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Hi,Dear Friends
How are you? Before starting to record something about my 8th travel in Australia, continuously, I would like to share something from memory and finish my latter travel diary about my 12th American trip.
As soon as I came back from the Ava Artist Guild on March 8, I immediately immersed myself in my final tasks in Springfield: to teach another 24 hours and complete another three “Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art Workshops”, while also arranging my personal belongings before my flight on March 20.
In fact, I had already completed all the teaching plans for the first three workshops. However, considering that none of the students had any background in Chinese painting and it was their first time learning Gongbi Painting in the first two art workshops, with only about 30 hours of painting experience in total, I realized that stopping there would cause them to quickly forget what they had learned, which was not yet solidified. Therefore, I decided to offer two additional classes to the first group of students at the American-Chinese church and one additional class to the second group of students organized by Dr. Yan from Missouri State University.
Then, by March 14, 2025, I offered the last additional 20 hours of lessons to the first two groups. Combined with their previous work, 12 students completed their second Chinese Gongbi painting, “Okra,” on paper after working for about or over 20 hours (if it is painted on silk, it usually takes twice as long, about 40 hours). Compared with their first attempt, all students worked in a more professional style -- attaching their stretched rice paper to a board to work, and five of them completed two paintings. Why? Because a Chinese Gongbi painting typically requires a long time to apply many layers of color, and the second layer cannot be applied until the first layer is dry. Therefore, I required students to paint two pieces simultaneously, working on one while the other was drying. This saved time and also ensured they had one in hand in case they wanted to sell the other.
During this period, I also completed the final four-hour lesson for OTC. So, in total, from December 7, 2024, to March 14, 2025, I completed 136 hours of lessons across five “ Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art Workshops” held at two churches, one college, an artist guild, and a library/my house.
Although the opportunity cost of my teaching jobs during my 12nd American trip was so high that I had no time to deal with my own personal things or visit any friends, I hardly even had time to write a newsletter saying “Merry Christmas!” to my professors and friends individually. Also, during the last 5 days, I had to give up the rare opportunity to visit the biggest art museum in Kansas City, which Mrs. Hing Wal Hatch and her husband Mr. Jerry Hatch kindly offered to drive me to. Additionally, I had to forgo the excellent opportunity to watch a great play at the largest theater in Branson, which Mrs. Wanda and her husband Mr. Philip kindly offered to drive me to and accompany me there. The biggest regret was that I didn’t have any time to sit down and work on my own creative plan – completing my two big Maps (American State Bird Map and Chinese Province Bird Map) on silk that I had carried with me in my suitcases. However, I also gained so much. The greatest gain was opening three new markets through the teaching jobs in Springfield, MO: American Chinese, Adult Americans, and Teenagers outside of school. These three groups have significantly expanded my work area and mindset, moving from focusing solely on native English student groups in schools to broader markets. This firsthand experience will certainly be helpful for my new explorations in Australia.
Then from March 15 to 19, the last 5 days were my only time for myself before leaving for China since my first flight started on March 20.
Today, while I am in Sydney, Australia, recalling the intense 5 days before the two international trips, I feel an overwhelming sense of gratitude toward so many locals in the US, and I would like to write it down here as a memory.
-- Mrs. Carly Posada-Stilings and the board of the Ava Artist Guild, they permitted and she signed a Cooperation Intention Letter with me on March 11, 2025.
-- The couple Wanda Nana and Philip Nana, both of whom came to Springfield to see me and brought the Cooperation Intention Letter from the Ava Artist Guild.
-- Mrs. Faith Eastman, who especially came to my house and signed the Cooperation Intention Letter with me for her church on March 9, 2023.
-- The couple Toni and Doug Anderson, both of whom came to my house and signed a contract with me for looking after my house starting on March 20, 2025.
-- Ms. Janet, a retired lawyer who helped me have a notarized will regarding my house on March 18, 2023.
-- Mr. John David Lawson and Mr. Gim, both of whom came to my place to carry something important to store in their place on March 19, 2023.
-- The couple Hing Wah Hatch and Herry Hatch, who led me to a local university and an art gallery for helping me to establish some new connections with them.
-- Mrs. Glad Eyerman, who assisted me in finishing all my last teaching jobs in OTC; amd then we signed a Cooperation Intention Letter for founding the first Springfield – E-bridge Cross-cultural and Comprehensive Art Studio in Springfield on March 19, 2023.
-- Dr. Yan, Dr. Tian, Dr. Sun, and all of my students in my second art workshop specially custom-made a beautiful china cup with gilt-edging for me and wrote some heartfelt messages on a card as their gifts to me. Interestingly, they also printed one of my own paintings on the cup.
-- Mr. Mike Buesking and Mr. Shung Mitch, for they met me at Evangel University and had built a good connection with me.
-- Mrs. Linda Whilppe and Mrs. Fran Giglio at OTC, for they had some good conversations with me before I left for China.
-- Mrs. Diana, one of my students at OTC, gave me a card that she wrote and made by herself, and what she said really gave me so much encouragement.
-- Mr. Shuang Yan, a young classmate at OTC (we studied English in the same classroom) and a visiting scholar at MSU who was my “driver” while I studied English at OTC , sent me to the airport twice on March 20 and March 21 because my first flight departed earlier than the planned time on my tickets, and the airline did not notify me.
Additionally, within the last three days, I have attempted to paint the interior of my house. However, it is said that my new renter did not like my painting and she has changed the white and yellow colors in my sitting room to grey and white. Wow!
How about you? Do you have anything special to share?
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