This artist drew characters from Chinese novels onto a wall using flaming wooden sticks.

The video filmed in the city of Liaocheng in Shandong Province on May 27 shows a 52-year-old woman named Ding Chunmei using flaming wooden sticks to draw the characters from a Chinese folktale "Butterfly Lovers" and a classic novel "Journey to the West."

Ding reportedly learnt to draw when she was a child. She restarted drawing again in 2014 as her son went to the army and she had more free time.

Ding used charcoal sticks to draw at the beginning and later replaced them with flaming wooden sticks.

Ding said to Shandong Television: "My neighbours all asked me to teach others how to draw as they said I cannot waste my skills. I teach the children in the village to draw sometimes."

The video was provided by local media with permission.

在聊城市东昌府区沙镇王化村，农村妇女丁春梅家外院墙上基本都画满了用烧火棍作的画。从日常做饭的灶间取几根烧火棍，在自家门外的墙上，不用过多的思索，大笔勾勒，细处精摹，很快，丁春梅的烧火棍下就出现了一位妆容精致，身着秀美华服的古典女子画像。除了古典美女，“梁山伯与祝英台”“西游记师徒四人”等大家耳熟能详的经典人物，也栩栩如生地出现在她的烧火棍下。
丁春梅今年已经53岁，对于木炭作画的创意，或许源自于丁春梅天赋型的兴趣。小时候因为家里兄弟姐妹多，三年级的时候自己便辍学在家帮忙，当时的小学老师无意间看到丁春梅画得画很好，便把她介绍给了自己一位姓宋的同学。“那老师太好了，我记得他是个初中英语老师，跟他学画的都是几个初中生，就我一个特殊的，他给我画画的笔和纸，给我教画画的书，给他钱他也不要，很善良。”作为启蒙老师，丁春梅至今都对这位宋老师十分感激。
当时，每周六下午丁春梅都会跟着宋老师学画画，一直持续了半年的时间。后来因为家庭的忙碌，丁春梅就把画画撂下了，直到2014年儿子蒋振余前去参军后，丁春梅在家闲来无事，又重新拾起了当年的绘画手艺。“一开始就用煤炭画，后来一次做饭的时候想起了小时候用带着火星的烧火棍在墙上画着玩，就又开始用烧火棍画了。”
“邻居都说让我教画画，说我这手艺不能瞎了，我有时也会教村里的一些小孩画画。”随着所受的关注度逐渐增高，丁春梅对于自己这份画画的技艺也逐渐有了新的认知，觉得自己应该把这门技艺传承发扬下去，“等以后收几个学生，教他们画这个烧火棍画。目前，聊城市东昌府区沙镇镇政府正在为烧火棍作画积极申报区级非物质文化遗产。（视频由山东台提供，视频片段最早拍摄时间 2021年5月27日）