"Demo at Bartlesville 2" --- Sold

Please enjoy my second demo at the Bartlesville workshop. I think my effort on painting leaves starts to pay off. I decided to do a high key painting and I am glad I did.

I have a funny story to tell you. After the first day of the workshop, we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner. We were chatting happily with a lot of laughters. At this moment, a macho man sitting at the table next to us stood up walked to me. He tapped his big hand on my shoulder and said: "I just don't understand what kind of magic you have. How come you are the only man can get so many women around you." Everybody laughed. I don't know how to answer his question.

I really feel grateful. I got so much support from all of you. These a couple of days. I got hundreds of email messages from all over the world wishing me happy birthday. I am so touched. What I can do is to improve my art further and share it with you. Thank you a big time.

"Demo at Bartlesville 1" --- Sold

I am on my way back to Austin from Oklahoma. I had a wonderful workshop here. Thanks to Bartlesville Art Association and wonderful organizers Jo Ann and Elizabeth for making this event possible. Thanks to my old friends Venda, Buena, and Gail coming from long distance to see me. Thanks to all new artist friends for attending my workshop. I have enjoyed those three days tremendously. This painting is my demo at the first day of the workshop.

Visiting Jody Kirberger

I am in Bartlesville OK, teaching a workshop. After the class today, we visited the legendary lady Ms. Jody Kirberger. Jody owns the Telisman Gallery in this small Oklahoma city. She has represented exclusively the Master Artist Richard Schmid for many years. I felt very fortunate visiting Jody in her lovely home. I was extremely happy to see her massive collection of Richard Schmid paintings and drawings. I was really amazed that in such small city, there is such extravaganza of the hidden treasure of the modern master. I am speechless. What an inspiration I had today! Thank you so much Jody!

Zhaoming Wu workshop

This week, I have been busy coordinating a painting workshop in Austin given by the famous figurative artist Zhaomig Wu. I have this dream for a long time, I want to bring top notch artists here and boost up art education in Austin area. Last year we had Calvin Liang, and this year is Zhaoming Wu. I will have more great workshops coming in the near future and I will let you know through my blog. My life is getting crazier, but Life is so short. I want to try all possibilities.

"Herbal Tea" --- Sold

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I am continuing my research. I am working on grays with this one. I tried ultramarine blue plus transparent oxide red and adding white. It wasn't working. Then I replace ultramarine blue with phthalo blue. I got much better result.

"Fresh" --- Sold

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In this painting, I applied what I have learned from my recent leaf studies into more finished work. It is sort of worked, but not significant enough. Life is still going and research will keep going too. My recent posts are very left-brain-ish. I think it is necessary. At the earlier stage of the this painting, I really like it a lot. But I had to stop and went to work. I continued last night after I came back from work. The painting was semi-dry. I got out of control. Anyhow, this one is not bad. I like the color effect a lot.

"Green Rhythm 2" --- Sold

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My exploration on leaves continues. I can't say much of progress on this one, but it did document my journey. I think the ability of painting leaves can connect the both still life and landscape painting together. We have talked about that very few artists can do both well. I believe painting leaves will help for sure.

"Tomato Behind Leaves"

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I don't know what has happened to Blogger. It was down for a long while. Thank God it comes back. When you deal with computers and the Internet, please remember: no matter how powerful and convenient these tools seem to you, They are the most UNRELIABLE tools. If you want to have a good life, please set your foundation on something else. Do not worship technology, because the main purpose of technology is to make a small group of people rich. Providing convenience and enjoyment is quite secondary. If you were addicted to technology, you were doomed. If the world is addicted to technology.... I stop here. I have been working in high tech all my life. I do learn something.

I did another leaf painting. I am not addicted to leaves. I do this because I see a tangible way to bring my art to the next level. I really appreciate many people's compliment to my work, and I will continue sharing artistic enjoyment with you. However, I am not a master. I just like to paint.

"Katherine"

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I went to portrait painting last night and the model was very beautiful. I enjoy painting people and try to make the composition of portrait painting more interesting. I am also very interested to know if this kind of portrait painting is marketable. So I am going to do a test. I will auction out this painting with very low starting price, and see how it goes.

My 2012 Workshops

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We are almost at the middle of the year. So I would like to provide you my 2012 painting workshop schedule. I have planned 12 workshops for the next year. If you are interested in my painting approaches, please find one of my workshops near you and contact the organizer for detailed information. I am looking forward to working with you. If you are one of the workshop organizers on my list, please check if I have placed the information correctly. If you are interested in hosting my workshop at your location, please let me know, We will find future opportunity. Thank you.

"May in Manor" --- Sold

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"I try to depict the lush foliage by delineating only three leaves". Did I use the two "D" words correctly? Thanks to so many of you helping me by explaining the difference between "depicting" and "delineating". In the company I work. there used to be an engineer friend, Al. He helped me in English and American culture. We call every Friday: Qiang's culture day. I learned a lot from him. Now he has retired. I really miss Al and the culture days. Now I have expanded my culture days on the Internet. Wow! "I said to myself, what a wonderful world!!!"

My today's painting is a plein air piece. I did this with the "Plein Air Austin" group at Manor (east of Austin). It was done mainly with my newly obtained flexible palette knife. I was very clumsy with it at this moment, and some of the effect I want did not come out. But it is all right. I am happy to see "rooms" in my painting I can "reserve" for the knife work. Wow! "I said to myself, what a wonderful world!!!"

"Green Rhythm" --- Sold

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I feel happy about this one. In my standard, my art has been dwindling in a plateau stage for a long time. These a couple of years, I tried many approaches. However, I have not seen any real break through happening. Now this one is interesting. Why do I say so? Well, let us compare this painting with the one I posted previously. When you see that one, you may say: you painted 5 leaves. However, when you see this one, you may feel I painted many leaves. But that fact is I have seriously painted maybe also 5 leaves. How to make viewer lose count with very low numbers of things depicted is the drama I want to achieve with this painting. I have seen some of Richard Schmid's paintings. You feel he had painted a bush of lush foliages, but if you count, you will find that he only painted 3 leaves with details.

For many years, I was pondering why there are two groups of artists: one group can paint great landscapes but can't painting still lifes and portraits. The other one can do wonderful portraits and still lifes, but bad with landscapes. I think I belong to the second group, but working hard to come out. Very few can excel both. If we analyze, we will see that the landscape painters delineate many things with one or few strokes, and the still life painters depict one thing with many strokes. (BTW, I have an English question: what is the difference between depicting and delineating?)

"Spring in a Pot" --- Sold

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Now I come back to do small painting, and continue on my study on painting leaves. I have a similar leaf arrangement as my demo posted previously, but I got more time working on it. The high key purple background really enhances the green leaves. BTW I have received the flexible palette knife (Holbein 10667). I start to practice using it.

Instead of auction on eBay, I am going to try the new DPW auction. Please let me know how you like this new way to buy my art. Thanks.

“Newton's Apple" --- Sold

Last Saturday I went to Marble Falls, TX. The Riverbend Fine Art Gallery was hosting the reception of a 3-man show of Rusty Jones, Bob Rohm, and me. All three of us did demos that day. This is my demo painting. Since I am working on leaves, I included some of them in my setup. I placed a red apple right under the leaves, and it feels like the apple has fallen right off the branch. It reminds me the story that Isaac Newton discovered the gravity because an apple fell on his head. So I named the painting: Newton's Apple.

This 3-man show is a new milestone to me. This is the first time I have shown relatively many paintings with a small group of artists. I met quite a few new friends and really had a lot fun at this beautiful Texas Hill Country town. I want to thank Marta Stafford for organizing this event. I want to thank all my collectors for their support.

"Live Oak Live Apple" --- Sold

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Finally, I got the time and painted this small painting yesterday and posted it on eBay. Thank you so many friends giving me support after my previous post. I restarted my learning. I am continuing working on leaves. I will work on this topic for a while until I feel I obtain the effect I really want. I have some ideas about leaves, but not much. My investigation will go deeper. I decided to go high key this time. My colors will show better this way. I believe low key showing light, and high key showing color. Don't you agree?

"Anna"

I have not been posting anything on the blog for a long week. I have not put any paintings for sale on eBay for more than a month. Wow! what is going on? I even have zero activities in these two most fundamental fields of a daily painter. I have been painting less and less now. I must do many "more important" things. I hear the saying: when something goes up, it must come down. I hope it does not apply to my art. But I feel I am gradually losing the battle. Because I paint, so I have no time to paint. This is so ironic, but it is true. I think that is the teaching of Taoism: the value of non-action.

Well, let us forget about all of those philosophical junk, and come back to art. I did this portrait last night. It is kind of interesting.

"Demo at San Antonio 3" --- Sold

After my previous post, a few artist friends sent me photos of my 3rd demo at the Coppini. I really appreciate their help to make this posting possible.

"Demo at San Antonio 2"

This is my second demo at Coppini. I selected a square shaped object to demonstrate how to manage the perspective and measurement. I felt good about those flowers and leaves. I also did the third demo in front of both the workshop artists and general members of Coppini Academy. The studio was so professionally built with large north light windows. I saw way much more colors on my setup than I use to. It was overwhelming. I did OK. The third demo painting was sold at the spot. I did not get a chance to take a photo of it. If you were at Coppini watching my demo and having a photo, would you mind send a copy to me? Thanks.

"Demo at San Antonio 1" --- Sold

I am in San Antonio teaching a 3-day workshop at the Coppini Academy of Fine Arts. This is my demo painting I did today. I want to thank Gladys, W. C., and Eric for working so hard to make the workshop location available. I am so happy to meet many new friends. I hope all workshop artists have enjoyed today. There are more to come tomorrow.

After I posted the question about the flexible palette knives, quite a few friends recommended Holbein Painting Knives. I think I am going to start from this one. Thank you so much for helping me out.

"Rose study 41211" --- Sold

To paint or to take a defensive driving class, that is the question. I was the bad guy, I was told driving 49 miles per hour on Hwy 290 went into Johnson City. Were I guilty for speeding, I do not have the time to argue. I paid what the police wanted and agreed to take the class to keep my record clean. Life is very short, let us paint as much as possible.

Now I want to learn the Richard Schmid approach seriously. I did this one last night, but I was very very tired. So I could not finish. Maybe I should have taken the defensive class instead.

BTW, can someone tell me where I can get very flexible palette knifes? Thanks a lot.

"Spring at Dallas"

I was at Dallas yesterday attending the annual Plein Air Southwest Show organized by the Outdoor Painters Society. This was my first time in the show. The event had two activities: quick draw at the Dallas Arboretum and plein air painting exhibition at the Southwest Gallery. This painting is my quick draw piece. Since plein air landscape is deviated so much from my still life painting, I felt out of control. Many effects that I wish I could make happen did not. I have run into many areas that I have been completely lost. It was a beautiful Saturday morning. There were so many people in the park. I was put at the spot. Since I didn't know what I was doing, I just let my intuition take over. I pretend to be cool. Oh boy! I was a true con artist that morning. Finally, I think the painting turned out better than I thought.

"Demo at Fredericksburg"

I was in Fredericksburg yesterday and did this demo for Die Kunstler Art Club. I hope you like it.

I am going to teach a 3-day workshop at the Coppini Academy of Fine Art on April 15 -17. We still have one opening left. If you are interested in attending please contact Coppini Workshops.

I have announced our 3-man show yesterday. However, the link does not work again. If you want to see the video, please click the new link. or search "3painters3vision" at the Youtube site.

I am in Dallas right now. Tomorrow I will attend the Plein Air Southwest Show with the Outdoor Painters Society.

Oh! boy. What a busy schedule.

"3 Painters 3 Visions"

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Yesterday I posted a link to a video. I am sorry it is not working anymore. Rusty has placed a new one on Youtube. "3 Painters 3 Visions" is the 3-man show of Rusty Jones, Bob Rohm, and me at the Riverbend Fine Art Gallery in Marble Falls, TX. The reception will at 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM on Saturday, April 30, 2011. We will do painting demos before the reception, please contact Riverbend Fine Art Gallery for detailed information. I hope to see you at this event.

"Roses in Spring"

We have some roses blooming so beautifully in the back yard. Song cut some and arranged them in a wine glass. In this painting I experimented quite a bit. It is not my usual dark background low key approach, and it is not high key either. I painted these roses like the way I painted portraits. I left large area in the background the toned canvas. I don’t consider this experiment a successful one. I don’t have my spot light effect, and my grays are not clean. I wanted the leaves showing more, but it didn’t happen. Anyway it is another painting day. Tomorrow will be a new day.

Our 3-man show is coming up on April 29. Rusty Jones, Bob Rohm, and I will show our paintings at Riverbend Fine Art Gallery at Marble Falls, TX. Rusty made a wonderful Youtube video to promote the show. Please click here to see it.

"Old Beauty"

This is a relatively large painting. I like that white blue pot. I got it from an antique store. I am not sure what it was for. Was it a soup container? Can someone tell me? It looks very old, and it makes a very good still life object. I like to paint old stuff. I know many (if it is not all) artists do. I am not very sure why the old stuff is better. Is it because old objects show effect of time or the timelessness. We are often nostalgic for our earlier lifes. Is it because our currently time so tasteless so we are long for the good old days. Anyway, the old stuff looks better to me.

"Ellen"

You see more of my portraits recently. It feels that my dominant genre (still life) starts change. Well, it is not the case. My real motivation is that I am preparing for my friend Zhaoming Wu's workshop in May. This is my first time to organize a figurative workshop. I need to have a list of models available. I believe that the best way to identify good models is to paint them. Hiring models is not easy. I have shared with you 6 portraits so far. However in 3 painting sessions, the models didn't show up. The rate of model absence is 50%. That makes me nervous. I don't want to see this kind of thing happen on the workshop. So if you are experienced in organizing life drawing and painting activities, I would like to know your suggestions.

Ellen is an artist friend of mine. She and I went to a life painting yesterday, but the model didn't come. Ellen volunteered to model for everybody. I really appreciate she did that. For this painting, I didn't do a good job. I didn't get the likeness and my perspective had many problems. Well, I know I have a long way in front of me if I really want to be portrait painter. I am prepared.

"Tangerines and Bronze"

I got this bronze thingy in Louisiana on our way back from Florida. Its color and texture are so amazing. In this painting, I really worked on the grays. It was not easy doing this one, and it took me about three days. This painting will be in my April show too.

"Heather"

I did this portrait study last night. Heather is a wonderful model. Her facial features are very strong and clear. Heather is not simply a model. She is the grand daughter of the "Jerry" (the founder of Jerry's Artarama) and a successful business woman. I enjoyed doing this portrait. Especially the hair texture. I like the dry brush effects. If you are interested in purchasing this painting, please let me know.

"A Small Cup" --- Sold

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Nowadays, I do not have enough opportunity to do small paintings. I set up for a larger painting this morning, and did this small one before I start the larger one. I feel my time is getting less and less. I spend most of my time dealing with and learning how to manage my art career. I don't have much experience and education in business management, so I am learning on a trial and error bases. Men! I learned the hard way many times, but I am getting there.

"Demo at Jacksonville 3" --- Sold

This is my third demo at Jacksonville. It has become a routine now that I allow the workshop artists set up the still life for my last demo. They want to see how I paint specific objects. This is challenge for me because I don’t have control anymore. But we all had fun with this method. I took it easy as much as possible. If I blow it, I simply let it go. This one has turned out all right.