Tuesday, April 14, 2009

"Learning from Hongnian"

Yesterday I was at Magnolia TX again attending a figure painting workshop taught by a great artist Hongnian Zhang. I felt so good of learning again. Hongnian paints gigantic historical paintings, size up to 72” x 120”. I was shocked to know that I had seen his huge paintings about 30 years ago. The tremendous power of his art inspired me when I was a teenager. I am so honored to meet him in person. His approach is very different from mine, but I really enjoyed his ways managing color. I need some time to digest what I have learned and I will use some of his techniques in my future paintings.

9 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow, this has a lot of warmth. I am looking forward to more figure paintings on you blog.

Arti said...

This painting has such vivacity...i love the use of warm colors here...the strokes are fluid,too.
you are sure lucky to have been in close proximity of such a great artist..I envy you:)

Ann Buckner said...

I am really enjoying your figure work. The expressiveness you achieve is wonderful.

lostinarc said...

Qiang u r the master of strokes....amazing flow of stroke and so warm ....i love this one....

Jane Hunt said...

This is wonderful - such vibrant color!

Elizabeth Blaylock said...

Beautiful! Your teacher should be honored that you are taking his workshop. You are already a master painter.

Jala Pfaff said...

Would you recommend his workshop, Qiang?
I love the color and warmth and movement in this.

Dean Grey said...

This portrait feels more like a study than a finished piece but it's still lovely.

Like everyone else said, the colors are wonderfully warm. Very lively brushstrokes too.

-Dean

Amy Stewart said...

This is amazing. I can't believe how much you accomplish with such a limited palette. Wonderful.