Flower Power

梁秀琴

Liang Xiuqin， 61， was born in Hebei Province. She joined the military in 1970 and later graduated from Beijing Military Medical University. Liang used to be the deputy director of the Department of Art at Hebei Normal University and is active in exhibitions in Hebei. Liang has retired from her work but hasnt stopped painting.

Can you tell us how you first became interested in art？

I grew up in a military residence， and I joined the army at the age of 14. In 1986， when I was 31， arrangements were made for me to work in the Department of Art at Hebei Normal University to manage students. I started to learn painting by accident. This was because of a student who came to me for help. He said he couldnt express himself when painting. It was painful and stressful for him， but I couldnt understand. So I decided to learn painting in order to understand and help my student， and thats how I fell in love with painting. In 1994， I began to study painting at the night school of the university， starting my painting career. Painting changed my life and brought me happiness.

Why did you choose roses as your focus？

I love flowers， especially roses. My friend runs a flower shop， and I like going there to have a cup of tea and admire her beautiful flowers. As long as I can see those lovely roses， I feel happy and want to express my happiness through painting.

The colors in these roses vary. Is there any particular emotion you were trying to express with these color choices？

The red roses represent pure love， passion， kindness， and happiness. The blue ones are much rarer. I like blue. It gives people a serene， calm， and relaxed feeling. I was hoping to depict a tranquil， peaceful state with the use of blue.

In your still life works， theres clearly an element of imagination. Can you tell us more about this？

Well， in that piece with the blue roses， only the bottle and the roses were actually on the table in front of my eyes. And the roses were red and pink. I liked blue， so I painted them blue. I added? the cake and fruit on the table. They give people a feeling of sweetness and happiness， which was exactly what I wanted to express in this work. The background was just about emotion; sometimes it is arranged according to the layout of the picture as a whole.

What is it that draws you to painting？ What do you find to be the most painful part？

Well， I love roses very much， and every time I draw them， it makes me feel happy. But as we all know， when you are creating something， it is always hard. Sometimes I have to modify my work again and again to get it right. Thats the painful part.

- Sun Jiahui （孫佳慧）