Hometown artist Li Shoubai is known as "Mr Shikumen" because he paints the buzzing bygone kaleidoscopic life within the vanishing stone-gated houses built along vanishing longtangs (lanes).

The colors are vibrant, the shapes are bold, the nostalgic scenes are executed in detail: boys flying kites in the lane, ladies in qipao chatting or preening, a fish awaiting a skillet, a cat sunning itself.

Li, also known for sculpture and paper cut art, was a busy man during the recent Shanghai Art Fair and Shanghai Folk Art Expo where his works were displayed, notably his famous "Shanghai Shikumen Flavor" series. Other paintings of old Shanghai ladies in blue and white, a series on shikumen kids and sculpture also drew crowds.

In painting the old life, Li strips away the outer wall of a narrow townhouse, revealing the varied levels of inner life. He paints cozy scenes with warmth, humor and sometimes exaggerated, comic elements.

Li uses "heavy color" on rice paper, using thickly applied water-based Chinese paints, not ink-wash watercolors.

His brushstrokes are Chinese, but he uses Western painting skills and perspective.

"I hope to show the mentality of a good life, because most of the other paintings about old Shanghai have relatively gloomy tones that make one feel very depressed," he tells Shanghai Daily at his studio in Bridge 8 on Jianguo Road M.

"My works are very bright, eye-catching and lively in color contrast, so people can feel that life is beautiful and cheerful," he says.

Li was born in 1962 to an artistic family - in a shikumen house.

He writes on his Website: "Passing the lane alone, facing the old shikumen, a familiar feeling breaks into my mind and inspires me to create. The elegant shikumen style gives expression to the imagination and creativity of the people who live here. This architecture is terse, economical and not extravagant."

Li says he is "completely intoxicated" by "shikumen ... I always have a new idea when I am there. As times keep changing, I always keep searching this regional culture."

When he was six years old, Li began learning from his painter and paper-cut artist father Li Yanyi. He graduated from the Shanghai Arts and Crafts Institute, and studied with famed painters Lin Ximing and Wang Zigan.

When he was in his early 20s, Li's paintings and paper-cuts had already been published.

Today he is director of the Shanghai Folk Art Association.

Li's works have been displayed for five consecutive years at the Shanghai Art Fair, featuring top Chinese and international art.

In 2004, his works sold for between 1,000 and 1,500 yuan (US$140-200) per chi (33 centimeters).

Today the price is 6,000 yuan, according to Shen Yao, Li's wife and also manager of ShouBai Cultural & Art Co.

Ten years ago, Li was living in Japan and working on folk art. The theme "old Shanghai" was popular at the time. He recalls Zhang Yimou's "Shanghai Triad" and Stanley Kwan's "Everlasting Regret."

He knew from his shikumen childhood that painting old Shanghai would be second nature.

"So after returning from Japan, I started creating my 'Shanghai works,' combining my own life experience with unique local cultural elements, and then established my 'shikumen style'," Li says.

He still remembers his early works, especially one titled "Shi Ku Men," depicting a Shanghai family in their house.

He started it in 2003 in Japan and finished it in 2004 in Shanghai.

When "Shi Ku Men" was exhibited during the 2004 Shanghai Art Fair, it created a sensation. The painting was purchased by an overseas collector in May for 30,000 yuan (US$4,300).

Li's strong colors on rice paper reflect traditional Chinese realistic painting. He also paints freehand and even comic-style.

Sometimes he employs Western oil painting skills, especially in the balance between light and dark, black and white and use of color and lighting.

He uses ticking, brushing, dotting, and dying and often achieves a three-dimensional or multi-dimensional effect.

"My art style is influenced by Chinese folk culture, which encourages me to create bravely, by Dunhuang grotto art with heavy and bright colors, and by Yongle (Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644) Palace murals," Li says.

Li meticulously depicts the vitality of shikumen and longtang life, especially the harmonious relations among neighbors. People enjoy tea, relax with a fan, grab a rickshaw, hang out the laundry.

"Shikumen houses integrate all these stories and demonstrate that the times are rich and full," Li says. "Sometimes there are no figures in my paintings, but all the details provide plenty of space for the imagination."

The light falling through the window panes, trees and plants, melon vines hanging with fruit - all set the scene.

"Actually, you cannot find these scenes, because they are not pictures or just simple imitation. The scene is just in my mind. My childhood memories in shikumen and daily life are endless sources of inspiration and creativity."

Li also creates new styles in his ongoing shikumen theme. At the recent National Art Exhibition, he showed his latest works - a series of four paintings of women in qipao.

"Besides using a blue-and-white porcelain style to draw the figures, I added patterns of peony flowers on their skin. I inscribed Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) poems as well," he says.

Today Li is preparing for new works about old times, especially during traditional festivals - like making rice dumplings for the Dragon Boat Festival.

"The topic of shikumen life is inexhaustible," he says.