Drawing flowers in a Chinese garden (1958).

Drawing flowers in a Chinese garden (1958).

To understand the way Chinese learn, understand and approach nature, we  were advised to spend many hours drawing outside, in parks and botanical gardens, observing nature, noticing tinny details in its process of perpetual transformation.

We were taught to avoid superficial looks, always to look deeper to discover the essential futures, the rules by which a flower or tree grows, and to understand the poetry of the mountains expressed in its forest, rocks, clouds, and water, frequently represented in Chinese landscape. This approach at the beginning of learning our profession, nourished our love, understanding and respect for nature and defined us later as artists.