Written by Immen Hu, Writer, Translator

July, 2006


In the midsummer of 2004 a stream of energy rose up from the bottom of my chakras. It motivated me with a desire to break through the barriers of words and thoughts and return to colors, images and archetypes.

At that moment in my life phase, when the fifth house was ruled by the planet Uranus, Kuan-hsin appeared on the horizon.

Kuan-hsin is both my dear neighbor and the teacher who enlightened me to pick up a brush and begin oil painting again after a hiatus of 30 years. I made the most of her being close by, and with her guidance I was once again whirled into the "extraordinary dreams" of the world of painting.

Extraordinary Dreams and How to Work with Them is an excellent book about inspiring creativity and extrasensory perception. The cover of the Chinese-language edition of the book, published by PsyGarden Publishing Company, shows one of Kuan-hsin's paintings. The elements in the painting are those often favored by painters, including ancient European buildings, wafting clouds, feathers, the contrast of light and dark, and the interaction of reality and the metaphysical world. The observer, from Kuan-hsin's paintings, has the possibility to glimpse through the gap between reality and illusion, and to depart from the crystallized worldly phenomena.

For a painter, I guess, providing such a possibility does not only originate from a willingness of redemption, but is also an outlet to employ a Sisyphus-style hard labor to soothe and heal a vulnerable heart.

Yes! The nature of creative art is a kind of hard labor that can heal the vulnerable heart. I am deeply moved by this aspect of Kuan-hsin's paintings.

In such a fine and delicate life and with unrivaled perseverance and discipline it is foreseeable that God has a co-creator in the surrealistic world of painting.