"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.

"Old Time for Coffee" --- Sold

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I got so many responses for my previous post. Your words warmed my heart. I am sorry I can't write back to all of you, but I really really appreciate your kindness. Thanks a lot.

I did this painting yesterday. I want to paint a still life without round objects in it. I had done so many of them and get a little tired. This old coffee grinder got my interest. I like the subtlety in color and texture in old objects. I didn't do much of composition design this time and did it more like a portrait. I plan to do a large painting with this item in it in the future. This painting is my small scale study.

"Spirit of a Lotus"

I don't have a painting for you today, but I want to share some thoughts. Yesterday, I had a medical checkup. The doctors put me into sleep. I lost about one hour of my life, but I didn't feel a trace of discontinuity of my consciousness. Has anything happened? I perfectly didn't know. This makes me ponder. Is time real? Is life a delusion? I have no clue.

I had a friend passed away recently in Huntsville, AL, and today is her funeral, probably at this moment I am writing. I am so sorry I can't attend. The last time I saw her was in October. She has been in a coma for 4 years. Life was very hard for her and her family. She was a very dear friend of mine like a mother. I stayed with her when I was a university student. She took care of me in any small details. I remembered she refrigerated my toothbrush every night to prevented gems getting to me. I felt sad when I saw her in a coma. I feel sad she is no longer with me. I ponder more. Is life a delusion? I think I have some clue.

I have this lotus flower bestowed on my friend. I hope our life is like a lotus. We started in a chaotic world like mud. We went through difficult times. but we should always remain conscious, practice and nourish our spirit, and purify our mind, like the lotus grow through water. Until someday, we will make it to the surface, and bloom splendidly with a spectacular beauty.

"Anderson Mill" --- Traded with an Artist

Anderson Mill is an historical marker not far from where I live. When Calvin Liang was here. He painted at this location twice. It is nice and rustic place. I did this plein air painting a while ago when I have a lot of computer problems. After Thanksgiving, I have been super busy with my engineering job, and haven't got a chance to paint yet. So I post this one for you.

"Dance with Stars" --- Sold

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I did this painting a while ago, but didn't get a chance to post it. I was practicing surface texture of the cabbage and translucency of the tomato. When I was painting this one, Song was watching "Dance with Stars" on TV. So why don't I name the painting the same.

"Beautiful Sound"

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I used this long weekend and did this gallery level painting. I owe galleries representing me many paintings. I am so behind. I need to generate quite a few and send to them.

I chose to do a high key painting, because it is relatively easy to define the trumpet. It is my first time to paint a trumpet. It has many complicated parts. To me they are just shapes. I think the flowers are lilies. I am bad with names. They are just shapes to me. If you can paint shapes, you can paint anything.

"Sugar Jar" --- Sold

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This painting has almost no cadmium colors in it. It is very special for me because I am so addicted to cadmium red and orange and use them in all my paintings except this one. I want to see if it is possible I still can create a popping effect with cool colors.

I did this painting on the Thanksgiving day. At this holiday time. I want thank all of you for giving me support, and encouragement. I have run into so many difficulties and problems in my art journey. Some many times I want quit. You keep me going. I maybe slow, I may limp, but I move forward, because of you.

Song and I went a friend's home for the Thanksgiving dinner. I met a few new people at the party. I was asked: "What do you do?" As usual, I would answer "I am an engineer" without thinking, because that is my daily job. However, this time, after pondering for a while, I answered: "I am an artist". You know what. It shocked me when I said that. I am so used to identify myself as a technical professional and doing art in my spare time. Now, having claimed "I am an artist" in front of strangers, I realized I have pledged an identity shift officially. My center of balance has been toggled. I felt my commitment into art is serious now. Art is no longer a spare time activity any more. It will be considered a career for me. I will support my family with it soon. I do feel a little sad toward my technical career, though. At an appropriate time, I will tell you how I feel about the corporate culture.

"Colley Whisson's Visit"

This beautiful painting was done by the internationally well known australian artist Colley Whisson. If you read "International Artist" magazine. You certainly have seen his remarkable work. Currently, he is teaching and touring in US. This a couple of days he visited me in Austin. We had a wonderful time together. I like Colley's art a lot. He paints the light effect so wonderfully. His brushwork is so loose and bold. I don't have to say much. His works have said all. I will have Colley come back to Austin to teach workshop in the future, and I hope at that time, you can join me and learn from him.

"Turquoise Stripe" --- Sold

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You know I use a lot red and oranges in my paintings. This one is the same. The reason is obvious. Hot color capture viewer's attention easily. However, if I over use it, it starts to get boring. So I have been searching other colors that gives strong impact to people. This painting is one my tests. The color I am testing is turquoise. It is actually the opposite of the orange and red, but its crisp coolness can work as an eye catcher. I will definitely use it more.