(a)

In the field sketching, some interesting things also happen.

One morning, I went out to paint some mushrooms in the woods, and when I came back, I left my easel at the door of the wooden house and sat by the tin stove to boil water and make tea.

When Mr. Shen came back from outside, he came in and saw my painting, and said solemnly, "Oh! Dear Vera, you can't draw those mushrooms! ”

I was surprised and asked, "Why?" ”

Mr. Shen said: There has always been a common public taboo in the town of Winter Lake, that is, not to look at the mushrooms in the forest. Legend has it that the mushrooms of this forest are the embodiment of a shy fairy, and although they have taken the shape of mushrooms, they have always maintained the shy nature of a maiden, and if they are constantly watched, they will not grow.

I said, "It's not okay to stare indirectly from the drawing paper?" ”

Mr. Shen said, "No. ”

I asked my neighbor's aunt suspiciously, and later asked several locals in the store, and sure enough, I heard the same thing as Mr. Shen. They all advised me that it was best not to violate the public taboo and not to paint mushrooms, lest they anger the spiritual forces of the forest.

To respect the local public opinion, I came back and burned the paper of the mushroom. I never painted mushrooms again, after all, there are so many plants in the forest that can be depicted to my heart's content.

Unfortunately, we were still living in the area for too short to personally verify whether the mushroom I had watched would continue to grow.

However, I love this local legend and this attitude towards plants.

I like that people anthropomorphize everything in the forest as if they were the same life as themselves.

Although modern civilization often dismisses it as ignorance and superstition, I think that this attitude contains our primitive instinct: reverence and love for all things natural.

I'm happy to follow this folklore.

In the lap of nature, it is easy to perceive a basic fact: we are related to the whole world by blood.

We now need to restore this intimate and friendly relationship with the power of a loved one's attention.

(b)

If you can't draw mushrooms, let's draw a picture of fallen leaves floating in the water.

Some of the leaves will land on spider webs. The wind blows, and the leaves tremble in the wind, driving even the cobwebs to look precarious.

As I painted, I said to Mr. Yichen: "I really like this kind of unintentional life, no intrigues, no need to care about assessment indicators, and no need to be forced to keep climbing on the leaderboard." ”

While drawing a clear stream, Mr. Yichen replied to me, "Then you are suitable to be an earthworm, not a contract writer." ”

For a contracted writer, the monthly writing task is very burdensome. As a junior contractor, 80,000 words per month is the minimum bottom line for work, and it is said that some well-known writers have a monthly workload of 880,000 words or even more. This kind of high-intensity mental work sometimes brings great pressure to the writer's body and mind, and even leads some writers with a strong sense of responsibility and personal honor to embark on the road of suicide because they are overwhelmed.

The authors of the "Astro Boy" series and the "Detective Conan" series, perhaps, are physically and mentally exhausted, exhausted by this constant pressure, unable to deliver their manuscripts, and feel ashamed of the expectations of the audience and the company, thus moving towards the unfortunate end of suicide.

I looked at Mr. Yichen and smiled.

I said, "Next time, we'll switch to the pen name of Earthworm." ”

Mr. Yichen said: "You really dare to use any name." ”

Liang Xin listened to our conversation next to her and couldn't help but smile secretly.

We fell silent and each of us buried our heads in the drawing for a while.

I finished it at the earliest. That's of course, because of the low level and simple lines. I admire my childish masterpiece, and I don't feel bad.

I sighed, "Next time, I'm going to come here for a vacation in the fall." ”

I said, "I like to walk quietly on the trail alone, stepping on the crunchy yellow leaves, admiring the canopy that is red day by day." ”

At this time, Mr. Shen took a wooden stick that scared the grass and snakes, walked over from the side of the creek, and said, "Heh, you are really literary and artistic!" ”

He said, "Who will cook today's dinner?" ”

All three of us turned to look at him in unison.

He hurriedly said, "Don't, don't look at me!" I don't know how to cook! ”

(c)

Liang and his son, Mr. Shen and Katya, five men outside to clean up the peels of the potatoes.

I was stewing potatoes on the stove, the fire was red and warm, the pot was rattling, and the room was filled with the aroma of potatoes.

I took the spoon and enjoyed the wonderful aroma of potatoes.

I said, "I also love moments like this, better than winning all the awards, better than staying on the bestseller list all year." ”

Mr. Shen said: "So you are always arrested to be a cook, and you can't be on the best-selling list." ”

I looked back and said, "So what? People don't live to be on the best-selling list. ”

Mr. Shen said, "What's that for? ”

I said, "To cook fragrant potatoes for you!" ”

(iv)

While eating potatoes, Mr. Shen opened the results of my sketches in the past few days.

After looking at a few of them, he said to me, "Xinxin, aren't you really planning to put these paintings in your new book?" ”

I said, "yes." Wouldn't the author's 120 autographs boost sales? ”

Mr. Shen looked at Mr. Yichen pleadingly and said, "I said, Brother Liang, aren't you going to help her?" You're a famous illustrator, can you read her paintings? ”

Mr. Yichen scooped the soup on the plate with a spoon and said complacently, "I think she has a good drawing." The most beautiful painting lies in the purity of the heart, and the focus is not on the painting technique. You see, many kindergarten children will draw their parents as bean sprouts, big spiders or aliens, and big teapots, don't people also find it interesting? Xinxin, her current mentality is very beautiful. Pure and unblemished. It is the highest level of painting. ”

"But, look, look, this is a birch tree she painted, and looking at these leaves, they look exactly like the curls on a witch's head!" Mr. Shen commented with a sigh.

Mr. Yichen put down the plate, picked up the teacup next to him, and smiled on his face.

I looked at the expression on his face and said, "Why are you smiling so ambiguously!" ”

Mr. Yichen shook his head and said, "It's not ambiguous." I laughed very clearly! I have to say that Brother Shen's comment just now is very vivid! ”

I feigned anger and protested, "Hah! You just said that my heart is pure and unblemished, and it is the highest level of painting! ”

I glared at him from the top of the plate.

Mr. Yichen smiled and said, "Although the witch's curly hair is messy, your heart at that time is not messy." ”

"Really?" I snorted and felt a little better.

"But now it seems to be messing up again." Mr. Shen continued Mr. Yichen's words.

I looked at Liang Xin and asked him, "Is it messed up?" ”

As a result, the four men in the room replied in unison: "It's messy!" ”