芍药葳蕤，百岁华之 Peonies, with their luxuriant beauty

《春日印象：芍药葳蕤，百岁华之》3

Blooming Spring｜Peonies, with their luxuriant beauty, bloom for a hundred years

50x50cm Oil on canvas

Artist: lilyma马莉 2024-2025

This spring, my good friend Chen Shihai and I decided to collaborate on a series of packaging designs for YEE SUN WINE yellow rice wine.  It was the season when peach blossoms were blooming, irises were dancing in the wind, and peonies and herbaceous peonies were about to burst into full splendor.  For me, as a lover of herbaceous peonies, they were the natural first choice.

After months of testing firing color schemes on glass bottles, we found that there were limited options that could achieve the desired visual effect, particularly with mid-tone pink shades.  It was truly a pity.  Perhaps one day, sooner or later, the pink color range will allow us to realize the imagined palette.

As for which nine designs have successfully passed the tests, I will keep it under wraps for now.  For the moment, I can only reveal: Pink Crabapple, Yellow Peony, Hibiscus (Zhuangyuan Red), White Rose, Blue-Purple Iris, Rose-Purple Iris, Purple-Blue Iris…  and oh, there is one Peony design—the Peony cup.

The bottles are fired at a high temperature of 600 degrees Celsius, while the cups are fired at 200 degrees Celsius, which results in differences in color presentation.

《春日印象：芍药葳蕤，百岁华之》2

Blooming Spring｜Peonies, with their luxuriant beauty, bloom for a hundred years

50x50cm Oil on canvas

Artist: lilyma马莉 2024-2025

This year’s weather has been extreme, with intense heat and torrential rains.  Flowers in the late summer have generally fared poorly and become more prone to insects.  It makes me think back to spring, when blossoms bloomed in waves—that feeling of being immersed in a sea of flowers, a happiness that can only be expressed through painting.

Immersed in a sea of flowers, immersed in a sea of flowers…

《春色：人间尤物》写生3

Spring Flora Lexicon: The Stunning Beauties (Sketch)

38x26cm 水彩 Watercolors

艺术家 Artist: lilyma马莉 2025 春

Do you still remember?

It feels like something akin to love, about to arrive…

Some inexplicable surge of hormones. 

《春日印象：芍药葳蕤，百岁华之》5

Blooming Spring｜Peonies, with their luxuriant beauty, bloom for a hundred years

50x50cm Oil on canvas

Artist: lilyma马莉 2024-2025

Warm sunlight draped over me, not too harsh—smiling gently in the soft spring breeze.

I’ve been thinking, the summer heat has left me somewhat weary—I truly miss the spring breeze.

But now that we’ve finally reached September, the days are clear and crisp, with blue skies and white clouds.  The North has a different kind of charm.  I find this version of the North quite captivating.

When peonies bloom, the sight is truly magnificent. They stand in clusters—as white as frost and snow, as red as blood, as pink as a young maiden’s flushed cheeks or faint rouge.  

Why are they called *shaoyao*?  

《春色：人间尤物》写生2

Spring Flora Lexicon: The Stunning Beauties (Sketch)

41x31cm 水彩 Watercolors

艺术家 Artist: lilyma马莉 2025

The character “芍” (*shao*) means “to harmonize” or “to balance,” evoking a sense of coordination and moderation. Since ancient times, the root of this flower has been used in medicine. *Compendium of Materia Medica* records its ability to “nourish the blood, soften the liver, and relieve pain”—hence the name *shaoyao*.  

Their petals layer upon layer, delicate as silk, some so tender they seem to glisten with light. I remember, over a decade ago, I bought a few stems of peonies—so beautiful they left me utterly captivated. Never since have I encountered peonies of such exceptional quality, and they’ve become something I long for.  

But perhaps it’s just as well—it’s good to have something to remember, something to have once possessed.

法国（速写）：巴黎的妹妹给我买了花儿 3

France Sketches Paris: Sister bring me flowers

34×20.4cm 水彩 Watercolors

艺术家 Artist: lilyma马莉 2024Paris France

The peonies I had were always either bought or grown by myself—until last year in Paris, France, when my younger sister Lingxia bought me several bouquets of them. Later, her student gifted her a large bundle of peonies, and all of them ended up with me, serving as subjects for my paintings by the window.  

Just as I was writing this, Lingxia sent me a message asking how I was doing.  

I said, “Ah, I was just writing about you, and now I hear from you.”  

She asked me, “I don’t know what kind of energy brought this about. How are you?”  

I replied, “Lately, I’ve been restless—my mind is chaotic, filled with too much information. I’m in seclusion, working on my creations…”  

She told me to sing a few lines for her.  

Well, if she wanted a few lines, I’d sing a few. I picked up my phone, recorded a few phrases, and sent them to her—though I think the audio might have peaked a little.

She said, “Oh, hearing the sound, how charming it is. It would be better to see you.“

I said you should wait for me to go to Paris.

秋去春来｜芍药与玫瑰：物来则应，过去不留

Autumn Arrives, Spring Departs ｜Roses and Peonies

Meet them as they come; let them go without clinging

G4（34×20.4cm）水彩 Watercolors

艺术家 Artist: lilyma马莉 2025

The peonies brought by her student were exceptionally large, a deep purplish-red—not my most beloved color. But it didn’t matter. I could always change the color later.

I spent over twenty days in Paris last year, and yet somehow I had no desire to go anywhere.

I never quite adjusted to the time difference. I’d doze off between 7 and 8 in the evening and wake up around 2 or 3 in the morning. By 4 a.m., I was always up—painting under the lamplight, brewing coffee, making tea.

When there’s someone on your mind, you become restless with gain and loss;  

when no one occupies your thoughts, everything feels empty.

《春日印象：芍药葳蕤，百岁华之》4

Blooming Spring｜Peonies, with their luxuriant beauty, bloom for a hundred years

50x50cm Oil on canvas

Artist: lilyma马莉 2024-2025

Looking at my sister’s romantic endeavors, I teased her: “Aren’t you a bit old for this? The two of you combined are over a hundred years old—still causing drama?!”  

But then again—heh—if you’re willing, you can keep stirring things up till you’re old. That in itself is a rather amusing experience.

Sometimes, we would go sit on a bench in the park next door, look up at the sky, smoke, and gossip. Just like that—gazing upward, watching the clouds drift past. It seemed, in those moments, as if the sky itself took on a human quality.

Flowers resemble people, and people resemble flowers. The lush, glorious beauty of a peony withers into something as awkward as a ragged cloth when it fades. Doesn’t that, in a way, tell us: No matter how long or short life is, we ought to live with abandon and bloom brilliantly?

lilyma 马莉 The afternoon of September 9, 2025 

《春日印象：芍药葳蕤，百岁华之》1

Blooming Spring｜Peonies, with their luxuriant beauty, bloom for a hundred years

50x50cm Oil on canvas

Artist: lilyma马莉 2024-2025