Artist puts cotton in his frame of success

When he started, Yuan could only make monochrome paintings by putting white cotton on a black canvas.

Over the years, he gradually developed a method to make colorful paintings.

"I think I found the meaning of my life after I received my first prize at a national-level competition in 1981," he said.

"Cotton painting incorporates the features of both Western oil and traditional Chinese paintings," he added.

As the inventor of cotton paintings, Yuan has made a series of "cotton portraits" for government leaders worldwide, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Many of his works have been collected in national museums such as the Palace Museum and the National Museum of China.