Artist Yangzi Xu captures the beauty of seasonal changes in her expressionist cityscapes. Having spent most of her life in Chicago, she began viewing the city in a new light after finding inspiration from her previous watercolor teacher. Using fluid and rough strokes, along with a limited color palette, Yangzi creates dramatic and evocative scenes. "I try to capture the paradox of life in the city, where one can be in a crowd yet feel alone," Yangzi says. Her creative process involves managing a queue of ideas and reference photos, sketching with pencils to plan compositions and value designs, and working on multiple pieces simultaneously. In her well-organized spare bedroom studio, Yangzi listens to music as she paints, finding it a pleasant distraction that allows her to focus on the creative process without fixating on the result. In her free time, Yangzi enjoys reading, with biographies and memoirs currently being her favorite genres.