Xu Shendong shows dozens of landscapes and paintings at an ongoing exhibition in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

A student of Chinese painting in college, Xu also learned oil painting and printing.

He moved to the United States in 1996 where he was nurtured by Western art over a period of six years.

Xu returned to Shenyang in 2002, believing that its "familiar soil" would let him devote himself to painting.

In the series Countryside and Sketch Classes, he demonstrates what it means to be restless and hopeful at the same time.

Commenting on his work, Zhang Hui, a professor of the Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, says: "Xu's works show his power of observation when it comes to changing surroundings and people's struggles. And the colors he applies reflect a confidence in his pursuit of art."

For Xu, poetry is another medium to enrich the themes expressed in his paintings.

In a new catalog of his paintings, Xu pairs each of his works with one of his poems.

He has written around 300 poems since 2006, when he produced his first work aboard a plane. He was then impressed by the grandeur of the Helan Mountain in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

Xu, who compares the process of writing and painting to walking on a beach, says: "The inspiration grabs me just like the appearance of a small stone－beautifully polished by the sea－when the tide recedes."