The lure of visiting and painting in the Far East is one that Minnesota watercolorist Andy Evansen merely dreamed about. That is, until September 2007, when he and fellow artists—oil painters Jason Situ, Kevin Macpherson and John Budicin—had the opportunity to travel to the sprawling city of Kaiping in southeastern China for a seven-day plein air painting trip. “It was such a great opportunity,” says Evansen, who felt eager to start painting right away. “Everything in the Far East is so different from the West, culturally and in terms of its landscape and architecture. It gives you an immediate jolt.”

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