Self-taught artist has brush with fame at 80

After learning to paint only five years ago, an 80-year-old retired village teacher had her artwork displayed at Beijing's renowned 798 Art Zone in September.

Yang Peilian from Ningxiang, Hunan province, is self-taught, but her paintings in a naive style have received favorable comments from critics and professional painters.

Du Dakai, professor of art and design at Tsinghua University, said that her work showed "heavenly" clarity along with childlike fun. Yan Xinyuan, a folk artist, said Yang's paintings display precise attention to depictions of daily life while maintaining a spiritual quality.