Tseng herself said that her creations have been greatly influenced by her background in Chinese culture and traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy.

Tseng Yuhe and her work Wonder Image

"Since childhood, I learned Chinese painting and calligraphy from Pu Jin, Qi Gong and Rong Geng, well-known scholars and painting masters of China. It has influenced my creativity throughout my life," Tseng told Beijing Review.

But she stressed that she hopes she has created her own style, and not just followed her predecessors. "I pursue something new while keeping the essence of Chinese tradition," she said.

Although Tseng learned Western art forms later in life, she feels proud of Chinese painting techniques and always incorporates them into her work. "My work conveys my understanding of art after more than 60 years of learning and studying both Chinese and Western painting," she said.

Tseng said many people think that abstract is something from the West, but actually quite a number of paintings by ancient Chinese scholars are also abstract in style. "In my study of traditional Chinese painting, I found that many ideas used by ancient people were very close to those of people today," she said.

Tseng uses a lot of lines in her work, something that is very common in Chinese art. "More and more Western artists tend to adopt lines in their work now," Tseng said, adding that in her eyes, lines have important aesthetic value and can express deep meanings.

The mastery of both Chinese and Western art gave Tseng great space to develop her own style. In her early years, she experimented with a technique she developed, called Zhui Hua, a kind of art form similar to Western collage. Absorbing the traditional techniques in China of mounting Chinese paintings, she assembled disparate pieces of paper to produce a new effect.

In Tseng's later works, she mixed Chinese art with modern Western art. The colors and images in her paintings combine in an almost lyrical way.

Young at heart

Tseng impresses everyone who knows her with her passion both in art and in life. Looking much younger than her age, and with all her faculties intact, Tseng is alert and youthful in spirit.