How are you? Have you had a good new week? I do hope you have.

For me, the 7-day painting from the nature in the Jingshan Park, Beijing, not only helped me improve my painting, but also it has helped me on many the other hands:

-- I have re- found a totally new life style: Except finishing my last painting until 1:00a.m. for some special reason last night, since I painted from the nature at Jingshan Park April 23, I have been keeping going to sleep before 11:00p.m., get up before 6:00a.m. Even though I have come back to the school, still I keep painting from the nature for 1 or 1.5 hours every morning, no matter how cold or windy out of the door.

-- I have been invited to be an art teacher of a training class by the Residents' Committee, Shuang Qiu Road, Beijing, to teach about 20 adults to learn Traditional Chinese Painting, since May 9, 2014 until I leave for Shenzhen for about 3 months.

As a student, I am quite busy in the end of the semester, but, I see this offer as an opportunity that God gives me to make a rehearsal before I go to Australia and America in 2014 and 2015. So, I am going to think of what and how I should teach seriously, write a teaching plan, to do my best to help those students who are eager for the art knowledge and skills as I myself do and did.

Also, as a student who just goes by the gate of the great and profound Chinese art palace, I do not think I should make money from this job at this time. So, I have told them that I am going to work as a volunteer for those venerable elders who are 50 to 70 and retired already.

-- Three of my tutors Mr. Wu Tong, Mr. Sun Qi and Mr. Ren Ming gave my Chinese Mogu paintings a same comment: very good, very elegant, meanwhile, all of them suggested me to go on this road in the future.

I was very happy for it is also my idea after learning 5 kinds of traditional Chinese paintings in two of the best art academies of China in Beijing for 4 years.

I am thinking: since the target market of my cross-culture and comprehensive art project is in America, Australia and Europe; Chinese Mogu is my favorite art style and it is nearest the Western watercolor among Chinese paintings; compare with Chinese Gongbi and Chinese Xieyi, there are few Chinese artists paint it yet, it maybe just the road that I should go.

So, following the good direction of Mr. Wu Tong - the Associate Head of Teaching Department of Chinese Painting College at Chinese National Academy of Arts, I am trying to paint a Chinese Mogu base on my painting from the nature soon.

Chinese Mogo Painting will become my mainly study direction in traditional Chinese painting field now and in the upcoming several years or longer.

-- Except learning Chinese painting, I am still working hard on English since it is not only my work tool, but also it has a significant meaning to me: In case I pass the National English Examination on May 25, I will certainly get an Art Master Degree because the next job will be just writing dissertation. I have been studying, thinking and exploring on the core topic relates my project for 14 years already. What I should do is to deeply study it and write something meaningful out under the direction of a professor or a team.

Meanwhile, this English Examination Result will be kept for 3 years, except it will help me to get an art master degree, it will also support me to apply the other master degrees, so, in case I pass it, I am going to think of getting a Chinese language and literature master degree, become a person who has 3 master degrees, totally change my background and statue from securities to Chinese art and Chinese language and literature, to get the basic Qualifications to open two lessons ( traditional Chinese painting and Chinese language as a foreign language with my own paintings, music, translations, articules together: Comprehensive and Artistic Chinese) in a Western University.

So, I am working hard at the same time to study and to service for the society free. I do hope I will be able to pass it.

How about you? Do you have anything special to share?
Sincerely,


Shirley Yiping Zhang
May 7, 2014 (Beijing Time)