Saturday, August 30, 2014

"Demo at Springfield 2" --- Sold

This is the second demo painting. I enjoy specifically painting the brass goblet. Every place I go, I always found some interesting objects I never painted before. There is excitement and risk.

Thursday, August 28, 2014

"Demo at Springfield 1" --- Sold

I don't know why so many cities in America are called Springfield, but I have arrived at THE Springfield of America. If you watch the "Simpsons" on TV (I think all the Americans do), you will know where I am now. Springfield Oregon is the home of the Simpsons. I am so glad I am here and teaching a workshop. I want to thank the Emerald Art Center for organizing this workshop for me. I want to thank all the artists who attend my workshop. This is my first demo painting.

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Daily Painters Re-Union

I have arrived at Eugene Oregon yesterday. I am so happy visiting Carol and David Marine at their lovely home. To most of the friends who read my blog, this lovely couple shouldn't be strangers. As a matter of fact they are quite famous in the daily painting world. Carol is one of the most well-known  daily painters. She is very successful as an artist and teacher. Recalling seven year ago, Carol introduced me into daily painting, which marks as my starting point of my art career. David is the founder of the reputable online platform: Daily Paintworks. Now this website has been serving the daily painters' community as the most effective marketing and learning tools. Time goes by so fast, and big changes have happened in our lives. I am so happy to see Carol and David are doing well. They have set up they legendary role models for us daily painters.

Monday, August 25, 2014

"Demo at Cloudcroft 3" --- Sold

This is the third demo, high key with flowers. I am keeping explore my high key approaches, and hope eventually I will get more control on it.

I have to admit that this workshop was one of the difficult ones. All the outside conditions were excellent. I had a group wonderful artists, and logistics were good. The issues were within me. Due to my busy schedule, I feel my physical and mental well being are out of balance. During the workshop I felt very tired with a strong headache. I coped with my issues with my meditation practice, but I felt I need more strength to face more challenges. I might have started to feel "burnt out". I am very grateful that one of the artists in the class, Carman, who helps me to straighten up my diet and get more energy back. We are human. We need to have the skills to take care of ourselves. I will do, and you do too.

Sunday, August 24, 2014

"Demo at Cloudcroft 2" --- Sold

This is the 2nd demo. I like the fresh pamagranit (spelling? I am amazed the blogger spelling checker is not capable to correct this simple spelling error for me. I am even more amazed that my English is still so inadequate to write a simply blog post like this.), and the silver incense burner. I converted the cup holding the flowers from a coffee mug. That was an interesting process.


Thursday, August 21, 2014

"Demo at Cloudcroft 1" --- Sold

I am 9000 ft above sea level. This is my first demo at Cloudcroft, New Mexico. I want to thank Cloudcroft Artist Workshops for organizing my workshop. Thanks to all artists for coming and painting with me.

As a reminder, I will go to Springfield, Oregon to teach another workshop after Cloudcroft. We still have several openings. If you are interested in attending, Please contact Emerald Art Center for information.

Thursday, August 14, 2014

“Purple and Green" --- Sold

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I did this demo on my Austin mentor class. Purple and Green are too super important colors for painting. I am doing a significant amount of research on them.

I have been enjoying my longest stay at home. I did a few serious paintings, and progressed quite a bit in understanding and exploration. It looks this period of quiet time comes to the end pretty soon. Next week I will start another phase of my workshop teaching.

Sunday, August 10, 2014

"Sugar Bowl and Charcoal Thingy"

I did another gallery level still life painting. I am happy I have been able to finish this one in two days. This is my usual low key approach, and the composition is also kind of standard. In other words, I am back to my comfort zone. I like the brass object. I have painted it many times, but is the first time I painted it from this angle. I know it is used for doing something with charcoal, but I have forgot what it is called.  It was a quite enjoyment of painting the detail on it, the porcelain handle, the rivets, and so on. The most difficult part of this project is still the leaves.

Thursday, August 7, 2014

"Three Quarters of an Orange"

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This is a demo to my mentoring class. It is a difficult color scheme, but it is a good experiment. I am curious about what kind of psychological effect of viewing a large area of alizarin crimson. Somehow I feel dark purple in painting is always difficult, but I tried anyway. If you don't try, you will never know.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

"Vase and Bamboo"


Recently, I reviewed my still life paintings. I found that most of my work were either small daily studies or demos on my workshops. I have not done enough larger and more serious paintings. I also noticed that I painted either very quick, finish a painting in a few hours, or I have to do one in 4 or 5 days. Now I start to realize that doing serious gallery level paintings is totally different ball game than doing quick studies. In other words, doing small daily paintings does not help much to the larger and serious paintings. That is why I have to spend quite a few days to finish a larger painting, because I don't have enough skill and knowledge for doing large paintings. I will exhaust all I know about painting in a few hours, then I have to do a lot of research after that, so it automatically prolong significantly the painting process. My today's painting took me 4 days. It will be sent the InSight Gallery for the Fall Show. Perhaps this is my very first serious high key still life painting.

Saturday, August 2, 2014

"The Blue Vase" --- Sold

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This blue vase, well it should be called the vase with blue to be more accurate, has found me in an antique store on Amelia Island, FL. I immediately know it will be in many of my paintings in the future. So this is the first one.

After painting cityscape and seascape for several days, I felt I start to lose control. I want to back off a little. So today I returned to still life. I want to practice more on my high key approach so I can feel more comfortable with it.