Li Jin has experimented with ink painting over the past few decades. He has started to employ massive brushstrokes in his creations. His solo show, titled Being, in Beijing displays his latest ink paintings. [Photo provided to China Daily]

In recent years, Li has formed the habit of spending a few days alone in the mountains, where he can escape city life and explore his "inner world".

Reflecting that change in his life, his paintings have moved from colored ink to monochromatic ink.

Li sees the change both as a challenge and a new stage in his career since most masterpieces of Chinese painting often reflect the artists' spiritual worlds.

He has also started to employ massive brushstrokes on rice paper. The biggest brushes can weigh 8 kilograms after soaking in water and ink. He now paints big scrolls with simple strokes to show the original Chinese technique.

Britta Erickson, curator of Li's show and his longtime friend, says having been a master of all things to do with color, the painter seems to be empowered to work with shades of ink.

"He is coming to understand how the whole world (is) connected in a more profound and deeper (way)," says Erickson, who has studied Chinese traditional painting for decades.

She says traditional Chinese painting masters often made big accomplishments on turning 50. They often had to practice for years to learn techniques of freely using ink and water.

Li has reached a similar level.