Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

I was inspired by the Chinese traditional folk art style to create a couple of peacocks with eight peony-flowers oil painting on canvas recently, which I named "Peacocks Flying Southeast 孔雀東南飛". "Peacocks Flying Southeast" is well-known to Chinese and is a phenomenal poem in Chinese literary history. It is one of the collections of the Music Academy (YueFu) formed by the Han Dynasty (196—219 AD) courts to gather literary works created largely for the common people. It was about a tragic love story between a young couple, who promised to love each other forever. Perhaps the morbid mother-in-law could not stand the daughter-in-law coming between her and her son. Eventually she broke up the marriage when her son was working out of the town. The young couple’s dream and promise of living together was shattered. Both their families forced them to marry someone else. So this young couple took their own lives, fulfilling their commitment of love in a different world.

"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

This title was inspired by a Beatles' song. I was introduced to many Beatles songs since I came. This is one of them inspired me, so I had decided to create a piece where this song guides me... Here is the link of The Beatles - All My Loving ( Close Your Eyes ):   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWvurnpKjE4 Living in California for twelve years now. Eleven years ago, I started painting, but seldom felt desire to paint the scenery where I live. Not long ago, I made a decision that I had to make myself feel happy about living here, accept it and being accepted. Two Weeks ago, I was so stuck by this piece I was creating, I painted over and over again... it was about 11pm at Friday night, I didn't even want to eat my dinner, still searching for idea how to create this piece to express my own feeling about the half-surreal, California scene in summer. Suddenly, I received an email from a FAA member.  It was the first time she emailed and asked me if I was looking for inspir