Feels good to be back...

I started my painting class up again and it felt so good to be back in class.  I did not realize how much I missed it.  When I paint I am thinking about nothing but the painting and the creative process.  It really helps take my mind off things.  I did not realize it until today.

It is very quiet here right now.  Michael is gone and a lot of my friends have still not returned from summer holidays.  I have had a lot of time to just think and not really do to much.  Going to painting class today felt so refreshing.  I felt back to myself. 

When I got there today, Laoshi had my painting that I finished before my summer holiday, all framed and ready for me. 

Here is what it looked like the last time I posted about it.

Here is the finished product...

What I have done, since the last time you saw it was give the painting a blue background.  Laoshi had suggested I could do so, but I was not sure that I wanted to.  I liked it on just the raw paper background.  But I figured if I did not like it I would just redo the painting again. 

Normally I have just been painting when I am with Laoshi.  I trace the pictures on my own, but have not felt confident enough to mix up the colors correctly yet.  

But I thought I would take a chance and do the blue background on my own.  

After I painted it blue, Laoshi took the painting and crunched it all up, literally to the size of a baseball.  It is a special technique.  Then he paints a purplish color on the back of the paper...it kind of seeps through.  You cannot really see it in the picture and even in person it is very subtle. 

I had not seen the painting since he mounted and framed it.  I was really happy with the results when I saw it. I still have a very long way to go, but I could see progress from my first completed painting to this one. 

Laoshi, who is very sweet to me, said that this painting because of the way I did the background, is very special.  It made me blush.  I know I have a long way to go and many more hours of practice to even be a fraction of the painter Laoshi is.  But his compliments always boost my confidence and make me want to continue on.  

I feel very blessed to be able to learn how to paint from Laoshi.  I hope to take away not only the painting technique, but his passion for his art, his passion for passing on his knowledge of Gong Bei painting, and his endurance to continue on with something that his country deprived him of for so many years.  You can see the joy in his face and the sparkle in his eye when he teaches.  I hope to take away his humility.  His paintings are amazing, yet he is so humble.

Laoshi is not only teaching me painting skills, but also life skills.