黄衍是位成就卓著的国画家，尤其擅长画猫。猫一旦到了他的笔下就活了。 “猫可爱、机灵、乖巧，讨人喜欢。在我眼里，猫象征和平、温馨、安详。描绘它的神韵，也就是赞美生活、赞美改革开放带来的和平昌盛的社会环境，没有改革开放，就不会有人民的富足安康。这就是我画猫的主要原因。”说起画猫，黄衍有说不完的话。为了画好猫、画活猫，他静化心意、寄情于斯，每每整日在斗室中与所养群猫嬉戏或静观其生态习性，常常物我两忘，如醉如痴。20年来，他一直坚持把猫的许多极具丰采的瞬间神韵速写下来，并积累了千余张猫的速写。现在黄衍只用寥寥几笔，就能把猫从一个动态过渡到另一个动态的瞬间，准确、生动地表现出来。
黄衍画猫很注重作品的形式美，其精巧的构思、严谨的布局、考究的造型、富于变化的笔墨和色彩，使得画面灵秀恬静、雅致大方。然而，黄衍深知画家必须是创造者，必须在美的形式中刻意追求美的创造。他画猫不是为猫写照，而是借猫写意、借猫抒情。站在黄衍的画前，那动中有静、静中求动的画面和充满东方神韵的别致意境，总是能够让人目在画中，而心驰画外，去联想那些他不曾画出、也无法画出的天趣神理。画中那呼之欲出的神形所能引起人们共鸣和遐思的，难道不正是黄衍透过画笔寄寓于画面中的、对人生和社会的真诚探求，以及对人世间喜怒哀乐的种种寻味吗？
“生活是美好多彩的，人要投入生活，让生活有意义。生活是艺术的源泉，艺术是生活的灵魂，生活不能缺少艺术，艺术不能离开生活。”这就是黄衍对生活的感悟。
同黄衍接触，最大的感觉是他对艺术的真诚追求。
“作画使人感到充实，使人心情开朗、纯净，把人变得有深度。”黄衍如是说。中国文化是以水墨记载的。中国的艺术，是以水墨绘出。中国画的艺术，是世界文化之林中取之不尽的宝藏。她的独立性，她的特殊，不是哪一种文化或绘画形式可以同化得了的。外来文化只能作为她的滋养成分，而不能喧宾夺主地盖过其风华。其实黄衍是从画西画开始的，并且经过数载西方绘画的严格训练，打下了他坚实的现代写实基础和现代色彩技巧。但中国画却以“形神兼备，以形写神”而见长，而这也正是黄衍自己的特长，为什么不把中国的优秀传统继承与发扬呢？经过一段时间的抉择，黄衍明确了自己的方向：继承传统，并有所创新。
在对中国画求新、求变、求个性化的过程中，黄衍自有体会：现代中国画的创新，正是百家争鸣，百花齐放，各有各说，有的全然丢弃了传统章法格调，标新立异，一时间走在潮峰浪尖的人，也声名鹊起于一时。然而，中国画之立于世界画林，不就是因为这研之不尽的传统吗？我们若全数弃了这优良传统，迎合了外国人的一个“明白”，那可贵之处，那价值又何在呢？全世界的画家都在研究中国画的传统，我们的画家，是不是也应该是在精于传统精神的基础上求变化呢？
这种发人深省的认识，是他对艺术不懈追求的结果。黄衍说：“许多人都擅长画马，但是徐悲鸿的马堪称一绝；许多人会画虾，尤以齐白石老人的虾才盖世无双。我画猫也追求综观古今，师法自然，以破为贵。”这也许正是他画猫取胜的法宝吧。
在决定走中国画这条艺术道路之后，黄衍就以猫为题材，且一画就是20多年。画得最多的是写意猫，其笔法酣畅淋漓、内涵丰富。特别是在猫眼的处理上，确有其独到之处。他认为，眼睛是传神达意的窗户，画好眼睛,画出眼神,就是成功了一半。他以其扎实、深厚的艺术功底把自己对人生的感悟、对自然的感受、对艺术的理解都倾注在猫的眼神之中。所以黄衍笔下的猫总是润泽灵动、妩媚可爱、呼之欲出, 并颇具大家风度。在黄衍的书屋里，珍藏着一幅《四季百猫图》，在这幅长卷上有白猫、黑猫、花猫、黄猫百余只。猫逗蟋蟀、猫戏蝴蝶、猫和猫的嬉戏玩逗,一猫一神、一猫一态……这些形态各异的猫，均是栩栩如生,多姿多彩。画中配以牡丹、玉兰、菊花、草石,既丰富了画面的内涵,又增加了艺术情趣。书画界专家、名流对他的画大多赞许不已，给予了高度评价：悟性的变化达于极致，灵气的吸收趋于老练。
墨色天成，留白随情，黄衍以其骨清韵秀、意态闲雅的笔墨在中国画坛独树一帜。对此，黄衍坦言：自己虽有近70的年龄，但却拥有年轻人的心态，还可以做很多的事。近年黄衍不仅在国内举办了多次大型个人书画艺术展，而且还应邀赴美国、法国、德国、荷兰、比利时、日本、韩国等国家进行访问和艺术交流。黄衍的猫画以其深厚的思想内涵火爆了中外画坛。
Huang Yan is a traditional Chinese painter with remarkable achievements. He is especially good at painting cats, which seem to come alive with the touch of his brush.
When painting cats, Huang Yan attaches great importance to structure and colors. However, he attaches more attention to creating an overall “aesthetic sense” in his paintings. He thinks that a painter should be a creator of beauty. Therefore, when painting cats, he does not merely concentrate on creating a portrait of some particular feline; but rather, by painting a vivid cat, he wishes to express a special kind of emotion that oriental people have; and he regards the ability to accomplish this as the quintessence of traditional Chinese painting.
Ever since he decided to engage in the traditional Chinese style of painting, Huang Yan has been devoted to his primary subject matter - painting cats - and many regard his best ones as the freehand or “Xi Yi” style, which are especially unique in the painting of cat eyes. Huang Yan thinks that eyes, like the windows of an apartment, can express the inner emotions of a person or a cat; so the successful painting of eyes is half the success of a painting.
In his studio, he displays a long, horizontal scroll painting, entitled Cats in Four Seasons, in which there are nearly 100 cats in white, black, yellow, and many other charming and typical cat colors. In this painting, no matter what the cats are doing - catching crickets, playing with butterflies, or playing with each other - all are all depicted vivid, realistic hues and poses, truly seeming to “come to life.” Many other famous painters have given high praise to this very special painting.
For this, Huang Yan, at the age of nearly 70, though very famous now, frankly speaking that though he is old, his emotion is very young, so he can still do a lot of things more in the field of painting. In recent years, has held many painting exhibitions at home and abroad, such as in the USA, France, Germany, the Holland, Belgium, Japan, and South, as well as his frequent visits to these countries, fully verifying his words and his power in the field of painting.