作者：萧平
先父是爱花的。在我的记忆中，少时南京的居所——宏业村、建业村，甚至拥挤的贡院街的园子里、凉台上和院子里，都放着一盆盆这样、那样的花草。半个世纪后的今天，女儿小玉爱起花来，家中露台上、院子里，都栽着她弄来的这样、那样的花草。好像形成了传统。
我也是爱花的。以往曾对着父亲的盆栽写生，现在又默画着爱女种得的花木，因为花是美的生命象征。
在我所认识的四季诸多花卉中，荷花是我的最爱。荷花又名莲花、藕花，又名芙蕖、菡萏，所谓出水芙蓉。李白这样形容它：“清水出芙蓉，天然去雕饰。”就花而言，它真是美的极致，丰满而不臃肿，玲珑而不琐碎，明艳中含着雅逸，芬馨中透着清幽。“远如婴儿脱文褓，近若胎仙临玉镜”，在元人刘因眼里，它变成了天真无邪的她。是的，红艳的荷花，让我想到醉酒的杨玉环；皎皎白莲，又使我想起白素贞的英姿……“浓淡色中匀粉腻，浅深痕上着胭脂”(宋人白玉蟾句)在我笔下的花容，不正是冰肌玉面美婵娟么？
荷的美，又何止于花呢？水面淤泥下的藕，一节一节的，有孔有丝，藕断而丝连，便让人想到缠绵的情意，想到高尚的气节。它的形状，如同稚童丰圆的臂膀，闹海的哪吒不是借它而复生的吗？它还是清补的食品，甘嫩可口。
荷的干，中通外直，坚挺与柔韧相济，擎着花叶，随风舞动，有着与大自然一致的生命节律。
阔大的荷叶，常让我想到有“绿天”之称的芭蕉，然而蕉叶的绿远不及荷叶的绿，这绿绿得沉着，绿得文雅，这绿还透着清馨，这绿让人神清气爽……据说，荷叶还是一剂中医良药。泼墨写荷叶，是最痛快的事。我常因之想到狂士徐青藤，横涂竖抹，不假思索，得淋漓之趣。遇有什么兴奋事，放笔一挥，可寄可寓；遇有什么烦闷事，纵笔抹之，借以排遣，借以宣泄。这涂涂抹抹，看似简单，实不容易，要能涂出性格，涂出风神，方为上品。陈白阳是一个样式，八大山人是一个样式，石涛是一个样式，吴昌硕又是另一个样式……我也想着自己的样式啊!
落花常令人惋惜、沮丧，而荷花的凋零却具有一种特殊的情境。季羡林有这样一段描述和评点：“一片莲瓣堕入水中，它从上面向下落，水中的倒影却是从下边向上落，最后一接触到水面，二者合为一，像小船似的漂在那里。我曾在某一本诗话中读到两句诗：‘池花对影落，沙鸟带声飞’。作者深惜第二句对仗不工。这也难怪，像‘池花对影落’这样的境界，究竟有几个人能参悟透呢？”(《清塘荷韵》)
莲瓣落尽，露出了金蕊拥着的小莲蓬，莲蓬渐大，莲子丰满起来，仿佛精致的工艺饰品。莲子入口，清香甘甜而微带苦涩，这苦涩的是莲芯，清心败火，功效独具。
荷之于人类，真是一大珍品，从物质到精神，可以归纳为一个字——美！
我见过西湖的荷，那是杨万里诗中的茂盛的炎夏中的荷，“接天莲叶无穷碧，映日荷花别样红。”多么艳丽而壮阔!但是，我更爱秋风中的荷池，经历了季节的洗礼，荷叶斑驳破损，在风中飒飒作响，伴着飞舞的芦叶和荒草，那是何等潇洒，何等超脱啊!
在南京，玄武湖的荷，有巍峨钟山作背景；月牙湖的荷，则与六百年前朱皇帝的城墙为伴。那时我在南博工作，黄昏时分总与太太漫步其畔。现在我们住到了这小湖旁，遗憾湖中没了荷。于是设法用缸自栽了荷花，竟也长得很旺，我们便有了与莲一年四季朝夕相伴的经历。
壬午年我60岁，在女儿的建议下，办起了一个画荷展，60幅荷花，60个样式，在石城引动了不少爱好者。这一展览，不久又被苏北金湖县政府邀去参加“荷花节”，着实热闹了一番。在金湖，我看到了公路两边水沟中满栽着的时被尘灰拂面的莲，看到了荷藕经销处堆积如山的新鲜的莲藕，我知道了它是怎样紧紧地连系着老百姓的生活，这是诗人、画家眼中圣洁仙子“下凡”的实状。
其地有万亩荷花荡，让我心旷神怡。一家人，划小船，没入荷荡中，那是童年的梦，却在花甲时实现了。我想到了李清照的词《如梦令》：“常记溪亭日暮，沉醉不知归路，兴尽晚回舟，误入藕花深处。争渡，争渡，惊起一滩鸥鹭。”
该年，我出了第一本画荷册，引言中摘了《六十自述》的一段文字：“在我步入‘不惑’之年的时候，将画室‘朝华馆’的名字改为‘爱莲居’。‘出淤泥而不染，濯清涟而不妖’的莲花，成了我的偶像。淡于功利，不倚不傍，唯真、善、美是求。”
《莲韵》是笔者第二本画莲的册子，大都是花甲后的作品。较之第一本，不敢言好，大约总有一些变化的。
萧平简介：
萧平，别署平之、戈父。室名爱莲居。
1942年生于四川重庆，祖籍江苏扬州。
1963年毕业于江苏省国画院。曾任职于南京博物院。
1981年调江苏省国画院。
1983年以来，多次应邀赴美国及亚洲各地讲学、考察。在国内外举办个人书画展16次，参加各类联展60余次。
现任江苏省国画院国家一级美术师，江苏省文化艺术研究院研究员，兼任东南大学、南京艺术学院、北京大学资源美术学院、南京农业大学、扬州大学教授，文化部艺术品评估委员会委员、江苏省美术馆鉴定顾问、南京博物院鉴定顾问、江苏省美学学会副会长、清代扬州画派研究会名誉会长、江苏省海外联谊会文化艺术委员会主任、江苏省政协书画室副主任、龚贤纪念馆名誉馆长、江苏省政协委员。
作品被故宫博物院等国内外十多家博物馆收藏。
出版书画集8种、研究专著10部。
Love of Lotus
My father was a flower lover, so am I. In the past I used to make a sketch of my father’s pot-plants while today I am often immersed in painting flowers and plant that my lovely daughter grows, for flowers are symbols of beauty. Of all the flowers of four seasons in my knowledge, lotus is my favorite.
It is indeed a most joyful thing to a painter’s content to paint lotus flower with a traditional brush and ink, which often reminds me of Xu Qingteng, a crazy and passionate painter in Ming Dynasty, who, with free strokes, always created marvelous scrolls with great ease and verve. Painting, on happy occasions, is for expressing feelings and expectations, while at hard times, it is for relaxation and relief. Free strokes, which seem quite easy, are actually difficult to make, because only the artistic spirits, styles and characteristics lead to the best works. The renowned artists such as Chen Baiyang , Zhu Da and Shi Tao in ancient times, as well as Wu Changshuo in modern history, all created their own styles in painting. Certainly I also endeavor to establish my own.
In 2002 when I was 60 years old, following my son’s suggestion, I held an exhibition of my 60 lotus paintings of distinct styles, which attracted quite a few art amateurs in Nanjing. Soon afterwards, I was invited by the local government to Jinhu County in North Jiangsu, where I staged the same exhibition for Lotus Flower Festival in a lively way with enthusiastic feedback. There I saw plenty of dusty lotus flowers in the drain water along the road and piles of fresh lotus roots at sales agency. It then came to my attention that lotus is so closely linked to people’s daily life.
Moreover, I was so happy, so relaxed and so excited to see a giant pond of lotus. It was my dream in the childhood to row a boat with my family in a lotus pond, which finally came true when I was an elderly of 60 years.
In the same year, I published my virgin album of lotus painting. In the forward, I quoted a paragraph from Self-Reflection at Age of 60. “When I was in my forties, I changed my studio title from Dawn Mansion to Lotus-loving Residence, because lotus became my idol for its virtue of ‘purity over filthy mud and simplicity out of clear water ripples’. It seeks for truth, goodness and beauty, rather than fame and fortune.”
Lotus Charm is my second album, which involves mostly paintings of lotus I created after my retirement.
Resume：
Name: Xiao Ping; Alias: Ping Zhi , Ge Fu; Studio: Lotus-loving Residence
1942 Born in Chongqing City, Sichuan Province;
Ancestral Hometown: Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province
1963 Graduated from Jiangsu Academy of Traditional Chinese Painting; Worked in Nanjing Museum
1981 Transferred to Jiangsu Academy of Traditional Chinese Painting
Since1983 Invited to visit and give lectures in the USA and Asia.
16 individual painting exhibitions held both at home and abroad.
Participating in various joint exhibitions for over 60 times.
Xiao Ping now is a national first-class artist at the Jiangsu Academy of Traditional Chinese Painting, fellow of Jiangsu Research Institute for Culture and Arts. He is concurrently a professor of Southeast University, Nanjing Arts Institute, Ziyuan Fine Arts School of Peking University, Nanjing Agricultural University and Yangzhou University; member of Art Appraisal Committee of Ministry of Culture, appraisal advisor of Jiangsu Provincial Art Museum and Nanjing Museum, vice president of Jiangsu Society of Aesthetics, honorary president of Society of Yangzhou School of Painting in Qing Dynasty, director general of Committee of Culture and Arts of Jiangsu Chinese Overseas Friendship Association, deputy director general of Studio for Calligraphy and Painting of Jiangsu Provincial Political Consultative Conference, honorary curator of Gongxian Museum, and member of Jiangsu Provincial Political Consultative Conference.
With his works collected by over 10 museums both at home and abroad, including Palace Museum in Beijing, he has published eight albums of calligraphy and painting, and 10 books of his research.