"Venice Impression (in process)"

Sometime, letting what in your mind out can motivate you in a positive direction. After my last blog post, I have received so much encouragement from many friends on the Internet. Like a dead car battery connected to a powerful engine, I was jump started and running again. Thank you sincerely from the bottom of my heart. I am so happy that I have so many friends supporting me. Now this is the 36x36 painting I was talking about in my last post. It is from a photo I took in Italy in May. I have worked on it a few hours today. It is not done yet, but it is at a lovely abstract color stage. 

"Demo at Gainesville 2017 2"

I hope all of you have had a great Christmas. Life moves on and now the New Year is coming. During this holiday break, I did not paint. Somehow I have had a guilty feeling. I must be honest with you. For a long time I have been suffering a terrible burnt out. Earlier this month, I started a 36x36 . The painting just had a rough block in. I have tried many times to pick up a brush to continue, but I just can't. I don't know what exactly prevents me to paint. Maybe the lack of inspiration is the reason. If I don't feel I want to do it, I am afraid that the painting will turn out badly. I kept myself busy with other things. My recent acquired camper is a can of worms, It forced me spending a lot of money in Amazon. I did so many projects on this old toy, and it seems more and more to come. What should I do? Am I still a painter, or not?

“Demo at Gainesville GA 2017 1" --- Sold

It has been a while I have not posted any still life paintings. However the fact is that I have taught 3 still life workshops after I came back from Sedona. I am so behind in posting. Well, this one was done on my workshop at Gainesville Georgia in November.

Now I have finished all my planned art activities in 2017. I am long for a break. I will have a relatively quiet holiday season this year. Pardon me, I will put art aside for a few days. This a couple of days, I have been modifying the electric system of my recently acquired camper trailer. I was surprised that I still can use Ohm's law and upgraded my system without spending a fortune.

"Demo at Sedona 2017 3"

Demo 3 on Sedona workshop was at a state park north east of the town. There are a few nice looking old buildings. I have forgotten what they were used for. Vaguely in my mind, they did something with apples. Anyway, no matter what, they were fascinating to paint.

"Demo at Sedona 2017 2" --- Sold

After the Plein Air Festival in Sedona in October, I taught a three day plein air painting workshop. This is the second demo I did. This year is really my landscape year. I have done much more plein air paintings than I have ever done. However, I just start to realize how immature I am as a landscape painter. A long learning curve is right in front of me.

"My 2018 Art Calendar"

I know I am a little late this year, but I made it now. Here is my 2018 Art Calendars. I have made two formats: wall and desk. If you are interested in ordering my 2018 calendar, please visit my website and click "Store" tab or click on "2018 Art Calendar" banner on my blog and my painting email newsletter.  Happy New Year in advance.

"Demo at Florence TX 2017 3"

This is demo 3 at my Florence workshop. Painting an old tractor was a lot of fun. I used this machine to teach perspectives. I like mechanical things. As a matter of facts, these a few days, my mind was not in painting. I bought an old camp trailer, so all my mind was all mechanical. I want to put the trailer on a off-grid land. Of course, it has opened a can of worms.

"Demo at Florence TX 2017 2"

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This is my 2nd demo on my Florence TX workshop. I have enjoyed very much painting the water lily pads.

"Demo at Florence TX 2017 1"

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Three days after I came back from China, I started teaching a plein air workshop at Florence TX. It was a raining day. Water fell on my painting formed perfect pearl like beads. I was heavily jet-lagged,  mesmerized in the cool mist. But I like what I did that day. I want to thank Kirk Witmer and his wife for organizing this workshop and thanks to all the artists for coming and painting with me.

"Demo at Hinckley 2017 3"

My Hinckley workshop was arranged uniquely. First day still life, second day landscape, and third day portrait. This is my portrait demo. These a few years, I have not concentrated on developing my portrait skills. However, painting human is my true love. I hope someday I can have time working on anatomy systematically. I am confident I can be a good figurative painter, but I much across my own learning curve.

"Demo at Hinckley 2017 2"

I am behind in posting my workshop demos. So I need some time to catching up. Before I went to China in September, I taught a workshop at Hinkley OH. I have posted my first demo in August. This one was my 2nd demo on that workshop. I did this one from a photo I took at Easton. You might have remembered my plein air piece at this location. It was done almost all with a palette knife.

Jove Wang will come to Austin in June 2018

My dear artist friends,

I am very excited to announce that the well know artist Jove Wang will come to Austin next year. He will teach a 5-day portrait painting workshop on June 5 - 9, 2018. Jove and I met two years ago in Tucson. I saw his portrait demonstration on the Plein Air Convention. I really like his impressionistic style and his confident calligraphic brush work. Jove teaches intensively at his studio in California. It is a rare opportunity to learn from him is Texas. Please check Jove Wang workshop in Austin for detailed information, and sign up.

"Palms in Ponte Vedra" --- Sold

After came back from Sedona, I have spent 5 painting sessions on this commissioned work. It is a 24"x24" from a photo I took in January at Ponte Vedra Beach FL. I am trying to paint more relatively large paintings. Recall a few years ago when I just started, I did so many 6"x6"s and 5"x7"s. It has taken me a few years to grow bigger.

"Uptown Sedona"

This painting was my last one on the Sedona Plein Air Festival. Instead of painting red rocks, I painted a group of yellow umbrellas. Sedona Plein Air was my 2nd time participating plein air painting festivals. I sold 3 paintings, and got two awards. I felt very satisfied. Most important, I have met quite a few wonderful plein air artists.

Painting in Paris with me in May 2018

I am super happy to announce that I will teach a painting workshop in Paris next May. It will be a new milestone to achieve. You may have seen that I did so many landscape paintings this year. Within the landscape genre, my true love is cityscape. So I am so looking forward to this trip. If you like to paint building as well, please travel with me. We will have a wonderful painting trip together. For detailed information, Please check: http://www.1worldarttravel.com/paris-with-qiang-huang.html.

"Rachel's Knoll under the afternoon sun" --- Sold

It was a windy day. We were painting at the Seven Canyons in Sedona. I painted at a location call "Rachel's Knoll". I did my under painting wash with a very large brush. When I mass in my colors, I really like the transparency at foreground and did not want to disturb it. I touched a few small trees in the near field on the two huge transparent brush strokes, and left the painting alone. Very often, doing less is much better than doing more.

"L'Auberge by the water"

This plein air was done at the same location I did my previous water painting. I felt a little more confident I can paint this kind of landscape now. The painting is 9" x 12". It is another good exercise for me to practice painting rocks, tree and water. To appreciate my hosting family, Larry and Marcia Swearinggen for their hospitality and generosity, I give the painting to them as a gift.

“Court House Rock"

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This painting was done near my hosting family's house.  I went there around 6:30 AM to catch the morning light. However after I massed in the main colors, the light has changed so much. I went back the second day at the same time, and put on finish touches.  I think it is a good way to do 2-session plein air if you want to capture the dramatic light in the early morning.

I have returned to Austin now.  I have a few workshop reminders I want to get your attention. From Nov 2 to 5, well known artist, Nancy Tankersley will teaching a "Painting figure from photo" workshop at Austin. From Nov 9 to 11,  I will teach a still life painting workshop at Gainesville, GA. Both those workshops still have a few openings. If you are interested in these workshops, please click the above links to sign up. Thank you.

"By the water" --- Sold

I am at the Phoenix Airport now. Finally, I have found both wi-fi and some time. Now I am able to show you some paintings I did on the Sedona Plein Air Festival. I did this 12"x 16" on the side of a creek near a resort. I don't know how to pronouns its name just remembered it started with letter "L". Anyway that is not important. The important thing is that it was my first time painting water castcating plein air. When I got there, my mind was completely blank. But I still remembered the water is light, the rocks have some very dark shadows, and far ground trees and light surface of the rocks have mid value. I followed my value design and did this one.

"Cathedral Rock"

This is another plein air piece at Sedona. It takes a few days for me to adapt the color here. I use to use a lot of grey, but at Sedona, the red rocks have forced me to use a lot of orange and red. I have been hesitating to do so. Well, I am learning. I have not done enough to establish a style for plein air yet.

"Good Morning Sedona"

I have arrived at Sedona AZ two days ago. I am so happy coming back to the Red Rock country and participating the Plein Air Festival. I got up really early to catch the morning light. I like how this one turn out.

After the PAF, I will stay here for a few more days and teach a plein air workshop. So far we still have a few openings. If you are interested in painting the beautiful Sedona with me, please check: http://sedonaartscenter.com/School/Faculty/qianghuang.html and sign up. Thanks.

"Demo at Lijiang 2017"

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After left Shaxi, we have moved on to a famous city in Yunnan: Lijiang. The city has been commercialized too much. There are too many shops and too many people. This painting was done at a park call the Helongtan Park. I forgot to bring any mineral spirit, and I had to paint directly with out of tube colors. So I was not able to use my wipe-out technique. With many dry marks, the painting has an unusual look. Plein air painting is just like life, we try to be prepared, but there is always something unexpected will happen. We are out of control, but have to deal with whatever happens as much as we can, The result can be surprising, but not always bad.

"Demo at Stone Forest Yunnan China"

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As matter of fact, this is my very first demo painting in Yunnan China. The Stone Forest is a very special geological formation. The rocks there have extraordinary shapes. I took many photos, I will paint them in the future.

"Demo at Shaxi 2017 2" --- Sold

I found this group of old houses under the sun. It was a good example to demonstrate how I dealt with perspectives. So I did this demo, and our artists painted with me. In the middle of our plein air event, a movie director passing by. Well in the afternoon, a few of our artists have been selected as actors for a movie. You will never know what can happen when you paint outside.

"Demo at Shaxi 2017 1" --- Sold

I had just come back from China a few hours ago. I am sorry I was not very active in posting my activities when I was there. I was too busy and had no time to adapt the Internet situation there. Anyway I had a great time in China with 11 artists from USA, South Africa, Brazil, and New Zealand. We have spent most our time in the Yunnan Province. We enjoyed so much, I will post more photos for you to see and tell you more latter on.

This is one of my demo paintings. I have fell in love with the architecture in the villages. I wish I could have more time stay there.

Shaxi Yunnan, China

I think I have found an ideal plein painting place. Shaxi is a small town in the mountains of Yunnan  Province, China. All members of my China Painting trip consider this is a ideal painting location. Very few people know this place. The hotel is luxurious, The place is clean. Very little tourists. The scenery is fantastic. We are having a super time here. Here are some photos I took. I will post my paintings later.

"Demo at Hinckley 2017 1" --- Sold

Hinckley is a small town south of Cleveland, OH. I want to thank Sara Kass for organizing this workshop, and thanks to all the artists for coming and painting with me. This workshop is different from most of my other workshop. We painted still life, landscape, and portrait. This is my still life demo. 

“Head Study 081217"

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Since I am in the portrait mode, I will do more studies to see if I can improve a little. I did this one the day after I did the previous head study, but at different location. I documented what I have done with this two paintings, and figured out what I should present on the portrait day of my forthcoming workshop. I plan to stay with monochrome a while for my head studies.

"Head Study 081117"

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Coming back from Pennsylvania. I had about two weeks at home before my next workshop trip. Since the next workshop I need to demonstrate how I paint portrait, I needed to warm up and prepare a little. I have not painted human face from quite a long time. So I did this study. I used only transparent oxide red and naples yellow light. The monochrome approach allowed me to concentrate on the forms and features of the face. I was kind of happy for the turn out of this painting.

"Demo at Sunbury 2017 3"

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I like the grey in this demo painting. Floral painting tends to be more colorful, but I want to be careful not to use too much saturated or high chroma colors, otherwise it will look garish. Grey is sophisticated. It is rather hard to get it right.

"Demo at Sunbury 2017 2"

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The Art Cent at Sunbury collects pencil sharpeners. I put one of them in this demo and use color pencils and marbles as the color providers. I like that little mouse figurine candle stick so I put it in. That is the second demo.

"Demo at Sunbury 2017 1"

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You probably get tired of seeing my landscape paintings by now. I am showing you still life today. After Easton, I drove up to Pennsylvania for another workshop teaching. I stayed at Lewisburg and taught at Sunbury. They are charming small towns. I want to thank Yarts Center, and Lina Ferrera for organizing, and thanks to all the artists for coming. This is my first demonstration painting.

"Demo at Easton 2017 4" --- Sold

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This small 6"x8" is my last demo on my Easton workshop. This time at Easton, I surely did many plein air paintings - 14 of them. Now I have a different feeling about plein air painting. It has expanded my art capability. I have extended from still life into landscape a little further. My landscapes still have a long way to go before reaching some sort of maturity, but I am glad I am on the path now. I hope I will have some sort of style gradually evolved from more practices in the days to come.

Workshop reminder: Stephanie Birdsall

Austin has cooled down a little. I feel we will have a beautiful fall this year. It is time to remind all of you that we have a few workshops planned in the Austin area. Stephanie Birdsall will teach a 4-day painting workshop from 9/30 to 10/3. Stephanie is a well known Putney painter and a wonderful teacher. I am so happy she will come to Austin again. So far, we still have a few openings for her workshop. Please get detailed information at: Stephanie Birdsall's workshop at Austin and sign up. We are looking forward to seeing you in the beautiful Texas Hill Country.

"Demo at Easton 2017 3"

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The third demo I did was at the Maritime Museum in St Michaels. I have simplified the background significantly. The realistic presentation of the boat gives me room to go abstract for everything else. You may think I have painted the pier, figures, trees, and so on, but in reality I just painted some textures.

"Demo at Easton 2017 2" --- Sold

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I painted this boat house as my second demo to show how I handle linear perspective. Recently, I have done quite many plein air landscape paintings. Through all of these exercises, I have discovered so many issues in my landscapes. I don't have all the solutions yet, but I have start to aware of the areas I need to work on. I really do not know how to paint sky and water. I don't know how to paint grass and trees either. There is a long learning curve I need to across. Now it is time to work thing out. I am in my research mode again.

"Demo at Easton 2017 1" --- Sold

On the next day after Plein Air Easton 2017 ended, I started my workshop teaching. It was a 4-day plein air painting at the same town. The weather was much nicer. It was not that hot. The humidity was still high. I want to thank Carl and Nancy Tankersley for organizing, and thanks to all the artists for coming and painting with me. I painted the same building that I did for my quick draw during the festival, but from a different angle. Color temperature control was my main topic I was emphasized during this demo.

"PAE 2017 10: On an Easton Street" --- Sold

This is my final piece at the Plein Air Easton 2017. It was my quick draw painting. This building is quite complicated. I simplified it a lot, so I can finished it within 2 hours. Plein Air Easton has ended. I surely learned a lot.

“PAE 2017 8: Rise Up Coffee" --- Sold

"Rise Up Coffee" is a great place at Easton, wonderful food and friendly people. They make their food in a red trolly. I did this plein air right in front of it.

"PAE 2017 7: Nocturn of Last Night" --- Sold

This is crazy for me. I did not realize that we need to paint plein air in the night during PAE. I didn't know what I was doing, but I did it anyway. I was not sure what color to use because I can't see. However, I looked the painting the day after, it looks better than I thought.

"PAE 2017 6 Dover Street Sunshine"

This small painting is the only one I did that didn't sell at the Plein Air Easton Festival. I gave the painting to my hosting family Richard Caroll to think him for supporting me by offering his lovely place for us to stay. I want to thank other volunteers who helped Plein Air Easton 2017 as well. Without all those people who generously provided their time and effort during the festival. Plein Air Easton would not be possible.

"PAE 2017 5: Old Point" --- Sold

"Old Point" is the name of a boat being build at the St Michaels Maritime Museum. Many PAE artists painted this boat. It was a busy site. whole bunch of lumber piled up under the "Old Point". I thought it is very difficult to paint them, but the result was not bad.

"PAE 2017 3: Has Seen Better Days" --- Sold

During the Plein Air Easton Festival, I was so impressed with how some of artists worked. They arrived at the painting locations very early like 5 or 6 AM, and set up very large canvas. They were able to paint 3 or more paintings each day. they even painted after dark as well. The weather was brutal: 90s with almost 100% humidity, but so many artists still worked under the steamy sun. I was so unexperienced. I got up about 8, having coffee with my host family. When I arrived at the painting site. Quite a few artists have done their large pieces. Now I understood what it means by "painting seriously".

PAE 2017 2 and 4 --- Sold

Plein Air Easton 2017 ended yesterday. I painted 10 paintings and sold 9 of them. I did not get any awards. That is all right. I surely enjoyed very much this 9 days festival. These are two 12" x 24" I painted at Oxford and St. Michaels. This was my first time painting large paintings live at the sites. It was quite challenging. I have stepped into many unknown zones of plein air painting. I have learned a lot from many experienced plein air painters this time.

"Boat House at Fox Harbor Farm (Plein Air Easton 2017 1)" --- Sold

My very first Plein Air Festival - Plein Air Easton started. I am so happy to gain new painting experience at this new event. I was shocked that most of participating artists started painting in very early hours, and keep on paining after dark. They can crank multiple paintings per day. The weather is not cooperating. It is hot and humid. But artists working hard under the sun. The event is very well organized. I feel very fortunate to get in. This is my first painting. I started around 4 PM finished about 7 PM. framed (with the only frame I brought) and displayed on my easel. Collectors came. The painting sold pretty quickly.

Nancy Tankersley Workshop Reminder

Nancy Tankersley is one of the artists I really admire. Being able to painting loose but accurate is not easy. Nancy knows the secrets and she will share them with us in her painting workshops. Many artists who had taken her classes expressed to me that her methods are very practical and effective. Figurative art can be quite challenge to many beginning and intermedium level artists. I highly recommend Nancy's workshop to you. She is coming back to Austin this fall and teach a four day workshop. Please click: Nancy Tankersley Workshop for detailed information and sign up. We only have very few openings.

In addition, Nancy is one of the major artists who started the Plein Air Easton Art Festival. It has become one of highly prestigious plein air events in the country. I am lucky to get in this year as a newbie, and looking forward to paint together with Nancy and other well known artists.

"Demo at St Simons Island 2017 3"

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My usual workshop demo. I did this one on the last day at St Simons Island workshop. The flowers are not bad, but I really like the color relationship between the background and the white vase.