a northern chinese woman who dropped out of the rat race to become an artist in southwest china’s beautiful yunnan province has become a social media sensation for her creative cloud paintings.
a photo of zhou yu with a painting of a cloud shaped like a friendly bear. (photo: xinhua)
zhou yu has been dubbed a “translator of clouds” by her fans. her paintings transform clouds into whales, cats, and other creatures. she hopes these soothing images can express her feelings and heal the world.
zhou has been drawing clouds in dali every day since august 18, 2019. before then, she lived in a big city and worked as a magazine editor, a documentary filmmaker and an educator in children’s art.
longing for a another way of life, she moved to dali.
“the clouds that appeared in the miyazaki’s cartoons are actually floating in the sky of dali,” zhou said. fascinated by the historic city’s ever-changing cloud patterns, she chose to live there and began to draw.
zhou yu’s painting “loving you as loving life.” (photo: xinhua)
the famous chinese writer shen congwen once said that the clouds in yunnan may not be able to educate people directly, but can influence people indirectly through the heart and hands of an artist.
zhou is such an artist.
a zhou yu painting named “i'm your best listener.” (file photo:xinhua)
instead of painting the clouds on cloudy days or in the night skies, she only paints white clouds against the blue sky. many people with depression have sent her messages to thank her for lifting their mood, which gives her a sense of responsibility to keep going creating.
“i feel for a moment that this little thing is worth doing, because someone really needs it,” zhou said.
