How are you? Have you had a good week? Are you enjoying your weekend now? I do hope you have and you are. :-)

It is 2:00am on my side already, so, I just would like to write a simple letter to you to say hello while to share something I have done this week. And hope to bring you a big smile.

The good news on my side:

-- Monday morning, the Associate Dean of the teaching department at the Chinese Painting School -- Mr. Wu Tong chose 3 paintings from the paintings I had handed in. All of them are the paintings that I had prepared for my comprehensive arts.

-- On the same day, the new dean of the teaching department of the graduate school and the Chinese painting school at Chinese National Academy of Arts -- Mr. Han Xuezhong and 3 or 4 tutors chose 2 paintings from every students’ paintings. Now, they have been sent to be decorated, taken photos, to take part in the graduate exhibition and to be published in a book.

Two of my paintings: Early Plum Blossoms and A Farewell Song have been chosen.

-- With a so surprised and grateful heart, I was informed that my former Tutor in China Central Academy of Fine Arts, who is also my first teacher on landscape -- Mr. Li Gang had recommended me to take part in an exhibition in Beijing. Also, he allowed me to hand in a painting for my comprehensive art. :-)

-- Mrs. Liu who is the cleaning lady of the building we are studying and working in has become my private cleaning lady on the weekend to look after my life since the little business hotel rent the room to me for 1 year with a 50% discount, they does not offer the service to clean my room.

-- I have corrected some of my bad life habit and I have kept eating breakfasts since April 15. Therefore, in the passed 2 months, the stomachache times has been reduced to be 8 times from almost aching every day.

-- I have started to have a walk for 30 minutes every day. This week, I have walked 4 times already...

The Bad news:

The swelling on my fingers are still there so that when I painted the landscape with small brushes, it was dropped on the floor at least twice... both of my doctors and I myself do not have idea to reduce it since it started 2 years ago...

And the most of the stomachaches appeared within the passed 2 weeks...

-- The building that I am living in will be demolished; the restaurants have been closed one by one, so that my favorite food has become less and less. Eating has become a new big problem in my life.

-- With the same reason, the little business hotel will be stopped soon. I will face a new problem where to live as well. :- )

-- Also, it is said the building that we are studying in will be removed, too. I am not sure it is true or not, but, whole of the life is not in the stable style right now.

Anyway, after learning and studying arts for ma
ny years, I have learned how to work with a peaceful heart in the quite not stable and hard life and bad healthy conditions as a long-term traveler -- Just since 2008, I have been in USA 3 times, Australia twice, Beijing many times and Wuxi more than 10 times...

With this kind of unstable situation, this week, I painted 3 new paintings with a calm heart.

When I painted the painting of the kapok flower tree, I could not think of and compare the big tree out of my office and the smaller ones out of my home’s windows in Shenzhen.

Then, I realized that the big tree by my office is so tall and big, with numerous flowers, maybe had lived there for 20 or 30 years already. It has certainly experienced many winds, rains and typhoons, then it can blossom its thousands and thousands flowers with the bright red color, to offer people and this world a piece of shadow and the enjoyment with its beauty.

As a common student, when I am studying, thinking and making the exploration on my comprehensive art project, what I should learn from the kapok flower tree, maybe just to prepare to work for another 10 years, 20 years or for whole of my rest of life, then I can perhaps create something really pretty and to offer the others and this world a piece of beautiful “ view “ as the kapok flower trees offers to the human being.

So, instead of working with a worrying heart or in a hurry, what I should do, is to keep a peaceful heart, prepare to hard work for a long time.

I guess, people usually enjoy the beauty of the flowers, and do not care for how it grows up. So, when we are working on something new and creative, we must prepare to work hard alone, then to enjoy the successful happiness with many more others. Just like the bird on my painting... : -)

How do you think of my idea? Do you agree with me? Do you have anything special to share?

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
June 17, 2012