兰花与竹子。
兰花与竹子这两种植物，在中国画里头的＂文人画＂中，有举足轻重的地位。
首先，竹与兰都可以傲凌风雪，不畏霜寒。
有诗云：唯有山中兰与竹，经冬历夏又秋冬。
竹与兰，和梅与菊，共组合成文人画中的＂四君子＂。
竹子的干，是虚空的。代表了谦逊虚心。提醒了我们，越有知识涵养，越谦虚学习求上进。
兰花。孔子称它为＂王者之香＂。因为它"不为无人而不芳＂。简单来说，兰花不会因为沒有其它人在，而不吐芬芳。＂所以可以称为＂王者之香＂。
画家简介
《修竹丛兰流水图》由画家赖瑞龍创作与绘制
赖瑞龍，1946年生于新加坡，今年69岁。
16岁时赖瑞龙己跟恩师，新加坡前驱画家范昌乾学画。范昌乾早年留学上海，是海派大宗师吴昌硕一脈海外传人。
赖瑞龙老师少年习艺，入门即为海派正宗。
海派属于文人画派，以古文字书法（隶书与篆书）的古拙线条融入绘画中。
《修竹丛兰流水图》的主要风格，即为海派风格。
赖瑞龙老师，最擅画兰竹。
作品赏析
整体佈局，以中间一溪流水相隔。左边为近景，右边为远景。左边一丛修竹甚近，近至眼前，连㡳根部都见不着。视线移至画纸中间是一溪流水，溪流右边那丛修竹最远，再移至最右边，是中景。
横阔的画面，难以一览无余而尽收眼底。视角由左往右移，视线是由近伸远再回拉。眼球的肌肉会越来越放松。心胸也会因为来至溪流与远景而开阔起来。画中央上空的开阔空间也会加强这种放松开阔感，而产生身体并心灵的舒适。
如果溪流上头没有丛丛兰花兰叶的交错。这幅长画其实就断成了两幅短画。这几丛兰花像桥梁将左右两边的画结合起来，也是将远景与近景拉在一起。
然而，单有兰花而没有淸流，画面下部的起伏的土地便没有通气的气囗，成了一片硬实的沉重。画家巧妙地将这一溪清流成了大地的气口。
而且这个气口的方向是住观画者的方向流来的。所以是把观者由近至远的视角再流回近处。
这幅画不是一幅死画，它是幅流动的画。借近远中三处竹丛，借兰叶相搭为桥梁，借溪流迂回方向的气口，引导观者视线左右深浅远近的迂回走动。而耐人寻味，令人一再神遊地观赏。
溪流不大，仅有一尺见方。却实为丈八巨作之＂画眼＂，妙为＂点龙之睛＂。
画作过程
这是赖瑞龙老师初次作这么巨大工程的画作。原本预测画作将耗三小时。谁知道得分三次，每次三小时，每次相隔一星期。
这是由于画作的巨大，耗思力也耗体力。
第一次画上竹竿，竹叶，大地，兰花，溪流。
第二次再添竹叶，使竹丛更丰富更有深度。并在溪流上添兰叶。为了增添上空与竹兰的清与净，为大地刷上了赭墨。
第三次题款与铃印。
款识为：＂脩竹叢蘭静觀其趣、和風朗日足暢斯懷。岁次乙未，炎夏。瑞龍挥汗。
款识下方铃有二名印。上为朱文：＂歸湖赖氏＂，下为白文：＂瑞龍＂。
款识上方铃有一闲章：＂志在千里＂。
画之右角有二印压角。一为白文闲章：＂闲雲野鶴＂。一为朱文闲章：＂登廬山，走長城，访碑林，歸来所作。＂
Introduction
This masterpiece named Forest of Bamboo and Orchid with a Brook
Flowing Through (脩竹丛兰静观其趣，和风朗日足畅斯怀) is commissioned by
Master Yun Long Zi and created by Singapore’s well-known artist, Mr Nai Swee Leng (赖瑞龙老师). It has a
length of 566cm and breath of 206cm; this dimension is traditionally called zhangba (丈八) in Chinese art.
The paper used in this art piece is by no means a simple piece of paper,
it is manufactured using traditional methods by Hong Xing Xuan Paper (红星牌手工宣纸) in the year
2003. This 12-year-old paper is provided by Master Yun.
The creation of Forest of Bamboo and Orchid with a Brook Flowing
Through took three weeks, beginning on the 4th of June 2015 and
completed on 18th of June in the same year.
Subject Matter
Orchid and Bamboo.
The two plants, orchid and bamboo, play an important role in the
Literati Painting style of Chinese painting.
Both the orchid and bamboo can withstand the extreme cold of winter
and does not waver under the weight of snow and frost.
A poem describes this, “With the exception of orchids and bamboos of
the mountains, that can endure spring and summer then autumn and winter again.”
(唯有山中兰与竹，经冬历夏又秋冬。)
Bamboo, orchid, plum and chrysanthemum, are known as the “four
gentlemen” in Literati Painting.
Bamboos have hollow trunks, and this has a connotation of humility
and modesty in Chinese culture. It reminds us that the more knowledgeable we
are, the more humble we need to be, in order to achieve further progress.
Confucius once complimented orchids as “the king of fragrance”, this
is so as orchids “will still emanate its fragrance even if no one was around”.
Simply put, orchids will not stop releasing its fragrance just because no one
is present; hence it deserves the title of “the king of fragrance”.
The Artist Mr Nai Swee
Leng
The masterpiece, Forest of Bamboo and Orchid with a Brook Flowing
Through, is conceptualised and painted by Mr Nai Swee Leng.
Mr Nai Swee Leng is born in Singapore in the year of 1946; hence he
is 69 this year. At the age of 16, Mr Nai started learning Chinese brushworks
from his teacher, Mr Fan Chang Qian.
Mr Fan, who is one of the Singapore’s pioneering artists, was
educated in Shanghai and is a renowned Wu-style artist. He started his art education
at a young age and it was during this time when he started learning the
Shanghai School’s style of painting.
Shanghai School belongs to the Literati Painting style and it is recognised
for incorporating traditional Chinese calligraphy’s (clerical script and seal
script 隶书与篆书) unadorned strokes
into artworks.
Forest of Bamboo and Orchid with a Brook Flowing Through’s main
style belongs to the Shanghai School style of painting.
Mr Nai Swee Leng is well known for his painting of orchids and
bamboos.
Artwork Appreciation
A flowing brook in the centre separates this artwork, to its left you
are presented with a
foreground view and to its right, a background view. The bamboo forest on the
left of the brook appears to be very close to the viewer, it seems to be right
in front of your eyes and the dense forest cover hides everything beneath it.
As your line of sight moves right, you see the brook again, and just to its
right, you see another bamboo forest in the background, it seems to be in a
distance. Looking further right, you get a view of the middle ground.
It is challenging to have a panoramic view of a wide painting, hence
you have to shift your perspective from the left to right, while the line of
sight moves from the
foreground to the background, before moving back. This
change in perspective relaxes the eye muscles, while the flowing brook and the images in the background
opens up your mind. The boundless sky in the centre enhances this relaxation
and sense of openness, allowing the mind and body to
attain peace and comfort.
Without orchids and its leaves being juxtaposed above the brook,
this artwork will be split into two short paintings. The orchids thus functions
as a bridge, conjoining the two seemingly separate paintings into one, and also
bridging the background and foreground.
However, the undulating land beneath the orchids will appear dead if
not for the presence of the flowing brook. The artist’s ingenuity in adding a
flowing brook into the artwork, appears to have added an “air vent” in the
composition and this in turn adds life to the otherwise boring undulating land.
Moreover, the “air vent” faces and flows towards the viewer, guiding
the viewer’s line of view from objects in the foreground to images in the
background, before coming back to the foreground again.
This is not a dead piece of artwork, but a flowing one. The bamboo
forests at the background, middle ground and foreground, the orchid leaves,
bridges and the air vent of the flowing brook, works together in guiding the
viewer's line of sight around the painting, from the left to the right, from
the deep to the shallow and from the far to the near, it sets you thinking and
enticing you to come back for more.
The brook isn't long, measuring slightly over one foot, but
it is the soul of the painting and it has the effect of "drawing the eye
on the dragon" (画龙点睛).
Artistic Procedure
This masterpiece is Mr Nai’s largest painting project to date. It
was forecasted to be completed in three hours, but instead, it took three
separate sessions of three hours, with one session a week, to complete.
This is due to the huge scale of the painting, which is taxing on
the mind and body.
The first session saw the painting of bamboo branches, leaves,
ground, orchids and the brook.
The second session saw the inclusion of bamboo leaves, which
enhanced depth and richness of the bamboo forest. Orchids were also added above
the flowing brook. The ground was also coloured in ochre ink to augment the
tranquil and grace of the sky, bamboos and orchids.
The third session had the inscription added and multiple seals impressed
upon the artwork to signify its completion. The inscription reads, “Forest of
Bamboo and Orchid with a Brook Flowing Through. Yi Wei Year, Scorching
Summer. Swee Leng’s Hardwork” (脩竹叢蘭静觀其趣、和風朗日足暢斯懷。岁次乙未，炎夏。瑞龍挥汗。).
There are two name seals (名印) below the
inscriptions, the top one reads, “Gui Hu Nai Shi” (歸湖赖氏) and the
bottom one reads, “Swee Leng” (瑞龍). There is another seal (闲章) above the inscriptions; it has “Zhi Zai Qian
Li (having high aspirations)” (志在千里) carved on it.
At the right corner of the artwork,
there are two more seals impressed there. The first
reads, “Xian Yun Ye He
(free and unrestrained)” (闲雲野鶴) and the other reads, “An artwork created after ascending
Mount Lu, walking on the Great Wall of China and visiting the Forest of Stone
Tablets” (登廬山，走長城，访碑林，歸来所作).
