"Awakening" (Partial)

Finally, I finished my long term painting "Awakening". Since the painting is semi-dry, I can't get a good photo. I got a ton of glares. Doing a large painting is so different from my small daily studies. I go a way deeper in designs and paint effects. My AAU study during the summer has really laid the foundation for doing large paintings. I like the light effects and light consistency of the painting. I really want to do more projects like this. It gives me more opportunities to deal with detail modeling and dramatization. I consider to submit this painting for the 2013 OPA show. I missed this year's show, so I want to be prepared a little earlier.

I have not done any small paintings for a while, but I hope I can pick it up soon. Life keeps on going. Problems are inevitable, but if we do not give up, we will be there eventually. So, I don't want to talk about my demons any more. I am awakening gradually.

"AAU Portrait Painting 6"

I am still working on my long term painting, so I show another portrait study I did at AAU in the summer time.  It used two light sources: one warm and one cool.

Recently I started a discussion about demons. So many friends sent me great comments. They helped me a lot and warmed my heart. Thank you so much. But what is the “demon” I mean specifically? As a matter of fact, it is the paraphrase I use to refer the problems I ran into during my personal development. They are not horned monsters that my son trying to kill in his video games, but it is true that they are the power from the dark side. They have many appearances. Today I just want to talk about one of them - my fear of unknowns. Since I left my engineering job. I have given up the security and stability. I know I have to face the anxiety of the unknown future. It force me work harder, and try to accomplish as much as possible. I tend to work too much. I have difficulty to relax. I try to take all the opportunities. However, that starts to take away all the fun and freedom, which are my original objective of departure from a meaningless job. How come I turn my dream into another job. This is all because I have this demon in me. It shows its ugly face and sharp fang, waving his bloody claws trying break me into pieces. However, it is too often, I forgot this demon was created by me. You know well that I want to be a good artist to share the world beauty with you. However, only I know I am an even better artist that I created the most fearful monsters to scare myself. Now I am learning to accept my demon, because it is me. I am learning to meditate with him. Learning to use the most powerful weapon to conquer everything.

“Awakening (Day 5)"

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have been working on a long term painting project. Instead of showing the final result only, I decided to share the process with you. The project is the continuation of my calligraphy/still_life painting I started a couple of months ago. The Chinese character in the image means "awakening". I combine the calligraphy with a scene of a Buddhist shrine, since the word "Buddha" happens to mean "the awakened one" in sanskrit. Awakened from what? That is a very interesting question, but you can think about when you have time.

This painting is relatively large: 18" x 24". I have spent five days on it already. I work only several hours each day on it, since I have so many other things on my plate. I have to spend long hours dealing with the demon in me as I talked about previously. Thanks to all of you who wrote me wonderful comments on my battle. We will talk more on that topic later. With this painting, I used a very different approach. I don't have a fixed setup. I design the light and value in mind first, then found representative objects to form the scene. I combined painting from life and using photos. I altered freely the sizes of objects according to my design. I used computer graphics to simulate the effect so I can visualize the result before I paint it. As a matter of fact, the image you see today is not a pure photo of my painting. The calligraphy is an overlay to show me the effect. With this approach I can set up the still life on canvas directly and gradually, instead of having a fixed setup in my shadow box. I did a way more thinking than push paint. With this approach I gained more freedom. I can vividly put on canvas objects which do not exist in the real world. Now this painting has began to show the effect I wanted. I am creating an illusion in front of you. However, my intention of this illusion is to help you, including myself, to be awakened from the delusion of the world, and see the true reality.

"AAU Portrait Painting 7"

I am currently working on a long term painting project. It will take me a week at least to finish. Since I don't have any new painting to show you, I will share some of my old work. This is one of the portraits I did at Academy of Art University (AAU) in San Francisco in July. I was there for two months in the summer. AAU was a significant eye opener for me. Since then, I have been very sure what to do to be an good artist. After I came back, I made a plan to pursue my study. However, I worked according my plan only for a short while. Then I quickly found out that I have to stop most of my rigorous approaches. I ran into so many difficulties, some of them are physical and Psychological. Now, I am still going, but much slower. I have seen significant fragmentation in my art development.

From this a couple of years of my art journey, I realize a philosophy. I don't know how true it is, but I want to share it with you. Here is what I found: When I started a new career, I also planted a evil seed in me. This seed will grow into a demon as my career grows. Most of the time this demon will over grow (especially, if the career is some sort of "business"). Soon after this demon is strong enough, it starts to destroy me. I have spend more and more time to fight my demon. Obviously, the growth of my career slows down. If I am not careful, the demon will easily destroy me. It has happened to so many people in history. Have you seen the life of many so called "celebrities"? I surely hope I will not become another victim. So having the awareness of this demon exist in me is the first step. Secondly, I need to have infinite patience (Yes, INFINITE), and fighting (no, living with) my demon is a absolute skill we all need to have. As a matter of fact, to be a good artist is not my final goal; to be a mature human being is.

"Demo at Magnolia 2012 3" --- Sold

I did an additional demo on the last day of the workshop at Magnolia. It was a very enjoyable experience of doing this one.

I have almost finished my workshop teaching for 2012. I have one more to go and I am very excited about this one. My final workshop will be held at Sedona, AZ, a beautiful beautiful place. The date will be on Dec. 4 - 6. We still have a couple of openings. I know most people are busy preparing for Christmas, but just in case if you have sometime, please join me at this spectacular place. If you are interested in attending this workshop, please contact: Sedona Arts Center.

“Demo at Magnolia 2012 2" --- Sold

This is the second demo I did in Magnolia. I hope you like it. I am back to Austin now. Life goes on.

"My 2013 Desk Calendar"

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Time goes so fast. Now the holiday season is just around corner. I have used 13 of my painting images and made a desk calendar for the coming New Year of 2013. Please click here to see the images in the calendar. I also placed a calendar widget on my blog. Please check it out.  I can't believe that the major part of 2012 has passed. This year is very important to me. It is the first year for me as a full time artist. I have experienced a lot, learned a lot. I feel very grateful to all of you who are supporting me. I am very happy I have made it so far.  Thank you so much.

"Demo at Magnolia 2012 1" --- Sold

I paused my color study and put on my teacher hat again. After about 3 hours drive, I have arrived Magnolia TX, and started another workshop. I want to thank Marty Hatcher for putting this workshop together, and Thank all artist friends for attending. In this workshop, 50% students have taken my workshop before. Some of them have taken 3 times. I feel so grateful that so many friends are supporting me. That gives me more confidence to keep going, even my art learning path is not as smooth as I wish. Thank you all for taking care of me.

This is the first demo I did. It is low key and has a lot of light.

"Demo to My Tuesday Class"

This is a demo painting I did to my Tuesday mentoring class. I am sorry I feel a little low today. After I came back from New England, I thought I could continue on my color study. However, I have encountered so many side tracks, and I can't concentrate on anything. I understood more now that if you want to be an artist, you must hold on  to your dreams. Even you hold on to it, there is always more than enough barriers and challenges trying to break you down. You fall so often, you feel exhausted always. So many have given it up already. Only the one can get there who keeps on going no matter what. So "Stay Foolish" is the key. I cultivate my land, but do not anticipate the harvest.

"Purple Sugar Bowl"

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After a long pause, I resume painting in my studio. If you read my blog posts, you know I was studying the color of purple. So I am continuing from where I stopped. I got this beautiful purple sugar bowl from Keene, NH after I visited Vermont. The green bottle was given to me by one of the Putney painters. I spent quite a long time on this painting, but I felt happy about how it turned out. Finally I am able to use purple as the color for the center of focus. I feel more comfortable with this kind of high key approach now.

Another thing I want to mention today is I found a new tool to hold my canvas or panel. It is called the canvas & panel gripper designed and made by an artists friend Connie Nobbe and her husband Jeff. I have used many kind of easels. The mechanism of holding canvas always block small parts of painting area. I have to move my canvas over to cover those dead spots. However the new canvas gripper do not have this problem. If you are interested in this new tool, please click the link above. I also have an ad on my blog.

"Can Color Temperature be Quantified"

It is beautiful today in Austin: sunny and 86 F. After several workshop teaching in a row, I came back to my color research I left weeks ago. After reading my notes, my attention has been brought into the issue of "color temperature". We talk and think about color temperature all the time. For instance, painting shadow warmer when we have cool light. However, the color temperature in art seems so relative and confusing, especially when we deal with greys. To my limited knowledge, I have not seen anyone assign a number to a specific color. But I think number is important. Can you imagine the meteorologist in TV only tells you that tomorrow will be cooler than today, but no specifics? I think that the number "86 F" does give us more information, doesn't it?

Since I don't have a quantified system for color temperature, I have to invent the wheel myself. I wrote myself a tech note as the following. (If the terms are too techie to you, please ignore them at this moment, I will share them again with more understandable words in the future after I get all bugs removed).

I want to establish an absolute color temperature scale. Every color should be specified by a value T for its temperature. The range of T is from 0 (the coolest) to 100 (the warmest). In the HSV color system, I assume the value (i.e. grey scale) change does not affect the color temperature. I also assume the color of Red-Orange (30, 100) is the warmest, and its complementary Blue-Cyan (210, 100) is the coolest. The the temperature T of any color (H, S) can be calculated by the following formula:

T = 50 + (S/2) cos (H - Hh), where Hh = 30 is the hue value of the warmest color.

The image above is an example of the calculated temperature of 12 selected colors. I hope they make sense.

"Painting with Putney Painters"

The portrait study I posted last time was done at Putney Vermont. After my Wethersfield workshop, I drove up to Vermont and spent a wonderful day with the Putney painters, especially the legendary art masters Richard Schmid and Nancy Guzik. I am learning as a sponge, and looking for any opportunities to get close to great artists, so I can progress a little faster. I feel so fortunate that I get chances to learn from the best.

"Kristen"

After some insignificant delays (compared with many got stuck by Hurricane Sandy), I made it home to Austin late last night. I hope all my friends in New England are OK. Please be careful. The weather will be bad for several days there.

From Alabama to Connecticut, I did three workshops in a row. I was pretty tired, but I just can't let any chance of learning passing me. I did this portrait sketch on Saturday. I will let you know more about this event with my next post.

"Demo at Wethersfield 2012 2" --- Sold

I am sitting at Hartford airport. The loudspeakers are announcing cancelation of multi flights. Hurricane Sandy is on the way to New England. I heard that some strange weather called "Frankenstorm" is forming. I am lucky that my flight is still going. I should be seeing my family shortly. I feel I am very fortunate,  as a traveler and an artist. People around me are so friendly and supportive. I get great opportunities of seeing beautiful scenes and chatting with wonderful people.

This is my second demo on my workshop at Wethersfield. Thanks to all the artists for making this event happen. I really enjoy coming to New England the third time this year.

"Demo at Wethersfield 2012 1" --- Sold

Trying to capture the last glimpse of the dazzling New England foliage. I have arrived at Wethersfield CT yesterday. This morning I started another workshop teaching at the Wethersfield Academy for the Arts. I want thank Betty Standish and Sandy Wakeen for organizing this workshop. Thanks to all the New England artists coming and painting with me. This is my first demo. Recently, I have so many workshops back to back, and I have shown all my demo work. I hope you are not tired of those paintings. They have similarities, but they are not all the same. I am learning every time when I do one.

"Demo at New Braunfels 2012 3"

Well, I don't know I should call this painting a demo or not. I did this one as a way to improve my teaching. I asked all workshop artists paint along with me so they can get familiar with my approaches step by step. The reaction is very positive. I will involve this way of teaching in my future workshops.

Now, I am back to my studio, and taught a couple of children's art classes over the weekend. Tomorrow I am on my road again. Nowadays, my life is so dynamic. I started to lose track where I have traveled to. It is a busy life, but it is good life. I wish I have started my art journey a little earlier. I would have more energy and more potential. So if you are also want to follow your heart and chase your dreams, do it as soon as possible. Do it Now. Yes, I am talking to YOU.

"Demo at New Braunfels 2012 2" --- Sold

As usual my second demo involves flowers. Because I didn't provide enough water to my models, they did not last long enough. I tried my best to give them a healthy look, well they just barely made it. Nevertheless, I felt very happy about  the silver pot in the back.

"Demo at New Braunfels 2012 1" --- Sold

I have arrived at New Braunfels, TX yesterday afternoon. Another workshop started this morning. I want to thank New Braunfels Art League, Cindy Capitena, and Gaye Sekula for putting this workshop together. Thanks to all attending artists from all over. We have so many interesting props. I selected a few and did this demo. It was really fun.

"Demo at Montgomery 3" --- Sold

Upon everybody's request, I did a third demo for the workshop. This one is high key. High key provides me more opportunity for color. Have you seen the dance of warm and cool?

I have really enjoyed the southern hospitality at Montgomery, and got more southern accent in my English. I came back yesterday, but a few hours later I will be on the road again. I will tell you where I am going at my next post.

"Demo at Montgomery 2"

As usual, my second demo was showing how to paint flowers. I had a rather aggressive setup. I was a little concerned if I could finish the demo before lunch, but the result was pleasant. I felt satisfied with the two demos I did so far. My recent study of color designing has definitely shown positive effect on these demo paintings.

"Demo at Montgomery 1" --- Sold

Hello from Montgomery Alabama. This is the first demo painting I did on my 3-day workshop here. I want to thank Sybil Dees for her wonderful job of organizing this workshop. I was so moved when I saw her meeting me at the airport on a wheelchair. I admire her courage and determination in carrying out a superb job under the condition of  facing significant personal challenges. In this world of art, I am so privileged of meeting so many wonderful people. I have learned much more than I taught. I feel so humbled and grateful. I am so excited seeing a few old friends and meeting many more new friends here. Thank YOU-ALL so much for attending my class.

"Asian Pear" --- Sold

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Now I resume my color study. This is my third attempt to establish a color scheme for purple. In this painting I use yellow to establish a complementary scheme with purple, since I have understood that high chroma for purple is very difficult to achieve. The highest chroma of the purples is only 43, but it looks pretty intense due to the contrast with the yellow. I didn't use any cadmium yellow colors. What you see here are yellow ochre and naples yellow. I deliberately keep the chroma of the yellow low, so the purple will stand out more, but I find out during my color mapping that even yellow ochre has a very high chroma (95). I feel better with this painting than the two I did before, but I need to go further.

"Half Orange" --- Sold

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After about two weeks of color design study, I decided to take a break.  I did this painting with my usual approach. I took off my ice skating shoes, and walk normally. I hope I can bring more enjoyment to you as well. I need some time to breath in, and breath out. Calm down and relax. The journey of art keeps on going. So please enjoy the process.

BTW, I do have question: Is there a color very very dark but opaque? I would appreciate if you let me know. Thanks.

"The color purple 2"

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This is my second data point for purple. Analogous is my color scheme and main color is purple. I understood now I can't tint too much from the tube color if I want to keep the chroma high. So I select a dark purple object. I used dioxazine purple. After the painting I did a color mapping (that is the color analysis tool I developed a week ago) on it. I found that the chroma of the tube color of dioxazine purple is not very high (63 out of 100). The slight tinting I did decreases the chroma to 55, which is very similar to what I did in my previous purple study. I am still not there yet, but I surely know more about purple now.

"Not Bule, it is Cyan" --- Sold

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Here is the other painting I did two days ago. Since I am in blue (as matter of fact, I am a little blue in mood lately), I want to talk more about this color called "cyan".

Many years ago when I was just into oil painting, I learned a little bit about color. I was told the red, yellow, and blue are primary colors; orange, green, and purple and secondary colors; red/green, orange/blue, and yellow/purple are complementary. You get grey if mixing the complementaries together. Now I find out this color model is so WRONG.  I can guarantee you will not get grey if you mix those "complementaries". In Munsell color wheel, there is no color orange. Now I use the computer HSV color system (similar to Munsell), The six base colors are red, yellow, green, cyan (or turquoise), blue, and magenta (or purple). You see orange is dropped, and cyan has been added in. These six colors are evenly distributed on the color wheel. In other words, each of the pizza slide of these six colors are equal in size (60 degrees in angle). If we use the old color system, the orange slide will be very narrow, only 30 degrees, while the blue slide will be very wide (120 degrees) if we think cyan belongs to blue. With the HSV system the complementary pairs are red/cyan, yellow/blue, and green/purple. Now you can make greys, not mud.

"The color of blue 4"

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Yesterday, I did two paintings. Here I just show one to you. I revisit the color blue (turquoise or cyan to be more accurate). Now I understood that I can't tint too much the tube color if I want to keep the chroma high. So this will limit my leverage of value change. Pthalo turquoise is very dark color, but I want to show lighter value, what should I do? With my first painting, I used analogous scheme, and high value background. It didn't work, because I have to tint the turquoise a lot. The color got bleached.  The second painting showing here works I think. I did two things. I made background darker, so the value of blue object does not need to be too high. Secondly, I used complementary color scheme to enhance the color contrast. Even the chroma is not very high (chroma = 79, (100 is the highest)), but the complementary scheme bushes it up.

Because I am concentrating on color scheme and harmony lately, I let the composition go. My painting may be too simple and not exciting artistically. This painting is very modern looking. But I am not crazy. I will win your confidence back.

"The color purple"

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The study is going. With this one I worked on the color purple. This one has some problems. I want the  purple color to be high in chroma, but it didn't happen. If I tint the color, the purple is very quickly lose its chroma (or intensity). I was using quinacridone magenta. Most of the purple colors are dark (low value) if you use them directly out of the tube. If you know a mid or light purple with intense chroma, please let me know. Thanks.

"Clear and Cool"

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My color design study has gained more momentum. In this painting my main color has shifted to ultramarine blue. The color scheme is still analogous. I want to stay with analogous scheme to guarantee the color harmony. I feel it is working. I will exercise more to become more skillful.

"The color of blue 2" --- Sold

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This my second try on doing a color design with blue. The color scheme is still analogous. I minimized the use of yellow. There are two blue I used: on the bottle I used phthalo turquoise, and on the background and the small cup I used ultramarine. My camera has a limitation. The turquoise color is not showing as strongly as the painting showing. I feel much better about this one.

I have to say I am doing a very left-brain dominated research right now. Each of the small painting I do recently is one data point for me. Song (my wife) is very concerned about me. This exercise may hurt my business (it is very scary). I have moved away from my usual style, and put on many restrictions on me deliberately. Many of you might have similar concerns just like Song does. Why are you doing this? Qiang must be crazy now. Well, my explanation is: what I am doing now just like a person want to learn ice skating. I know how to walk, but I deliberately put on those weird shoes with blades underneath. Now I can not walk. I even don't know how to stand. I have to start with baby steps. That is the hard time I am giving to myself now, because I know I will have more freedom in the future.

"The color of blue"

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I think I am giving myself a hard time. I force myself not to use red and orange colors for while, I want to see if I still can paint good paintings. My newly developed color analyzing tool has shown some use for me. The color scheme of the this one is majorly analogous and slightly complementary. The center of focus is obvious. The blue does stand out, but not strong enough. Now I need your help: how can I make this color scheme more exciting? Oh! I just got a thought, I am going to do a Daily Paintworks Challenge, so you can show me a couple of things. See you on DPW.