An AH-64D Apache attack helicopter flies in front of a wall of fire during the South Carolina National Guard Air and Ground Expo at McEntire Joint National Guard Base, South Carolina, U.S. on May 6, 2017. (Photo by Jorge Intriago/Reuters/Courtesy Air National Guard)

A leopard attacks an Indian man as others climb a wall to get away from the animal in Lamba Pind area in Jalandhar on January 31, 2019. After a leopard was spotted in a house in Lamba Pind area of Jalandhar city, subsequent attempts to capture it led to the animal attacking at least six people, though none was injured seriously, local media said. (Photo by Shammi Mehra/AFP Photo)

A picture taken on October 17, 2017 shows Madame Tussauds museum's wax figure of US President displayed along the East Side Gallery section of the Wall in Berlin during a photo session. The wax figure will be displayed at Madame Tussauds museum in Berlin from October 20, 2017. (Photo by Jens Kalaene/AFP Photo/DPA)

People and devotees visit the Jama Masjid mosque in the walled city area of New Delhi on November 26, 2022, after reports stating that Delhi's Jama Masjid management, rolled back a ban on entry of women without families. (Photo by Sajjad Hussain/AFP Photo)

A Chinese tourist uses the scarf of a friend as she is helped while she and others struggle to climb in the wind on an icy section of the Great Wall at Badaling, on a cold day after a snowfall on November 30, 2019 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Kevin Frayer/Getty Images)

Light is the sole reason why life exists. It provides us with warmth; it allows us to see; it nourishes all the living things on this planet. Many painters, especially the masters of Old Renaissance Period, have recognized the importance of light and its intimate connection with nature and life itself. In their paintings they gave tribute to light, giving the impression that their paintings had a light source hidden within them. Al Hogue, the artist who created the paintings that you see before you, has studied their techniques for many years. As time went by, light permeated not only his paintings by also his life, becoming his sole philosophy.

Liu Yi, Chinese painter, was born in Shanghai in 1958. He was a Fine Arts graduate from the Hua Dong University for Education. He did his postgraduate study of watercolor painting at the China College of Fine Arts. He lectures at university for painting and design. He is a member of the Chinese Artists Association and is also a member of the Watercolor Painting Artists Association. He is the retired Deputy President of the Shanghai Watercolor Painting Society, and is currently the Deputy Principal of the Shanghai Arts and Technical College. He is a very accomplished watercolor painter in China.

Melanie Baier from the village Obergurig wearing a traditional Lusatian sorbian folk dress, paints an Easter egg in traditional Sorbian motives at the annual Easter egg market on March 24, 2012 in Schleife, near Hoyerswerda, Germany. Easter egg painting is a strong part of Sorbian tradition and visual elements within the painting are meant to ward off evil. (Photo by Carsten Koall/Getty Images)