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

Since I wrote to you last time, 17 days has passed and I have experienced a quite hard and rewarding time.


-- May 28 and 29, Professor Man Weiqi (he is on the first and second photos) – Associate Executive Dean of Chinese Painting School at Chinese National Academy of Arts gave us a lesson of painting from the nature in the suburb of Beijing for 2 days. I painted 7.5 pen pictures there, 4.5 of them were painted out of the door.

-- May 30, by the good organising of Mrs. Xu Huiqing (she is on the 4th 6th 11st photoes ) - Director of Student Center of the School of International Cultural Exchanges at Beijing Institute of Economic Management,
I gave a class ( included speech, taught students to read, recite and to sing a Chinese poem in Tang Dynasty; painted a traditional Chinese painting in Song Dynasty )to a group of their students from Russia, Indonesia and Korea (because we changed the time from May 28 to May 30, the students from France and America missed the event).

-- May 31 and June 1, I suffered a sharp headache once more. Then all joints of my bones have been aching so that some times it is difficult for me to walk... However, as soon as the headache stopped, I re-started to work.

-- June 2 to June 11, I completed 4 new paintings, each one 180cm x 97cm. I have completed 302 assignments at Chinese National Academy of Arts since Oct 7, 2011.

-- June 12, by the good help of Mr. Charlie Quan Zhang and Mr. Hannan Zhang from Shenzhen, I updated my web site and you can see something about my Cross-culture and Comprehensive Art in Beijing via the link. I will fill the data from 2011 to 2014 later.

--June 13, I gave 18 adult students the 4th class as a volunteer teacher in Beijing.

Today, when I sate in the quiet classroom alone (it is interesting since Oct, 2011 until now, always I am the only student in the classroom of Chinese Flower and Bird Painting :-)), with a peaceful heart, I would like to write this letter to you with the title: 宁静致远 níng jìng zhì yuǎn -- Still Water Runs Deep / Accomplish Something Lasting by Leading a Quiet Life.

Why did I think of this?

On the road we came back from the suburb of Beijing May 29, we were informed once more: to hand in the last assignments June 4 and June 10, 50% of them would be chosen by the school for published in a formal publication by a publishing house.They will be exhibited at the graduation ceremony as well. Every student should hand in 6 paintings, each one 97cm x 180cm (38.18 inches x 70.86 inches) .

I did have many paintings indeed, but still I wanted to paint something new in the last time, because when I worked on my project, I did not think the pure flower and bird paintings could express whole of the meaning of the classical poems. I did wish to create something new to express them with combining Chinese flower and bird painting and Chinese landscape.

So I painted 4 new pictures (in fast two paintings I painted twice) within the last 10 days. Each day I went into the classroom before 8:30a.m. and I went out of it at 10:30 p.m.

Then I invited my tutor Mr. Wu Tong -- Associate Dean of Teaching Department of Chinese Painting School at Chinese National Academy of Arts to help me to choose the best suitable paintings that I should hand in.

You cannot imagine what he chose: instead of choosing any of my new paintings, Mr. Wu Tong picked up 4 of my paintings that I had painted for 4 Chinese classical poems in the USA Dec, 2013 to Feb, 2014. It is said these paintings got good comments by the school leaders who worked on choosing our works for the exhibition and for the publication. :- )

With so much tiredness and a big question, I could not help thinking of one of my another tutors Mr. Ren Ming told me: In fact, you could hand in some paintings that you had painted in the USA, because in those paintings, there is a peaceful breath...

What Mr. Wu Tong did for me and what Mr. Ren Ming said to me really helped me so much and let me realize:

-- A good art work cannot be done in a hurry, it must be studied, thought and worked on it for a long time; even thought the process to paint maybe not very long, the preparative process needs for a very long time.

-- Anything cannot be done well if we work on it with a restless psychology. I worked very hard, but since I came back Beijing March 10, 2014, I have been working according to a too tight schedule, so that many times, as soon as I opened my eyes, I accounted how many days I would be able to paint before I should walk into the national examination room; which day would be my deadline to hand in my final assignment; and now, I am thinking how much time for me to complete the new book writing and how much time and cost I have to spend on the music for the Volume Two of the series books and DVDs in a professional music studio.

Under the too much pressure of time, I did every thing and I did not satisfy with myself on each big thing. I have been making myself in a hurry so that I have been suffering the sicknesses because of the overwork.

It has been beyond my own ability and my health conditions.

So, now, I am thinking, before my project and I myself have gotten actually external assistance, I must think of going slowly down and to think of many things seriously for a while, reduce some burden on my shoulders. At least to find back a quiet life and a peaceful heart at the first. Then I myself and my art life can be kept for a long time. Right?

You are welcome to click the link to see the big size photos.

How about you? Do you have anything to share in the past 17 days?
Sincerely,


Shirley Yiping Zhang
June 14, 2014 (Beijing Time)