"Red Barn in Lancaster PA"

Click Here to Get Purchase Info

This one I did from a ref photo taken at Lancaster Pennsylvania in spring. Although I paint this one from a photo, but I kept my approach similar to plein air. I know I still have a quite journey before I can reach the quality I want for my landscapes, but if I keep on doing this kind of small studies. I will be closer to my goal gradually.

I will teach at Cape Cod

From August 24 to 26 I will go to Cape Cod in Massachusetts and teach a 3-day workshop at Falmouth Artists Guild. Different from most of my oil painting workshops, I will concentrate on landscape painting specifically on this one. It will be a perfect time to paint out doors in New England at this time of the year. We still have a few openings. If you are interested in my painting process, please check the workshop description at Falmouth Artists Guild Website and sign up. Thanks.

"Plein Air at Driftwood"

Click Here for purchase info

I went to plein air painting last Saturday with a group of Austin artists. The day was hot, but I picked up a shaded spot. So it wasn't too bad. The building in the painting is an old Texaco gas station. I didn't think it was open. However the traffic on the road was quite busy. There is well known Texas BBQ restaurant nearby. Most of the people must be going there.

"Louisiana Bayou Country" --- Sold

This is my 4th demo on my Black Mountain workshop. The reference photo was taken at Houma Louisiana. It was early spring, I used a large amount of grey and brown to depict the humidity in the atmosphere.

"Demo at Black Mountain 2016 3" --- Sold

This is the third demo, high key with roses. I used to think that high key is not the way I want to go, because it can not present the dramatic light effect like a low key one can do with a strong value contrast. Now gradually, my high key paintings have reached a certain degree of maturity. I feel the abstractness and color temperature control have to do a lot to make a high key painting successful. I am getting there.

"Demo at Black Mountain 2016 2" --- Sold

I painted my second demo a little tighter than my first one. I like the classical look. There is not much of color in this one, but the realistic prevention described the delicate craftsmanship of the clock and the brass candle holder. It makes the painting an elegant look.

"Demo at Black Mountain 2016 1" --- Sold

My workshop at Black Mountain, NC started yesterday. I want to thank Sheryl Keefer for organizing and all the artists from Alabama, Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina for attending. This is my first demo. Somehow I moved more and more into the abstract direction.  Look at how many edges I have destroyed in this painting.  If you see I am going too far, please tell me. I am counting on you to check my sanity.

"Demo in Atlanta 2016 3" --- Sold

I need to come out of the darkness. So my third demo was a high key one. I just love that Japanese lantern. I got this one really abstract. I have enjoyed the feeling of all kinds of textures.

After my Atlanta workshop, I drove northeast into the Great Smoky Mountains. I have arrived at Black Mountain, North Carolina.

"Demo in Atlant 2016 2" --- Sold

Wow! it is so dark. I don't know why I like low key painting that much. It must reflecting my subconscious insecurity. The world is a tricky and mysterious place. I am holding a small candle to explore my way. I can see only a short distance in front. The vast and deep darkness challenges me. What should I do? Well, we have no choice. Let's keep on going.

"Demo in Atlanta 2016 1" --- Sold

After some down time, I resume teaching workshops again. This one is my first demonstration painting at The Art School in Sandy Springs. I want to thank Laura Shainker and Donna Thomas for putting this workshop together, and thanks to all artists from Georgia, Alabama, and Texas for attending my workshop. I have introduced my 5 steps painting procedure in the first day.

"Rock Piles in Sedona"

I completely ignored the composition of this painting. It would make a better painting if I would of introducing more layers and showing more areal perspective. All of that was not my intention of this work. I forced myself NOT to paint intuitively, NOT following my "feelings". However I concentrate on this "research" to develop a system. My intention is still on "how to paint a pile of things", which is texture development. There are two treatments when we approach to the paintings elements: depicting and suggesting. For still lives, figures, and portraits, we depict more. However for landscapes we suggest more. Developing a suggesting technique is what I want to know.

"Rock Piles in Yellow Mountain"

Click Here for Purchase Info

This is my second painting in my "A pile of things" series. The scene is the Yellow Mountain in Anhui China. It has a pile of rocks and a pile of trees. I felt slightly better than my previous painting. The rock pile seems more solid and tree piles start to show more believable structures. My objective in the current project is the texture presentation. I am glad I can see tree trunks in the painting. There still has quite amount of ambiguity in my tree mass, but I have progressed.

"Rock Piles in the Canyon"

Click Here for Purchase Info

I have started a new project called "how to paint a pile of things". I know how to paint individual things well. So  still lives, buildings, figures, and portraits are relatively easy to me. However, it is hard for me to paint landscapes.  I feel it is very un-natural for me. I really don't have the intuition of landscape painting. Well my right brain is dead now. I have no choice but use my left brain. I analyzed, and find the problem is that I don't know how to paint "a pile of things". If I have to paint a tree, I feel I must render all leaves one-by-one. I need to develop a process of dealing with objects in a large quantity. That is motivation of doing this research. This is my first experiment. I don't rely on the mercy of happy accidents. I want to know why and how like a scientist.

"Silver Reflections" --- Sold

This is a commissioned still life painting. Very often I received emails from friends asking the price of a specific painting. And very often, I have to reply: I am sorry. The painting you are interested in has been sold. Now I have a new service for you - I take painting commissions. If you like a sold painting of mine, I can do another one using the similar composition. It will not be exactly the same as the previous one. Well it could be better because I am learning new stuff everyday.

"Morning Laundry"

Click Here for Purchase Information

I did this painting from a photo Song took during our last year's China trip. In the first morning we stayed at the Xidi Village, I saw a group of ladies doing their laundry at a small pond. The scene was spectacular. It was incredibly beautiful. I like the good old days. The life was more painterly then what we have now. Some day I might paint people with smart phones.

The China trip we have planned for this year did not make it. What a pity! We have postponed the same arrangement to 2017. Now we have much more time to think about it. If you are interested in join us in 2017, please contact Song to be on the list.

"Future Star"

Click Here for Purchase Information

Keep on going. Paint more figures. This one is my number 9 for this series. I have established my procedure. I am able to get a decent figure with adequate accuracy on proportion, anatomy, and perspective. I feel this is the first step, which is the study stage. Next, I will concentrate on the design to make the image more dynamic or dramatic.

Come and paint with me in July

June is my studying month. You have seen I am working on my Impressionistic figurative paintings. I have been taking notes, documenting my trials and errors, summarizing my learning, and figuring out methods and procedures. Soon, I will involve my new knowledges in my workshop teaching and share them with all my students.

Next month, I will teach 2 workshops. The first one will be at the Art School in Sandy Springs in Atlanta. It is full with a waiting list. And then the second one will be at Swannanoa Valley Fine Art League in Black Mountain, NC. We still have 3 openings. If you are interested in my teaching, please contact Cheryl Keefer for information and signing up. I am looking forward to paint with you.

"Young Artist 3" --- Sold

Click Here to Get Purchase Information

My today's painting comes out smoothly. I have tried to keep the figure as loose as possible by avoiding unnecessary details. Painting children is rather pleasant. This young artist was observing what was happening right in front of him. He will be good at Plein Air very soon.

"Drummer 3"

Click Here to Get Purchase Info

I have followed the momentum of painting Impressionistic figures. This one is slightly easier than my previous one. I started to develop a procedure of this kind of work. It is rather different from my still life painting. When this procedure gets mature enough, I will share with you.

"Poetic Colors"

Today, with my limited time, I did this abstract study. I started this one as a still life (you probably still can see it), but somehow I want to push it into a pure abstract direction. I have played with designs of geometry, color, value, and texture.  To many representational, especially realistic painters,  Going abstract is not easy. We are too used to following the visual world outside, but we don't know how to follow our internal world. Learning how to observe our subjective mind objectively will be very helpful to our art. There is freedom there, but we need to learn how to use it.

"Drummer 2"

10" x 8", oil on board, framed, $850 + shipping

Click here to purchase

I have spent more than a day on this painting. Boy! painting figure is hard. Especially the face and hands. They got to be absolutely correct. Artist's license will not work. This is my second drummer painting. When I posted my previous one, many friends did not know what the figure was doing. This one should be self-explanatory.

"Ring Man"

8" x 6", oil on board, framed, $750

Please contact Qiang to purchase

I have gained more momentum in figurative painting. I did another one today. For figurative work, I feel it is rather difficult to compose. Different from a still life, in which I can easily move the objects, figure is difficult to move because there is too much involved. In addition, I have a hard time to maintain the size of the figure. It changes a lot when I try to get the proportion correct. To solve the problem, I have stopped using pre-sized panels and canvases. I tape a piece of loose canvas on a board, and figure out my composition by cropping the canvas after the painting is finished.

"Drummer 1"

8" x 10", oil on board, framed, $850 plus shipping

Please contact Qiang to purchase this painting

The last Saturday in every April in Austin, you can find a hippy festival call the Eeyore's Birthday Celebration. People dress up and play drums all day long. This event is a wonderful photo opportunity. I took tons of photos. I know some of them will be great references for my figurative work. Today is a good day. Now I have more feeling about the Impressionistic color application. Painting figures is much harder than painting still lives. The proportion, anatomy, and perspective need to absolutely correct. Otherwise a three year old can tell you what is wrong with it.

"Blue Bucket"

6" x 8", oil on canvas, framed, $300 + shipping
Contact Qiang to purchase.

Sorry I have not been active in painting lately. I have run into some personal trouble, and have to deal with it alone. My mood now will be reflected by the Imagine Dragons's song "Demons".

This is a beautiful painting. However, the beauty is hypocritical. Only the blue is the truth.

"Mountain Labor"

Click Here for Purchasing Info

Last September, a group of artists and I arrived at the top of the Yellow Mountain (China) by cable car. However I have found that the most of supplies for hotels on the top of mountain was carried up manually. The work is very hard. I feel sorry, but that is their way of make a living. I took quite few photos. The painting was done based one of them.

It was a few days struggle to do this painting (no comparison to the person who carried a giant oxygen tank climbing who knows how many steps). Somehow I feel this is my self portrait as well, carrying a heavy load on my journey going up. There is no way back, and there is still a long way to go. Even I don't know if I can make it.

Tomorrow will be the deadline for my 2016 China trip. We still need a few more people to make this trip a "Go". I hope some of you can join us. I am very sure it will be a wonderful trip.

"Young Artist 2"

Click Here for Purchase Info

I did a painting called "A Young Artist" many years ago. That boy must be a handsome young man now. Almost at the same location, I shot another photo a couple of weeks ago. Now this artist is doing almost exactly the same thing, innocent with the same concentration. Is the time really exist? I doubt it. If we don't individualize, We have already lived in the Eternity.

"Red Hair"

Click Here for Purchasing Info

Painting figures is really my dream. When I started painting, I immediately went into figurative. Very soon I have realized how difficult it could be. So I took a detour and went into still life painting to strengthen my foundations. You have seen I only occasionally paint head studies and figure practices. So fast, more than a decade has passed. Now I come back to my try love.

"New Video about China Trip"

I have made another video about our China painting trip last year. This one is about Xidi and Hongcun, the villages we stayed and painted last time. I am looking forward to having another wonderful China trip coming up this September. Time goes by so fast, I want to remind you that the deadline for signing up is May 31. If you are interested in visiting China and do plein air painting there with me, Please visit my China Painting Trip 2016 webpage as soon as possible. The trip is well organized and reasonably priced. You may contact artists who attended previous trips for reference. Please email me, and I will provide the contact information.  To some people this trip can be the one of the life time. Please take action now before it is too late.

Invited Artists' Workshops

Besides I am teaching workshops intensively around the world, I also invited accomplished artists come to Austin. In the near future Hai-Ou Hou and Derek Penix will come and share their artistic expertise. If you are in or near Austin Texas, Please check my invited Artists' Workshops page and sign up.

I believe many of you have participated or plan to attend various plein-air events. Painting quickly and manage the essence of scene is the key for being successful. Hai-Ou's workshop will help you to accelerate your painting speed and keep the paint quality loose and dynamic. If you participate quick-draw or any plein air activities, Her technique will be directly beneficial.

You know I just came back from this year's OPA National Show. Do you know who has won the Best of the show ($30,000)? Yes he is Derek Penix. I am so happy that Derek will come to Austin to teach. He has very special way to manipulate colors and texture to give his painting a bold and energetic expression. He will share his approaches of alternating warm and cool and complementary colors to create a very Impressionistic painting.

I feel I have a mission of bringing high quality art education programs to the central Texas area. I hope you can benefit from those programs and bring your art to a higher level.

"Demo for OPA National 2016" --- Sold

I did this still life demonstration for the Oil Painters of America 2016 at Dallas. It is a major milestone for my art career. I am so honored to show my art at this highly prestigious art community. Many my audiences are my teachers. I am glad I did OK.