Chuqian Li
Warm abstract oil painting of a coiled form loosening into light
Unravel, 2017 · Oil on canvas · 14 × 18 in
Abstract oil painting of a pale ribbon of light crossing a dark oval
Portal, 2017 · Oil on canvas · 16 × 20 in
Soft pink and umber abstract painting with a single dark rectangular mark
Cornerstone, 2017 · Oil on canvas · 20 × 16 in
Plein air painting of red-roofed buildings below a dark treeline in the Presidio
Presidio, Red Roofs, 2024 · Oil on canvas board · 11 × 14 in
Plein air painting looking down a wildflower gully to the sea at Montara
Montara, 2025 · Oil on canvas · 14 × 11 in
Oil study of a bird of paradise flower against dense green leaves
Bird of Paradise, 2025 · Oil on panel · 9 × 12 in
Plein air painting of surf and headlands at Ocean Beach
Ocean Beach, 2025 · Oil on canvas board · 12 × 16 in
Oil portrait of the artist's father in warm light against a blue ground
Hopeful, 2024 · Oil on canvas · 12 × 12 in
Portrait of the artist's grandfather holding a phone beside a bright window
Curiosity, 2023 · Acrylic on canvas · 11 × 14 in
Watercolor of a rainy highway under an overpass, a car with red taillights ahead
Rain, 2026 · Sketchbook
Watercolor of a surfer paddling out through blue-violet waves
Surfer, 2026 · Sketchbook
Watercolor of two swimmers standing in surf at sunset
Untitled, 2026 · Sketchbook

About

Chuqian Li is a painter based in San Francisco. Her work explores ephemerality — in the shifting light and weather of the natural world, and in the equally transient registers of human emotion.

She works primarily in oil and watercolor.

Contact

For available works, commissions, and studio visits.