Backyard Plein Air 062125

 I am all over the place. A couple of days ago, I was into monochrome. Now I am with the high chroma colors to depict the feeling of light. You never know what is in your heart, but simply follow it.

Still Life Study 061925

 

I was having lunch with an artist friend yesterday. He asked me: "You have done so much research about color, but how come you paint so many paintings that there is NO color on them?" That was a very good question. Yes, I did a lot in my color study, and have learned a lot, but understanding "why" would not give me immediately the "how" to show effects on my paintings. However, painting with no color is actually a good practice of understanding the basics of color. This value study shows how important of the black-n-white relationship making a painting work. Secondly, this one shows how to make the transparent and opaque paints work together. Third, even on this monochromatic painting, the color temperature relationship from dark to light is still playing an important role to hold the painting together. 

Still Life Study 060425

 

I really enjoyed my quiet time. By alternating painting and researching, I let my heart to decide what I do. I did this one a few days ago. I am pondering if I should move my still life painting into a different direction.

QH Art Studio 2026 Workshops

 

June is the month I plan the events for the coming year 2026. I feel the time goes by much faster now than a few years ago. As usual, I will travel quite a lot and teach workshops all over the country. I also invite a few top-notch artists coming to Austin to teach. I know it is still early to register workshops for the next year, but it is always good to take the opportunity as early as possible. I am pretty sure the time will go even faster after June 2025. When I was in science, we took for granted that time is constant. Now I am in art, all the rules are made to be broken.

Lavender Lilies

 

Keep on posting my Wayne paintings. This plein air piece was done at Chanticleer, an astonishingly beautiful garden in Wayne. When I got there, I saw a few giant tanks full of water, and the water surface was beautifully decorated with floating flowers. The gardener who did this must be a great color designer. She used the left over flowers from pruning the flower beds, and created the beautiful arts of color. So I had no choice but painting them.

The plein air festival has ended, but I still have quite a few paintings displaying at the Wayne Art Center. If you are happen to be in or near the area, please go and check them out.