Under the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, people have been forced to go out less and yearn for poetry and distant places. In the view of Zhang Xiaonan, a reading promoter, even if he can't go far, there are many beautiful things happening in front of him. Recently, zhang Xiaonan's art life notes exhibition with the theme of "Feeling the Beauty of Life" was held in the Corner Tower Library, and 45 works with pictures and texts showed the beauty of daily life in the eyes of an ordinary person.
Entering the first floor of the library, there are readers in the elegant exhibition hall quietly admiring Zhang Xiaonan's hand-painted artistic life notes. There are flowers and trees with vitality in these works, cute small animals, touching moments that happen around the author, and moving stories that the author hears from the news or friends. Most of them are painted with colored lead and watercolor, and the picture is fresh and elegant, simple and natural. Although the scale of the works is not large, each one is worth savoring. In particular, the text in the notes includes the introduction of animal and plant science knowledge, the white depiction of life stories, and the author's immediate feelings at that time, and the meaning of life flows out of a few strokes.
"I started taking notes on my life because of a chance encounter in 2013." Zhang Xiaonan remembers that at that time, a friend gave him a book "Notes on Nature", which was to teach people to understand nature in the form of pictures and texts. "Since I was a child, I have loved to read villain books and draw, so I wanted to try it out and use my own pen to record the beauty of nature." On June 19, his first nature note was published, depicting a jade hairpin flower at the Temple of Earth.
The precious big flower orchid in the mountains
Since then, Zhang Xiaonan has taken time out of writing and painting every day, and unconsciously has saved more than 20 notebooks and more than a thousand works. The plants he writes about are not only rare species, but also the grass and trees around him, the Yu beauty in the urban green heart park, the corn that accidentally grows in the roadside green belt, and even the discounted bananas that do not sell well in the supermarket, and the half of the onion head left in the kitchen, all telling their own life stories in his notes. His observation of animals is meticulous and imaginative, seeing the beetle photos sent by friends, he made up a thrilling "Adventures of Labu Jia"; seeing the puppies who worked hard to pull snowmobiles on the ice rink, he thought of the historical background of the introduction of the "Animal Protection Law" in the Early Last Century in The United Kingdom; he would also be excited to record this lucky moment when he heard that a friend in Xinjiang successfully cured a vulture.
In addition to nature, he also aimed his brush at the little touches of life, the cleaner who worked in the rain late at night, the little girl who built a "home" for insects, the dedicated reader on the subway... All became the object of his records. After becoming a father in 2017, Zhang Xiaonan's life notes have a new theme, that is, to record the beautiful moments of children's growth, each of which is full of strong fatherly love.
Falling branches in the park and encountering bugs
Because of drawing life notes, Zhang Xiaonan also joined the "Museum Travel Group" and "Beijing Flower Friends Group" and other communities, and met many new friends with common hobbies. "We often go hiking, learning about plants, observing insects on weekends, and you will find that nature is showing one miracle after another, and we will find that so many people are protecting the beauty of nature."
"Life notes can not only exercise the ability to observe, but also cultivate writing ability, artistic ability, and thinking ability; it is both a way of aesthetic education and a way of life." As a reading promoter, Zhang Xiaonan also popularizes this art on the tip of the pen to many readers in her work. "Last year, I held nature observation activities and life note lectures in Tongzhou Liyuan Town, Yongshun Town, Yuqiao Street and other places, and many parents brought their children to participate. Although some people worry that they can't draw, in my opinion, what matters in life notes is not the painting technique, but the angle from which you find beauty. ”
"Originally, my life notes were just my self-amusement, but every time I posted them in the circle of friends, I would get encouragement from everyone, which is also the motivation I can always stick to." Now, there are libraries in Jiaxing, Hengshui and other places to invite Zhang Xiaonan to hold a touring exhibition, and his artistic life notes will also be published in the year, and the book will include two or three hundred works carefully selected by him, bringing the beauty of these lives to more readers. He said: "Under the epidemic, many people can't help but be anxious and want to escape, but the beautiful things are actually all around us, but they are often ignored by everyone, and life notes are a process of rediscovery, which can make ordinary days more fulfilling and poetic." ”