It was such a lovely experience painting these peonies for Rolex at the beautiful St Regis’ Caroline’s Mansion. The CNY celebration dinner had a chinoiserie theme and hence the blue peonies. Though peonies are usually painted in red and pink in Chinese paintings, blue is a rather rare choice but I love how they turned out.
Considered by many as “the king of flowers”, the peony (牡丹 mudan) is one of the most prized flowers in the Chinese culture for its beauty and its representation of wealth and honour. This was painted in the 寫意 (Xieyi) Chinese painting style which is more freehand and expressive.
For those of you who do not read Chinese, the character above is 福 (Fu) which means “Good Fortune”. It is one of the most auspicious Chinese characters you would find being displayed or used frequently during the Chinese New Year celebrations. So when 福 is featured together with peonies, it is an even greater blessing.
Other than Peonies, Chrysanthemums are also very popular during the Chinese New Year celebrations. Especially the multi-petal golden hue ones which represent abundance of wealth and prosperity, joy and optimism. So how can I not paint them too for the CNY Gala Dinner.
It is said that if the Narcissus 水仙 blooms on the Chinese New Year Day, you will have wealth and fortune the whole year through. So I just had to include this auspicious flower in my repertoire of Chinese painted flowers for Rolex.
