Zeng Renzhen creates a series of paintings which center around a diminutive character who likes to go on adventures, meet new people, take care of chores, and generally enjoy an enviably carefree life. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Despite having six books of his paintings published, he regards himself first and foremost as an architect. These past years of painting have been his own way of researching the relationship between people and space.

"I have a clear goal in my painting, which is to ponder the relationship between humans and nature, between human activities and space... and to address the professional topics of architectural design that I am interested in," Zeng says.

Born in 1982, Zeng grew up in the small city of Yongzhou, Hunan province. Possessing a delicate constitution as a child, Zeng spent much of his youth sitting quietly on his own, drawing and reading.

In middle school art class, he found himself captivated by the works of Fan Kuan, a Chinese painter from the Song Dynasty (960-1279), whose landscape paintings introduced to him a previously hidden view of nature.

He then immersed himself in landscape painting, which led him to become increasingly passionate about the art form toward the end of high school.

Without having received any formal training, he chose to study architecture, a discipline that requires basic drawing skills, at Chang'an University in Shaanxi province's capital Xi'an.