Summer Mountains

Qu Ding

In traditional Chinese culture, the proper appreciation of an artwork is expressed with the phrase du hua, or "to read a painting." There is a literal interpretation of this; from right to left, these artworks become visual, narrative poems, with unfolding detail telling aesthetic and plotted stories. In Qu Ding’s Summer Mountains, we can see figures, dwarfed by the scale and majesty of their landscape, moving across the work on a pilgrimage to a mountainous retreat. These figures are not obvious at a first look, they only appear when we practice the art of reading the works, exercising a skill of deep looking. And in this, the more metaphorical interpretation of du hug becomes clear; to truly read a painting is not just to see the details deeply but to see past them, through the outer appearance of the subject and into its inner essence.

Saturday 29th August

The Moon rises in the constellation of Aquarius, bringing an airy quality to our activities today and welcoming opportunities for socialising with others. In the garden, we can tend to the flowers that still bloom at this time of year, while many of our fruits have metamorphosed from their flowering stage into developing fruit. Our bees, butterflies, and a plethora of other insects have been captivated by the bright, ultraviolet, intricate, and bountiful flowers, which have provided food for these little creatures. In return for this pollination, which the plant world invites from the animal world, we see the astral world of the insects permeate the etheric world of the plants.