Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

"An artist is a dreamer consenting to dream of the actual world." ― George Santayana "In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine." ― Ralph Waldo Emerson "The principles of true art is not to portray, but to evoke." ― Jerzy Kosinski "The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance." ― Aristotle "The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection." ― Michelangelo "If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced." ― Vincent Van Gogh "Art in Nature is rhythmic and has a horror of constraint." ― Robert Delaunay "Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together." ― John Ruskin "Art begins with resistance - at the point where resistance is overcome. No human masterpiece has ever been created without great l

"To touch, to move, to inspire. This is the true gift of dance." ― Aubrey Lynch “Ballet is a dance executed by the human soul.” ― Alexander Pushkin “Ballet discipline: only the true believer would suffer the rigors it demanded.” ― Author Unknown  "My hope is to shed light, provoke thought, entertain, and move through dance." ― Dwight Rhoden "Dancers are not great because of their talent...they are great because of their passion" ― Unknown "Striving for connection with the audience is essential because you are in the moment; it is a give and take relationship. Catching someone's eye during a performance makes it more special" ― Aubrey Lynch "The ballet embodies the notes of music. And sometimes you almost feel like you can see the notes dance up there on the stage." ― Robert Caro “You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang

I've always loved snow since I can remember. After living in California over 11 years. I don't think I can bear the coldness any longer. As deep as I try to hide my emotion, the often this imaginary perfect winter night haunts me. Because of the fairy stories, novels and poems I had read, so there was always a beautiful European style architecture instantly came to my mind, white snowy roofs, peaceful streets, maybe a white night, still could see outside the snow. Every family had a warm cozy house, enjoying a home made delicious dinner together in front of the fire place, with happy music at the background, should be full of joy and love with parents, grandparents all together. We didn't have to grow up or older, just stayed in that perfect night forever... I had been dreaming this painting for a very long time. There might be some missing part in my life, might be a rootless feeling that urged me to create this piece. It was based on a black and white photo taken in 199