春韵Spring Melody

A small painting on card. The upper part is a tree in full bloom, its flowers dabbed in gamboge yellow with red-brown centres so the branches glow. On them perch a pair of mynas, glossy black: one stands on a high twig and looks back, the other lifts its beak and sings, both set down in a few strokes of dark ink. In the middle a large rock is rubbed in with pale ink and washed in pale blue, with dots of mineral green along its edges, and beneath it grow a few stems of purple orchid, their leaves like ribbons and their flowers pale violet. Yellow, ink, blue and violet set each other off, bright without being loud.

The title on the right is read for now as “Spring Melody” (the first character is uncertain), signed Li Jumei: flowering branches, singing birds and orchids together, a picture of spring.

此为卡纸小品。画幅上部一树繁花，以藤黄点簇，间以赭红花蕊，满枝明亮；枝上八哥一双，墨羽黑亮，一只立于高枝回首，一只张喙仰鸣，以浓墨大笔写出，形简神足。中部巨石一方，淡墨皴擦，敷以淡青，石棱处石绿苔点跳跃；石下紫兰数茎，叶如飘带，花作淡紫，清雅秀逸。黄、墨、青、紫数色相映，明快而不艳俗。

右侧题“□韵”，首字暂读作“春”，款署李菊梅。繁花、鸣禽与幽兰同绘，写春日生机，雅趣盎然。