"Superstition Mountain, AZ"

I arrived at Scottsdale Yesterday morning. My friend Li picked me up, and then we did some sightseeing. The beauty of the desert stunned me. This is the Superstition Mountain. I am bewitched, couldn’t move and turned into a saguaro.

"Cantaloupe Glow"

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I did this gallery level painting over the weekend. Somehow recently, I really enjoy using the complete dark background. The glowing warm colors show my passion about life. As a matter of fact, my life lately is rather chaotic. I got disorientated with my multi-tasking business, and tried my best to manage all aspects to make sure nothing was falling apart. Oh boy! It is rather hard. But I am hanging in there. I like what Beethoven had said: “I will seize Fate by the throat. It will not wholly conquer me! Oh, how beautiful it is to live - and live a thousand times over!”

I will go to Scottsdale, AZ this Thursday, and attend this year’s OPA National.

"Demo at Las Cruces 2" --- Sold

It was so much fun doing this demo. You probably have seen many of my demo paintings now. I usually am conservative when I do demos. I want to make sure that I do not run into unexpected difficulties that not only make me struggle but also waist other people’s time. For this one I went out my comfort zone a little. I placed an old book in this one so I was able to show students how I measure and make the perspective correctly. I haven’t painted many old books before, so I hesitated a little. But it turned out good, and it surely was an enjoyment.

"House in Austin 2"

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I took this morning off, from both my art and engineering. It was a perfect morning for plein air, beautiful weather and no wind. but …… I didn’t paint. having been working my two professions for a long while; I did feel a little tired mentally. Coming back from my workshop trip, I went immediately to my lab and had a long day with lasers and lenses yesterday. So I want to do something else today. About four months ago, we bought 2 acres in the Texas hill country. It is about 20 minutes drive from our home. So I went to this country land this morning. Chainsaw in my hand, I worked my butt off cutting down old cedar trees. You know I am not in good shape. Not for too long, I was exhausted physically. Panting and sweating, I crashed by a small creek. Hearing the water gurgling down. Men! I felt sooooo good. The simplest life is the best. To make myself not feel too guilty for not painting, I post this plein air I did about a week ago. I was so busy, and didn't get chance to show it earlier.

"Demo at Las Cruces 1" --- Sold

I came back from New Mexico last night. I had another successful workshop. Mrs. Julie Oliver did a great job of putting this workshop together. I would like to thank her and all the workshop attendees. I had a wonderful time in Las Cruces. I enjoy the mountains and openness of the south New Mexico. I am really lucky that the workshop I taught gave me opportunity of traveling to many new places. I spent some time in the White Sand before capturing my flight back at El Paso. The beauty of the desert has blown me away.

"Apple Blossom" --- Sold

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We have an apple tree in the back yard. It hasn’t given us any apples yet, but recently it has beautiful blossoms and new leaves. I did this painting a couple of days ago. I was practicing doing leaves. You have seen many of my flower paintings. I did not emphasize the leaves much if the center is the flower. However for this one, I gave more time to the leaves.
I am going to Las Cruces, NM tomorrow to teach a workshop.

"Let Me In"

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After several plein air landscapes, I want to go back to still life. I also want to paint something I haven’t painted before. Kiwis are new to me. The translucent dark green is so enticing. I just love it.

"House in Austin 1" --- Sold

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It was cloudy Sunday afternoon. I did this plein air near the Lake Travis, close to a very affluent neighborhood. After painting several plein air paintings, I realize that my plein air is completely the opposite my still life. My still lifes are low-key, with very wide value range, with high chroma colors, and very bright light in the focal point. Well, my plein airs are high key, narrow value range, with subtle grays, and dark accent at the center of focus. I have tried using my still life approaches to do plein air, but they did not work well. I don’t understand why. It does not make sense.

"My Neighborhood" --- Sold

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To you plein air painters, where do you go to paint? Do you travel to exotic places and paint special historic sites with spectacular natural beauty? I do. I did this painting yesterday morning. I had about 2 hours daytime before I sent my car to have its brakes replaced; then I went to work. I traveled 50 yards from my house. All houses here will have special history in the future. The ordinary sidewalk made a spectacular turn. If you are checking my image from other countries, this is a quite exotic American neighborhood.