My name is Emily Shih. I am an artist from Taiwan. I work in acrylic and watercolor. I have been painting for 11 years since 2009 and I am a full-time artist. My paintings have been exhibited in Taiwan, New York, South Korea, South America, Europe, and the Middle East. I am the member of Chinese International Women Calligraphers and Painters Association and also the member of Art Charity Without Borders NGO.
I fell in love with creating art at an early age and has never stopped in the pursuit of this passion. For me, art is about falling in love with something, it’s about the feelings it conjures up inside you. My paintings are inspired by nature’s beauty.
I like using rich and vivid color on painting. By piling up different shapes of hue blocks, I transform the realist world into a bright and splendid world of my own. This is how I praise nature, and a way of self-expression. By utilizing the bright and saturated colors, I arrange the irregular shapes and different chroma of color blocks alternatively, and simplify the details of the scenery. I would like to show the spatial extensity, rhythm and the impression with the colors, and I hope to construct new imagery and resonance visually.
I think painting is not about blindly copying reality, but about seeking harmony in relationships. The object of art is not to reproduce reality, but to create a reality of the same intensity. I think that there are colors and lightness in nature incredible riches, which depend on whether one carefully and seriously observes. I personally love the silhouette image style, its high contrast and simplify the image to make it look like a construction by rough cut sheets of colored paper, I use this style in my painting, in order to make the whole visual harmony, so need to all sorts of color to mediate the restructuring, let paintings finally present a colorful and coordination effect. I don’t want to copy nature. I don’t think any color is absolutely good or bad, only whether the relationship between color and color is right or not.
If the right color and weight are placed in the right position, the beauty and space can be created, which is the unique style of my works. I choose the way of color block composition because I think this way can make the image present a good sense of three-dimensional, and the composition of flat color blocks has more tension than the traditional realistic painting. Such color blocks are like a large piece of color paper, stacked layer by layer to give a depth of field and three-dimensional sense. This style of silhouette attracts me very much, which can give people more imagination and interest.
Before I paint, I use image processing software to segment the image, and then I arrange the geometric shapes and various hue blocks alternatively and simplify the details of the scenery. In the process of painting, I will adjust the shape and color to make the picture present a harmonious effect. I think the flat paint without shadow can bring the stereo effect and volume feeling as well, the bright color has decorative effect more.
Since I started painting, I have been interested in it, because it can bring me strength, peace, moving and a sense of achievement! I love color very much, implicit color makes people feel warm and harmonious; Strong colors can be inspiring, eye-catching and joyful; Dark colors make people calm and cool; The matching of contrasting colors makes the picture dynamic; The coordination of colors makes the picture more stable, and the application of many colors is just like the director of the drama is the highest “artistic” creation. Most of my works are depicting landscapes, such as sunsets, mountains and rivers, reflections of water, places I have travelled and places I want to go. Also I like the themes of positivity, optimism and joy.
I want people to look at my painting and feel the same thing that I do – peaceful, happiness, joy and always believing in something good. I believe artworks can bring people a lot of moving of mind, so I want to use my work to heal people’s hearts. In my painting, showing the gentle and peaceful harmony, and if, the temperature of brush can comfort lonely in the deep inside heart, I would like to paint all the better, and use art to color the world.
My artistic goals are very closely tied with my life goals in general, so part of it would be kind of my life goal: to leave an individual legacy of myself to the world. I want to use my art to show people my own individual talent and personality, just as someone might play a song to not only express themselves but exhibit their own skill.
I also think that you can use art to change the world, as in spread awareness and your personal opinion of everyday issues, and it would be fantastic to me to be able to show someone my personal opinion on a social issue by something I painted. I think in times of uncertainty, art is more than beauty or decoration -it’s a tool.
Art can heal and bring us together even when we’re apart. I hope my role as an artist is to inspire, connect, and collaborate. I don’t have my own studio, my room is where I paint, and I have an easel and a little folding table, this is where all of my work is done. I hope I can have an independent studio in the future so that I can use it freely without worrying about the size of space. I liked painting and music when I was in primary school, but I stopped when I was in junior high school due to the pressure of entering higher school.
Before the age of 36, I experienced some low points in my life. At that point I thought about why I am not doing what I really like. Later, I thought that since I like art, I should learn painting. In 2012, I held a small solo exhibition, which was encouraged and supported by many friends and relatives.
Later, I participated in many art fairs since 2014, and my works were selected in some competitions, which gave me great confidence and a sense of achievement, and I found my true dream. Later in 2015, with the support of my family, I devoted myself to painting. I am very grateful to the friends who helped me along the way.
The path of the painter is rugged and lonely, which requires great enthusiasm and perseverance to continue. “Stick to the end, don’t forget the original intention” has confirmed my love and persistence for painting.
Every life experience is the most precious life experience, and now we are the collection of past experiences.
I believe in doing what I like, putting a good attitude, life has its own arrangement! It’s never too late to start as long as you find something you love to do!
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