had concealed even from herself, and her
decision to pick it up again was a huge
gamble.
‘You can imagine how everyone just
thought I was crazy,’ she tells me. ‘I even
had a fight with my family about it when
I told them I was going to quit my job to
pursue art.’
After Xiaofan gave up engineering, she
got an internship with an art gallery. It
wasn’t particularly creative. In fact, it was
largely publicity and sales, but it felt great.
She was in the art industry now. And after
just six months, she began freelancing.
Painting a dream
The Untamed Little Wolf was soon born –
or maybe she always had been around?
‘When I was 12, one of my favourite
fictional characters was the little fox from
The Little Prince.
‘I always loved the quote: “If you tame
me, then we shall need each other. To me,
you will be unique in all the world” – so
when I was trying to figure out a name for
my Instagram, I decided to combine this
with my own nickname: Wolf.’
Xiaofan says that it is too early in
her creative life to assign herself to one
particular style, but she loves to explore
different techniques and methods. She tells
me, ‘watercolour is my favourite medium.
I love how spontaneously and freely the
paint flows on the paper.’ It seems that her
favourite medium is an apt reflection of
herself: untamed, wild.
‘It feels like the paint has its own
expressive idea and sometimes the result
surprises me, too!’ I was curious to know
whether engineering plays a part in her
creativity at all, but Xiaofan is quick to tell
me, ‘I don’t think so. Maybe when I plan,
or stock materials, as I am very organised,
but I think they’re very separate parts of
my brain.’
It’s been an exciting journey for her,
but it’s not without its difficulties. When
she quit her job, to pursue what she hoped
would be a successful business, she still
needed her art to support her financially,
even if it would never compare to the
salary she received when she was an
engineer. But does that faze her? She’s
doing something that she loves, finally.
She’s positive that someday, somewhere,
she’ll make it. ‘Even if I don’t,’ she says, ‘at
least I am happy with my life.’
Her parents are beginning to accept the
idea, but sometimes don’t quite understand
her drive for it. Only recently, her mum
tried to persuade her to look for a more
stable job, but she is hopeful that, in time,
her success will make her parents proud.
Ultimately, the people she’s met along the
way have helped her realise she’s doing >>
Xiaofan: This is one of my first works when I started
painting last year, and still my absolute favourite! I have a
crazy love for foxes (I even got a fox tattoo on my ankle last
year too!).