Son’s Hockey Games Inspire Artist Trained in Classical Chinese Style

Xin Liu and her son Yilang pose with one of Xin’s paintings after a recent interview at the CBC News studio in Charlottetown. Xin was inspired by watching Yilang play hockey. (Mitch Cormier/CBC)

When Xin Liu arrived from China to Canada with his family in 2022, he knew nothing about hockey. His son, Yilang, had never seen ice in nature. These days, Yilang plays hockey and Liu captures it like an art.

Xin Liu was classically trained as an oil painter at what he describes as a very traditional art school, the Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts. Hockey scenes were by no means a common topic during his studies.

Today, the Charlottetown resident says hockey has provided an important bond between him and his nine-year-old son, who plays at North River.

Over time, Liu came to recognize the interesting parts of the game. He thinks he interprets it differently because he was completely new to the game as an adult.

Xin Liu worked in a different style while capturing this moment of her son’s hockey practice. (Xin Liu)

Yilang Liu took to the ice for the first time in September 2022, learning to skate.

“I was like, ‘How do you do that?'” he recalled that day in a recent interview he and his father did with CBC’s Mitch Cormier. Island morning.

Yilang said he often fell, but he was not nervous and falling did not scare him. Now it feels good to be on skates.

Liu’s hockey painting series takes you on a journey as his son explored the game.

“At that time, I just showed it,” he said of the early days. “His coach is just teaching the kids how to skate and learn very physical skills.”

Xin Liu’s paintings are inspired by moments he witnessed at his young son’s hockey games in Prince Edward Island (Xin Liu)

Later, Liu created a piece from the perspective of a fan watching the puck drop to start a new game.

“I think the timing is very attractive,” he said.

The paintings themselves don’t take long to complete, but he spends a lot of time thinking about what he wants to represent in each before he begins to draw.

Liu experimented with Eastern and Western artistic styles in his paintings, including contemporary ink works like this one. (Xin Liu)

He has since experimented with depicting hockey scenes in various Western and Eastern painting styles, although he still captures many other subjects and had an exhibition of his work based on the impact of Hurricane Fiona in September 2023.

More examples of Liu’s work can be viewed on his website, Liuxin.ca.