The Xidi Village

Revisiting the Xidi Village, I spent 5 days. I was enjoyed so much painting, sketching, and photographing the beautiful old structures. It rained quite a bit there, but the rain bring special beauty. The figures bring high chroma color on the black and white buildings giving the contrast of color vs non-color, young vs old. All of these photos I may use for my future paintings.

The Xidi Village

You have seen three of my Xidi paintings, but what is this place called "Xidi". Xidi means "west post" in Chinese. It is a very old village in Anhui province. It was listed as one of the World Heritage Sites by UNESCO in 2000. Most of the houses were build in Ming and Qing dynasties, about two to four hundred years old. Following are a few of photos I took there. Our painting group stayed at Xidi for three nights. I felt I was back to the history. The last photo was our group photo there. I would love to go back to this place again in the future.

"My China trip starts"

I am leaving for China this afternoon. I will stay with my mother in Beijing for about 10 days. Then my China painting trip 2015 will start. I am looking forward to meeting my team and have a wonderful two weeks together, painting and sightseeing. Life is so dramatic.

I took this photo about two years ago with my 2013 team in Guilin. It seems like just yesterday. We had so much fun. I can' wait to see the beautiful places planned for this year. For all the friends who are following me on the Internet. I will keep you posted and share our trip with you.

Abstract Art by Nature

These a few days I have been wandering in multiple National Parks in Arizona and Utah. Besides in awe about the beauty of nature, I am pondering about art as well. As an representational artist, I have spent massive amount of time to achieve skills such that I can achieve the likeness of my subjects. As a matter of fact, the ability of achieving resemblance of the subject has been as a very small portion of skills of an developed artist. When I look at the giant mountains, interestingly shaped rocks, and fast moving waters, I was stunt by the extreme beauty which impact me so tremendously, it is not because this rocks resemble a face or an animal. It is simply the abstract beauty. 

This is a piece of rock formation at the Hidden Canyon in Zion National Park. I was so attracted by the patterns. As matter of fact, all I saw these several days are shapes, patterns, and textures. However, it is the beauty that really moved me. But why those patterns and shapes in those National Park moved me so much, but one piece of broken concrete in my back yard doesn’t. They are all patterns and shapes for sure, but what makes a pattern, a shape, a texture, a color beautiful is really the question we should ask. Abstract art can be beautiful, and can be ugly too. I believe that a good piece of art is not always necessarily need to resemble a real world subject, but it must be aesthetically appealing. 

Double Arches

Song is doing her usual yoga exercise in an unusual place.

The Blue Dog Phenomina

In the evening of the last day of my Lafayette workshop, a group of artist friends and me went dinner at a very famous restaurant in town --- The Blue Dog Cafe. It is a very "artsy" place showing the "Blue Dog" paintings of the famous artist: George Rodrigue. I saw the blue dog painting before. They are ubiquitously distributed on art magazines. Surrounded by various colors of "blue" dogs on the wall, I was pondering about modern art. The friend sitting next to me said: "George Rodrigue did know how to paint, You can see that from his early works". I think I heard similar argument about Picasso's works as well.

Artists can do whatever they want to do, and collectors can buy whatever piece of art they want to buy. However, the question is what is people's taste about art. This "taste" will determine which artist will be successful or starving. Picasso and Rodrigue are phenomenal artists, and our taste has determined that the art world goes to dogs.

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!

"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.

"Many Years Ago, There Was A..."

I have been to Beijing for about two weeks now. Almost everyday, I walked around the inner city capturing the glimpse of local people’s life. This one was shot in one of the Hutongs. The tour-guide on the tricycle is describing what was going on many years ago in this area. I may do a painting based on this photo in the future. I like the back light given a rich red glow on the tricycle. 

Daily Painters Re-Union

I have arrived at Eugene Oregon yesterday. I am so happy visiting Carol and David Marine at their lovely home. To most of the friends who read my blog, this lovely couple shouldn't be strangers. As a matter of fact they are quite famous in the daily painting world. Carol is one of the most well-known  daily painters. She is very successful as an artist and teacher. Recalling seven year ago, Carol introduced me into daily painting, which marks as my starting point of my art career. David is the founder of the reputable online platform: Daily Paintworks. Now this website has been serving the daily painters' community as the most effective marketing and learning tools. Time goes by so fast, and big changes have happened in our lives. I am so happy to see Carol and David are doing well. They have set up they legendary role models for us daily painters.

Savannah

After the workshop, I went to Savannah, GA. I really like this old city. There are so many old houses. It is wonderful place for cityscape paintings. The movie "Forest Gump" was shot here. I really like that movie. "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get". It is so true.

"Great Smoky Mountains"

After visiting Biltmore and Asheville, I followed the Blue Ridge Parkway all the way to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. It was an amazingly beautiful drive. On and off, I drove through the clouds. I felt so blessed traveling to such wonderful place.

“Biltmore"

After my Waynesville workshop. I visited Asheville for a day. In this incredible place called "Biltmore" I saw six John Singer Sargent's portraits, one Andrew Zorn's painting, and many more great art works. I was so amazed by how the super rich live their lives. Facing to such unbelievable luxury, what do you think?

Olympic National Park

After the Whidbey Island workshop, Song and I decided spending a few days in the Olympic National Park. This is a photo I took yesterday morning. The beauty in the park is unbelievable. The new spring green overlapped the dark evergreen. The shows come and go.  We were caught into this beautiful scene surprisingly.  Life is full of surprises. I was lucky to be at the right place and right time. Please enjoy.

Visiting Zhaoming Wu

I arrived at San Francisco a couple of days ago. I stayed with one of the best figurative master painters Zhaoming Wu. If you draw or paint figures, you must know his work. If you don't know this artist, google him right now.

Nashville Tennessee

I have arrived at Nashville, TN. A moment ago, I took a short walk from the B&B I am staying. I stepped on the campus of the Belmont University. It is a quite a lovely place. After sunset, it was getting dark quickly. I snapped a few shots with my phone to document this visit. New place and new experience. Life is so dramatic.

I stayed at my Austin home too short, only got a chance doing one small painting. However I have got many other things done. In comparison, painting is rather easy. Life itself is much harder, and it gets more and more complicated and challenging. I keep reminding myself: I came to the world, the purpose is not to accomplish anything, but to experience the whole life process as sensitive as possible: the Time, the Space, the Change, and the Eternity.

Hope Town

Song has found a typo in my previous post. We are in Hope Town, not Home Town. I think you can read my subconscious mind now. I really wish here is my home town. It is exceedingly beautiful.

"Real Water Color"

This is watercolor. No, I mean real water color. Well, I should say it is the color of water. Now you got it. This is not someone's abstract painting. It is a photo I took from the sky. Song and I was on our way to Home Town, the Abacos. I was so amazed by the beauty of the Bahamas islands. I really like this piece of art.

"Photo: The Amish Country"

After my Yardley workshop, I have spent 3 days in Lancaster, PA touring the beautiful Amish countryside. A very good friend of mine, Beth Bathe, has been showing me around. I have long for this  visit. For a long time I have been think about what kind of living style should be most suitable to me. In my bones, I don't like money, but I want to survive and live comfortably. I read about other people's experiences and tried an experiment of off-grid living in the Texas Hill Country. However, I saw so many failures. The main stream economy has run into problems after problems. I think I am not alone looking for alternatives. These a few days, I really enjoyed the peaceful, simple, and harmonious life in Lancaster county. I have seen the Amish wisdom toward technology. The way of living of the Amish has a strong impact to me. It has worked, works now, and will work in future. I will not feel surprise if the we run into major disasters, the only people who survive will be the Amish.

"Granbury Texas"

Arrived at Austin around 1:00 AM. I had a few hours sleep, then jumped into my car. Driving about 4 hours, I have arrived at Granbury Texas. The local temperature is 104 F. Granbury is about 40 miles south of Ft. Worth. It is a typical Texas town. This is the city hall of Granbury.

I want to thank the Lake Granbury Art Association for organizing this workshop, and thank all the artists for attending. We are having wonderful time here.