About me
Ina Xi's journey from her upbringing in Shanghai to her eventual settlement in Port Orchard, Washington, has been a testament to her cosmopolitan experiences and artistic evolution. Having traversed cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Lima and Istanbul during her adult life, she brings a rich tapestry of urban influences to her watercolor paintings.
Throughout her creative career, which has seen diverse roles ranging from comic artist and art director, to user interface designer and design executive, Ina has continually found solace and inspiration in plein air painting and urban sketching. This enduring passion has served as a creative anchor amid the flux of professional transitions.
Influenced by her multicultural background and insatiable curiosity for diverse subjects, Ina's painting motif spans a wide spectrum, encompassing cityscapes, seascapes and landscapes. She is most known, however, for her nautical and urban paintings, in which she weaves natural, cultural and humane elements together with a harmonious touch. It is her aim to evoke a sense of familiarity and nostalgia through her work and to transport the viewer to a specific place and time instantaneously.
Creative process
Although most of my exhibition pieces are produced in the studio, the inspiration gathering often happens on-site, through an iterative process.In order to preserve the fresh feelings of the subject, and to find an interesting composition, I do live sketching or small paintings on location and then develop them further in the studio.Although it doesn’t take more than 3 hours to paint each piece, due to the unpredictable nature of the watercolor medium, multiple paintings are created before the desired result is achieved – a painting with a highly distilled subject, sophisticated color palette and seemingly careless brush marks.
Painting "en plein aire"
Outside of the studio setting, I also enjoy painting on-site and some of my best work are done ‘en plein air’. There is nothing like being there in person that enables the artist to convey the exact mood and the essence of their subject. I paint to observe our humble existence in nature and in history. My work is simply a medium for that observation.
Imaginary scenes
Sometimes I paint imaginary scenes when I’m feeling nostalgia about a place. My process involves looking through old photos from that place and ‘mashing them up’ to create the composition. I then draw from years of experience painting all types of weather, seasons and atmosphere, to build the right mood for the scene.
The painting "Getting street food", for example, is an imaginary scene based on my memory of a familiar street corner from my childhood. The mood was captured after trying out different color pallete through study pieces, with the forms and figures based on various reference photos and some from imagination as well.
