Though he had no formal training or even informal guidance, Liu was determined, and with his abundance of self-confidence, he eventually became one of China's great artists.
有時畫速寫，有時作淡彩，主要是名勝風景的寫生。經濟情況不佳，加上精神上的不得開展，也是促使他在藝術方面找寄託的原因之一。他結交了一些畫界朋友，像黃君璧、馬白水、梁中銘、馬電飛等，大家常在一起討論畫事。