Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

This piece won the 1st place in the Contest - Shoes on May 18th, 2012.  This painting was inspired by "The Red Shoes", which was first introduced to me by my mother. To me The Red Shoes has become a symbol of a career woman who has devoted her life to her job, or made some sacrifice in life. I painted this piece with my love for my mother.  Slowly I understand her more and more day after day. Happy Mother's Day! Inside and out Mom and I are so different, only one thing I have in common with her - a fast walk. She is outgoing, can make friends everywhere she goes through a very short conversation, rich or poor, old or young, higly educated person or without any education, even in different cultures, sometimes without language communication... She was beautiful and talented in theater arts, dancing, singing and acting. She was chosen to be an actress in a couple of movies when she was very young. Then she became a principal opera singer (western style) preformed o

I had this opportunity to create a booklet by using mixed media for a Japanese Twin Sister's story. This was the design for the cover and the intruction page. The story is about Japanese twin sisters who were separated since they were born, one lived in the east and other one lived in the west. Finally, they found each other after 20 years, but their destiny could not make their joyful reunion easy, or stay for long... Additional changes were required for adding the cherry blossom to the design. It was just the right timing as they were blooming in our location in April. So, I took a perfect "Twin blossom" and added to it.  Cherry trees and their blossoms in Japan go by the name of sakura and carry a great cultural meaning and significance for the people of Japan. The word sakura would translate as the Japanese flowering cherry tree in English whereas the blossoms are referred to as cherry blossoms. Originally, the purpose of hanami excursions was to ponder the tra

Can you believe that my orchid (yellow cymbidium) finally is blooming now after TEN years of rest? What a "Sleeping Beauty"! (Click the image to view a better result). A good friend of mine - she is a plant expert gave this orchid to me (a plant lover) during the spring time when I just got settled here. It was in a one gallon container, and bloomed with gorgeous yellow flowers. I was so touched by her sincere friendship, at the same time I was overjoyed to watch the flowers whenever I had a little time.  She also taught me how to treat this type of orchid, what kind of fertilizers used during which season, how often to water it with a treated water (temperature, no chlorine, etc.). I did take very good care of my orchid like a super princess. Left it and moved it around in a perfect spot, no direct sunlit, only the morning sun or later afternoon ones. No matter how busy I was, I'd rather have missed my breakfasts hundred times, but the first thing I spritzed