How are you? Have you started a good new week?

I have been in Chinese National Academy of Arts for 37 days. I am getting busy, but, I am feeling better.

First of all, I have accepted and enjoyed the teaching styles of CNAA right now.

-- Except stressing to learn from the paintings and artists in Song Dynasty (960 - 1279) as same as China Central Academy of Fine Arts does, They especially pay attention to paint from nature. Since I reached the school, we have been organized to paint from the nature outdoor and indoor 4 times. In the section of portrait, every day, they paint the true people models...

-- More and more good artists have joined the flower and bird painting section and become my new tutors. Except Mr. Xu Maowang who studied in China Central Academy of Fine Art in 1963, I have had another young classmate Mr. Lin Tian who is just elder 5 years than my son, but he has painted for 24 years, a famous artist from Guangdong as my tutor. Both of them have the same experiences that had been enrolled by the art colleges, but they gave up the opportunities for their financial predicament. Rely on teaching themselves for many years, they are famous right now. Every day, many classmates come into our classroom to see how both of them to paint. And the young artist Xu has been generally acknowledged as the best student in our section.

For catching my luck to see how they paint in my own break time. Since Mr. Lin joined us, I have been having my lunch and supper in the classroom, to grasp every opportunity to see how he paints. I am lucky enough that both of them are very patient to answer my questions and to demonstrate for me. Mr. Lin also told me how to hold the Chinese brushes, how to color the red-crowned crane from the back of the paper and how to paint on the wall... By their good effect, I completed my first 2 big size flower and bird paintings on the wall.

I would not only like to paint the Chinese Gongbi painting as my school tutors' requirements, I will also paint a Chinese Xieyi painting each day by the good directions by my classmate tutors

Secondly, my first music teacher Ms. Ma Xuan who came to Beijing in 2007 would like to offer me a regular lesson as she did 4 years ago. My broken music lesson will be recovered soon.

Thirdly, by the good direction from a publishing house at a Chinese university since 2009, hopefully, something I have created and edited may be published some day...

So, now, when I am writing this letter to you with my hands that have become rough, chapped and in the edema in my little room ( the 1/6 size of my former living room when I studied in China Central Academy of Fine Arts; the 1/12 of my home in Shenzhen)in the midnight, instead of feeling bad, I feel lucky enough.

I am going to cherish my good luck, to do my best to return the beautiful world...

How about you? 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
Nov 14, 2011(Chinese Time)