Saturday, December 29, 2007

"Green Center"


I have received comments kindly suggested that I should vary my subject matter and composition. I agree absolutely, and I will try my best to improve. I step out my comfort zone a little with this one. Using green for the center of focus is new for me. I am not 100% happy with this one. It does not match the image in my mind. I may paint another one similar to see if it will get better.
We are approaching to the end of the year. This painting is highly possible to be my final painting for 2007. I really enjoyed this year. I have achieved more than I thought I could, even with a shoestring budget of time. I hope you have had a wonderful year too. Happy New Year to all of you!!!

Thursday, December 27, 2007

"Texas December" --- Sold

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This is another morning painting. It is so good I can paint when I am fresh and energetic. You can see I still practise using vignetted background. This abstract-vs-realistic contrast gives more dynamic range.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

"Old Tech" --- Sold

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I painted this one this morning. I can't believe I did this painting at a morning of a working day. After Christmas, there are not many people in the company. So I decided taking a half day off and painting. It feels odd not doing my engineering work at the time, so I put this old camera into my setup to give some sort of "technical" background. This painting is a kind of my self-portrait: an engineer with a passion for art.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

"To Your Health"

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Cheers! To your heath! I wish all of you to have a wonderful holiday season. Actually I did not do this painting today (or last night). Because I did not finish the painting yesterday, so I post this relatively old one. I hope you like it.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

"Rose Concerto 2" --- Sold


This is a commissioned piece for a Cello player. I am still work on my photo skills. There is too much glare on the image.
I have received many emails asking about my "Pears in Light" painting, and I might have disappointed many of you by giving an unexpected quote. Not long ago, A gallery owner had a long talk with me. He likes my work and has an intention to show my paintings in his gallery, but my price range on eBay is just too low to be compatible with the gallery prices. Well, it is a tough call. I like to see my paintings showing galleries and get sold there. At mean time, I also like what I am doing now on-line. I have thought about this issue for a long time. Finally I decided that I will show my relative large (9x12 and above) paintings in galleries with prices making sense to them. At mean time, I still handle smaller paintings on-line myself, and the prices are much more affordable. I also have seen many times that my small paintings reselling in galleries with price tags multiple times larger than my eBay prices. I don't have any problems with that. Thank you for creating a win-win situation. I am happy to see my paintings become collectible, and I also keep creating paintings affordable to everybody. I sincerely hope and appreciate if you can give me your tips on running an art business.

Friday, December 14, 2007

"Winter Rose" --- Sold

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This winter in Texas is rather mild. The roses in the yard are still blooming, but they slow down the process quite a bit. This one kept as a beautiful bud for four days. I think it was waiting for me to paint it. Well, I have painted a few roses now, but every one of them was quite a challenge. I think my understanding is still inadequate. There is so much I don't know. Learning is endless.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

"Pears in Light 2" --- Sold

I have received at least 3 messages saying that I have been tagged. Well, I guess I must expose some my secrets to be off the hook.
1. I won my first art award when I was in a daycare: 5 color pencils.
2. I started my first grade education when I was 9.
3. I decided to enter a college far away from home because I could travel by train.
4. I got my first ticket before I got my driver's license.
5. The top secret to be a good still-life painter is being a vegetarian. If you don't believe me, please contact David Leffel, Sherrie McGraw, and Gregg Kreutz.

In today's painting, I worked on the distribution of the light. I did a small one with similar composition before, but decided to do another one a little larger. I have not decided what I am going to do with this painting. I may submit it to a show, but if you like to have it, please email me: qhart002@yahoo.com for a quote.

Sunday, December 9, 2007

"Two Apples" --- Sold

I have got a new gallery representing last week. The Riverband Fine Art Gallery will start showing my paintings at Marble Falls, TX. This painting will be my first one showing there.

Friday, December 7, 2007

"Persimmons" --- Sold

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I really enjoyed your comments on my previous painting. To answer your question, it took me about 1 hour to paint it, but another hour to set it up. I spend more and more time to setup something interesting now. I am pretty convinced that using cool colors like blue for the focus center is hard to do. We get excited much easier when seeing warm color colors like yellow and orange. That is why the yellow vase is competing with the blue ornament for being the center.

For this painting, I am experimenting using more brush work for the background. I think it is called "vignetting". I used it a lot for portraits. It creates a contrast of realism vs. abstractness. I think it enhances the dynamic range of the painting? Don't you agree?

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

"Blue Ornament"

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I usually use warm colors for the center of focus, but not this one. Does it work for you?

Monday, December 3, 2007

"Holiday Time" --- Sold

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December is a colorful month. I am excited and put many colors on this painting. I wish all of you a happy holiday time. At this happy time, I want let you know that a new website on daily painting has started showing wonderful art on-line. Please check: http://www.dailypaintworks.com/. I am so happy to one of the artists in this site.

Saturday, December 1, 2007

"Silence" --- Sold


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This painting has almost no color. I was concentrating on the value and edges. It gives a meditative feeling. When the mind is quieted down, the subtleness of the world will reveal.