I promise to write more about this photo....

This is a painting by an artist/teacher in Beijing, Mr. Tai.  I met him years ago when I went to Beijing to visit my friend Didi and I was interested in buying a silk rug.  She took me to the apartment of her friend who worked at a silk rug factory to see a few choices and when we walked in, I was shocked to see a piece of plywood on two saw horses against the wall serving as a painter's table.  There was a stack of paintings on paper on the table that must have been 18 inches tall.  This was one of them.  I was no longer interested in finding a silk rug but spent about an hour going through the stack of paintings and bringing home about 15 of them.  Mr. Tai and I became a little business because I knew I could sell some of his paintings here in Sarasota and I did.  My friend Didi even brought over several paintings on one of her visits, as did her son when he came to visit.  
It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed that time.  There are several of his paintings framed and hanging in our home and every one has a story.  

The story of this one is the fish have come from all over the sea and are lining up to have a race.  The start line is the right side of the painting.  
Mr. Tai was a very traditional artist and could paint in several different styles.  He had a one man show at a hotel in Tokyo where there was a huge salt water fish tank.  He had never seen fish like those in the tank and became obsessed with painting fish.  At first they were all very anatomically correct, but by the time he painted this piece, he had developed a very free hand and painted them as he pleased.  

So that's the story.  :)