Don't tell your secrets to a parrot

This piece depicts the story of a man that wants to be left alone to read his books. He tells his parrot "If anyone comes, tell them that I am not here".

Unfortunately the bird simply repeats "If anyone comes, tell them that I am not here" when people come to the door and so the man's secret is revealed.

The story is actually an old and famous Chinese Joke. But is can also be used as daily advice, not give away your secrets to those whom you can not trust.

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The Materials...

Painted with watercolor and special Chinese ink on handmade xuan paper (rice paper) with gold flecks/flakes. The paper itself is handmade in a process that takes more than a year to complete.

We've been doing some experiments with mounting some of these philosophy art paintings to wall scrolls. I don't know if this will become a regular item or not. This one is mounted with an antique-style two-tone silk cloth combination. This is very much the style you would see in China hundreds of years ago - a very classic style. See: How we make our wall scrolls.

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About This Collection of Chinese Philosophy Art

This painting is from the San Yang Collection, a great series of paintings that depict various folklore, stories, and philosophies of Chinese culture.

I have translated the stories of these paintings into English with the personal help of the artist.

This work was done in Beijing, China by Zhang Xiuzhen whose pen name is "San Yang".

She is a rather famous artist in northern China and has been painting since 1958.
Her work has been seen in many international exhibitions around the world over the last decade.

This is known as "free-hand style" painting.
This style of painting is done quickly with broad and powerful strokes. But often with a half-dry brush. This is a very specific technique that this artist has mastered, and many try to copy.