Jie Li began graduate studies in cello performance at the Catholic University of America in 1987, and completed his doctorate in music art in 1993. He freelanced and taught in the D.C. area until becoming the principal cellist of the Liaoning Symphony orchestra and later a cello professor at the Shenyang Conservatory and the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Now retired from teaching, Jie lives in Sarasota, Florida and Gatlinburg, Tennessee with his wife, Tracey. Jie has loved drawing since childhood and never gave it up, even while attending music school. Although self-trained as a portrait artist, he has been drawing and painting portraits for years. More recently, he has become involved in plein air painting and large-scale oil compositions. An avid admirer of great artists such as Sorolla, Sargent, Zorn, Lazlo, Repin, and many modern masters, Jie is constantly striving to capture form, light, color, texture, and character in his subjects - whether portraits, landscapes, animals, figures, or still life paintings - bringing the beauty of the world to canvas or paper. Jie works with charcoal, pen and ink, pastel, watercolor, and oil.