The flower and bird painting has long been interest by the Chinese artists throughout the history. Its importance in the Chinese art history could never be ignored. Artists express these flowers, birds, fish, and vegetable in a way of simplicity and maturity. The paintings not only have been painted in highly developed techniques but also been given untold meanings in their compositions. This book will start with the painting technique of the four gentlemen a basic category of the spontaneous style painting which always requires the artist to paint with intuition and emotion. This style also has a close relationship with calligraphy. The four gentlemen which include plum, orchid, bamboo, and chrysanthemum can express the idea of spontaneous style itself perfectly. Then we'll go over varies of flowers, and birds. The painting skills and structures will be more and more complex in the following chapters which include insects, fish, and vegetables. At last, a series of example works will be shown and the author will do analyses for each painting.
花鳥畫在我國繪畫史中佔有特殊地位，歷史也很悠久。而寫意花鳥畫亦為我繪畫藝術的獨特風格，不但我國人喜愛，在國際上也頗有影響。畫家們用簡練概括的筆墨及色彩畫出各種花鳥蟲魚，生動活潑，栩栩如生，綜合運用了勾勒，勾花點葉、點族、闊筆、潑墨、暈染等方法。同時寫意花鳥畫，除造形概括之外，其寓意深遠，是我國花鳥畫發展到後期的一大成就。我們可以循「古為今用，洋為中用」，繼承發揚這種光輝傳統，在花鳥畫創作上推陳出新，創造出具有時代性之作品。
這本書開始以梅蘭竹菊為寫意花卉之基礎，因為花鳥畫的「以意寫之」，是強調作者的主觀作用，是借物以寫胸中之所有。同時書畫同源，寫意畫，用筆與書法關係密切，而寫意之梅蘭竹菊，特別能表現寫意畫之特色，所以寫意花鳥以「四君子」作為習畫基本練習。繼而把各種基本之花卉作各種示範，使習者對寫意花卉之用筆再加強，接著把各種鳥類之畫法作些介紹及示範。同時在畫法、構圖上也愈來愈趨複雜，內容包括了有草蟲、游魚，最後有幾幅大畫分析示範，以提供習者對大幅作品之畫法的參考。