胸有彩凤,翎羽成画

Pictures of Colorful Feathers

一帧艺术作品远看像国画, 近看像刺绣,再近看,却是自然色泽拼贴而成的羽毛画。那黑白的水墨虾,像是齐白石老人的作品。然而,那一根根虾须、虾腿却是细如发丝的羽毛。拼贴这样一幅作品,需要花费艺术家多少心血和千丝万缕!

A work of art looks like a traditional Chinese painting from distance and looks like embroidery at short range. Yet, a closer look reveals that it is in fact a picture made of natural bird feathers. The designs of black and white shrimps resemble the pictures drawn by great artist Qi Baishi. The feelers and legs of shrimps are as thin as hair. Undoubtedly, to accomplish such a picture by pasting different feathers would entail painstaking efforts of the craftsman. Up to now, the couple, Gu Min and Xu Nannan, have devoted more than 15 years to creating feather pictures by using the feathers of domestic fowls and other birds.