How are you?

Today is the first day of the seven-day’s National Vacations – Chinese National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival.

The latter is the reunion time of a family in the moonlight. So, on the special time, I would like to follow Chinese custom, to write this greeting to you, thank you for your good help and support in the past time and wish you and your family members happier, luckier and healthier in the bright and beautiful moon light.

On my side, over 80% of my classmates who are from Beijing, Henan, Hebei, Shandong and some provinces near Beijing have left for their homes. Few classmates who are from far away provinces, such as Hainan, Hunan, Sichuan, Heilongjiang and Guangdong stay in the school to study and to paint.

Since I just came to Beijing for 14 days and there is no any family member in Shenzhen, before I left for Beijing, I had sent some Moon Cakes to my father already. Instead of having any travel, I want to use the vacation to complete the work that I have planned to do since July.

So, in the past 14 days, except attending lessons ( three professors who are tutors of master students and one professor who is tutor of doctor student have offered lessons for us), I have re-painted 4 paintings that I would like to publish in the Volume One of the upcoming publication. I do hope that I will be able to re-paint the other 8 pictures before the lessons of painting from the nature after the vacations.

Even though these paintings can be listed with same sizes in the publication, I wanted to order them, to improve them, make them in the same length, delete the background that was not suitable and to correct few English words that not easy to sing or wrong, to make them be in conformity with the articles and lyrics that I had sung and recorded already.

Compare with painting new pictures, this job is really hard and little bit bore. Especially, when I work in the empty classroom alone on the weekends and in the vacation, I often feel quite tired and a little bit cold.

However, when I compare my old paintings and the new ones, I do feel much happy for I have found the progress day and day because of the good education of the school, and the hard work of the professors and tutors. And I often encourage myself – only can a person bear the pain and alone that most of people cannot bear and stand, he or she can do something creative, special and more meaningful…

Do you know? Since July,I have gotten three invitations to take part in some art exhibitions in some quite important organizations in Beijing – but, I gave up the first twice because I had to work on the music jobs for the publication, and I missed the travel to go to USA. Now, I am not sure whether I will have time to take part in the third art exhibition in Beijing yet.

However, I am not in a hurry and I do not worrying about it at all. Because, I know myself very clear, as a fresh person and a beginner in Chinese painting field, I have not prepared well yet.

So, on the third day I came back Beijing, I subscribed to an English newspaper – China Daily and I re-started to write calligraphy. On the 8th or 9th day, I re-started to paint Chinese landscape in the evening.

Since I have to walk for 15 to 20 minutes between the school and my hotel in the morning and night, I have changed my work style -- to paint flower and bird painting in the classroom as much as possible, to read newspaper when I was waiting for my meals in the restaurants and before going to sleep, to write calligraphy and paint landscape at home in the evening.

Also, sometimes, I painted from the nature on the road to go to school… :- )

I have totally involved myself into my new art study in Beijing. Everyday, when I walk to the school in the golden sunshine, I often feel that I were just “ 25 years old ” and just start a new life with many dreams. : - )

How about you? Do you have anything special to share in your life?

Note: I re-sung the poems below in English and in Chinese and re-recorded the music and the singings in a professional music company in Sep, 2012. For protecting the copyright, before it is published formally, the new record and the music that has been improved will not be online. But You can listen to the two samples via the painting that I painted for the poem Chun Xiao -- A Spring Morning and for another poem Hui Chong Chun Jiang Wang Jing -Inscription on Huichong’s Painting " An Evening Scene on a Spring River"; also you can listen to them via the poems Chun Xia and Hui Chong Chun Jiang Wang Jing .
I am just a student on Art of Painting, Music, English and Management, to work on the web site in my free time. I would really like to do a few things with what I have learned to make this little web site to be an Electronic Bridge of Inter-Art & Cross - Culture Exchange, Chinese Language Learning & Friendship Making. To help the others while to improve myself.

I would like to appreciate you for your understanding, directions, supports and help.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, you are welcome to write to shirley@ebridge.cn or leave your message on Message Board.

Shirley Yiping Zhang
Sep 30, 2012(Beijing Time)