Beauty of texture

Quality shall be observed when something is made. The material quality of plastic arts can communicate the sensibility of audiences with its unique language, and make it own a kind of expressive force. Stone quality can’t be ignored when appreciating rain flower pebbles. Different materials determine the formation of character of traditional Chinese painting, canvas, watercolor painting and print.  As far as quality is concerned, rain flower pebbles can be divided into two kinds such as fieldstone and fine-stone. The fieldstones are called as dead stone, most of which are screes. The fine-stone is called as live stone, most of which are agates. Because there are few live stones in rain flower pebbles, collectors always attach importance to them. Most collectors in ancient and modern times think fine-stone is better than fine-stone, because the beautiful skin of girls has been compared to ‘Natural beauty’, and the vacant beauty of jade is compared to’jade nature and sky pattern ’ since the ancient time. Even the senior personnel in professional rain flower pebbles museum ever told that is the exquisitely carved is what rain flower pebbles are favored. However, Mr. Liu Shui, a collector of rain flower pebbles in Nanjing considers that the rain flower pebbles with fine texture just like traditional stringed and woodwind instrument in south of the Changjiang River, and the coarse like story-telling in Beijing dialect with drum accompaniment. Both of them have their own subtlety. Men of insight accept this concept gradually. Except that fine or coarse of abstract beauty has its own strong points, it is key to determine whether the texture and connotation on stone surface are harmonized properly.

The crystal, agate and egg white in live stones glitter the intelligent and dreamy feeling after immerged into water. Pale pinkish gray frozen rain flower pebbles have hazy beauty. The crystalline rain flower pebbles have clear transparent feeling.   Those are the abstract beauty of fine-stones texture of course, but it will never deny the abstract beauty of fieldstones. It is like that the ink painting shall be drawn in rice paper, but good effect cannot be reached in coarse cloth, and occident canvas shall be drawn on coarse cloth to show its style.  So we can’t say turkey to the thin and bazzard to the thick. The quality of fieldstones throw off straightforward, simple and vigorous savagery, furthermore, the color is rich and gaudy on stone surface. The effect to appreciate them is beyond that of fine-stone.

Beauty of line

Rain flower pebbles are called as veinstone in ancient times. Farmers also call such kind of stones as rotor stones and silking stones. Vein is the inscape of image, and one carrier of abstract beauty, too. It is called as lines in painting, and connected by points, which is the main means to sculpt. Chinese handwriting is the art of lines, ‘The band drawn by Wu Daozi looks like in the wind’ shows the aesthetic feeling of lines used by Wu Daozi to outline character. The drawings of Picasso and Mondriaan attached much importance to the adoption of lines, and regarded lines as the soul of life. So the appreciation stone circles look the line beauty as the basis of appreciation. Collectors in all ages thought much of the vein on rain flower pebbles.

The vein of rain flower pebbles are discussed specially by Wang Xingqiu and Zhang Lunyuan in Ling Yan Stone Note(灵岩石子记) and Wanshi Room Ling Yan Marble Book(万石斋灵岩大理石谱) , who were collectors in the Repbulic of China. The vein is divided into four categories and twenty kinds of shapes. They concluded that the more veins there are, the better. Mr. Liu Shui and Chi Cheng have more impression force than any other researcher of vein at modern times. They brought forward two completely different opinions based on the sufficient affirmation to the investigation fruits of the elder generation. Chi Cheng considered that it is good whether there are many veins or not. Liu Shui thought that not the quantity but the queerness is required. Based on ‘the more veins there are, the better’, Mr. Chi Cheng brought forward ‘the less veins there are, the better’ according to the practice of stone appreciation, which drove the study of vein theory one-step forward, but he failed explaining the reasons. Mr. Liu Shui unveils the connotation of line nature using ‘the queerness is more important than quantity for lines’. This study is deeper than that of Mr. Chi Cheng, but it only answered the question about the quantity of lines, and failed lucubrating the length, thickness, bending, etc. The study showed that the length, thickness, bending on the surface of rain flower pebbles joined together, and formed fluctuant and strewed regularly changes, which acted on our vision directly to produce intense impressions such as excited, nervous, afraid, and free from worry, never tired of even look at them for a long time.They also make appreciators forget the ‘lines’ on the high ropes, and make them enter the bourn in which silence is better than sound, and lines are most lovely when they can’t be spoken.

So abstract rain flower pebbles don’t lie in length, thickness and bending, but lie in whether the configuration and tissue can constitute ideographic figure, express individuality of taste, emotion, culture and force and skill and provide appreciators with aesthetic feeling and pleasure of figure.

Beauty of color

Gorgeous color is a big character of rain flower pebbles, and other stones for appreciation can’t compare beauty with them. They are actually the garden plots referred to by abstract drawers. People attach importance to them all along. Wang Xingqiu, a collector of rain flower pebbles in the Republic of China ever said color is the first element of rain flower pebbles, which showed that color occupy an important status in appreciation of rain flower pebbles. “拗色” is used by common people to describe the enigmatical natural combination of rain flower pebbles’ colors. Mr. Zhang Xiangyuan, a collector of rain flower pebbles in the same time of Wang Xingqiu, divided rain flower pebbles into five kinds and ten colors according to color and quality, color and vein, color’slocation and the master slave relation.  Mr. Liu Shui of the time hopes collectors to grasp the organic combination of such basic elements as color shade, chroma, brightness and color tone when discussing the color beauty of rain flower pebbles. Mr. Bei ZhiQuan thought that broken color has superiority over solid color, and it is better when there are more toned in colors.  He brought forward two requirements for color beauty, the first of which requires color tone to be vivid and bright, and the second of which requires the contrast between colors to be intense. Mr. Chi Cheng put forward seven kinds of colors including bright color, broken color, rare color, 拗色, internal transparent color, cool color, ghost color, etc.   
      
The collectors mentioned above emphasized particularly on different aspects. Mr. Zhang Lunyuan studied the classification of colors and had strong logic. Mr. Liu Shui paid attention to the harmonious beauty of colors. Mr. Bei Zhi Quan emphasized the innervation of colors with strong contrast. Mr. Chi Cheng studied seven colors, which emphasized personal feeling.
      
Although rain flower pebbles have more colors in stones for appreciation, but they are disorderly and unsystematic and shows no aesthetic feeling. It is crucial for the study on colors of abstract rain flower pebbles to find rules to compose color beauty and form aesthetic feeling. “A point of red in unbounded green” means that the abstract relation between the red and green is found in many object images such as green leaves and red flowers. There are three kinds of biased opinions about colors in collector circle of rain flower pebbles and shall be corrected. The first one is to emphasize the rich and gaudy color and intense contrast when looking for rain flower pebbles. Secondly, the rare color is costful. Thirdly, more colors are better, even 拗色is better. I think that, as said in the first concept, when the contrast of color is intense, the impact force to vision is strong, but make sure not to forget ‘the painted and light make-up are always worthwhile ’. It will look vulgar if it is too colorful. As for the second concept, that thing which is rare is dear, but everything will be taken in a glance if there are no contents. As for the third concept, the broken color is better than solid color. But if they are disorderly and unsystematic and can’t express meanings, their prices will not be high in the end.
      
Because the colors in abstract rain flower pebbles, such as red, yellow, blue, purple, green, golden, silver, etc., have their own subtlety, the contrast and unification of color shade, brightness, purity, temperature and area show different functions and symbols, make them reach artistic conception of exaggeration and symbol and make main images seem more outstanding. So the color beauty of rain flower pebbles does not lie in quantity, shade, purity, changes in temperature, intense and excited contrast, but lies in the organic combination of colors and the form and structure to manifest meanings in order to give people cubage, essential, permanent and rhythmic aesthetic feeling.
      
The following points shall be observed when appreciating abstract rain flower pebbles. Firstly, relative big differences are needed among color comparisons and the size of color lump to form intense and vivid effect. But, half tint is needed to relate the color limps in order to keep the equilibrium and harmony of colors on stone surface. Secondly, the light and shade, changes of temperature of colors on stone surface shall have proper change levels,  as the path winds through high peaks，which shall have profound conception and fascinating. Thirdly, the main colors on stone surface shall repeat appearing in different parts to echo main color, enrich the color tone on stone surface, and enhance the exhibition of topic. Fourthly, the same kind of colors shall be used in color lumps in close sizes, which can cause harmonious and unsophisticated aesthetic feeling. Fifthly, it is not always good when there are a lot of colors on stone surface, because it is difficult to get harmonious and conciseness.