The focus of today's lesson is tree branches.

The students of James Chen's Chinese brush painting class at the Julia McNeill Senior Center in Baldwin Park have already learned how to hold their brushes and create the correct strokes with ink on rice paper.

Now they're learning how to reproduce the work of masters from a tradition that spans millennia. Students lean in to Chen as he explains what kind of brushes and strokes they can use to copy a landscape of pines against a background of mountains whose watercolors bleed into a hazy background.

One day, Chen said, they will learn how to create their own original compositions - Chen teaches students from West Covina, Arcadia and even LAX here in Baldwin Park, and also at adult schools in Rosemead-El Monte and Cerritos - but for right now, these students are learning the basics.

One of Chen's students, Le Nakashima of Walnut is already learning one of the tricky parts of brush painting.

Nakashima took oil painting classes, where it was easier to blur, smudge or repaint a mistake. But in brush painting, she said even if you paint over a flaw, the relief of the flawed stroke still shows.

Chinese brush painting is a slow, painstaking art - and that's part of the attraction.

Nakashima, for one, said she started taking classes from Chen just to have the pleasure of sitting still. She said she likes it because it allows her to carve out time in her life to do something quiet - away from her family.

When her 16-year-old asks her to do something, she enjoys being able to tell him, "Wait a second, Mom has homework to do."

Chao Li also enjoys painting as a sort of retreat.

"When you're painting, you forget everything that troubles you," Li said.

Li, a retired civil engineer, said he's always been interested in Chinese painting, but it wasn't until retirement that he finally had the chance.

It's a story you'll hear over and over again in Chinese brush painting classes. Chen's classes are full of students who spent their lives in technical, mathematic fields.

"I teach lots of doctors," Chen said.

Chen's story isn't too different. He attended the Tatung Institute of Technology in Taiwan and worked in the computer industry his whole life.

Now that he's retired, he's been able to devote himself wholeheartedly to a lifelong hobby.

But as much as it's about relaxing and spending time alone, his painting students come away with a tangible product.

Chen said that one of the main features that differentiates this tradition from a realistic Western tradition is that Chinese art isn't too concerned with the way something looks in real life, but the meaning it conveys.

Chinese brush artists create paintings that have a specific meaning. A painting of a strong pine tree or a bird with a long life span are appropriate subjects to wish someone a happy birthday.

The paintings are accompanied by Chinese calligraphy to explain the painting's broader meaning - accompanied by a signature stamp.

Chen teaches his students how to draw the three subjects that dominate traditional Chinese brush painting: figure paintings, birds and flowers and landscapes.

Nakashima said he likes painting landscapes, especially mountains, which can convey strong character.

Chen's students say they enjoy saving his work and seeing how far they've come.

Since Li started painting a year ago, he's been saving his work and showing his family and friends what he's been working on in class. When his brother came from China, he gave him some of his paintings.

Students stand in front of class and pose with some of their work before class for a picture.

Chen takes pride, too.

"When I see them go from nothing to these beautiful pictures, I really enjoy it," Chen said.