The feminine touch

Elegant, delicate style of Deng Suqiang evokes nature's pure spirit, Zhang Zhao and Wang Qi report.

Since ancient times, the works of most women painters in China have featured elegant and delicate styles that reflected their exquisite emotions and distinctive feelings about life.

This is true today for Deng Suqiang. She pursues a dreamlike artistic expression based on the Chinese gongbi paintings of flowers and birds while maintaining traditional techniques.

Gongbi is one of the two main categories of traditional Chinese paintings. It is characterized by fine brushwork with great attention to detail. The other genre xieyi features a freehand style of brushwork that expresses meaning and spirit.

Flowers and birds are among the most important subjects in Chinese traditional paintings.

"It is a combination of human and nature and an exchange of lives," she said. "It is aimed to create a harmonious world of lives in pursuit of the beauty of pure spirit."