Name: Roger
Nationality: American

I’ve come to Shanghai, 3 months ago with my dear wife, after my retirement. Since I had a stroke my days are quite boring, so I hope to start new hobbies here.
My wife has suggested me to learn Chinese Painting, as it is beautiful, mysterious art which can be good mental and physical practice for me and in fact many famous Chinese Calligraphy and Painting masters are famous for living a long life. So both of us decided to do this class.

At first I was concerned about using my hands, but thankfully, since I only need my right hand for painting - it shouldn’t be a problem.

The classroom is sunny and bright with lots of plants. Very nice!

The teacher introduces himself, and presents today’s lesson plan: painting of a panda eating bamboo leaves, on a Chinese fan. I like the fan’s shape and texture, it’s very “China”.

The teacher shows us how to use traditional brushes and ink. I haven’t painted with a brush since I was 5, so learning to paint now feels a bit awkward.

The teacher explains us the difference between Chinese and Western painting style and shows in detail how to hold the brush and paint.

In fact the panda is constructed from two circles. First we practice our circles on a separate sheet of paper, and only than we paint directly on the fan.

Here’s my Panda Fan! I feel good after my first Chinese Painting class. I already want to collect and make more fans to fan myself and my fans (-;

Mastering Chinese Painting is quite difficult, but to learn to appreciate and try to understand a small part of it, is not at all!