Pine & Floating Stone: Ethereal Blush | 2022 Original Tall Vertical Contemporary Chinese Oil Painting

An authentic 2022 hand-signed original by WeicaGallery exclusive artist Zhouping LAI, this tall vertical masterpiece is a treasured part of his Scholar’s Rock series, specifically designed for foyers, hallways, and spaces with high ceilings. Adopting a slim golden ratio vertical composition, it dramatically stretches the visual depth, perfectly complementing narrow spaces. The background features the artist’s signature ethereal Morandi blush texture—soft and hazy like gossamer—setting a serene and unworldly tone. A sprig of pine extends diagonally from the top, with needles rendered using a blend of cyan wash and delicate line drawing techniques; the teal pine needles contrast beautifully with vermilion branches, appearing misty and fairy-like.

The Taihu stone at the center is a tour de force: the artist combines transparent glazing with three-dimensional impasto to create a breathtaking "floating reflection" effect. The lower half of the stone fades gently into the blush background, as if reflected in still water—blurring the line between reality and illusion, and breaking the heaviness of solid still life. This masterful execution fully showcases the stone’s quintessential beauty of "thinness, wrinkling, holiness, and transparency". The ice-blue stone boasts warm, translucent textures, with light and shadow dancing within its intricate holes, echoing the cyan pine above to form an Eastern Zen scene of "pine clouds winding around the stone, and the stone’s shadow floating in the void". Framed in a wide natural wood-grain solid wood frame, preserving the wood’s natural knots and texture, it harmonizes seamlessly with the painting’s classical elegance and ethereal mood. The artist’s hand-signed signature "Pingzi" and the year "2022" in the lower left corner further authenticate its status as a one-of-a-kind collectible.