Workshop Announcement ---- Zhaoming Wu Figure Painting

Zhaoming Wu is an internationally well known figurative artist. He has the secrete of creating spectacular figure paintings just like the image above. Please check Zhaoming's website to see his incredible art work. I am very excited to announce that Zhaoming Wu will come to Austin in May and teach a 5-day figure painting workshop. Song and I are extremely happy to organize his workshop. Please check the workshop flyer for information and sign up. We will try our best to assist you in studying with this modern master.

"Memory of the Old Days"

Recently, I didn't post as frequently as I wanted, but I was literally a daily painter. I painted everyday. Instead of doing many small paintings however, I did only one, but a relatively large painting. I have spent more than 10 day on it. This one is different from most of my paintings. I emphasized on the subtle details, but not much to the boldness of the paint quality. This was a wonderful exercise for me. I practiced more on the long term painting process. I was confronted in many areas that I was lack of skills and ideas. For a couple of days I was in real ageny (spelling? the checker didn't work today). I wanted to quit many times, but I am glad I didn't. I think I have grown quite significantly by doing this serious painting.

I am going to submit this painting to this year's Oil Painter's of America National Exhibition. I hope I get lucky.

"Red Rose Study 4" --- Sold

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This is another rose study I did recently. I have posted this painting as a "Challenge" on the Daily Paintworks website. You are welcome to take the challenge, paint a red rose, and submit the image of your painting to Daily Paintworks Challenge. I am looking forward to see your rose there. Happy painting and happy Valentines day.

"Addie"

Not For Sale

I have painted too many still lifes, and I hope you don't get bored with them. For a change, my today's painting is a portrait. I did it on Monday night at my friend Eric's studio. Addie is a very beautify high school student. She came to Eric's home as a baby sitter that night. It has happened that our model could not come. After all the children went to bed. Addie sat for us as first time modeling. She is a very good model. Her facial features are perfect. As a still life painter, I don't know human anatomy enough. However with a perfect model like Addie, I had a very easy ride. I like this portrait a lot. So I am going to keep it for a while.

"Bronze and Copper" --- Traded

After my Sacramento workshop, I went to the Bay Area and visited my friend Fongwei Liu. He is a wonderful figurative and portrait painter, and teaches the graduate level painting classes at Academy of Art University in San Francisco. If you are not familiar with his work, I highly recommend you check Fongwei's art blog. You will be amazed what this young artist can do. He has won an award last year at the 12th Annual International Portrait Competition hosted by the Portrait Society of American. In the near future, I will invite Fongwei coming to Austin and teaching a workshop. I will announce that when the workshop is confirmed.

I did this painting in Fongwei's studio. I learned quite a bit from him

"Demo at Sacramento 3" --- Sold

With this painting I demonstrated how I do onions. A group of workshop artists set it up for me. I liked the subtlety of the colors. I had a wonderful time in Sacramento, and I will go there again.

"Demo at Sacramento 2" --- Sold

Today is the Chinese New Year (Rabbit). I'd to wish all of you 新年快乐 (Happy New Year)!

This is the second demo I did at the workshop. The photo is not very good, but you get the idea. Sometimes, I like to set a dark object in front and keep my major illumination behind it. The contrast can enhance the light effect on the center.

"Demo at Sacramento 1" --- Sold

Today, mercury lamps are shining on black cubicles in a concrete building under a freezing 25 F outside. Yesterday, lemon trees were shading pink flowers on a grassy sidewalk in cozy 65 F breeze. Hello my friends. I just came back from California last night, now trying to catch up what I missed those several days in Austin.

I did a workshop at Sacramento. I want to thank Patris and Scott of S12 for having me back. It feels so good of seeing old friends. Moreover, I am excited meeting all new friends there. Thank you all so much for keeping me going. I really enjoyed your company. This is my first demo I did. I hope you like it.

"Red Rose Study 3" --- Sold

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This red rose was in my backyard. The shape of the flower was a little odd. I have tried pretty hard to make it look like a rose. The colors of this rose is very rich. I love the deep orange color from the translucent light.

"Red Rose Study 2" --- Sold

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This is the same rose I used for my previous painting. I did it in a different angle. I feel freer this time.

Today I want to say something about on-line marketing. I am honored to be one of the 12 artists belong to an on-line gallery called The "Daily Paintworks". Recently, DPW has upgraded the website. When you get a chance please check it out. Besides my art, you will find other wonderful artists in it. I am very happy to be part of the DPW.

"Red Rose Study 1" --- Sold

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Finally, I have a small painting to post. I did this 5x7 last night. The Valentine's Day is coming soon, so I decided to do several red rose paintings. This is the first one. I hope I will do better than before.

"Around the Campfire"

Over the long weekend, I did this gallery painting. Please enjoy.

"Rosy Orange and Blue"

This is the third demo at HCAA. We tried something I have never done before. I asked workshop artists contributed items they wanted me to paint, and they did the setup for me. We paint the same setup together. I painted for a while, and they painted for a while. I like this method. The students can learn my approaches more specifically. This is how the painting ended up. I like the dry brush effect in the foreground.

"Cantaloupe and Cherries" --- Sold

This is the second demo I did at HCAA workshop. Some artist friends asked me why I always paint background dark. I think the answer is one word: CONTRAST. I want to show the light playing. I enjoyed painting the dancing high lights on the brass, the translucent glow of the cantaloupe, and shadowy dark crimson of the cherries. As a matter of fact, my sense of color is not that great. Using as wide as possible value range helps me to increase the power of the painting.

"Portrait study"

Last night I went to a live painting session organized by my friend Eric. The model had some problem and couldn't come. Eric's mother sit for us. Although she hadn't modeled before, she did a wonderful job. I did this oil sketch. I love to paint human, and I am confident I can do well. I just need to do more to get more experienced.

"Eggplant and Radishes" --- Sold

This is my first demo painting on the workshop at HCAA Houston. Vegetables are my recent concentration. The special beauty of those everyday stuff is so exciting. They nourish our body, give us energy, and they are very appealing to our eyes as well if you examine them on a still life platform.

I want to thank HCAA, especially Jerrie Powell and Sue Jackson, for organizing my first workshop of 2011. Thank you all the artists for attending it. I really enjoyed sharing my painting approaches with you all.

“Rose Impression"

Not for Sale

I did this one last Sunday. Song really likes this painting. So I am not going to sell it, but I share the image with you. I have done quite a few rose paintings so far. However, I still don't have the confidence to say I know how to do it. I struggle every time. I plan to paint more roses this a couple of months, and sincerely hope I can gain control eventually. If you feel that you don't know how to paint any specific subject, just paint more until you get it.

This Friday I will start my first workshop teaching. I will be in Houston.

"Turnip Study" --- Sold

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Thank you for viewing my first painting in 2011. The year of 2010 passed like a flash. I was in a hurry all the time. Now, it is the time to plan the new year. Be honest with you. I don't have a New Year's resolution. If I do, I really want to slowing down. I would like to have my 2011 looks more like this painting: very much down to earth. I want to spend more time learning. I want to simplify my life as much as possible. I hope I can manage more efficiently. It is my first time to paint turnips. It offers me opportunities to presenting nice purple colors. They are not showing off as apples and oranges. I feel the taste of life sometimes is more like the taste of a turnip.

"Ready to Perform"

This painting will be shown in this gallery

Today is the last day of 2010. At this moment I am so grateful to all of you, my dear artist friends. Thank you so much for your inspiration, your support, and your encouragement. I don't feel lonely because you are with me. I paint regularly because of you. I progress consistently because of you. Everyday, I receive so many feedbacks through my blog, from my Facebook friends, and via emails. I am sorry I did not reply to you individually. However, I read all of them. Your words warm my heart. You keep me going.

2010 is a good year to me. My art has improved significantly. My workshops brought me wonderful opportunities to meet new friends and travel to many places I have not been before. My business in art have become more solid. Of course, there were difficulties. I have learned many lessons. In the coming 2011, I will try harder. I sincerely hope 2011 will be a better year for all of us. I wish all of you the best luck in 2011.

Happy New Year!

"Specular"

I am continuing on my gallery paintings. This one I was concentrated on presenting the glossy surface of the copper kettle. A specular surface does not have a specific local color. You must consider the influence from the surrounding colors in terms of reflections. No matter how busy the reflections are, the form of the object must be accurate to produce a convincing representation. It was challenging, but it was fun.

Workshops in January

Dear my artist friends,

2011 is around the corner. In January, I will teach two 3-day workshops:

January 7 - 9 at Houston Civic Art Association, Houston, TX

January 28 - 30 at Capital Art Center at S12, Sacramento, CA

At this moment, we still have several openings for both workshops. If you are interested in my approaches of still life painting, please click here and contact my workshop organizers to get information and sign up. I am looking forward to meeting you.

"Onion Study" --- Sold

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These several days, I enjoyed the true daily painting experience. I painted everyday and posted everyday. I wish I could keep my art practice like this, but my crazy life will start again after New Year. I don't think I can keep an controlled life pattern like this. I studied painting onion today emphasizing on the volume contrast. I want to generate the feeling of the mass of the onion body in contrast to the thin peels: heavy vs. light, regular shape vs. irregular shapes, Freshness vs. dryness, live vs. death. Wow!

"Christmas Star"

My Christmas moment has been solidified into this poinsettia fulfilling my time-to-space transformation. I display this temporal memory eternally with chemicals adhering on fabric. Cadmium and Pthalo sprout organically and bloom into dazzling photons. Time is linear toward infinity, and circle back endlessly. This is my Christmas. This is my celebration.

"Holiday Time" --- Sold

We are back from Arkansas. I did this gallery painting. I need to accumulate a batch of paintings for quite a few shows coming in 2011. It is Christmas Eve today. I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas at this moment. Different from most of you, I didn't grow up celebrating Christmas. I learned about Santa Clause from my English class when I was 20 years old. I had a few American English teachers when I was in college. I still remembered my first Christmas party. Our English class decorated a classroom. I drew Santa with color chalk on a blackboard. The image was copied from a card given by our teacher. We played Christmas songs with a cassette player. We all spoke in English at the party. It was really exotic I felt. At that time, America was so far away, so foreign, and so mysterious. I didn't know I would go there and had spent a half of my life time there (here to be exact) already. Life is full of surprises, but every moment has its meaning. I am going to keep painting tomorrow, because it is the most celebrating and enjoyable time I can have.

"Arkansas Countryside"

I am in Hot Springs, AK. There are quite a few crystal mines. Song and Jonathan went to digging crystals. I am not really interested in that. So I set up my easel and did a plein air sketch. It was so cold, but I enjoyed what I was doing. Here is what I did. BTW, I sent out quite a few calendars from this small Arkansas town. I am sending this message from a McDonald's.

"Orange Dance" --- Sold

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This a couple of days, Song and I was so busy shipping and handling the calendars. It took me a while to figure out a systematic way to handle a huge amount of shipping without making mistakes. Song and I spent a lot time in the post office. I still have quite a few calendars have not been sent out yet. I apologize if some of you could not receive the calendar before Christmas. We will do better next year.

I started do more larger paintings now. I plan to join a group show next spring. To a part-time artist like me, it is not practical to do major shows in a gallery, but I will give it try and see how it goes. The painting for today is a small one I did some day this week. I have forgot when exactly I did it. What a crazy life I have!

I am going to do traveling during the holidays. In case I don't have a chance to post again, I would like to wish all of you a Merry Christmas!!!

"Tea for You" --- Sold

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Last Sunday, a group of my students came and requested me doing a demo on painting draperies. I have not done drapes for a while, but I would like to give a try. So I did this small painting. Do you know what kind of drapery material I like the best? Well, I like to cut a white T-shirt. This material makes the best fold patterns I enjoy.

"Small Red Vase" --- Sold

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I have received overwhelmingly amount of orders of my 2011 calendar. In less than a day, I have exhausted all my inventory. I have placed a back order and hope to receive the new batch in 3 days. So please be patient with me. I will send out your orders as soon as possible. Thank you so much for your interest and support of my art.

I did this small painting after I did the violin painting. I really like the rich red color on the orange through the transparent red glass. I hope you like it too.

"My 2011 Calendar"

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I have made a desk calendar for 2011 with 12 of my painting images. They are $6.00 each plus $2.50 for shipping. You may check the images I chose and/or purchase by click above link. Please enjoy and have a very happy holiday season.

"Classical Moment"

I owe quite a few my friends violin paintings. Now it is the time to do some. This task was a difficult one. I did this painting with 4 sessions in two days. I still not used to paint in multiple sessions, especially the second day. Every session, I almost had to paint entire painting on top of the previous one, because I can't stand to see dry spots. I start to use a lot of medium on the second day. I think we have discussed before about painting in the second day. I should have used retouch varnish to bring back freshness, but I didn't do that. I just painted over. This painting is very dark. I am in the middle of testing new lights, and I did illuminate my canvas too bright. Oh boy, I had a lot of struggle, but the paintings comes out all right, I think.