Shiy De-jinn favored landscape painting. He once wrote, "The reason I insist on painting in the face of nature is because of the changes that occur there. In that kind of atmosphere, magical colors exist that can never be painted or confined as in a studio; it can never be dreamt of by painters who recreate nature. "

Shiy went to many places—mountains, rural areas—to create the landscape paintings and sketches of his life journey “Discovering Taiwan.” He never tired from his artistic journey. Completed around 1980, “Old Houses in the Mountains” is tinted primarily in hues of green and purple. The painting illustrates well a couple of quiet and graceful houses located in green high mountains and on the lush green plain.