"Demo at Ajijic Mexico 2" --- Sold

I just came back from Mexico yesterday and this is another demo painting I did at the workshop. I want thank Mrs. Isabel Deblanc for organizing this successful and unique workshop. We had artists from Canada, England, Germany, Mexico, The Netherlands, USA, and China. What an international group it was. I want to thank all of you for coming, and hope to see you again. Ajijic is a very beautiful place. I saw striking colors everywhere. I really need to practise my landscape painting skills and hope to generate some landscapes paintings from the photo I took in the future.

"Demo at Ajijic Mexico 1" --- Sold

Hola World! I am at beautiful Ajijic Mexico giving a workshop. This is a demo I did yesterday. My today's class starts now. I will talk to you later. Chao!

"Lean on Me" --- Sold

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When I setup this group, the green vase was rolling. The black vase and the apple came as stoppers and established the stability. In this world we all need other people's support. As a painter, I am very grateful to have the support from my collectors, and my fellow artist friends. Thank you!!!!!!

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Workshop Reminder

I don't remember I have announced this workshop, and I am sorry for the late notice. I am going to teach a 3-day still life painting workshop on October 11 – 13 at Rolling Fork, Mississippi. Artist Pat Walker is organizing this workshop at a beautiful place full of nature and wildlife. We still have several openings left. Please check Pat’s website and contact her to get more detailed information. I hope to see you and paint together with you.

"A Glass of Apple" --- Sold

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I have got so many responses on my post yesterday about naming a painting. Oh boy, I have learned a lot, both linguistically and culturally. Thank you'l so much, partner (got to sound like a Texan). You know I have lived in America for more than 20 years, but English has never been stopping challenging me, but I am grateful that people are very nice to me and tolerating my broken English. Meanwhile, I also got quite a few international messages. Art is a dramatic thingy. I am making friends all over of the world.

"Another Rose" --- Sold

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"Another Rose" - What a boring name it is. I am not good at naming my paintings you can tell. I admire some of my fellow daily painters who can generate really exciting names for their work. If you have some tips, please help me out.

"Fishing Float"

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I found this float in a park the other day and was attracted by its vibrant fluorescent colors. It gives a wonderful texture contrast against the metal pot in this painting. Plastic items usually give an impression of cheapness, and not every artist likes to paint them. Well in some cases, they do have a position in art. Next time my wife going shopping, I will ask her to buy me a rubber ducky.

"Green on Red" --- Sold

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I have violated the cardinal rule of composition by placing my painting object exactly at the center of the canvas, but I think the painting will still work because of asymmetrical background and light distribution. I hope you can enjoy the drama of the light with this supper simple setup.

"Mexican Vase"

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I have spent last several days working on this gallery level painting. I really like this colorful vase and I have painted it many times. I think it is from Mexico. In two week, I will go there and give a workshop. Knowing almost nothing about this country, I am excited for this trip. I am pretty sure it will be fun to gain new experiences.

"Iron Bowl" --- Sold

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Actually, the bowl in this painting is not made of iron, but I like the rusty color. The Iron Bowl has several meanings. To most of Americans, especially Alabamians, Iron Bowl is a football game. I don't know much about football, but I did live in Alabama for seven years. To most of Chinese, especially the Mainlanders, iron ball symbolizes the job security, because iron bowl can not be broken so it will provide food with no end. The logic is a little shaky, but you have got the idea. At this difficult economic time, an iron bowl is surely good to have.

"White Nectarine" --- Sold

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I was informed by the Riverbend Gallery today that there is an article about me showing on a newspaper. Please check Lake Country Life page 6 for details. I am really happy to see my art growing healthily, and I am even happier to see my work make you happy.

"A Peach" --- Sold

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I just can't stop painting fruit. Apples, pears, grapes, plums, and so on, they are my color carriers. Today is the peach. My son is addictive to peaches. He can eat them without stop. There are only three people in my family, but we consume more than 30 lbs. of fruit each week.

"Being Preserved" --- Sold

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The odd shaped tomato is about 7 days old. It is from our yard. The Ball jar is more than 70 years young I think. An artist friend of mine Kathleen McElwaine loan it to me to paint. I like the contrast of these two objects, and the relationship between them. I think painting is a way of preserving time. It establishes the relationship between the current moment and eternity.

"Sweet Colors" --- Sold

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Can a color be tasted? Maybe not, but beautiful colors give us such an enjoyment very similar to the experience of tasting a sweet fruit. As a matter of fact, the fruit on this image provided both wonderful sensations to me, because I ate them after I painted them.

"Copper Kettle"

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A friend of mine loaned me this hand made copper kettle to paint. At our technology-flooded age, I still enjoy more hand made stuff. I admire astonishingly the craftsmanship created by human hands. When I touch this copper pot, I can feel the relationship between its creator and me.

"A Pair of Pears" --- Sold

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Pear in Chinese symbolizes leaving, separating, or going to a place far from home. I had this "pear" feeling last night. As many of you, I watched the Olympic Marathon at my American home. Through my HD TV screen, I really enjoyed Beijing, A city I spent 24 years in this place. Following the athletes from all over the world, I saw the place I was born, the place I spent my childhood, and the building my parent still live in. I felt I was at home.

"On a Glossy Surface"

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Newton first law of motion says: Every body perseveres in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by force impressed. For these two weeks. I have been in a slow motion mode and have not painted as frequent as I used to. According to this Newton guy, I have to apply a force to get my momentum back. Oh boy, that is not easy.
Well, Forgive my excuse in terms of classical physics. On this painting I am continuing working on reflections. This light effect has been trademarked by many landscape painters. I think it works well with still life as well. Don't you think so?

"Fruit Pyramid" --- Sold

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It has been more than a week since my last post. The Olympics is so exciting to watch that it overwrites my painting time. Finally, I got a chance to paint yesterday, and here you go.

My main idea of this painting is the reflections of the light. The setup was on a glossy surface. I really enjoyed painting the red light surrounding the apple. Actually, this setup was done by my wife, Song. I don't think I could do this. I think the apple and pear are competing for being the center, and the vertical edge of the pyramid destroys the setup continuity. Well, She is the boss. I can't argue with her. Surprisingly, the painting turns out not bad. I think it demonstrates that rules are made to be broken.

"Afternoon at the Mission"

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I spent last several days and did this gallery level painting. It feels so different doing landscapes than still lifes. It was fun. I thought I would take a break, but I just couldn't. I am so behind in satisfying my galleries requests. Oh, by this way I am going to show a painting at the OPA Western regional exhibition in September.

I am not going to paint tonight. I will watch the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. I was told that there were painting related performance in it.

"Mission San Jose 1" --- Sold

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Under the harsh Texas Sun, I have been burnt out. On my still-life stand, grapes have turned into raisins. I am not very productive lately. Maybe it is the time, I should consider take some days off for a vocation.

I have received many emails and comments on my last post. I greatly appreciate peoples giving me so many suggestions on how to re-fresh a painting. I really am grateful to this artist community.

I hope my post today give you a fresh feeling. I have not done much of landscape paintings for about two years. Recently, I received quite a few requests from galleries and individual as well about my landscapes. Even I am not experienced painting landscapes, but it does not hurt to give it try. So I did this small painting as a warm up.

I really like San Antonio Missions. So many great artists have painted them. I did some plein air at the location as well. But this one is from a photo I took two years ago.

"Dance of Light"

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This painting took me four day. The past week, my time was fragmented for everything. In this painting, I was attracted by the light transmitted through the brown bottle and then casting on the vase. I don't know I depicted the effect or not. Working on a painting in multiple sessions is problematic to me. Colors (especially darks) dried between my painting sessions and showing inconsistency. Does anybody know how to fix this problem?

"Go Green" --- Sold

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To change or not to change, that is the question. I really appreciate that so many friends writing to me about my style concerns. I think I will just let it go. Whatever will be will be.

My today's painting is about Green. I haven't done much to reduce my carbon foot print yet, but I did put more green color on this painting. Well, it doesn't count, does it? We all should do something to make the world more sustainable. Oh! I got an idea: I will telecommute tomorrow..... I wish. (sigh).

"Soup and Fruit" --- Sold

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Do you have this kind of experience: You like one artist's work and observed his/her development. At a certain point, you see the artist's style changes to a direction that you don't quite like. You feel the artist's work is getting worse instead of better. Eventually, you delete this artist from your favorites list. This kind of thing happened to me before and I didn't know why. Now I do. After having painted so many, I start to feel that I run out thing i really want to paint. I am in this bottle neck now. I keep remind me: Qiang, do not go crazy. So, I won't. My today's painting is my typical style. I will keep this style, if you don't feel too bored.

"Gold Melons"

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They are neither oranges nor lemons. They are beautiful small melons grown in our yard. I don't know their names. They don't taste good, but they surely have a vibrant color.

With this painting, I am experimenting again. I want my paintings look more modern. I really like one of my fellow daily painters Aaron Lifferth's work. He uses very simple designs, but gives very strong color impressions.

"Roses to Elaine" --- Sold

I am sorry I was a little blue yesterday. I really appreciate so many people emailing me and providing many constructive ideas. Life goes on, and I will keep working. Recently, I have received several galleries requesting my paintings. I think I need to paint more relative larger paintings. Whatever I do, I will keep you posted. My today's painting is another demo I did at my workshop last weekend. Please enjoy.

"Roadside Antiques"

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My mind was actually blank when I start to paint yesterday. Be honest with you, I am in a stage of fatigue now. Having painting still-life for so long, I start to feel tired. I bought quite a few junks the other day on my way home. I placed some of them and painted like zombie. In my workshop, I told everybody: you must have an idea when you start to paint. Well, I lied... Oops, I shouldn't say that. OK. that is enough. Am I serious? Your call.

"Demo at Magnolia 3" --- Sold

I have just returned from teaching a workshop in Magnolia, TX. I had a wonderful time there. I enjoyed meeting new friends and seeing old friends coming back. I hope all the attendees have found this workshop useful and enjoyable. I hope to see you again in the future. I'd like to thank Marty Hatcher for organizing this workshop. Today's post is one of my demo pieces there. Please enjoy.

"Round Rock Artist" --- Sold

Last night I went to the Art Center of Williamson County and did this portrait. This is my second human painting this year. I don't feel satisfied with this turning out, but it is fun to have a change. As matter of fact, I used to paint portrait and figure more than still-lifes. But I understand it will be very difficult to reach the level of professional quality with my current working conditions. I am not going to post this painting on eBay, but if you like to have it, please make me an offer.

"Fresh Nectarines" --- Sold

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My wife got these nectarines the other day. They are so juicy and sweet. More important to me, they make such a great still life subject as well. I am so grateful that we have so many wonderful fruit for our enjoyment. I remember many years ago I met a group of friends in a meditation retreat center. They were fruitarines. They belong to an extreme group of vegan vegetarians. They only eat fruit because they think eating vegetables are cruel, because we destroy the life of the plants for our consumption. But fruit is the gift from the mother earth. There is no killing involved. We can have them with a peace of mind. Well, I respect them whole heartily, but I don't think I can do that. In any rate, this tells us how special a nectarine really is.

"Schmid's Tomato" --- Sold

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This painting is my imitation of one of Richard Schmid's paintings. I believe studying the great master's work is one of the best ways of learning. With this painting I am practicing how to paint leaves. I really like Richard's colors and edges.