WORLD-renowned Grimsby painter Hai Shuet Yeung has just completed a 20m long landscape masterpiece.
The sizeable artwork is a mixture of watercolour, oil and powder paints depicting vast outdoor scenery including mountains, rivers and farms.
The owner of The Landings hotel and restaurant in Cleethorpe Road, Grimsby, produced the huge painting on thick wallpaper underliner that never wrinkled no matter how wet it got.
In just over one month, little by little, he painted various settings from memory, meaning the vibrant and colourful picture does not show one clear and specific place in the world, but the ethos behind the piece is a simple one.
He said: "I paint for myself, for my own enjoyment – my art is my own.
"We're all so busy these days, we work so hard – no one does eight hours in the office and that's it.
"For me I find painting relaxing and the idea behind this painting is that even a half day off is necessary to relax.
"You see people and animals in this picture, none of them are working because people work all the time so this painting shows people having fun in their free time whether it's feeding ducks, walking or playing golf.
"You won't recognise where this is because I paint what I think not what I see.
"Something like this has never been done before and that's what I try to do, think creatively and never limit myself – this is a new development in art.
"I want to open people's minds so I have to be open-minded myself."
Mr Yeung, 77, moved to the area from the Hong Kong in China 46 years ago and received an MBE in 2008 for services to art and the community.
If you thought he'd be content with just a 20m painting, then think again because he is currently contemplating another lengthy creation – only next time it may be 400m.
He said: "It's so big that you can take small or larger bits of it and they will be paintings on their own, no matter where you focus or from how far you still get a picture.
"But this is just my warm-up, like when you play football – you have to stretch.
"I'm hoping to do an even bigger painting in the future."
Mr Yeung took over 400 photos of the painting, from different depths, compiling them all on a DVD and it's clear that each slide could be its own impressively detailed painting.
He works out of a small workshop in his hotel, sometimes deep into the night, always trying to produce something different.
Without much formal artistic grounding, apart from some college studies in Hong Kong, Mr Yeung says he learned everything on his own.
The painting is likely to be sold at auction at a later date and will be sent down to London for valuation.
Follow us on Facebook and TwitterVIEW PICTURE GALLERIES www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/pictures
