How are you? Have you had a good week?

It has been for 10 days, since I came back Beijing to study as a graduate student in Chinese National Academy of Arts. Except hunting for an apartment, attending lessons, painting from the nature in Beijing Botanical Garden to, going back to the Yanjiao Campus of China Central Academy of Fine Arts to see my former tutor, I have been learning how to paint Song Dynasty’s Gongbi Painting.

-- Song Dynasty Gongbi Painting is the highest peak of Chinese Gongbi Paining, every student who is major in Chinese Painting must learn it. Because of being in the hospital, I missed the lesson in CAFA last year, therefore, as soon as I entered Chinese National Academy of Arts, I asked to learn it. I am lucky enough to get the good directions, supports and help by Mr. Lu Wenqing who is our tutor of Flower and Bird Painting and Mr. Wu Tong who is the director of the three classes (Chinese Flower and Bird Painting, Landscape Painting and Portrait Painting).

Also, because there are only 6 or 7 students in my class, I am the only fresh student who lives by the school and works in the classroom with another 5 old students who are working on their second year in the business time (All of the other new flower and bird painting students live far way from the school and they just came to the classroom when we have lesson), I do have the best condition to learn from my tutors and get most directions. So, except eating and sleeping, most of time, I am in the classroom and to learn as much as possible.

Now, I have completed my first Chinese Gongbi Painting by imitating Song Dynasty Gongbi Painting and I have started the second one. With this letter, I would like to share them with you and hope you enjoy them.

When I am writing here, I cannot help smiling for thinking of something funny in the learning process:

-- When I learned how to fix the silk on the frame, I repeated to do it three times. Instead of using a little sprayer, I threw the silk into water, so that the glue and the alum were washed off, until Mr. Wu found it and corrected me... :- )

-- I just paid for ordering and making the frame 5 RMB, but I paid 50 RMB on the road for I have not known where and how to catch a bus or subway in the new environment yet.

-- When I painted in the Beijing Botanical Garden first time, I worked for whole of the day, but I could not find my tutor, because we entered in two different and isolated gardens in Beijing Botanical Garden. :- )

A piece of good news is that my eyesight has been recovered and I have been able to paint a Chinese Gongbi with the very thin lines after the good treatment by Beijing University Shenzhen Hospital for 1 year and 8 months. The bad news is since the 3rd day I came to Beijing, my hands have been in the edema once more.

Therefore, in the coming several days,instead of going to paint from the nature in some mountains with my tutors and classmates together ( even though I do want to go with the big team, I have to remember the lesson that I had been to Yimeng Mountains and Tai Mountains in Shandong for 15 days, then I could not stand up and walk so that I had to stay at home and be in hospital for 45 days this April to June), I am going to paint from the nature in Beijing Botanical Garden again.

The study here in Beijing is hard, funny and not easy, I am trying to do my best to work while to fight with the sickness, to study how to paint while to learn how to live in a totally new entironment. :-)

How about you? Have you had 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
Oct 17, 2011(Chinese Time)