Painter uses a blend of styles to 'watch' his daughters grow
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E-mail China Daily, February 27, 2018
When Wan Li's first daughter Duo Duo was born six years ago, the oil painter was unprepared to be a father. But his two daughters are now his inspiration and he now sees himself as "a painter for daughters".
Wan's Daughter series of paintings is now on display in Nanjing, Jiangsu province.
On his canvases, his daughters are dressed in traditional Chinese costumes, catching butterflies, sitting under a tree or playing along a river.
Theses portraits went viral online and have attracted tens of thousands of likes.
The artist has done oil painting for years. But he also does traditional ink painting.
In his works, Chinese ink painting elements are combined into his oil works.
"It's not easy to mix oil painting with traditional Chinese ink painting," says Wan, 32.
When his older daughter was 2 years old, Wan painted the first portraits of her and kept doing this to record her childhood.
His daughters' clothes and accessories for the paintings are chosen by his wife Feng Yan, an interior designer. His daughters - aged 6 and 3 - also like to wear these clothes in daily life, he says.
The older girl enjoys being in Wan's studio in Nanjing and is learning calligraphy from her father. And the younger one typically follows her sister.
At Wan's studio, hundreds of pictures recording his daughters' lives hang on a big board. And he has a special space in his studio to take photos of his daughters.
"It's very hard to keep them quiet and still. Mostly, they just play with toys, and I watch them playing," says Wan.
When Duo Duo was 4 years old, Wan gave her a flower toy and took a photo when the little girl crawled to get it.
Then, on his canvas, he changed the toy into butterflies, inspired by an ancient Chinese ink painting focusing on butterflies.
So far, Wan has painted 14 portraits of his older daughter, which makes the younger one jealous.
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