How are you?

Today is the 29th day of my second class year in Chinese National Academy of Arts.

Now I have repainted the 12 paintings for my publication and painted 5 little pictures for fine, 2 paintings for exchanging the expenses to have the lesson of painting from the nature in Taihang Mountain next week. Because of the good marketing job of the school, we need not pay any expenses for our travel, living and lessons in the mountain, just each student hands in two paintings (136cm x 70cm).

I have totally involved myself into the study in CNAA. The more I learn, the more I enjoy learning here, for its good study condition and for its good lesson arrangements. :- )

Oct 12, Mr. Li Xuesong who is from Beijing Painting Academy and Mr. Lu Wenqing who is our tutor led 4 students of the flower and bird class to have a lesson in the Botanical Garden of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Mr. Li taught us not only a lot of knowledge about plants, but also, he demonstrated how we should observe plants, how to paint them, and how to create a painting with the data we got from the nature. Then I painted in the garden until evening...

To be honest, before I came back to Beijing, my plan was to be major in landscape, but, now, I am still major in flower and bird painting and I often feel that I am still at the gate, there are too many things inside that I have not touched yet, so, I am going to continue to study flower and bird painting this class year, maybe next class year, I will learn landscape? I am not sure about it yet. :- )

In the new semester, something I feel best is: once more, I fine that beauty is everywhere indeed. The school education is just training us to have the sensitive eyes at the first.

Then, I have found, except the plenty plants in the arboretum, there are so many beautiful things just by the roads between the school and the hotel. Almost every morning, I stop my steps once or twice, to take a photo or a video for so many flowers: Chinese roses, morning glory, flowers of the towel gourd and unknown purple flowers...; for so many trees: poplars, pines, cypress, even persimmon trees and many unknown trees... This morning, also I found some red small fruit on some trees, when I took video for them, I could not help thinking maybe it was just the red bean? Maybe I can create a painting for a famous Chinese classical poem The Lyrics of Red Bean some day?

Now, I do find that my eyes can find beautiful things everywhere, even though the withered leaves in the trees, there is some specially charming taste inside... :- )

What I must learn is how to catch, choose, combine, edit, paint and reappear with the beauty and to bring the beauty and inspiration to both of my readers and myself.

So, every night, I check Internet and the photos and video I have mad, to observe, edit and paint something I would like to paint next day with a pen instead of a pencil -- I would like to train and to improve my model ability, therefore, I always use a pen to paint from the nature.

I am interested in the subjects from the nature and pay attention to learn from the nature more and more. When I am among the natural things, I do feel that my heart is smiling...

How about you? Do you enjoy being in the nature? 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
Oct 15, 2012(Beijing Time)