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)

Actors dressed as Father Frost perform in the main building of the Domodedovo airport named after Mikhail Lomonosov in Moscow, Russia, 27 December 2021. Russians are preparing to celebrate New Year's Eve on 31 December and Christmas which is observed on 07 January, according to the Russian Orthodox Julian calendar, 13 days after Christmas on 25 December on the Gregorian calendar. (Photo by Sergei Ilnitsky/EPA/EFE)

In this handout image provided by Parks Australia, thousands of red crabs are seen walking in a drain on November 23, 2021 in Christmas Island. The annual migration of red crabs begins with first rains of the wet season on Christmas Island, usually around October or November. Millions of the red crabs make their way across the island to the ocean to mate and spawn. (Photo by Parks Australia via Getty Images)

People explore the ice covered pier in Port Stanley, Ontario, Canada, on December 27, 2022. The ice formations were created by a large winter storm which hit the region on over the Christmas weekend. Temperatures were expected to moderate across the eastern and midwest US on December 27, after days of freezing weather from "the blizzard of the century" left at least 49 dead and caused Christmas travel chaos. (Photo by Geoff Robins/AFP Photo)

A woman photographs a Norwegian spruce Christmas tree from Oslo after it was lit at Trafalgar Square in central London, December 4, 2014. (Photo by Toby Melville/Reuters)

Young women pose for photos in a Christmas-themed tunnel lit-up with decorations outside a shopping mall in Bangkok on December 4, 2020. (Photo by Mladen Antonov/AFP Photo)