Beautiful Snow Plum Blossom Scroll

The plum blossom is one of the few flowers that will bloom in the winter. Here it is shown blooming even in a harsh snow storm.

The Chinese characters include a title that literally translates as, "Iron Bones Ice Soul". However, it's read to mean the appearance of the plum tree branches are like bones made of iron. But even in the icy cold of winter, the plum tree has a strong soul.

This is a freehand style painting by (Qing Yu-Dian) of Beijing, China.

This type of painting must be done quickly as the xuan paper (rice paper) absorbs the ink very fast.

One wrong move by the artist, and all is lost.

Artists who practice this type of work in China must have many years of experience.

Materials used in this work are watercolor and special black Chinese ink on xuan paper (rice paper). Later I had the painting mounted to a scroll with silk matting.