Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

On this special day, I'd love share my story how I started painting African American portraits, because some viewers are always curious about what inspires me to paint them. I was told by many that the colors I painted were warm and soft, and the facial expressions were so well captured. I was asked why I kept painting them instead of others, or if I had a secret reason to do so... A lot of very interesting questions... First  I don't think that each artist has to have a hidden reason for painting.  I haven't been professionally trained in a real art school.  Painting Asian faces is challenging to me. I don't live in a neighborhood full of African Americans, but I enjoy their music and culture.  Their face expression can tell a story to a visual artist from China like me. One of my favorite novels is "Gone with the Wind".  I read it many times in Chinese, and watched the movie countless times.  In June 2007, I visited Atlanta, Georgia.  Of course the first

We traveled from Antigua, Lake Atitlan, Chichicastenango, Xela, Coban, Flores, Tikal, Rio Dulce, and Livingston for 14 days in Guatemala last year, because the airline ticket was on sale. We did not even have more than 10 words in Spanish, and you can imagine it was not an easy trip especially during the low season. Guatemala really is a beautiful country! Unfortunately, what we saw was how hard the people have been working since they were still very young. Making a living is very tough for most families. Everywhere we went, the local kids surrounded me and called me "China, China,..." in Spanish! I wish I was able to understand a little bit more about what they tried to say. They were so friendly to me, and very deeply touched my heart...Like most of Chinese, I am not afraid eating and trying all kinds of food. Because we faced a lot of stresses with language barrier, all the bus connections, which were never on schedule and our traveler's checks did not work or