"Demo at Falmouth 2014 3" --- Sold

This morning, I have arrived at the Logan International Airport really earlier, got on the plane to Houston, then to Lafayette, LA. Before the plane took off, the pilot found an engine problem. We have to turned around, back to the gate, and deplaned. Now I have several hours waiting for the new plan.

This is my third demo on the Falmouth workshop. Besides the rose, I placed a few New England Fall foliage into the setup. After I moved to the South, I have been longed for the beautiful Fall time in the North. Now after I became a full time artist and teacher, I feel very fortunate that I have opportunities to come to New England every full to see the beautiful colors.

"Demo at Falmouth 2014 2" --- Sold

This is my second demo at Falmouth. The copper object is so much fun to paint.

"Demo at Falmouth 2014 1" --- Sold

Another phase of workshop teaching has started. This is the first demo I did at Falmouth in Cape Cod, MA. I want to thank the Falmouth Artists Guild for organizing this workshop, and thank all the New England artists who are attending this workshop. This is a very typical demo: a dark bottle, a shinning pot, and colorful fruit.

Visiting Adelaide Cummings

We have arrived at Cape Cod this afternoon. We visited our friend Adelaide Cummings at West Falmouth. Adelaide is a legendary lady. She has just turned 100 years young in June. She wears a special pendent, which is her Olympic gold medal. She is winner of 4 Olympic gold medals in Tennis. Now she is also a very well known poet, and still writing every day. We met Adelaide the first time at Hope Town, the Bahamas in February. She was our next door neighbor at the hotel we stayed. Her story inspired me tremendously. She spends a part of the year in Bahamas, and the rest of year at her home in West Falmouth. I am so happy seeing her again here. Now I want share a verse of her poem with all of you:

Centenary

Folks are prone to blink, then rue,
What they think an aging mind can't do.
So, here are facts they need to heed...
We still read, enjoy a drink,
Rarely think we're on the brink,
Seldom call on help from shrink,
So to brush us off is oh so sad.
It's true we don't pursue each fad,
But we still have the brains we had!

"Zen of Grey 2" --- Sold

I have abandoned the painting project I posted previously. I felt it went to the wrong direction, well I mean the direction I don't want to go. First of all it started using "good" colors on the cup to capture attention, but I intended to let the grey to tell the story mainly. Secondly, It gets into too much details so the painting turned into a long term project.

This painting is larger (12" x 12"). I managed to finish it in one session. To prevent me going the "wrong" direction like my previous painting, I gave myself a few rules: 1. do not remove my glasses during painting, by which I must stay quite far from the painting to see clearly; 2. use only large brushes (half in to 2 in wide). I really want my large paintings have a similar look of my small (6" x 6") daily paintings. This one is sort of on track.

The most important for this project is let the grey tell the story, not the "good" colors. Grey colors are very delicate colors. You can not be sloppy with it. We all know the absolution neutral grey is the center of the color wheel. It likes the bull's eye on a target. Can you get it casually? In Texas, there are many good shooters. They work hard to control their guns and get the bull's eyes. For artist, grey is difficult to mix. If you are not careful enough, you will make mud. In other words: mud is an insensitive (or uncontrolled) grey. So, Improving "grey sensitivity" is a serious homework we all need to do.

"Zen of Grey" (Day 2)

I need to prepare a few small still life paintings for a gallery show in December. However, my mind is a complete blank. I started anyway. Beijing has taught me a lesson about the color grey. So I did this painting still working on my grey. This is very difficult project. I even has no confident it is going to make it. Definitely it will not go the gallery this December. However, my grey is progressing.

I like the word "Zen". Its meaning is loud and clear, but it is unspeakable. Just like grey. I hope my grey will have a "Zen" quality soon.

"Beijing Hutong 2014 9"

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This is the last painting I did in Beijing, and it is another plein air one. A couple of days before I left Beijing, I went to plein air painting with a new friend: Kuang Han. Han (is his first name, the Chinese always put their last name first) is a very well known pencil drawing artist in Beijing. However, he may not be known enough in the Western world. I don't need to say too much about him, please check Kuang Han's Art, you will know.

I have been home for a few days now. Due to the jet-lag, I have not started any serious painting project. However, I have been thinking a lot on what I have been doing. It is getting clearer and clearer that my art career has entered a relatively quiet phase. It feels like a novice sailor coming out of the busy harbor now. In front of me is the vast ocean, endless and exciting, but some sort lonely. For a few years I have touch_based a few areas in art. I felt quite frequently that I am either just see "the tip of an iceberg" or  "open a can of worms". Now the icebergs are getting bigger, and the worms are crawling all over (Man! what a mental picture I am painting). Well, we have no choice. Let's keep going. Maybe slow, and  maybe disoriented, but keep going, since we are determined.

"Zai-Jian Beijing"

Zai-Jiang means Goodbye in Chinese. I have left Beijing and back to Austin. My painting email newsletter should be back to normal now. I will continue painting more cityscapes, and hope this new endeavor can bring you more flavor of my art. I took more photos like this one serving as wonderful references for my future paintings.

Beijing Hutong 2014 - 8 SOLD!

Yesterday, I went plein air painting with a group of local artist friends. I did this sketch as a demonstration. I have quite a few artist friends here in Beijing. Every time I come here. I like to get together with them. We went to this place called “the Orchard”. It is very beautiful. It was so enjoyable painting with old friends. For purchase information click here.

Beijing Hutong 2014 - 7 --- Sold

This painting took me several days. I really worked on the grey, making sure the temperature change and color harmony are as correct as possible. I was very careful to avoid any arbitrary colors on this painting. This is very analytical painting, rather tiresome. Painting grey but not dirty is so difficult. Fortunately, it is still doable. Click here for purchase information.

Beijing Hutong 2014 - 6 SOLD!

I feel good about this painting because it goes to a good direction. Too many artists, me included, if we see part of the painting having issues, we usually fix them by adding details. When the painting is getting more realistic, we think the painting has progressed. This approach works but it usually ends up to a tight painting, not that exciting and dramatic. I am glad this one did not go that way. I have large areas on the painting remaining abstract, especially the knife work on the lower right corner. For purchase information click here.

Beijing Hutong 2014 - 5 SOLD!

In the Hutongs, I saw so many clothes lines. They are the major color contributions on the top of the grey. I like this one. Under the yellow afternoon sun. I have the situation of warm light, cool shadow. I tried my best to mix clean grey colors. I feel the color scheme of this painting works OK. For purchase information click here.

Beijing Hutong 2014 - 4

I modified my grey. I feel the result is better than my previous one. Grey color is so tricky. If you are not careful it turns into mud in no time. Click here to purchase.