For the past two years, Yang has experimented painting on different media. With just a few brushes, a smiling woman with longing eyes and red lips emerges from a white plate. Around a glass bottle, a small boat sails along the Yangtze River, surrounded by craggy cliffs.

"There is no need to go to Macy's to buy glass vases imported from Italy," the Sunnyvale artist says. "You can make them at home."

To spread the do-it-yourself spirit, Yang will teach ceramic painting on Dec. 7 and glass painting on Dec. 14 at the Sunnyvale-Cupertino Adult and Community Education Center, 591 W. Fremont Ave., Sunnyvale.

Yang was born and raised in Beijing, China. Her mother, a renowned painter, made Yang and her two siblings practice Chinese painting and calligraphy every day when they were young. Although she once considered painting torture, it has become her favorite pastime.

"I was very busy when I worked as a marketing manager at an import and export business in Beijing," she says. "Painting was my way to escape from pressure."

Yang says she especially likes to paint simple objects.

"Everything has a life, a soul," she says. "I want to catch the spirit of things and convey their pure beauty."

When her mother died in 1996, painting became a way of connecting with her.

"While I am painting, I feel as if I were talking to her," she says. "I feel as if she were with me again."

Despite two decades of painting experience, Yang never thought of teaching until she moved to Paris with her husband, Olivier Rozay, in late 1996. During her stay in Paris, she taught Mandarin part time and began teaching Chinese cuisine and art to respond to her students' inquiries. She was also inspired by French artists and started painting on plates and bottles.

In 1997, Rozay got a job offer from a Mountain View computer company, and the whole family settled in Sunnyvale.

During the past two years, Yang has taught Chinese cooking and painting and Chinese calligraphy at adult and community schools around the Bay Area.

"You don't have to be an artist to paint," she says. "Just take a glass bottle out of the recycling bin and paint whatever you like. It's that simple."

Some of her painting classes are listed under the category of meditation.

"Painting is a kind of meditation," she explains. "You can forget all your worries while painting and let your heart guide your paintbrush."

For more information, call the Sunnyvale-Cupertino Adult and Community Education Center at 408.522.2736 or visit its website at www.ace.fuhsd.org.