Animal Expression I - Wild Life

Like most artists, I love painting animals too:-)! No matter if they are pets or animals in nature, they all have their own expressions.

Before I start to paint or draw on canvas or paper, I usually study how to capture individual or groups of any kind of living creatures. Doesn't matter in my vibrant color palette or in a duo-tone drawing or if it is in a more realistic style to more abstract. The composition is always my first priority, and then the movement, and then the expression.
What I believe is always to pay more attention to everything surrounding daily life, how the animals live, where, and what they do etc.. It helps me to find more subjects to paint. Actually, I never run out of ideas to paint. And day by day, I can add up more experience, when I am ready to paint the subject, even if I don't have enough study materials, there is a lot of information in my mind already. So, I can just follow my my feeling to create them on canvas and bring them to life.

The best result is always from the viewer/s' reaction and critique of my finished painting, they always help me and my art continuing to develop. The "Giraffe Family"(above) and the "Hand in Hand"(below) were created in palette knife.

Please click each image to view a better one, or view more animal paintings at my online gallery https://xueling-zou.pixels.com/collections/portrait+of+animals





Original Art Story

Paintings with Auspicious Symbols V - Peacocks 孔雀東南飛

Quick studies before the Annual Alameda Plein Air Evert

Capitola Plein Air 8th Annual Art Festival 2023

Work in Progress, live models studies - long and short pose

Alameda Plein Air Paint Out -16th Annual Event 2021

Short-pose live male model drawings

Original Art Story - The Colors of La Boca Argentina

Plein Air @ Westwind Community Barn Los Altos Hills CA

Plein Air @ Alviso Marina County Park San Jose CA