Hua Jing Li
Painter based at Wimbledon Art Studios, London.
My art practice started at the age of three. I was enrolled in an art school in Shanghai as a way to channel my fear of blood and lack of interest for medicine (from infancy, my dear mother, true to her Shanghainese-ness, attempted to encourage me into the medical practice).
Working in acrylic medium on canvas, my paintings are shared spaces where audiences inhabit and co-create narratives. Drawing from my drama studies at Royal Centre School of Speech and Drama, I utilise diagonal lines throughout the composition to cultivate an immersive experience. So the audience constructs the broader scene from their imagination, making the narrative a unique experience for each individual.
There are no glaring or clashing colours within my paintings, instead the analogous colours (colours adjacent to one another) evoke harmony and gentleness. The mind is quiet and calm, free to pause and ponder.
Outside of my art, I have happily meet the Love of My Life.
An Art Heritage
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
My father was a marine engineer by profession, but his passion was black and white photography. He turned his Shanghai university dorm room into a makeshift darkroom, developing his own prints between engineering lectures.
And cycled through China before its rise as a global superpower, documenting a nation in transformation.
His muse was my mother. There are a stack of photos taken during their courting days.
Exhibitions
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Medina Roma, Rome Italy, 15th - 21st May 2026
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Wimbledon Art Fair, 14th -17th May 2026
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Milan Design Week, Artemida Gallery 2027
The Story Behind Anping Edits
Anping is my rescue dog and the name behind everything I do.
She came into my life during the pandemic, in Shanghai, at a time when I had lost both my grandmothers within ten days of each other. I was grieving, and quietly withdrawing from the world. She was timid, found in a compound, waiting to be chosen. Her name, given by the woman who rescued her, means safe and sound — 平安, píng'ān, reversed. In a way, we found each other at exactly the right moment.
She edited my life. Filled it with people, with walks, with belonging. She made Shanghai feel like home.
I named my art business after her because that is what I hope my work does for you offers a quiet place to land. A moment of softness in an otherwise busy world.
Colour as a Language
Colours can shape our mood, nervous system and sense of self.
This is fundamental to my practice. The analogous colours (colours adjacent to one another) I hand mix are curated for the rested mind to pause and ponder.
In choosing such colours, I am cultivating an environment for the home, the office place, the brand where colour softly shapes how we feel.
