My Provence France Workshop in 2016

Happy Holidays to all my art friends. I want to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Meanwhile I would like to announce one of my new adventures in 2016: I will teach a plein air workshop in Provence, France on April 29 to May 6. Please check my Provence Workshop webpage for information and signing up.  We will stay in a beautiful mansion near the Roman Arena in Arles and paint there and around the area. There is video on the page showing you some of the places we will visit. This is my first workshop in Europe, and looking forward to meeting new friends, and re-uniting with old friends in such a wonderful place. Je vous remercie.

"Demo at Ada 2015 4" --- Sold

The last demo I did on the workshop is different. I told the class that they would set up the still life for me, and I would take the challenge to paint the setup. Suddenly, my shadow box has piled up all kinds of things. I was so overwhelmed. This is what I have. The reason I am doing this is that I will automatically go out of my comfort zone, and also hope I may step onto something new that I can develop in the future for my personal growth.

"Demo at Ada 2015 3" --- Sold

The third demo is about flowers. You know sometime when I paint, I have this odd feeling. We use all of those pretty bad stuff, such as cadmium and lead, to create those sweet and charming illusions like apples and roses. Is that symbolic? It so weird.

"Demo at Ada 2015 2" --- Sold

This is my second demo at Ada. It is rather mechanical and engineering looking. That was my intention as a matter of fact. On my workshops, we use more left brain. I establish quite a few very rigid rules. I think artists do have left brains. Why not using it? a good art should show balance.

"Demo at Ada 2015 1" --- Sold

Left Dallas, I drove another 3 hours and arrived at Ada, Oklahoma. Yesterday I have started my last workshop of the year (No. 22) at the East Central University. Thanks to all artist friends for coming. It was so wonderful meeting new friends and re-uniting with old friends. This is my first demonstration. I guess I should feel OK now if a painting has achieved good quality, even my composition and style is predictable. I believe my art will be getting better for sure if I keep on going.

"Demo in Dallas 2015 3"

I want to thank all the friends who commented on my yesterday's post. You encourage me to keep on going on my art journey. Today's painting is my third demo on my Dallas workshop. I challenged myself by putting quite a few unfamiliar objects on the setup. With limited time to plan and paint this one, the final painting is not what I expected. Anyway it was a good try, and the students have enjoyed seeing me go through the process in front of their eyes.

“Demo in Dallas 2015 2" --- Sold

This is my second demo. It is a rather good one. The roses are beautiful and the metals are vivid. However, I don't really feel satisfied with what I am doing nowadays. I saw so many artists, even some good ones, who keep on painting the same thing, again and again. You hardly can distinguish what have been done ten years ago to the work of yesterday. I keep telling myself, I don't want to be that kind of artist. I want to grow and progress noticeably. Well now, I am really humbled, because I find myself is exactly that kind. Why don't I paint some other flowers rather than roses, or use some new compositions? I don't have a good answer to this question.  I must admit my limitations. I don't want complain about life, about distractions, and giving excuses. The only thing I can do is keep trying.

"Demo in Dallas 2015 1"

I am on the road again. This time is in Dallas, not too far from home. I want to thank Associated Creative Artists for organizing this workshop and thanks to all the Texas and Oklahoma artists for attending. This is my first demo. Sorry the photo is not that good.

“Spatial Melody"

I have been composing a piece of visual music on this canvas. So I name this painting "Spatial Melody". You might be curious what are those tinker thingies and why they are hanging there. I did not arrange this set of still lives myself. I painted this from a photo I took in September when I visited a cloisonné factory in Beijing. The workers hang their parts on the the wall semi randomly. They form beautiful patterns naturally without too much human intentions. I snapped a few images and know I will paint them some day. To be honest with you, I am not a very creative person. I tend to "discover" things rather than "inventing".  In other words, I consider the world is all ready perfect. There is no need to create "better" stuff. We only need to do is to remove our ignorance and see better.

I plan to send this piece to 2016 OPA. Please wish me luck.

" A Rainy Day in Chicago"

I feel happy about what I did today. I have been doing research on monochromatic painting for a while. The advantage of monochrome is automatic color harmony. I don't need to worry that color gets muddy. So I can concentrate on value design and texture design. You have seen a small version of this painting earlier.  This one is 18" x 24".

How to market my large paintings is a good question. I did show my large work in galleries, even very good galleries. However, the result was not very good. So I kind of giving up on selling my large paintings at this moment. If you are interested in collecting my large paintings, please send me an email. We can work out a deal.