木棉花開【Red cotton Blooming 】

木棉花開 

木棉花開了﹗在送兒子上學的路上，抬頭滿眼都是枝椏漫天的木棉，一朵朵地長滿了天空，勿勿忙忙把兒子送上校門，操場上卻傳來音樂老師在指揮大合唱！那一刻 —— 有一種莫名的感動……我們曾經歷的也許他們都要經歷。

從學校下山的路途上，我在地上挑了幾朵木棉回家寫生。其實，說這些也已是去年的事情了，記得去年剛踏入春季，雨水就不停地下，足足一個星期﹗放在桌子的木棉花，也畫了好幾回，就是沒有出去畫樹。

一天，我剛巧在外逛商場，天忽地落下冰雹，回來發覺桌上的木棉已被小狗大威吃掉﹗大概牠看見「媽媽」對著這幾朵紅花專心地畫了幾天，實在好奇，剛巧那天肚子很餓，下著雨又不能上街，就把桌上的花偷吃掉了﹗因為連日的大雨打落了不少木棉，花朵都凋零在地上，我也就再沒有撿木棉回家了。

今年春節剛過，木棉就已經從樹上「嘭」的一聲掉下來！我家附近有兩棵蓋天的木棉樹，每到早春時節，都會開得燦爛。兒子在放學的路上，總會在樹下掉落一地的木棉花中奔跑回家。那裡亦是本區遊人眾多的地方。不過，要畫得那漫天木棉的感覺，就只有硬著頭皮，支起畫架在那兒寫生。

這一天，我不假思索地找了個位置，大概比劃了一下構圖，就用素描鉛筆在粗糙的水彩紙上畫起來﹗由於選取的距離太近，而樹幹也像迷宮一樣，往往要抬頭望天半響，手同時要在調色盤上遊走，才能畫上一筆﹗周遭的一切好像都變得模糊了，但又不其然地與周遭的人，相熟的、不相熟的交談著……。

釣魚的水哥：「 你怎麼在這裡？你今天不用陪兒子釣魚嗎﹖」「哈哈」；狗王大叔：「你可知道這是一顆榕樹寄生在這裡嗎？」「原來是這樣」；賣菜女人：「你應該在這裡擺張檯會方便些。」「說的是」；電器老闆娘：「你這是畫來自己欣賞嗎﹖」「當然」；鄰家女孩：「姐姐…你什麼時候畫完啊！」「不知道啊﹗」非裔婦人：「Excuse me…這花叫什麼名字，為什麼那麼多人在這裡拍照？」「因為要在這個季節才有的 呀！」

說罷﹗我突然覺得，無論經歷什麼故事，事物本身都應該有一個美好的結局。我在寫生的位置站了兩天下午，回家再努力了一個星期，希望這幅畫的完成本身就是一個美好的結局。



Red cotton Blooming 

Red cotton Tree flowers are Blooming !  On the way with my son to school, there was full of branches of red cotton tree flowers in the sky,  rushing put my son to the school gate, there was singing sounds from the playground where music teacher was directing  student chorus! At that moment，there was an inexplicable touching. Maybe what we have experienced, they will  all experience.

On the way down the mountain from school, I picked up some red cotton flowers on the ground back home to sketch it .   I remember when just in the spring last year, It was raining for a week!  The cotton flowers on the table was painted several times, but I didn't go out to paint the tree.

One day, I went outside for shopping, it was suddenly hail . When I came back, I found that the cotton flower on the table had been eaten by the puppy Dai Wai ! Probably he saw "mother" painting the red flowers intently for a few days, and he was really curious. Probably he was very hungry in those days, and it was raining make him could not go outside to the street, so he stole the flowers on the table!  After that , I didn’t picked up cotton flower back home.  It is because a lot of cotton flower were spreading on the ground by continuance heavy raining days.

Just after Chinese new year, those cotton flowers fell down from the tree with  "bang"! There are two big red cotton trees which cover the sky nearby my home. They are blooming brightly in early spring.   After school, my son would always running home among the cotton flowers on the ground. There are used to have a lot of tourists , to paint the sky full of red cotton, You may have to set up an easel and sketch there, even through there used to have a lot of tourists in Sunday.

On this day, I founded a location without thinking and made a gesture for the composition, and then used a sketch pencil to draw on rough watercolor paper!

It is because the selected distance is too close, and the tree trunk is like a maze. I has to look up at the sky for a while, and my hand was like walking round on the palette to draw a stroke!  Everything around seems to become blurred, but unexpectedly talking with people around in  familiar and unfamiliar too.

The fishing brother:  "Why are you here? Don't you have to accompany your son fishing today?" "Haha"; Uncle Dog King: "Do you know this is a marabutan  parasitizing here?" "Oh, that is true";  A Woman selling vegetables : "It will be more convenient for you to set up a table here." "That's right";  electrical appliance shopkeeper woman : "Are you painting this for yourself?" "Yes, Of course"; the girl next door: "Sister...When will you finish painting? Ah!" "I don't know!" Another woman passed by : "Excuse me...What is the name of this flower and why are so many people taking pictures here?" "Because it will only be available this season!"

I suddenly felt that no matter what story I experienced, it should have a happy ending. I stood in the sketching position for two days in the afternoon, and went home to  worked hard for another week, hoping this painting would have a happy ending.