"Every late spring, one of the exciting and slightly unsettling events is the launch of cherries. The basket was filled with some oval emerald green leaves, and then, there were countless small red pearls, which made people feel that it was a pity to eat. The cherries in the season, no matter how you think, are naughty, are daughterly, are delicate hair, in short, delicate beauty. The favorite cherries are birds and girls, the fruit is beautiful, the taste is sour and sweet, much like first love. "Sitting in the spring sun, tasting cherries, and flipping through the plant-themed book "An Abyss Color" by the writer Jie Chen, it is simply full of happiness.
In April 2021, a new edition of "An Abyss Color" published by Sichuan People's Publishing House was launched. In this book, we follow Jie Chen, a plant lover, chasing her plant reading, such as Thoreau, Camelot, such as May Sato, Tasha Duduo, and also follow her plant footsteps, from Sichuan with Privet, to Nanjing with sycamore, to the purple flower yellow moon in the Mediterranean, to the spice market and baobab trees in Africa. Of course, this time, the Sichuan People's Publishing House not only simply publishes a book, but also makes sufficient articles in both derivatives and audio books, hoping to make the beauty conveyed by the book Chinese more plump, three-dimensional and diverse through various senses.
"Morning glory, an abyss color", this is the famous Japanese haiku and Xie Wucun famous sentence, clean dust deeply loved, and used it to make the title of the plant essay book - "An Abyss Color". The 65 essays in the book are unevenly divided into 4 series of spring, summer, autumn and winter, with a total of more than 80 kinds of plants, begonias, wisteria, cherries, privets, hibiscus, osmanthus flowers, ginkgo biloba, sycamore... Some are commonly seen in daily life, some may only have heard the name, and any specific plant image cannot contain and summarize the universal characteristics of these plants. Even the morning glory referred to in the haiku "an abyss color" has many colors such as white, blue, crimson, pink, purple, etc., and does not include mixed colors. Every plant has a theme, but instead of delving into the botanical meaning behind a flower, it's more about emotions and confessions. So, Jie Chen said, this book is her love letter to plants, random love, but love is very true. "Every woman should have a patio. If there is no garden, there should be at least one plant as a lover. When a woman has a deep affection for plants, plants will complete a quiet and fertile sensory exchange in a subtle way. This is the original intention of Jie Chen's collection of essays, and she is grateful for the nourishment she has received from plants from a personal point of view, which in turn resonates with more readers.
▲ Writer clean dust
For example, the osmanthus in Jie Chen's pen, when it is pointed to the end, has a spirit and converges: "The fragrance of osmanthus is different from other flowers that last for a long time, and it has a particularly strange penetrating power." It is wave after wave, swinging outward like a wave, and suddenly it hits your nose, making your senses jump and jump and follow. In a trance, you involuntarily use your nose to suck, but it disappears immediately, returning to calm or never happening. When you finally calm yourself down a bit, its waves are coming to beat you again. It is completely played by it, but it is willing to be enchanted by the play. I have always wondered, how can a flower like osmanthus that looks so simple be so wave? Flirting so superbly? I can only borrow the proverb that is not very elegant here, but it is indeed very appropriate: a dog that bites people does not bark. ”
Guo Jian, the book planner of the Sichuan People's Publishing House, because of his love, had an impulse to make the book himself. Wait two years and get what you want. In the second half of 2020, the project team of the new version of "An Abyss Color" was established. "In addition to our team at Sichuan People's Publishing House, Yuanjia is responsible for dyeing costumes with grass and trees, Teacher Zhu Xinghai is responsible for the overall visual design, Yoli Yulin is responsible for flower watercolor illustration, and Teacher Meng Weihong is responsible for the overall planning of the project, which makes me feel more confident." To this day, Guo Jian talks about the past, still can't hide the joy in his heart, "For plants, for flowers, for this essay, the attitude of clean dust is: We are mainly responsible for aesthetics." Then, let the beauty of the plants spread out of the clean dust text more vividly. Beauty, starting from the overall visual design, the new version of the visual of "An Abyss Color" was handed over to Zhu Xinghai, who studied the design. This young designer, who calls Jie Chen 'the ferryman in his reading career', is well versed in the microscopic wonders of plant beauty, and finally takes the 'inner view of the flower' of insect vision as the design idea, abandons the entire flower type and even the overall shape of any plant, and interprets the unpredictable artistic conception of 'an abyss color' and the commonality of plants with the gradient colors of the layers and the texture of the petals. ”
The watercolor painter Yoli also created 20 illustrations for the new edition of "An Abyss Color", all of which are involved in the book' plants, camellias, hibiscus, pine branches, persimmons, cherries, plane trees, absinthe... The lines retreat, only the water drives the flow of color, but it is soft and slender and the color layers are rich; the "I" retreats to the outside of the painting, but because of this emptiness, the viewer has more possibilities for emotional investment, just like the wonderful texture of plants.
It is worth mentioning that Mr. Jie Chen, a senior media person and artist Li Zhongmao, wrote the title of the book, which is subtle and simple, and has the same restrained beauty as Xie Cunwu's haiku.
Earlier, Jiechen said in a chat with Guo Jian that she had published so many books, if she just published a book, for her, it would already feel "not fun". In fact, for book editors, this is not the case! Guo Jian said: "When we encounter a good topic, if we just make a book, we are also 'unwilling'. Now publishing focuses on integration and cross-border. The readership of "An Abyss Color" is women, women who like plants, women who like all good things. We hope that in addition to books, we can use a richer form to resonate with readers. ”
After countless discussions and screenings, the project team led by Guo Jian identified two major directions: derivatives and audiobooks, including silk scarves as feminine as women, handmade soaps as warm as flowers, essential oils as fragrant as plants, and illustrated postcards, "An Abyss Color" theme cotton white T, etc. The audiobook is the audiobook of "Whispering, Flowers Blooming Like You", which has now been launched in the Himalayas, Xiong Ying, founder of Cherry Garden, Shell, CEO of Yuanjia YUANJIA, Zhai Wan, a master of life aesthetics, Meng Weihong, a media person and planner, Ning Yuan, a writer and founder of Yuanjia, Xiang Xiaolei, president of Chengdu Imaging Group and chairman of Qing'an Cultural Communication Co., Ltd., Yin Jiulong, a designer and visual artist, Fu Xiaogang, a promoter of life aesthetics and a public welfare person, and "Shou Artist" of Chengdu Lacquerware Craft Factory. Wang Yuefeng and 9 other friends of Jie Chen, respectively, selected a favorite text in the book plus their own recommendation, and made a heartfelt and affectionate audio promotion for "An Abyss Color". Each paragraph is no longer than three minutes of audio recommendation content, because the different timbres, temperaments, and understandings of the participants show very different effects.
Holding this book of "An Abyss Color" that is constantly polished with the spirit of craftsmanship, Guo Jian frankly said: "Now everything is in front of you, well, the whole process is very hard, but it is very fun, very satisfied, we do our best to present everything we want to present to the reader, for the editor, it is a kind of happiness." ”
The Japanese writer Yukio Mishima said in his book "Kinkaku-ji Temple" that natural plants are transferred to an artificial order under a certain melody. Indeed, in "An Abyss Color", Clean Dust depicts for us not only the fertile seasons of nature, but also our incomparably abundant attachment and gratitude to the plants nourished by this abundance.
The beauty of plants, instant or eternal. (Readers' Daily All-Media Reporter He Jian)
Editor: Yin Hua Responsible Editor: Dong Xiaoyue Review: Zhou Hua