"Yongfeng Bridge, Keqiao Ancient Town, Shaoxing City" (80cmX70cm), March 26, 2013. Chinese Australian oil painter Li Xiaozheng's new exhibition themed "Jiangnan Charm" opened on July 7 at the Roundness Art Gallery in Beijing's Songzhuang, the largest art zone in both China and the world. The exhibition features 28 artworks created by Li during his 34-day fieldtrip, between March and April of this year, to Jiangnan. (China.org.cn/Zhang Junmian)

The exhibition features 28 artworks created by Li during his 34-day fieldtrip, between March and April of this year, to Jiangnan. The area is one of the most naturally fertile and beautiful ones found south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and not in the least enhanced by the presence of the charming waterfront towns in Zhejiang Province.

The 56-year-old painter and his wife Yingzi, who also acts as the event's planner, set out on their more than 5,000-kilometer-long journey on March 16.

They drove southward from Beijing to re-take the painter's long march to China's Jiangnan, an area to which he had once paid a one-month-long visit and created a series of works 30 years ago.

Rain or shine, the painter continued his work all day, every day, immersing himself into nature and drawing on his canvas the charming spring scenery of Jiangnan.

"It happened very often that we would forget to eat, as Xiaozheng was fully engrossed in his artistic creation," Yingzi, who accompanied Li all the way and recorded the entire creative process, said.