When Linghui Wang paints outdoors in Estes Park, she sometimes has to get creative. The wind can be fierce in the mountains, especially in winter, but Wang, who also goes by Lynn, has found ways to keep working in the landscape that inspires her.
“If the weather is nice, I always try to go out there to paint,” Wang says. “However, sometimes it’s too windy in the winter, so I’ll paint outside from my car or inside my studio.”
For Wang, the act of painting directly from nature is essential. Photos can help, she says, but they cannot replace the experience of seeing the world firsthand.
“Seeing the nature in real life, it’s totally different from a photo,” she says. “Sometimes I work from the photo, but I need to dig from my brain and imagine the imagery to think about what it looks like. You get more information when you see the nature directly than from a photo.”
That commitment to observing the world closely has been part of Wang’s life since childhood. She was born in Fushun, a coal-mining city in northeastern China, where art entered her life through her older brother.
“My brother was an artist, so I often say I was influenced by him towards art at an early age,” Wang says. “I’ve always loved art since my childhood. I like to draw and paint.”
Watching her brother work left a lasting impression.
“My brother did oil paintings and watercolors,” she says. “His style is realistic. When I was little, I thought what he was able to do was amazing. My brother makes magic.”
Before attending college, Wang practiced a range of traditional artistic exercises.
“When I was younger, I was just doing the basic practices and refining my skills,” she says. “I did landscape, oil, watercolor, and sketches.”
After the Cultural Revolution ended, Wang enrolled at the Luxun College of Art, a nationally known school in China. While she had long been drawn to oil painting, the college placed her in the traditional Chinese painting department.
“All of the materials are very different,” she said. “They use rice paper, brushes, and ink and not too much color. I like it, but it’s different.”
The experience broadened her artistic foundation. After graduating, she moved to the coastal city of Dalian, where she taught Chinese painting at universities, published an art book and participated in exhibitions. Some of her works were selected for national exhibitions and entered private collections.
Eventually, Wang’s career took her across the world. “When I immigrated to the United States, I came here as an artist specialist,” she says.
She arrived in Dallas on Sept. 25, 2001, just two weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. The trip remains vivid in her memory.
“The flight was not filled with people, so I was able to stretch out,” Wang said. “At that time, I was definitely a little afraid to fly. The whole flight was just a few people. It was a scary time to fly into the United States.”
In the United States, Wang returned to the medium she had loved from the beginning.
“After I moved to the USA, I changed to oil colors,” she says. “I’m happy with that.”
Her oil paintings soon gained recognition through national exhibitions and competitions. Her work has been accepted into juried shows hosted by groups such as the America Impressionist Society, the National Oil and Acrylic Painters Society, and Oil Painters of America. Her paintings have appeared in national exhibitions, and one of her works, “The sound,” was featured in American Art Collector magazine.
After nearly two decades in Dallas, Wang moved to Austin during the COVID-19 pandemic to be closer to her daughter. But it was a trip to Estes Park that ultimately convinced her to relocate again.
“My daughter visited here first,” Wang says. “She said Estes Park was beautiful and I should go see it.”
In February 2024, Wang made the trip herself, driving from Austin and renting a small Airbnb for about 10 days.
“When I saw this city, I deeply loved it,” she says. “I said, ‘I just don’t want to leave. I want to stay here.’”
Her daughter helped move Wang’s studio from Texas to Estes Park later that year. Wang initially knew no one in the community, but that soon changed.
“Before I came here, I knew nobody in the local art scene,” she says. “But right now, I know artists all over. Sometimes we will paint together or host events together.”
Her paintings have also been displayed in galleries in Aspen and Evergreen, and she has applied to participate in the Estes Park Plein Air Festival. She recently joined the Art Center of Estes Park, where her work will be displayed beginning in May, and she will also participate in the community’s summer studio tour, which allows visitors to meet artists and see their workspaces.
“I think that I am a member of the big family of art in Estes Park now,” Wang says. “I feel so good.”
Even when she works indoors, the natural world continues to shape her subjects. Recently, she has been painting a playful Halloween scene featuring children trick-or-treating.
“This is what I’m currently working on,” Wang says, holding up the colorful canvas. “It’s not totally finished, but I’m having a lot of fun with this one.”
For Wang, painting is both a discipline and a lifelong passion.
“I think I am kind of addicted,” she says with a laugh. “I love art so much. I love to create something. The process is so enjoyable.”
Her goal, she says, has always been to express something deeper than a simple image.
“My goal is to put my soul, my emotions, into my art,” Wang says. “What I see are the beautiful things that I put in my art. To show those beautiful things to others is my goal.”
Next week, Wang plans to travel back to China to visit family and longtime friends. She will leave April 23 and return May 21. But Estes Park, she says, has already become home.
“It’s so wonderful,” Wang says. “I do it because it’s important that if you like something, you do that.”
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