Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

I would love to introduce some Chinese symbols to my viewers through my paintings. Here is a still life I painted entitled "Sunflowers and Lizard". Lizard (蜥蜴 or 壁虎; ) Lizards tend to be active at night. For that reason the ancients felt that they were symbolic of protection from the hidden things in life. So a lizard is more than an animal it is a symbol of luck and vision. Lizards are also fast on their feet and can escape predators much larger than themselves. Ancestors said and noted these special qualities. Ruyi (如意; rúyì) What this means in Chinese is "as one wishes you wish". A ruyi is a long curved ceremonial sceptre used in Chinese Buddhism that symbolizes power and good fortune in countless Chinese stories. It can take the shape of a lingzhi mushroom, a cloud, a first or other representation that symbolizes power. There are nearly 3000 ruyi that are variously made from valuable materials like gold, silver, iron, bamboo, wood, ivory, coral, rhinoceros

Today is Andy Warhol's birthday, he was born on August 6, 1928. Unfortunately, he died in 1987, at the age of 58. Some of my artworks were inspired by him. Of course, creating and exploring in a different visual world was challenging, but I really enjoy it! Andy Warhol was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art, who had an incredible life that many still seek to emulate. His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s. After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist.

This painting took me so long to finish! I started painting it at the beginning of January this year, then I went back to China for a visit at the end of February. Coming back to my studio it was almost in May! I could not follow up with my own feeling to continue this piece. It did help me to complete this painting after I set myself a dead-line. Camogli (Camuggi in Genoese dialect) is a small Italian fishing village and tourist resort located on the west side of the peninsula of Portofino, on the Golfo Paradiso at the Riviera di Levante, in the province of Genoa on the Italian Riviera. The former fishing village of Camogli, which now lives mainly from tourism, is known for its colorful houses that line behind the beach.The colors once helped the fishermen of Camogli, easier to catch the way back to their port.