The day before yesterday, Hsin Yao and I went plein air painting. We went to this old house near where I live. I have painted this place many times. It was cloudy. Hsin Yao loved it. I like light and shadow. Cloudy day is challenge for me. I have learned a lot by watching him painting. I was amazed how much paint he used - at least 5 times of the amount I used. You can imagine how rich and thick his painting was. You can tell how confident a painter is by how much paint he/she put on palette. So quantitatively, Hsin Yao is 5 time more developed than I am.
Beautiful! I have read that one of the old masters laid out enough paint for five paintings even though he was only painting one.
ReplyDeleteQiang.. every artist understands the need to grow and learn. Although you are weary of your ‘style’ of low-key still life paintings, this type of painting is your signature style and people love it and recognize your work without having to look at the name on the bottom! When your work is recognizable and imitated….that is a great tribute to you as an artist. Very few accomplish this. Those artists who have not yet achieved your level look up to you, attend your workshops, and most importantly, buy your demo paintings. That is a good thing…it affirms your ability to teach (not every artist can do this) and it creates an income stream. Don’t abandon this low-key style of still life paintings until every fan has bought one of your demo pictures. As for growth… I can see it over the past few years of following your blog… I love your street scenes, pictures of buildings (in China and Austin) and the portraits and figurative pictures I have seen on your website. The growth is delightful, and perhaps your fans can see it better than you can. And don’t fret about the advanced skills of a younger artist. You have already had one career as an optical engineer, while he is still working on his first career as an artist. You are many rungs above him in life experience. Linda from Tucson
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