Born in Qinghai, painter Yang Yan finds the essence of life in mountains and nature, Li Fusheng and Li Jin report.

Yang Yan travels a great deal as he believes that nature is a good teacher for painters.

"Barren mountains along State Highway 212 are a stark contrast to the luxuriant ones south of the Yangtze River," said the 56-year old painter.

Magnificent Universe (123cm x 245cm)

Yang Yan. Photos provided to China Daily

Rivers and Mountains in Beijing (70cm x 110cm)

"Without vegetation, their structure and relationship with one and another are clear at first sight."

The experience has been helping since the 1980s when he started his serial work The Call of Faraway Mountains.

Instead of specific peaks, what Yang portrays is something abstract, some ideal place for the soul.

"So I represent them with the simplest mountain-like forms, just as our ancestors carved on the animal bones and turtle shells," said Yang.

"At the start I painted three, sometimes one and sometimes two like the breasts of our Mother Earth."

It might seem easy to replicate the same forms but in fact great skills are required, said Yang.

"Despite the same shapes, they are connected in different ways and have different meanings.

"I also paint the sun, the moon and the mist as well as the lake, the grassland, the river at their foot."

The series took Yang a long, long time, which he interpreted as a faithful pursuit of art and life.

"By what do you pursue the universe? Of course with your passion and determination."

And that's what underlies Yang's tireless visits to and portraits of mountains and peaks.

In addition to those famed in history, Yang trekked to other natural wonders like Mount Kailas near the border between China and Nepal.

"I went there twice," said Yang. "I failed to reach the peak during the first trip due to serious altitude illness. But I climbed it with the help of local troops when I tried the second time."

Since then he travels to more destinations with renowned mountains including Nepal, India, Jordan, Israel, Egypt, Turkey and Sierra Leon, where he met his African wife.

"You can never stop - faraway mountains are always in front. You examine, compare, paint them and finally melt them into your blood."

In addition to mountains, Yang holds similar emotions for animals and plants.

"I marvel at how amazing life is when I see two insects play with each other. When I find some tender shoots in my flower pots, I transplant them into the ground so that they will grow better."

He even has a soft feeling towards stones that doctors took out from his body.

"They were really hardy things and I thought I would like do something to praise them. So I did a painting that portrays what they are like under the microscope.

"And it now hangs in my room."

Great Land (300m x3000m) painted by Yang Yan is the largest in the world.

Famed Mountains in China (30cm x 42cm each)

(China Daily 05/10/2014 page12)