"Green Supporting" --- Sold

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More leaf paintings and more leaves on the painting. I can paint leaves faster now. I still limited my attention to the shapes and values. I touched base of edges a little. Colors and paint quality still needs much more improvement.

"Covering Up" --- Sold

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I resume my small painting again and continue working on leaves. I start to pay attention on stems too. The shape variation of the design makes the painting more dramatic. The leaves and stems provide opportunities to achieve this shape variation. I am on the right track, I think.

"Demo at Newport 1"

Except issues with a pair of broken glasses, an expired driver’s license, and a few of Internet problems, I came back to Austin with a very success trip in New England. This painting is my first demo at my Newport workshop. I really want to thank Mrs. Judy Chaves for her wonderful job of organizing this workshop. I really enjoyed meeting a group of wonderful New England painters. I am sorry for posting painting on this workshop so late. I forgot to photograph them in time. If you have bought my demo paintings at this workshop, would you please take pictures of them and send the images to me so I can share them in this blog? Thanks.

"New England Forest"

After we met Richard and Nancy, my family arrived at Boston. We stayed with my friend there. They just moved into a new house, but there was no Internet yet. So I was out of touch for several days. I did this quick sketch at their backyard. You may see Richard’s influence on me right away. The painting needs more enrichment at the center of focus. I will get there after some practice. This style of painting is not what I used to do, but I feel comfortable with it. I feel confident I will get there soon.

Knocking on Master's Door

In the legendary Chinese martial art (or Kungfu) history, there were full of stories of how sincere novices approaching masters with courage and tenacity. The mentoring of the great masters significantly accelerated the growth of their disciples. I don’t know any martial art, but I admire the spirit. To bring my art to the next level, I want to learn from the best artists. After a long hesitation, I finally gathered enough courage. I knocked on the door of Richard Schmid and Nancy Guzik.

This is a remarkable milestone. On June 19, 2010 I had the great honor and met Richard and Nancy in Putney Vermont. We had a wonderful day together. My wife Song modeled to the masters. Richard and Nancy are so kind and given. I was so thrilled beyond any words can express. I wish I could articulate better, but I will show my appreciation by demonstrating improvement in my paintings. I can’t wait to come back to Vermont to learn a great amount.

I also met quite a few other great Vermont artists. I felt so lucky. Thank you all.

Yale University

We arrived at New Haven, CT yesterday. This morning we toured the Yale University. This trip will give Jonathan the first impression of several famous schools.

Cape Cod MA

Now, it is wonderful time to have a vocation in New England. The tourist season has not officially started yet, but the weather is great. Lodging is easy and cheap. No problem to find parking. I am in Cape Cod at this moment and feel great.

If you have purchased my paintings and filters this week, please forgive me that I cannot ship them to you right now. I will do that right away after I return home.

Newport RI

Right now, I am in a super beautiful place: Newport RI. There are so many good looking houses here. Oh! I think they are called mansions. I guess I have to sell more paintings so someday I can l buy one of them, but I am concerned. It will be too hard for Song to keep it clean.

"Nice Hairdo" --- Sold

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I am keeping work on the leaves. This one took less time than the previous one. That was a kind of progress, wasn’t it? I will continue working on different leaf pattern designs until I can manage to create adequate amount of drama I’d like to have.

"Full Moon" --- Sold

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I was really working on these leaves today. I usually pay less attention on leaves because they are considered as secondary supportive items, so I used more abstract approaches to paint them. It was all right doing that when I had a handful dealing with composition and center of focus. However, after I became more comfortable with the fundamentals, leaves have started capturing my attention. The variety of their shapes creates very dramatic effects. They provide endless design opportunities. They look casual and trivial, but they are pretty hard to paint.

"In and Out" --- Slod

I spent two mornings on this gallery painting. From the OPA show, I brought back some medium samples from Gamblin. I did an experiment on this painting. Instead of linseed oil, I used “Galkyd Lite” to coat my canvas before I paint. It felt OK, but the painting turned to a very “matted” look on the second day. I don’t quite like it, and I had really a hard time to photograph the painting. If you use Gamblin medium, would you please let me know how and why you use them. Thanks.

In my previous post, I asked questions about Facebook. I got many feedbacks. Most People who answered me considered Facebook is waist of time, and blogs are much better tools for artists. Thanks for your feedbacks. I will not spend much time to explore Facebook any more.