It comes as no surprise that someone like her would pick up a brush and start to paint when she was in her fifties. In 1976, her second daughter emigrated from Taiwan to Canada. Li went to visit her and her family, and she was fascinated by the beautiful scenery in the country. "The sparkling white snow in winter, the refreshing landscapes in spring and summer, the colorful views in autumn... When I looked at the scenery, the desire to paint welled up in me." She borrowed crayons from her grandchildren and drew on the blank sides of old calendars. The works she produced elicited profuse praise from her children, who had never seen her draw. "We were really surprised when Mother showed her works to us," said her youngest daughter, Chen Hsiao-jung, who teaches art at a high school in Taipei. "Her keen sense of observation and great sensitivity for colors are truly admirable. It was the first time we knew that Mother could paint and was good at it too." Greatly encouraged, Li decided to spend more time on painting. Since then, she has graduated from crayons to watercolors to oil paints, greatly enriching her retired life with lively, vivacious colors.

Li said that she was very fond of drawing when she was a child. All the empty space in her notebooks was filled with her doodling. One episode stood out in her memory. One day during junior high school, inspiration came and she itched to draw. She took out her notebook and set out to transform the images in her mind into pictures. Just as she was happily lost in her creative activity, the teacher found out and confiscated the notebook from her. A couple of days later, when she was still mourning the loss of her notebook, the teacher told her to come to his office to retrieve it. Li arrived at the office and saw several teachers huddling over her notebook and looking at the drawings in it with interest. One of them said, "This girl will definitely become a useful person in the future."

The comment was deeply imprinted on her mind. Yet as much as she liked to paint, few people back in those days ever thought of pursuing art as a career. So the idea of becoming a professional painter never crossed her mind.

She got married at an early age--17, which was not unusual in those days. Busy taking care of her five children and tending her dressmaking shop (she learned the art of tailoring and became a seamstress), time flew by quickly. But her love for painting never died--it just lay dormant in her heart. After nearly four decades, she was visiting in her daughter's home one day, and she happened to pick up a brush and start painting. Her latent love of art was awakened and sprang to life.

When Li first tried her hand at painting, she often went to different places to paint from nature, and thus most of her early works are landscapes. But later it occurred to her that she could delve into her childhood for sources of inspiration. "I often think of my childhood, which was the happiest time of my life. Life was full of interesting things then. I thought to myself that it was a pity young people nowadays know so little about the old, traditional way of life. So I decided to turn my childhood memories into pictures so my descendants can know what kind of life their grandparents or great-grandparents led."

Li was the daughter of a farmer, and so her paintings depict country life in Taiwan before the island changed from a rural society to an urban one: women washing clothes by the creek, a water buffalo pulling a plow in a field, people pounding rice to remove the husks, and country folks lining the trails between farms to worship the Earth God on its birthday. As Taiwan becomes more and more modernized, these old patterns of life and tradition are rapidly disappearing. Li's art thus preserves a precious slice of history. "Li's paintings accurately record old habits and customs and traditional ceremonies," said Professor Shih Ping-hsi (施並錫) of the Department of Fine Arts at National Taiwan Normal University. "Aside from their artistic value, they also have significant historical value and meaning."

About four years ago, Li's children suggested that she enter one of her paintings in an art competition sponsored by the Ju Ming Culture and Education Foundation. Much to her surprise and delight, she won the Master's Award. This instilled a lot of confidence in her and further cemented her decision to devote herself to painting. She has since held two solo exhibitions in Taipei.

Life can be a drag for retired elderly people who often find themselves at loose ends. But this is not the case for Li. "Painting makes me so happy and makes my days pass by so quickly. Once I start painting, I get completely immersed. I'm apt to lose track of time and I even forget to eat." Actually, this multi-talented lady is not only good at painting--she also excels at calligraphy, tai chi, and flower arrangement. She has even signed up for a course on tea ceremony. Full of passion for and interested in everything, she advises elderly people never to think that they are too old to learn anything. "Whether young or old, we should all keep learning. Only by keeping an inquisitive, open mind can we remain young and full of vitality at all times." Coming from Li, these words carry real power and force.

In the sidebars on the following pages, readers have the chance to view some of the paintings created by Li and see how she sings the praise of life through her art.