂ’s poem to peer and look at themÂ”. After visiting the exhibition of rain flower pebbles, Mr. Su Hui, a painter in Beijing, wrote agitato that Â“the exhibition of rain flower pebbles actually is a world with showy sculpt and color, and the reference garden of abstract picture groupÂ”. More and more international collectors attach importance to the abstract beauty of rain flower pebbles. The discover and investigation of the abstract beauty of rain flower pebbles will drive effectively the activity of Let rain flower pebbles walk up to the world and let the world understand rain flower pebbles to develop in depth, which also is necessary for emancipating the mind, scanning the world, keeping pace with the times and connecting the tracks with international stone appreciation activity.

1 Research actuality of abstract rain flower pebbles

Abstract rain flower pebbles were shown firstly in Collection of Rain Flower Pebbles edited and published by Hong Kong Jiabin Publishing House and Jiangsu Ancient Book Publishing House together in 1989. The editors sorted the rain flower pebbles, which do not belong to landscape, flowers, characters, animals, etc. into abstract and rare class. Appreciation on Rain Flower Pebbles, one of the appreciation series of cultural relic published by Beijing Yanshan Publishing House in September 1994, which discussed the abstract beauty of rain flower pebbles specially. This is the earliest information for the writer. Mr. Liu Shui, the author of this book should be the one who firstly study on the abstract beauty of rain flower pebbles. Enlightened by the stereograph genre of Picasso and cartoon of Feng Zikai, the author thought that the abstract of rain flower pebbles expresses the artistic imago via exaggerating the concrete image. He wrote that what is called Â‘abstract Â’ is blended with the subjective Â‘meaningÂ’ of author and manifested on the Â‘imageÂ’ of works via artistic exaggeration based on objective Â‘imageÂ’. It is the object image of ideology in the sense of glossary. The first Â‘imageÂ’ symbolizes and impresses the second Â‘imageÂ’. The art connotation becomes more profound and wider, which can arose the abundant imagination and reach high-level effect of taste. Rain flower Pebbles Chart by Mr. Chi Cheng was published by Nanjing Publishing House in November 1995, in which there are only some sentences such as Â‘abstract rain flower pebbles,wonderful beyond wordsÂ’, etc. Appreciation on CollectorÂ’s of Rain Flower Pebbles by Mr. Bei Zhiquan was published by Southeast University Publishing House in May 1996, in which abstract rain flower pebbles were referred to especially. He thought that abstract stones and visual stones were important comparably. Its naturalness was where the marvelous lies. Abstract stones shall be full of rhythm. Abstract was the abstraction and reflection of the essence of things. This is the philosophical definition of abstract. The two abstract rain flower pebbles listed in this book, Â‘Rhythm of OceanÂ’ and Â‘Paean of Garden CityÂ’, did not belong to abstract stones in strict sense.On the contrary, his Â‘Green TalesÂ’ and Â‘Colorful DreamÂ’ were real abstract rain flower pebbles. Afterwards, Cai Qi in Shanghai released a paper named as Appreciate Concretization and Non-concretization of Rain Flower Pebbles with Artist Beauty in Grand Sight on Rare Stone, Bonsai, Root Carving Art and Flower published by Xinhua Publishing House. In this paper, he divided abstract rain flower pebbles as abstract and half-abstract according to the manifestation of abstract art. At the beginning of the new century, some collectors of rain flower pebbles in Nanjing, Shanghai, Luhe, Yizheng, etc. also collected some abstract rain flower pebbles thought by themselves off and on, but most of those were totally unrelated and difficult to enter elegant places.

It is shown by the actuality mentioned above that the research on abstract beauty of rain flower pebbles just gets off the mark and is desired to be penetrated into and improved.

Marx ever said that Â“the most beautiful music means nothing for ears without musical feelingÂ”. Rain flower pebbles contain a lot of abstract patterns. Collectors need possess relatively high cultural accomplishment and level of taste to distinguish them. However, the present collection circles of rain flower pebbles paid little attention to the research on esthetics, especially the abstract beauty, of rain flower pebbles. There are rare collectors with ability to appreciate abstract beauty. It is not enough for some senior collectors to collect rain flower pebbles only depending on their own feelings of Â“strange, odd, dream and magicalÂ”. The theory of abstract beauty is needed to guide practice in order to improve their discriminability for abstract beauty and art beauty of rain flower pebbles, which will enable them to become actual collectors of rain flower pebbles.

2 Abstract rain flower pebbles and concept of abstract beauty

Abstract and concretization is a couple of category. The abstract is abstraction, recapitulation and sublimation of concretization. It is not exact enough for general people to call the arts with barpque format or those who are blind to as abstract. The aim of abstract is to express the principle of beauty. Abstract genre and abstract beauty are related nearly, but different. What is called abstract beauty is the aesthetic feeling offered to people by abstract format, which does not reflect the concrete image profile or produce association of idea about specific and concrete images. Abstract beauty is adopted widely in painting, architecture, music, dance, and etc. and exhibit unique artistic charm. Music is hearing art, interlaced organically via melodious, euphemistical tune, phantasmagoric rhythm, colorful melody, abundant, concordant harmony, and artful and exquisite structure. It can immerge into the deep heart of persons, and affect the complicated interior world of persons directly in its own manner, which is the abstract beauty of music. Chinese grass style is the typical abstract art. It expresses the sensibility of arts through the thickness, length, size, slimness of writings, fonts and lines. For example, the highly cursive script of Huai Su is free as much as he likes, most changeful, has very intense feeling, and trend to make a clean sweep of a large number of mounted and foot soldiers. His Zi Shang Xu Tie(自伤叙贴) has fluent writings and magnificent vigor. Western abstract genre is formed after abstract beauty is exerted. They use the lines, colors and shapes not to reflect concrete object images but to produce ocular recreational feeling, which is a kind of abstract formal beauty. It rebelled against the traditional realism, emphasized the intuition, music and imago of art. It rose is the 1930s, and is divided into two categories generally. One is the hot abstract represented by Kandinsky, which lays particular stress on the exhibition of feeling and is expressional, lyric, physiological configuration, intuitionistic, perceptual, subjective and enthusiastic. The other is the cold abstract represented by Mondriaan, which lays particular stress on the creation of form and is structural, geometry, architecture, rational, impersonal and dispassionate. The abstract theory is mainly rooted in About the Spirit in Art of Kandinsky and Plastic Arts and Pure Plastic Arts of Mondriaan. Kandinsky created the first abstract drawing, i.e. Improvisatori. Mondriaan drew Proportioning of Red, Black and Yellow and Undertone legato Jazz Piano of Broadway. Abstract drawing has very deep influence, and has penetrated into each aspect of our life, and become the mainstream of modern art.

From the Tree series of Mondriaan and Bovine Deformation Process of Picasso, the evolutionary process of their drawings from concretization to abstract can be seen. The stone lying to make hill of the garden art in our country is also the re-creation after assimilating the abstract beauty of natural landscape. Mi Di, a drawer familiar to everybody in Ming, ever engaged in appreciating stones. It might be the abstract beauty of appreciation on stones excite his inspiration. Li Yu ever said in Xian Qing Ou Ji （闲情偶寄） that Â“the beauty of hill and stones are all shown in clarity, spillage and thinnessÂ”, which is also the standard abstract beauty to appreciate Tai lake stone. As a kind of frame stone for appreciation, rain flower pebbles with multi-veins, abundant colors and rare quality are organized organically into bizarre and motley patterns and format, which convulse peopleÂ’s hearts and exhibit their abstract beauty. So the famous esthetician, Mr. Wang Chaowen, ever said rain flower pebbles are the primogenitor of abstract art. Therefore, our appreciation on abstract beauty of rain flower pebbles is the objective reflection to aesthetic feeling of disciplinary organized format of lines, colors and quality, which formed no concrete pattern on stone surface.

3 Manifestation of rain flower pebblesÂ’ abstract beauty

1. Beauty of texture

Quality shall be observed when something is made. The material quality of plastic arts can communicate the sensibility of audiences with its unique language, and make it own a kind of expressive force. Stone quality canÂ’t be ignored when appreciating rain flower pebbles. Different materials determine the formation of character of traditional Chinese painting, canvas, watercolor painting and print. As far as quality is concerned, rain flower pebbles can be divided into two kinds such as fieldstone and fine-stone. The fieldstones are called as dead stone, most of which are screes. The fine-stone is called as live stone, most of which are agates. Because there are few live stones in rain flower pebbles, collectors always attach importance to them. Most collectors in ancient and modern times think fine-stone is better than fieldstones, because the beautiful skin of girls has been compared to Â‘Natural beautyÂ’, and the vacant beauty of jade is compared toÂ’jade nature and sky pattern Â’ since the ancient time. Even the senior personnel in professional rain flower pebbles museum ever told the author that is the exquisitely carved is what rain flower pebbles are favored. However, Mr. Liu Shui, a collector of rain flower pebbles in Nanjing considers that the rain flower pebbles with fine texture just like traditional stringed and woodwind instrument in south of the Changjiang River, and the coarse like story-telling in Beijing dialect with drum accompaniment. Both of them have their own subtlety. Men of insight accept this concept gradually. I think, except that fine or coarse of abstract beauty has its own strong points, it is key to determine whether the texture and connotation on stone surface are harmonized properly. The crystal, agate and egg white in live stones glitter the intelligent and dreamy feeling after immerged into water. Pale pinkish gray frozen rain flower pebbles have hazy beauty. The crystalline rain flower pebbles have clear transparent feeling. Those are the abstract beauty of fine-stones texture of course, but it will never deny the abstract beauty of fieldstones. It is like that the ink painting shall be drawn in rice paper, but good effect cannot be reached in coarse cloth, and occident canvas shall be drawn on coarse cloth to show its style. So we canÂ’t say turkey to the thin and bazzard to the thick. The quality of fieldstones throw off straightforward, simple and vigorous savagery, furthermore, the color is rich and gaudy on stone surface. The effect to appreciate them is beyond that of fine-stone.

2. Beauty of line

Rain flower pebbles are called as veinstone in ancient times. Farmers also call such kind of stones as rotor stones and silking stones. Vein is the inscape of image, and one carrier of abstract beauty, too. It is called as lines in painting, and connected by points, which is the main means to sculpt. Chinese handwriting is the art of lines, Â‘The band drawn by Wu Daozi looks like in the windÂ’ shows the aesthetic feeling of lines used by Wu Daozi to outline character. The drawings of Picasso and Mondriaan attached much importance to the adoption of lines, and regarded lines as the soul of life. So the appreciation stone circles look the line beauty as the basis of appreciation. Collectors in all ages thought much of the vein on rain flower pebbles. The vein of rain flower pebbles are discussed specially by Wang Xingqiu and Zhang Lunyuan in Ling Yan Stone Note(灵岩石子记) and Wanshi Room Ling Yan Marble Book (万石斋灵岩大理石谱) , who were collectors in the Republic of China. The vein is divided into four categories and twenty kinds of shapes. They concluded that the more veins there are, the better. Mr. Liu Shui and Chi Cheng have more impression force than any other researcher of vein at modern times. They brought forward two completely different opinions based on the sufficient affirmation to the investigation fruits of the elder generation. Chi Cheng considered that it is good whether there are many veins or not. Liu Shui thought that not the quantity but the queerness is required. Based on Â‘the more veins there are, the betterÂ’, Mr. Chi Cheng brought forward Â‘the less veins there are, the betterÂ’ according to the practice of stone appreciation, which drove the study of vein theory one-step forward, but he failed explaining the reasons. Mr. Liu Shui unveils the connotation of line nature using Â‘the queerness is more important than quantity for linesÂ’. This study is deeper than that of Mr. Chi Cheng, but it only answered the question about the quantity of lines, and failed lucubrating the length, thickness, bending, etc. The study showed that the length, thickness, bending on the surface of rain flower pebbles joined together, and formed fluctuant and strewed regularly changes, which acted on our vision directly to produce intense impressions such as excited, nervous, afraid, and free from worry, never tired of even look at them for a long time. They also make appreciators forget the Â‘linesÂ’ on the high ropes, and make them enter the bourn in which silence is better than sound, and lines are most lovely when they canÂ’t be spoken. So abstract rain flower pebbles donÂ’t lie in length, thickness and bending, but lie in whether the configuration and tissue can constitute ideographic figure, express individuality of taste, emotion, culture and force and skill and provide appreciators with aesthetic feeling and pleasure of figure.

3. Beauty of color

Gorgeous color is a big character of rain flower pebbles, and other stones for appreciation canÂ’t compare beauty with them. They are actually the garden plots referred to by abstract drawers. People attach importance to them all along. Wang Xingqiu, a collector of rain flower pebbles in the Republic of China ever said color is the first element of rain flower pebbles, which showed that color occupy an important status in appreciation of rain flower pebbles.“拗色” is used by common people to describe the enigmatical natural combination of rain flower pebblesÂ’ colors. Mr. Zhang Xiangyuan, a collector of rain flower pebbles in the same time of Wang Xingqiu, divided rain flower pebbles into five kinds and ten colors according to color and quality, color and vein, colorÂ’s location and the master slave relation. Mr. Liu Shui of the time hopes collectors to grasp the organic combination of such basic elements as color shade, chroma, brightness and color tone when discussing the color beauty of rain flower pebbles. Mr. Bei ZhiQuan thought that broken color has superiority over solid color, and it is better when there are more toned in colors. He brought forward two requirements for color beauty, the first of which requires color tone to be vivid and bright, and the second of which requires the contrast between colors to be intense. Mr. Chi Cheng put forward seven kinds of colors including bright color, broken color, rare color, 拗色, internal transparent color, cool color, ghost color, etc.

The collectors mentioned above emphasized particularly on different aspects. Mr. Zhang Lunyuan studied the classification of colors and had strong logic. Mr. Liu Shui paid attention to the harmonious beauty of colors. Mr. Bei Zhi Quan emphasized the innervation of colors with strong contrast. Mr. Chi Cheng studied seven colors, which emphasized personal feeling.

Although rain flower pebbles have more colors in stones for appreciation, but they are disorderly and unsystematic and shows no aesthetic feeling. It is crucial for the study on colors of abstract rain flower pebbles to find rules to compose color beauty and form aesthetic feeling. Â“A point of red in unbounded greenÂ” means that the abstract relation between the red and green is found in many object images such as green leaves and red flowers. There are three kinds of biased opinions about colors in collector circle of rain flower pebbles and shall be corrected. The first one is to emphasize the rich and gaudy color and intense contrast when looking for rain flower pebbles. Secondly, the rare color is costful. Thirdly, more colors are better, even >拗色 is better. I think that, as said in the first concept, when the contrast of color is intense, the impact force to vision is strong, but make sure not to forget Â‘the painted and light make-up are always worthwhile Â’. It will look vulgar if it is too colorful. As for the second concept, that thing which is rare is dear, but everything will be taken in a glance if there are no contents. As for the third concept, the broken color is better than solid color. But if they are disorderly and unsystematic and canÂ’t express meanings, their prices will not be high in the end.

Because the colors in abstract rain flower pebbles, such as red, yellow, blue, purple, green, golden, silver, etc., have their own subtlety, the contrast and unification of color shade, brightness, purity, temperature and area show different functions and symbols, make them reach artistic conception of exaggeration and symbol and make main images seem more outstanding. So the color beauty of rain flower pebbles does not lie in quantity, shade, purity, changes in temperature, intense and excited contrast, but lies in the organic combination of colors and the form and structure to manifest meanings in order to give people cubage, essential, permanent and rhythmic aesthetic feeling.

The following points shall be observed when appreciating abstract rain flower pebbles. Firstly, relative big differences are needed among color comparisons and the size of color lump to form intense and vivid effect. But, half tint is needed to relate the color limps in order to keep the equilibrium and harmony of colors on stone surface. Secondly, the light and shade, changes of temperature of colors on stone surface shall have proper change levels, as the path winds through high peaks,which shall have profound conception and fascinating. Thirdly, the main colors on stone surface shall repeat appearing in different parts to echo main color, enrich the color tone on stone surface, and enhance the exhibition of topic. Fourthly, the same kind of colors shall be used in color lumps in close sizes, which can cause harmonious and unsophisticated aesthetic feeling. Fifthly, it is not always good when there are a lot of colors on stone surface, because it is difficult to get harmonious and conciseness.

4 Meaning of rain flower pebblesÂ’ abstract beauty

1. Sensibility

Â“HumanÂ’s feelings base on thingsÂ”,seen in the angle of epistemology, the ebullition of emotion stand on the basis of perception and association. In the same way, once the stones for appreciation such as rain flower pebbles are acted on our vision, they may give rise to our association, awake the memory deep in heart, initiate affection wave and make us love rain flower pebbles finally. Touching people with affection is the successful cut-in points of artworks. In the same way, it is also applicable to natural artworks. In the book named as Karma of Stone-road (石道因缘), Mr. Wang Chaowen said that Â‘stone live outside human, human lives inside stone, attack and compromise each other, create each otherÂ’. Lu Fangweng touched stone and recited the poem, Â‘flower can understand language but causes many nuisances, stone can not speak but is the most to peopleÂ’s likingÂ’. So abstract rain flower pebbles attract people, make people moved and happy, which is the esthetical synesthesia making appreciators initiate great wave of affection. Tolstoy thought that the nature of art is beauty, and the beauty of art shall be the beauty of affection at first. The Â‘pleasure, anger, sorrow and joyÂ’ of Zhu Yunming, a drawer in Ming Dynasty, is the footnote of affection. The idea of traditional Chinese culture is to place feeling on landscape. Asham（阿思海母）, a famous psychologist, though that the affection life of persons is actually a kind of excited state reached after the sufficient movement of various mental factors. This kind of excited state is a kind of force structure in nature. Various affection life has its own force structure. So affection plays a very important role in concretization and abstract works. The connotation of Van GoghÂ’s drawing just is conveyed via broiling color and style of drawing. The stick and bald writing brush of Â‘Eight Great Mountain MenÂ’ fill you bosom with grief, indignation and enthusiasm. The abstract drawings of Zhao Wuji, some of which are red in full range with dinky corner in bight yellow, can make people feel thriving and vigorous. As to the inborn art, abstract rain flower pebbles,appreciators associate via feeling patterns on stone surface and gain esthetical enjoyment. The richer the association is, the more profound the perception is,(>这我去掉了) and the higher the aesthetic sentiment is. The depth of association and perception is restricted by the culture quality of appreciators. So the affection of rain flower pebblesÂ’ abstract beauty is the aesthetic pleasure obtained after the elements on stone surface constituting the abstract aesthetic experience are matched pro-rata and reach a kind of free and harmonious state.

2. Rhythm

You may be face the following circumstances when appreciating stones. The fluctuant lines of rain flower pebbles make you stare at them, or the combination of colors make you feel an upsurge of emotion or leisurely at times. Just these rain flower pebbles can make people have a camera eye, strike the table and shout bravo, and call to mind and ponder without end. The flexural wave of colors and alternant colors are called rhythm. What is called rhythm is the important movement attributes of personal lives, artistic lives and everything in objective world, and is a kind of movement format of disciplinarian periodic changes. Rhythm and rules of rhyming are the adjustment between affection and rationality, and one kind of harmony between riots and constrain. Rhythm and rules of rhyming canÂ’t be independent of a certain proportion relation. It will become too long if a cent is increased, and it will become too short if a cent is decreased. Guo Moruo emphasized in the paper name as On Rhythm that, rhythm is the exterior as well as life of poem. Rhythm consists in all works of art. Liang Sicheng, a famous architect in our country analyzed the rhythm of building as follows. A post and a window lines just like 2/4 beat of post and window. If a post and two windows are lined, it is just like waltz of post, window, window and post, window, window. If a post and three windows are lined, it is like 4/4 beat of post, window, window, window and window. Rhythm is divided into two sorts. One is mechanical order, simple and neat. The other is the rhythm to show volume ratio relation. The physical image is bigger when it is nearer. The Mondriaan technique in many films is to edit menu in order to form intense sense of rhythm. The rhythm in music is expressed via the length of time and intensity of sound. The works without rhythm will not possess aesthetic feeling.

The rhythm inside abstract rain flower pebbles is that of vision, is kind of movement state of strength and speed, lines, and colors. The combined profile of lines, colors and texture on picture tend sometimes is natural and smooth, or powerful state, or the state liking starsÂ’ twinkle, which will bring rhythmic delight of vision. As for the abstract pattern format, the length and bending of its lines, the temperature changes and brightness of its colors, the shrinking and extending of rigidity and softness of drawing style, and the density and switching of composition are all rich in sense of rhythm. Different rhythm can arise different mental feedback. The sight line of people will move with the change of lines and colors on stone surface, which will cliffhang and be fascinating.

3. Art of composition

Laying stones to make hill pays attention to the integral layout. It is important for the beauty of stone for appreciation that whether the composition of a picture is beautiful or not. Composition of a picture, i.e. art of composition, is divided into starting, continuing, transferring and combining. The layout is crucial for the beauty of the composition of a picture. It is important to embattle when two arm corps confront each other. Besiegment situation is paid attention to when chess is played. Music is consisted of movements. Stories have plots. They are building a kind of vigor to attract peopleÂ’s hearing and seeing via the changes of inherent logic, format and structure. The most basic, crucial and determinative element in composition of a picture is plane-subdivisions method, which is to arrange and deal with the area of the whole picture. The smart arrangement for the area of composition of a picture is to look at the organization of color block and lines, which will decide vivid flavor. For example, when Rodin finished the statue of Balzac, three students praised the two hands of statue. They said that Rodin could be on the scroll of fame only depending on the two hands. Just at this time, Rodin took up ax and chopped off the two hands of statue, and said to the stunned students that the two bands were too outstanding to belong to the integer of this statue. It can be said that, in a real beautiful artwork, there is not any part more important than the integer. At the same time, it also needs to grasp from the integer and structure when appreciating the geometric patterns of abstract rain flower pebbles. For example, at the first sight , whether is the integer of rain flower pebblesÂ’ surface beautiful or not, are the arrangement and combination of lines and colors able to represent a kind of topic adequately. In practice, some rain flower pebbles thought as collectorÂ’s may has disharmonic color collocation, or reasonless structure. There are few those according with golden mean rule and Nine- constellation Mathematical Rule（九宫数律）. For example, some stone surface is divided equally, but its contrast difference is relatively weak, which will give people easy, loose and agile feeling, or else, it will give people intense, nervous, serious, adventurous and excited feeling. The art of composition on stone surface not only include image profile, but also the factors such as color, shade, location, etc. The Â‘voidÂ’ and Â‘solidÂ’ shall be combined. In more details, the patterns shall realize the multiplicity and unification between change and equilibrium, contrast and echo, proper volume ratio, various and integration of rhythm and rules of rhyming, which will make the vigor of stone surface grand, theme prominent, image formed, and artistic conception profound.

4. Artistic conception

Artistic conception is discussed by collectors of rain flower pebbles mostly, and itÂ’s the artistic conception beauty (这我去掉了) is the highest realm of artistic beauty, so it is thought much of by collectors of rain flower pebbles. Wang Xingqiu said that Â‘there is poem in drawing, it is the best realm for playing stoneÂ’. Mr. Zhang Lunyuan consulted the Tasting Poem of Si Kongtu and divided the artistic conceptions of rain flower pebbles into 24 categories, which can be summed up into such two kinds as breadth and elegance. Some people in current rain flower pebbles circles think that Mr. Chi Cheng gained inspiration from the Â‘If people can realize the interest among other things, it is better than traveling thousands kilometers to look for hills Â’ of Zhao Jiheng, brought forward the concept of rain flower pebbles `ancient interestÂ´, immortal interest, elegant interest, traveling interest, childÂ’s interest, poem interest, serenity interest, nature interest, about the word Â‘interestÂ’, which are the continuance of the research on artistic conception beauty. However, I do not agree without giving serious thought, and consider it belongs to sentiment study. Even it is looked as the research on artistic conception beauty constrainedly, its artistic style is not high. To tell the truth, it is Mr. Liu Shui who really carried out actual study of monograph. He wrote relatively detailed in the monograph of artistic conception beauty, i.e. Appreciation on Rain flower Pebbles. He affirmed that the aesthetic character of artistic conception beauty is that thing and I connect each other, thing and I forget each other, thing and I united each other. He criticized somebody who adopts dream, image, illusion and odour as the character of artistic conception beauty in the appreciation of rain flower pebbles. Especially, he pointed out the artistic conception beauty of rain flower pebbles is not only as same as the artistic conception beauty of artworks, but also different to it. It has guiding significance for the practice of stone appreciation.

To sum up, Mr. Wang and Zhang studied the artistic conception of rain flower pebbles mainly in the aspects of painting, history, culture and individual feeling. The study of Mr. Liu Shui has materialistic taste, and more persuasion, but there is no enough research on the pattern in artistic conception. I think that the artistic conception of rain flower pebbles is the aesthetic feeling produced in the infiltration and restriction among the shape, manner, feeling and reason on the surface of stone, which is divided into three levels including Â‘rendering of heart for impression, feeling visual Â’, Â‘communication of active life, artistic life Â’, Â‘exhibition of personality spirit, highest realm Â’, etc.

There is no formulary to appreciate stones, but there are rules to be followed. As long as we can Â‘know the sound after singing a thousand of songs and tell the wares after observing a thousand of swordsÂ’, and practise and explore actively, our level to appreciate stones can be enhanced, we can initiate a new phase to study abstract rain flower pebbles, and contribute more to the prosperity of rain flower pebbles culture.

Stone Devotee, Lucid Writing and Refined Character

After reading Abstract Beauty of Rain Flower Pebbles by Mr. Shi Quan recently, six wordsÂ—stone devotee, lucid writing, refined character-- came to me involuntarily. Firstly, letÂ’s talk about Stone Devotee. It can be found that Mr. Shi Quan really favors rain flower pebbles as a devotee. He not only engages in collecting but also devotes himself to study; not only appreciates by himself but also makes friends with stone collectors. His infatuation in the stones is admirable. It should be on account of devoting interest, affection, will, etc. that he can get such learning and create such an article. The rain flower pebbles which have been collected by Mr. Shi Quan are really pleasing and beautiful. How many years should he spend in the country to find these elaborate works? Secondly, letÂ’s talk about Lucid Writing. This article is very graceful. From the cited materials, we can find that Mr. Shi Quan has studied and read many articles about appreciating rain flower pebbles and knows the stone history as well as stone information very well. Therefore, his article possesses historical feeling and large information quantity. Because the viewpoints are formed in inference and the conclusion is made in comparison, the viewpoints and conclusion are very reliable and believable. He pays attention to master appreciation rule from the integral and is good at realizing the nature through phenomena. Thus, his article is penetrable and has clear viewpoints, sufficient argument and deep discussion. It can be found that Mr. Shi Quan has his own unique understanding on beauty of texture, beauty of line, beauty of color, sensibility, rhythm, art of composition, artistic conception, etc. The spark of his thought shines all through the article. Thirdly, letÂ’s talk about refined character. There is a saying Â‘Stone is like the owner and article is like the authorÂ’. Mr. Shi Quan likes stone so much that he must be a modest gentleman with elegant ideal and interest as well as clear heart, having the soul beauty of fine rain flower pebble and the straightforward beauty of field rain flower pebble. You can imagine that while playing the stone in the hands, sometimes surging thought and emotions come and sometimes feel carefree and content. How long should you be trained and how many distracting thoughts should be removed before entering such a splendid realm? In a word, Mr. Shi QuanÂ’s article has both concretization and abstract beauty and Mr. Shi Quan can be vulgar but has temperament, and gentle but has popularity.

Finally, I would submit a suggestion to Mr. Shi Quan. As a musician said that your article would be better if you take your rain flower pebbles as examples to make an analysis and comment on abstract beauty, especially extending discussion on Â‘realmÂ’. I sincerely wish that Mr. Shi Quan will make new articles in the near future.

Content by courtesy of : Lu Kai Gang(Shi Quan)