Painting in China 2016

Finding the true Utopia has been a constant dream for me. So I plan to go to Shangri-La this coming September. Now I want to officially announce my Painting in China 2016 trip. I would like to take a group of ambitious artists to go to the Southwest part of China (Yunnan Province) to see and paint this exotic and mystical place. If you are interested in this trip, Please visit: http://www.qh-art.com/china-2015.html. It will be a wonderful experience of your and my life time.

"Demo at LAAFA 2016 3" --- Sold

Click Here to Purchase

My third demo: painting flowers. I have got more and more abstract nowadays, some time even chaotic. This painting is reflecting the current status of my mind. This year is rather difficult year for me. Quite many friends has asked me. "You teach so many workshops. Do you feel tired? Have you felt burnt out?" Well, what can I say? As a matter of fact, I have been burnt out a long time ago. On this difficult journey, I don't have much choice except keeping on going, and going. Experience the hard time makes the art more meaningful.

"Demo at LAAFA 2016 2" --- Sold

This is the second demo at LAAFA. Apples are my favorite still life objects. This painting is predominately warm. So the green apple stands out more and becomes the center of focus.

"Demo at LAAFA 2016 1"

LAAFA (Los Angeles Academy of Figurative Art) is a wonderful school provides rigorous training of the academic way of drawing, painting, and sculpting. I am really honored to teach still life painting workshops here. It is my second time coming to LAAFA. I want to thank all the wonderful artists for attending my class. This is my first demonstration.

"Spring at Dies Ranch"

Click Here to Bid

I did this plein air painting this morning. The spring in Texas is spectacular and the colors are so fresh. I enjoyed the perfect weather today. It is one the ideal days to paint outside.

The weather is wonderful, but the climate is so strange. The spring comes so early this year. The temperature has gone beyond 90 F this afternoon. We might have a super hot summer this year.

"Xidi Carved Window 1"

Click Here to Bid

I am continuing on the research of the monochromatic paintings. I started to consider to remove the transparent oxide red off my palette. This painting was done with burnt umber, white and a little black. It looks the experiment works. This way will save me significantly on the expenses on paints.

I have a major computer crash over the weekend. I have lost quite a bit of information. If you used to receive my daily painting emails, but found you did not receive this post and posts in the future, please let me know, I have to manually put you back. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

"Plein Air at Xidi Village (Day 2)"

I have started another large painting. When I was at Xidi last September, I saw so many artists plein air painting all over the place. I really want to do several serious paintings to reflect the lives in this small place. You have seen I painted quite a few doorways there, but that was just the necessary foundation work. This one I start to involve more figures, which are the artists in the village. I know it is a challenge for me to paint any serious painting with my fragmented time, but I will give a try.

"Xidi Doorway 7"

I used this ref photo the second time. Xidi village is the place that keeps coming back in my dreams. This morning I painted this Xidi doorway again. I want to practice this technique more to gain more control and gradually develop a style. There is a Chinese character on the red sign posted about the door, I have waiting the paint to dry to write it on.

"Boedges Study 1"

Mark Boedges is the artist I started to follow very recently. I met him at the Scottsdale Artists' School last month and saw his paintings at the Legacy Gallery. I like the way Mark composes his color designs. Pure landscape painting is not my cup of tea, but I want to study and practice more to get better. So I decided to copy a few Mark's paintings to understand more how he handle his colors. This is the first one I have done.

"French Legation Museum, Austin"

Click Here to Bid

This morning I joined a group of local artists, painted plein air at the French legation Museum at the downtown Austin. My color scheme for this painting is rather weird. I did not plan to do this but it turned out like this by itself. I don't quite like this color scheme. Can any psychologist explain what is going on?

"Keep Austin Weird" is the motto of this city. I must be possessed by a "weird" spirit this morning.

"Big Apple and Small Onion"

Click Here to Bid

I have been back to Austin for a few days now, and this is what I did today. Somehow every time I am back home, it is always difficult to start painting right away. So many other things because priorities, and painting have to give in. Several days passes quickly and my mind is blank at this moment, so I used this simple painting to warm up.

"Demo at Sedona 2016 3" --- Sold

The flower demo was on the last day of the workshop. I saw a bouquet of white roses casually set in an empty can. I move it to my still life station. It is almost perfect as my subject. However, from my greediness, I tried to "arrange" it to make it "better". Well it ends into a disaster. Finally I have to pull all the flowers out of the can and redo it. It happens too often, that the mother nature presents the best design for us, but our ego will come to say: I can do better. Well the result is often the opposite. So the ability to "discover" is more important than the ability to "create".

Radio Interview with Artists Helping Artists

At 1:00 PM EST on Thursday March 3,  I will be interviewed by Leslie Saeta and Dottie Leatherwood of the Blog Talk Radio "Artists Helping Artists". If you have some time on Thursday afternoon, please join us by clicking the link of "Artists Helping Artists". I will share my story and experience in art with you.

"Demo at Sedona 2016 2" --- Sold

This is the second demo I did on my Sedona workshop. The setup was typical, but I started to see something new: the game of warm/cool colors. I feel good about this one, but I can't articulate why at this moment. I think I need more time to digest what is going on. and practice a little more to make sure this effect is not accidental. Please be patient with me. I will show you.

"Demo at Sedona 2016 1"

I had a few days that I could not get decent internet connection, so I was not able to post my paintings up to date. After teaching at Scottsdale I went up to Sedona, AZ and did another 3-day workshop. This was my 1st demo. This time I kept the painting monochromatic such that I can emphasize the importance of the drawing and value. Many of my students (especially landscape artists) tend to go to color too quick and without enough awareness of the drawing and value. So this time I force my students doing monochrome on the first day. I feel it is a very good practice.

"Demo at Scottsdale Artists' School 2016 4" --- Sold

For the 4th demo, I asked everybody: "What do you want me to paint?" The silver is most people wanted. So I formed this composition.

Now the workshop at SAS is over. I will come back here again in the future. SAS is such a wonderful place to learn and teach.

"Demo at Scottsdale Artists' School 2016 3" --- Sold

The third demo. The rose demo. Mid key. Slow down. Concentrate.  Think more, and paint less. Hope you like it. Forgive my broken English.

"Demo at Scottsdale Artists' School 2016 2" --- Sold

My second demo is showing my approach to paint metal and glass. I like to use dark background and keep the edge of the metal object soft.

"Demo at Scottsdale Artist School 2016 1" --- Sold

This week, I wear my teacher hat again, and this is my first demo. I have seen some influence from what I have learned last week. I want to thank the Scottsdale Artist School for giving me this opportunity to teach here, Specially I want to thank all the artists for coming to paint with me. I really like the atmosphere of this art school. So many great artists teach here. I am so honored to be here.

"Xidi Doorway 6"

Now this is the last (No. 5) painting I did on Derek's workshop. I used my own ref. photo this time. You probably have seen my other Xidi doorway paintings before. They were more monochromatic. Now this one is colorful. Do you like it? I am not sure myself. The painting definitely not as rigid as before. I have enjoyed the freedom, which I did not have before. However, do you like the color? let me know please. Thanks.

"Derek's Trees"

This is my 4th painting on Derek Penix's workshop. It is the best one I did during his class I think. Trees are not my cup of coffee (or tea) for sure. I felt lucky I have run into a few happy accident during painting this one. I like the colors and the harmony. I am glad I did not use much of the green colors in painting the leaves.

"Derek's Boat"

I did this painting yesterday on Derek's workshop. I started to practice the Impressionistic way of using colors. Since boats have more has more rigid structure, I felt more comfortable than the day before. I have really hard times doing rocks and waves because they don't have a regular structure I can following. It is really a good thing that an artist knows his/her weak points. If you work on improving your weak points, you will progress quickly to reach the next level.

Workshops reminder

The winter is coming to the end. I am looking forward to the beautiful spring time and visiting beautiful places. It will be my first time to teach plein air painting in France and feel so excited about this trip. It will be a great experience. So far we still have a few openings. If you enjoy painting outdoors in France, There is opportunity for you. I will also go to beautiful Southern California in March. We also have a few openings. If you are interested in my teaching, please visit my workshop webpage. I am looking forward to painting together with you.

"My first seascape"

This is my very first seascape painting. I am not particularly like it, but here it is: a milestone for me.

"A yellow bird" --- Sold

Click Here to Purchase

I felt so great to be a student again. For quite a few years I have not taken any workshops from other artists. I was so busy teaching, and forgot that I have run out of juice. Although I am research and investigate art issue by myself, but that is not enough. Now I am at the Scottsdale Artist School taking a workshop from Derek Penix. I really like Derek's impressionistic approach of colors, and his delicious impasto brush textures. I am so happy learning from him. This is my very first bird painting.  It is not too bad. I start to feel something new.

"Anderson Mill Water Wheel" --- Sold

Click Here to Bid

I did this small plein air study a week ago. That day my wife Song went the Anderson Mill Garden Club for quilting. I went along but stayed outside and painted this one. The weather is so good in Austin this winter. I have been lucky and been able to paint so many plein air studies.

Plein Air Convention

I am so excited to be an official faculty member of the 2016 Plein Air Convention & Expo - #PACE16 in Tucson April 15-19. This is the World’s Largest Gathering of Plein Air Painters. Join us in Tucson for the time of your life and, if you register now, you’ll save $200 off of the regular convention price. To find out more about PACE, head on over to www.pleinairconvention.com – looking forward to see you in Tucson!

"Cypress Creek Park 5" --- Sold

Click Here to Bid

I have been painting at the same place again and again. I don't know why I am doing this exactly. It maybe because I don't feel enough control on handling the colors for plein air painting.  I see too much, but my hand can only do a very small portion of it. I hope I will progress and get to a higher level by keep going to this location again. You will see more to come.

"Cypress Creek Park 4" --- Sold

Click Here to Bid

Another plein air at the same park, but at a different location. The new limited palette works very well. The painting looks harmonious and colorful. I am happy to include pure (i.e. no man made structures) landscape painting into my portfolio.

"Cypress Creek Park 3" --- Sold

Click Here to Bid

I went to the same place again, and did my third plein air. I feel I really need to do several paintings at the same location. I am a little more comfortable now.