An opportunity became available to travel to China in 1986 on a special group tour for artists and art educators. A major part of this six week summer program was based at a well known Chinese art academy in the city of Hangzhou. We were fortunate to be taught Chinese Painting and Calligraphy by the professors at the academy. After the trip to China, I was part of hosting tours of workshops and lectures for a number of these artist professors. This led to practicing Chinese Painting regularly for a number of years. The Chinese aesthetic has been of considerable influence on the compositions of my current paintings. Because of these experiences, I was able to teach Chinese Brush Painting in high school and adult continuing education classes.