Chapter 42 fourth quarter

The champagne foam tickled Beth's nostrils, and she twitched her nose a few times. "Do you want to see something unexpected?" "Another unexpected thing?" The sparkling Dom Pelyyan champagne trickled down Decker's tongue. "It's been an extraordinary day." "I want you to watch it, but I'm a little nervous." Decker wasn't sure what she meant. "nervous?" "It's quite a secret." This time Decker really didn't understand what she meant. "Can I see it?" Beth nodded firmly, as if making up her mind. "I really want you to see it, come with me."

They left the beautifully tiled kitchen, walked past the colorful denim rugs in the living room, and down an open-air hallway in front of the house.This corridor led them past one door to the laundry room and to another.This door is closed.Whenever Decker visited Beth, she kept her mouth shut about the secrets behind the door. Now, with some hesitation, she looked fondly into Decker's blue eyes and let out a long breath. "bring it on." After she opened the door, Decker's first impression was of color.Red, green, blue, yellow, colorful, just like a dazzling rainbow gushing out.What unfolded in front of him was an ever-changing, colorful and beautiful scroll.His second impression is the organic combination of graphics, images and textures, as if they share the same vitality.

Decker was silent for a moment.The pictures made such an impression on him, so deep, that he was completely taken aback. Beth studied him more seriously. "what do you think?" "'Think' is not accurate enough, it should be how I feel, I am conquered." "real?" "They're so beautiful." Decker took a few steps forward, looking around at the paintings on the easels, on the walls, and overhead. "awesome." "In this way, I feel more relieved." "But there's plenty of..." Decker counted quickly. "...A dozen paintings. They're all about New Mexico. When did you—"

"Since I moved in, I've been drawing every day except when I'm with you." "But you never said a word to me about it." "I'm so nervous. What if you don't like them? What if you say they resemble the work of so-and-so artist here?" "But they are not similar, absolutely not." Decker walked slowly from one painting to another, feeling and admiring. One of them caught his special attention.The painting showed a larch growing on a dry riverbed, bordered by red wildflowers.The painting looked simple and rustic, but Decker always felt that there was something in the picture.

"What do you think of this picture?" Beth asked. "For me, appreciating paintings is probably more pleasant than talking about them." "It's not hard. What do you notice first? What do you feel most deeply?" "Those red wildflowers." "Yes," said Beth, "I've been interested in them from the moment I knew what they were called. This flower is called an 'Indian Paintbrush.'" "Look, they're like an artist's paintbrush," Decker said, "straight, slender, with a red mane on top." He thought for a moment. "A painting depicting the flowers of the brush."

"You're on to something," Beth said. "Art critics call this kind of painting 'self-referential painting,' that is, painting that represents painting." "That might explain another thing that caught my attention," Decker said, "and that's your swirling brushstrokes and the way you combine everything you're representing. What's that technique called?" ? Impressionism? It reminds me of Cézanne and Monet." "Not to mention Renoir, Degas, and especially Van Gogh," said Beth. "Van Gogh was a genius at depicting sunshine, so I dare say that if I used Van Gogh's technique to describe New Mexico unique landscapes, that would enhance the self-referentiality of the picture even more."

"'The land where the sun dances.'" "You're so clever. I tried to capture the distinct character of the Santa Fe sunshine. But if you look closer, you also find symbols hidden in the landscape." "...Oh, how stupid I am." "These circles, ripples, and images of the sun breaking through the clouds are what the Navajo and other Southwestern Indians used to symbolize nature." "The signified resides in the signified," Decker said. "The entire image is designed to make the viewer feel that even a seemingly ordinary dry river bed with a larch tree and some red wild flowers growing on it actually contains complex content."

"So beautiful." "I was very much afraid that you would not like them." "What did your art dealer say?" Decker asked. "You mean Dale? He's sure he said the pictures would all sell." "Then what does it matter what my opinion is?" "It matters, trust me." Decker turned to look at her.His heart rate began to beat faster, and he could barely hold himself. "you are pretty." Her eyes flickered slightly, looking a little surprised. "what?" The words escaped his lips. "I think about you all the time. I can't get you out of my mind."

Beth's face became a little pale. "I dare say it was the biggest mistake I've ever made," Decker said. "You need to feel relaxed, you need space and -- you might stop talking to me from now on, but I have to say ,I love you."