Chinese fishmonger pursues dream as painting hobbyist while supporting his family

Shen Jianjiang, a 53-year-old fish vendor from the Xiaoshan district of Hangzhou, east China’s Zhejiang Province, has been developing his hobby of creating Chinese paintings in his spare time over the course of 10 years.

Shen Jianjiang busies himself painting one of his creations inside his studio. (Photo/Wei Yanran)

Learning the art of Chinese painting has always been a childhood dream of Shen’s. However, due to a variety of reasons, he failed to stick to the hobby for much of his life. After being encouraged by his wife to pick up a hobby, Shen reembarked on the journey of learning Chinese painting techniques.

In order to master the techniques in a systematic manner, Shen signed up to join a painting class opened by the farmers’ painting association in Xiaoshan district. Later, he became a member of the association.

Most of Shen’s artistic creations are ink and wash landscape paintings. “I wanted to balance work and my personal hobby, and my art teacher suggested that I should devote effort to learning one specific type of Chinese painting in order to quickly improve my drawing skills,” Shen explained.

Shen Jianjiang takes a spare moment from his workday to paint while attending to his fish stall. (Photo/Wei Yanran)

Shen has always sought inspiration in nature while taking up his hobby. “The scenery on rainy days was really beautiful, but the conditions for painting were not favorable. In this case, I often used a camera to record the scenery and then drew paintings based on the pictures I had taken when I went back home,” Shen explained, adding that he also used foam boards to draw pictures on when he was outside. So far, the man has created more than 600 paintings.

Shen has a busy schedule every day, usually getting up at 4 a.m. to restock fish products, and then spending the rest of the day running his business at the market. It is only after a full day’s work that Shen starts to draw pictures in his 20-square-meter painting studio.

Both Shen’s wife and son support him in chasing his painting dreams, and his wife always happens to be the first person to appreciate Shen’s paintings. “I truly hope that he can stick to the hobby,” said Shen’s wife.

Photo shows Shen Jianjiang and his wife in front of their fish stall. (Photo/Wei Yanran)