Brandon University Original Building in warm morning sunlight

Today is Brandon University Homecoming weekend. Went to campus to paint this morning.

in the full morning sunshine a glimpse out of the window at 9 a.m

When the street light was on at 8 p.m

A glimpse out of the window at 8 p.m tonight.

Home on Balmoral Bay in warm late afternoon sunlight

I always feel the joy surging through me as I paint my own home on Balmoral Bay. It is especially so when the warm light and hue of autumn colour was glistening against  the clear blue sky at 4 p.m. today.

Brandon Chancellor Dental Graoup Clinic Building

Along the fence and quite path from Aberdeen Avenue and 1st Street Brandon

Just painted this view from the junction of Aberdeen Avenue and First Street in the south of Brandon. If you ever attended Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School in Brandon, you must have taken the road along the path on your way to school. I was driving by after an errand around 3 this afternoon. Seeing the vibrant color and light on the grove of poplar trees along the street, I pulled up , got out of my car with my easel, splashing thick paint over the canvas, and filling my heart with joy and thankfulness on the day of Thanksgiving.

Sunny moment from our front yard at noon

Clouds dissipated and sunlight came back. Immediately I stepped outside to paint right from our front yard when the sunlight was beating down from the sky and a young lady was walking down the street with her dog. Painting is a very fulfilling solitude , and a very simple and easy to obtain pleasure from life with nothing fancy and expensive but three simple primary colors.

Moreland Manor Brandon Manitoba

Moreland Manor on 14th Street Brandon Manitoba at 1 p.m today. A quick oil sketch of this beautiful section of 14th Street. The sight of this beautiful manor house made the street even more enchanting with its big elm trees at this time of the year.

A glimpse of the back alley on Balmoral Bay

The quiet street of Balmoral Bay

In the absolute silence of early morning , last leaves are drifting away from trees as if with a soft sign. Standing on the street of Balmoral Bay with my brush and easel , i seemed to have abandoned myself to the thrill of the moment hearing nothing but crunchy sound of leaves trodden by lone steps in the crispy morning air , and my own quickened heart beat . A quick oil sketch early this morning on Balmoral Bay of Brandon, Manitoba.

A quiet path in Wasagaming

In the October rain

A walk in the drizzle of rain. Though dark , cold and wet it is outside , there still can I feel something tender, something cozy about what I see at the moment through the window at 5 p.m. today. A quick oil sketch for today.

My cozy backyard in late afternoon sunlight

A quick oil sketch from my backyard in the afternoon today to mark my 56th birthday. I just want to say thank you so much to everyone of you on Facebook for your greetings to me. I am sure I painted on every of my birthday over the past 12 years. I just wish that I would still have the energy and passion when I step into my new decade a few years down the road.

The Former Court House and Town Center of Emerson Manitoba

From my first ever visit to this enchanting Red River valley town --- Emerson the Beautiful

The color of the fall -- from the back alley on Balmoral Bay

The Color of the Season. Picked up my easel and dashed to the back alley to paint in the receding afternoon sunlight. Nothing spectacular about this view just a plain shed and a dead tree trunk and some shrubs and trees. However i just could not resist the color and light at this time of the year! A quick 40 minutes oil sketch today.

A glimpse of Souris Swinging Bridge over Souris River

O, Souris, Manitoba at this time of the year! Drove over to Souris yesterday to paint from this beautiful location right on the bank of Souris River overlooking the beautiful swinging bridge. The rain stopped and the sunlight came out. Despite of the strong gust of wind to combat with, it was indeed beautiful moment to wrap up what had been a gloomy weekend.

A walk in the rain

Back to the normal routine of daily life on Balmoral Bay , Brandon Canada. After two-month trip back to China, it takes me a while to feel emotionally as well as physically ready to pursue my daily life with paint and brush again. Looking out of the window this morning with leaves turning color, rain falling gently on our front yard and street , and with Mozart's Piano Concerto 22 filling up the hollow space of our room from CBC Radio 2 , I suddenly felt to be restored to the kind of daily peace and tranquility which I started to yen for towards my end of my long visit to China. I set up my easel immediately, picking up my brush, and paining mesmerized by the gentle drop of rain, and by Mozart's piano concerto on the air.

A glimpse of Lake Katherine in noon hour sunlight

Aspen Wood on Lake Katherine of Riding Mountain National Park

Two hours of painting seemed to have restored  the peace and tranquility to my heart on my beloved Lake Katherine

Wishing Well on Clear Lake

Sunset on Clear Lake

Aspen Wood on Lake Katherine

From the 9th hole of Clear Lake Golf Course

Returning to Clear Lake of Riding Mountain National Park

So refreshing to stand here again to paint this beautiful view again after two month away from Canada!

Deep Bay of Clear Lake in Morning Sunshine

Farewell to Altay a last glimpse of Altay from its new south district

Altay, my birthplace in the far northwestern China

Altay, my birthplace ! A very emotional moment for me while painting this view on the bank of Korang River in the summer looking directly into its ancient rocky walls of Altay Mountain and its cool and crystal clear rushing stream of the river. While painting this view , I attracted a quite a crowd of curious people, and all of a sudden I heard a whisper among them, " Is not that you, Weiming?!!" I spotted Xiaogang , my childhood friend and my next door neighbour whom I have not seen for 40 years!!!!!.

A quick oil sketch of Dandan

A quick oil sketch of Dandan, a local Muslim teenager girl from Altay , who won the first price, from national wide speech competition hosted by Shanghai TV Station two years ago.. Our family friendship with 4 generations of her family stretched as far back as the moment I was born. Her great grandmother, a kind hearted local Muslim woman, a total stranger at the time to us, took me home to nurse me a few weeks after I was born, with the fresh milk from her two cows during the notorious famine that had swept across China at the time. Abridging the huge cultural and ethnical difference is our mutual love and respect that have never faded away across time and space. I did this quick oil sketch of Dandan who could only have an hour to spare before heading back to the boarding school where waiting for her is the daily crushing load of school work and harsh and punishing disciplines facing most high school students across China.

On Kelong River in the north valley of Altay

In the birch wood on Kelong River in Altay

Family friends threw a big outdoor feast party right in the birch wood on Kelong River exactly where I was dispatched to receive the so called reeducation from peasant towards the end of Cultural Revolution in late 70s in China.