Painting the poets is French artist's passion

An artwork by French artist Jean Yves Simon.

"He always brings his sketchbooks. When he finds something interesting, he sits on the ground and writes for hours. My daughter and I are never in the same group with him," says his wife, Huang Li.

Born in a country famous for oil paintings, it's natural for Simon to focus more on ordinary people than on landscapes.

During his trip to Taishan Mountain, Simon painted cleaners, stick men and workers paving roads on the mountain. Many of them were confused, telling the painter that they were not interesting and that he should draw charming ladies instead of ordinary people like them.

"I told them they were interesting for me and they felt confused. However, they were very happy to take a photo of their portraits with their mobile phone when I finished my sketches," Simon says. He has published several sketchbooks on China.

For Simon, traveling, like painting, is part of his life. He started painting when he traveled during his childhood, which was encouraged by his father. His father took him and his sister to forests, farmlands and the Sahara desert to paint.

Simon has himself been to the Sahara desert a dozen times, to India three times and has stayed in many countries for years, including the United Kingdom and Portugal. He has lived in Beijing since 2012 and will "stay as long as necessary".