這星期去了植物園，托于慈的福，和一位做植物研究的大男生提到植物繪畫，他說精準性是必要的，還有專業知識，這些都是我沒有的，之前在植標館的練習都是玩票性質，現在想想還真是有些慚愧。
I visited the botanical garden this week. Thanks to Carol, I met up a young botany researcher. He told me that accuracy and background knowledge are basic requirements in botanical illustration, which I don't have. I wonder where I got the guts to do the botanical drawings in the herbarium last year.
週末台大生命科學院開了植物繪畫的工作坊，請了泰國植物學者和植物學畫家Sasivimon Swangpol教授來開課，老師在概論中提到畫植物的目的是說明，所以要完全照實，畫圖時尺規是必要的，長了幾片葉子等細節都要和實物一樣，聽了我有點頭痛。
This weekend the Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at NTU offered a workshop on botanical illustrations, inviting the renowned Thai botanist and artist Dr. Sasivimon Swangpol to be the guest speaker. In the general introduction, Dr. Swangpol mentioned the purpose of scientific illustrations is to explain, so it's a must to draw everything true to life. Upon hearing that rulers are needed to measure the dimensions and that all the details have to be paid attention to, my head started to ache.
到了第二節工作坊時，我們先拿番茄做練習，我不想用尺，結果老師走過來的第一句話便說：你沒有用尺對不對？我的叛逆如此輕易就被發現，我只好重畫。同桌的教授也畫得很辛苦，常常停下來失落地看看左右，喃喃幾句話，他問老師每張圖是不是要畫很久，老師說：這就是冥想啊！聽到這個回答，當下突然覺得老師對於科學繪畫的看法很佛家。
In the workshop, we started with the tomato. I somehow refused to use a ruler, and when Dr. Swangpol walked by, the first thing she said to me was, "You didn't use a ruler?" Well, I couldn't even hide any trace of my rebellion. Thus I began to draw another tomato. One professor sitting at the same desk had a hard time too. He often paused, looking quite lost and murmuring something before resuming. He asked Dr. Swangpol if every drawing takes long. She replied, "This is meditation." I found her take on botanical illustrations very Buddhist.
其實週末這兩天我去了兩個工作坊，但畫圖的狀況都不是很好，雖然畫得出來，可是我沒有進入享受的境界。和番茄掙扎完後，畫豬籠草漸入佳境，不管別人怎麼說，不管比例對不對，我知道感覺和剛才不一樣，我也不再想時間過得是否快慢，雖然我喜歡畫圖，但完全沉浸在其中並不是天天都有的事啊！
I'd been to two workshops this weekend, and I knew I wasn't in a very good shape when it came to drawing. I could draw, but I didn't get to totally enjoy the act. After my wrestle with the tomato, things looked up when I drew the pitcher plant. Gradually, I got to feel self-satisfaction without caring about what others think, if the proportion is correct or why time passes by so slowly. I have to admit that much as I love drawing, I do not get carried away all the time.
老師走過來時，教授又說：畫圖需要天份。老師回了一句：是耐力。我也不是第一次聽說或體驗這個答案，不過今天對於繪畫這件事得到很佛教的看法呢！
When Dr. Swangpol walked by, the professor couldn't help announcing: It takes talent. She replied, "Endurance." This was not the first time I heard or experienced the answer, but today Dr. Swangpol really showed me the Buddhist perspective on drawing.
不管辛苦或愉快，這都是我要做一輩子的事，臨走之前當然還要上前用泰文和老師謝謝呢！
Whether hard or easy, this is something I want to do for the rest of my life. And now it has become a ritual for me to say thank-you to Thai people I've run into in Thai!
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