Ni also takes inspiration from her childhood memories of growing up with her grandmother. She recalls the chicks scuttling around her grandmother's courtyard, the sea of sunflowers in her hometown of Qingdao, Shandong province, and meals her grandmother cooked for her.
"I've loved painting since I was a kid, even though I only started studying it three years ago," she says.
"I'd always scratch birds and roosters into the dirt with tree branches. I loved sketching in middle school."
Ni says she always thought about painting, even though she stopped doing it for 40 years. She believes in fate and accumulates emotions day by day, she says.
The TV hostess has known many famous painters but never ask them for advice.
Van Gogh Biography was the first autobiographical work she read and it made a deep impression on her.
She released her book The Talk of Grandma in 2010. It chronicles her days with her grandmother, whom Ni describes as a "philosopher". The book needed illustrations, so Ni painted them herself.
"My grandma was an ordinary woman," Ni recalls.
"Her talks were down-to-earth and plain but valuable for me. So, I decided to draw some simple paintings for her."
Her subjects were the things her grandmother loved, such as the fish she fed, the tree she planted and the grass she watered.
The result exceeded Ni's expectations. "Many people didn't believe they were my paintings," she says.
"It was like opening a door that had been sealed for centuries."
She would get up in the middle of the night when she would struck an idea for painting. Her works are scattered around her home. After sending her son to school, Ni would stay in her room, either meditating on the next work or painting for hours. "I wanted to use painting to tame my quick temper. But it got worse," Ni says, joking.
Ni says her success in her various roles is the reward for pain.
"The years of hosting national events made me nervous and gave me nightmares," she says.
"I often had the dream of losing my microphone or saying the wrong thing. But I was always touched by people's stories, whether the person was an Olympic champion or an ordinary factory worker. Those are great life experiences."
Despite her celebrity, Ni takes public transport and doesn't wear cosmetics. She enjoys chatting with anyone she meets, especially taxi drivers, she says.
"Their lives are full of wit and truth," she says.
"If I want to play such a role in a movie, I have to know who they are and what kind of lives they live."
Ni says she hasn't set goals for her painting career, because she considers herself a "primary school student" of the art world.
But she is happy her exhibition has been well received.
"I know a lot of celebrities came to the opening, which put me back in the headlines," she says.
"Some collectors offered me high prices, which was flattering. I'm just an enthusiast. If I have a talent, it must be observing and truly feeling my life."
By Chen Nan
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