Birds Over Suzhou
Chinese Venice Painting

Birds over Suzhou

The place known by many people as "Chinese Venice" or the "Watertown of China".

In Suzhou's history, a main source of transportation was by boat along the many canals and slow rivers throughout the city.

In modern times, Suzhou has outgrown the area that you find these waterways, but most of them are still preserved, and used for both transportation, and to take Chinese tourists around the city in hand-paddled "water-taxis".

More than two days of work went into this piece. The attention to detail really shows. This is the kind of art that you will be proud to hang on your wall...

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About this artwork

This was painted using watercolors on xuan paper (often referred to as "rice paper" in the west). The raw artwork was then taken to our mounting workshop in Beijing. At the workshop it was laminated to several more sheets of xuan paper to thicken up the artwork. Also, a silk brocade border was added which can be used in lieu of matting when you frame this artwork.

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About the amazing artist behind this great artwork:

If you have navigated much of our website, you already know this is a great all-around artist that does wonderful work in many categories. But of course, there is a story...

I was supposed to be on vacation, and I just wanted to see the karst mountain landscapes of the Li River near Guilin. As luck would have it, I stumbled across a very inspiring artist.

In fact, this man is probably the most courageous person that I have ever met. He certainly has my respect and admiration.

While he is a wonderful and talented artist, that is only part of his story

His full name is Ou-Yang Guo-De. He and his sister now live in Guilin. He keeps himself busy painting, while his sister sells his art at a small gallery not far from the center of the city.

When they were very young, their mother died. Their father didn't make much money, and with their mother gone, he had to remarry quickly for financial reasons (very common in Chinese culture under those circumstances and that time in history). Their father found a new wife in a village, and they all moved into the woman's family home.

Part of young Ou-Yang Guo-De's chores included collecting corn cobs that fell from the passing train cars at nearby railroad tracks. The corncobs are burned and used as fuel for cooking, and even heating homes in poorer villages where people cannot afford coal.

One day, when he was about 11 years old, Ou-Yang Guo-De came upon a train that had stopped on the tracks. Under the train he saw a bounty of corncobs. He climbed under the train to get the precious cobs when tragedy stuck. The train began to move, and literally cut him in half...

The details he told me about this event were so vivid that they are a bit too graphic for a happy art listing. He still remembers everything that happened until he lost consciousness, expecting to die.

Though pieces of his story are missing from when he was unconscious, there must have been a miracle involved because somehow he survived. The nearest hospital was far away, and while he has no idea how he got there before bleeding to death, that's were he woke up. But both of his legs and his left arm were gone forever.

In China, the most likely occupation for a disabled person like him would be to become a beggar on the street, but not Ou-Yang Guo-De!

He continued to study and go to school, and went to work at an umbrella and parasol factory. He showed a lot of natural artistic talent, so the factory owner sent young Mr. Ou-Yang to art school for two years. After graduation, he went to work hand painting beautiful scenes on rice paper and silk parasols.

After many years at the factory, working for low wages, he decided to make a change. He took a leap of faith and went out on his own as an artist. It was a little rough at first, but it turned out to be a good decision.

He has done well, and has quite a following. Also, he is a little famous for more than his art. You see, a few years ago, he was given an award by the government of China for being an example of what disabled people should aspire to.

But there is something about him that is different. This guy totally loves life. He is truly happy and good-natured. He laughs and tells jokes and is the life of the party. He is not a social outcast, but rather a social phenomenon. He is surrounded by a lot of friends because I think his friends feed off of his enthusiasm for life - I certainly felt it myself.

I spent several days with the artist, and I may be forever changed. Whenever I think I am in a tough spot, or difficult circumstance, all I have to do is think about Mr. Ou-Yang. If he can overcome what he did, then I can overcome my petty problems.