Renee Zhang

For the past year I have been gradually getting back to my artistic roots.  Growing up in an artistic family made it easy to appreciate various forms of art from an early age.  Most of my earliest memories are entwined with artwork.  I did my first large oil painting before the age of five, an abstract colorful painting consisting mostly of circular lines and movement.  I called it "The Dance of the Birds."  

After moving to the United States from China at the age of ten and later residing in Woodstock, NY, an artistic community, my informal art education continued.  All through my school years I studied art with my family and artists who were family friends.  But being academically strong in high school made it difficult to choose only art.  I ended up going to Brown instead of art school and put my artist pursuits on the back burner. 

I worked in a law office after college, but on the weekends I studied printmaking at the Woodstock School of Art.  I enjoyed the combination of technical and creative aspects of printmaking.  In a way it connected my two halves of the brain, the rational and the lyrical.  Art became my oasis in my early twenties.  

Later on I moved to Arizona to study for my MBA at Thunderbird.  Again art became more of a hobby and a forgotten dream.  Then I relocated to China with my husband for my marketing job and worked in the lively metropolis of Shanghai. We led busy lives and other than some sketches here and there my artistic side was mostly neglected.  

We moved back to Upstate New York in the US after I became a mom. Having a more slow paced life and being surrounded by beautiful nature woke up my artistic instincts again.  I find creating art both calming and energizing.  It is like being reconnected with a long lost friend. Now I strive to create something artist everyday of my life.  And with daily practice I am gaining more confidence and trying different approaches of art.

I am practicing different styles of artwork; you can see my progress and most recent artwork on my Instagram account: reneezhang123ny  

You can also find my art prints and other related products for sale on Society6: http://society6.com/reneezhang