Practicing both oil painting and photography and comparing them give me ideas of what my painting and my photography should be. To me, photography should pursue the finest image clarity as possible, among other things such as the interweaving patterns of lights and shadows, etc. Painting, on the other hand, should pursue different aesthetics — as a famous Chinese painter put it, the beauty of painting lies between the like and the not-like. In his opinion, too lifelike is fawning, while totally not-like is deceiving. I am continuously exploring painting techniques in accord with this maxim, although on the other hand I also admire artists who can make hyper-realism or abstract artworks. 

In the full spectrum between the hyper-realism at one end and the abstract at the other, lies a variety of painting styles, from very tight and realistic to rather loose and not objective painting. I position myself as a realist painter with an abstract style of brushstrokes. My painting subjects are scenes from ordinary everyday life. Among other means to enhance the beauty of the subject, exaggerated abstract brushstroke is employed to add more interesting elements to the painting.