Another Demo in Jackson MS

 

This is another demo I did in Jackson Mississippi. 

Demo 1 in Jackson

 

I taught a workshop in Jackson MS recently. I want to thank Mary Alice Lee and Bob Tompkins for organizing this workshop. Thanks to all Mississippi artists who attended my class. I have had so much fun, and this is my first demo.

Hsin-Yao Tseng painting workshop 2024

 

I am so happy to announce that Master artist Hsin-Yao Tseng will come to Austin again and teach a painting workshop in early December 2024. This workshop is quite unique. Hsin-Yao will introduce various kinds of mark making techniques. He will use reference photos of landscape scenes, but concentrate on creating expressive and energetic designs. Hsin-Yao is a very successful artist and wonderful teacher. I hope you can take advantage of this opportunity to bring your art to the next level. Please check: https://www.qhart.com/hsin-yao-tsengs-workshop-2024 for information and sign up.

Albert's trees

 

I am hosting an oil painting workshop for a Master artist Albert Handell in Austin, TX. Albert has done a wonderful demo today. I was amazed by his palette knife technique and his impressive palette of exotic colors. Besides helping Albert and all workshop attending artists with their logistical needs, I got chance to paint a little as well. This is what I did today. I always thought painting trees is not my a cup of tea, but I liked what I have learned. 

Aspen

 

I took Robert Moor's class at Scottsdale Artists' School. I have learned a lot. Mark making is so important to make a painting impressive and expressive. I have not spent enough time to develop my mark making skills. Currently, I am still concentrating on color studies, but soon I will have more fun like painting this one.

Color Relationship from Light to Shadow

 

I took a photo of an orange lit by a single light source, then measured 10 color samples from light to shadow using the "Color Analyzer App" we developed. The three numbers on each color sample are its hue, chroma, and value. On the color wheel, we can see: (1) in the light area 1 to 5, the hue shifted from yellow to red orange. This hue shift is often referred as the "prismatic color shift". (2) in the shadow are 6 to 10, the hue does not change. On the "value vs. chroma" diagram, we can see the variation of chroma and value is strongly corelated by following two straight lines. These two linear relations of chroma and value governs the color integrity of a 3D solid object. We may refer it as the "saturation constancy" rule. If you violated this rule when you paint, you will have muddy, chalky, or garish color problems. Most advanced artists know the effects intuitively, but I want to express the rule with an unambiguous scientific statement. You may have heard the saying: "rules are made to be broken", but this one won't. 

Albert Handell's oil painting workshop

 

The Master Artist Albert Handell will teach a 4-day oil painting workshop on March 19 - 22, 2024 near Austin, Texas. We still have a few openings. If you are interested learning from Master Handell, please check: https://www.qhart.com/albert-handell-workshop2-2024 and sign in  by clicking the blue registration button at the bottom of the webpage. 

White Chrysanthemum

 

Continuing on non-colored paintings. This time I worked on a floral project, cool light warm shadows. All those greys need to be harmoniously related to create solid forms. The color temperature needs to be consistent to avoid muddiness to occur. I do like vibrant colors, but this kind of near black-white exercises helps me to lay a solid foundation, and the painting will have much more potential for further development. 

Bull Creek in Winter

 

Painting a landscape in a cloudy day, the sky light is pretty neutral (gray), but is the light warm or cool? To be honest with you, I was not sure. So I run my "Warm-n-Cool" filter (see my previous post) on the reference photo. Lo and behold, it is warm for sure. I guess the physics does make sense. Behind the clouds, we have the sun and the blue sky. The warm sun light dominates the cool blue sky. The cloud works as a diffuser, and average out the light. So the stronger sun light makes the skylight warmer.

Warm and Cool in a Still Life

 

The warm and cool relationship is so important. I have done a few this kind of color less still life paintings. They really helped me to understand the color temperature and build the objects solidly in a painting. The major light for this painting is warm and the shadow has a cool reflection. I wish I did this kind of exercise when I just started painting. I was more interested in the showy stuff like the loose "painterly" effect. I have to tell you a truth: If you do not know how to paint "tightly", you can hardly paint "loosely". The key is to know how to paint "solidly". I will share my understanding more in the coming workshop at the Scottsdale Artists' School on February 12. To get detailed information, please go to: www.qhart.com > Workshops > Workshops 2024.

"Warm-n-Cool" Filter

Two engineers and I have developed an image filter called "Warm-n-Cool". It can remove the influence of local colors and show the color temperature relationships of the light and shadow. Basically, it changes a full color image to a two colors (hues) only image. The two hues are orange (warm) and blue (cool). I have used "Warm-n-Cool" to filter my reference photos, and gain much better understanding the specific color temperature distribution across the image. In many cases, I can use orange and blue only to paint an entire painting realistically. The "Warm-n-Cool" filter is free for everybody to use. Please follow this simple instruction: Go to www.qhart.com > Apps > Painter's Guide 3.1 > Load your image > Filter > Warmncool. 

Still Life Painting Workshop

 

I am getting busy again. I will teach a 4-day still life painting workshop at the Scottsdale Artists' School on February 12 - 15, 2024. Although I have taught painting workshop so many times, but I have kept gaining new understanding, and developing new skills. I want to use this opportunity to share my techniques with you. If you are interested in my painting approaches, please visit: https://www.scottsdaleartschool.org/events/130/ ( or go to my website) to sign up.

Digital Squinting

 

Life is short. How can we become good in painting QUICKLY? We all know we need to practice, but to accelerate the progress, my secret is: USING SMART TOOLS. The posted image shows that you can "squint" your ref photo digitally. Here is how to do it: Go to qhart.com(my website) > click "Apps" > click "Painter's Guide 3.0" > load your ref photo > click "Filter" > click "Oilify". Now you have no worry you develop wrinkles because you squint a lot during painting time. I have quite a few apps on my website, which are free for you to use. I want to thank the engineers behind the screen for making these tools available. As a matter of fact, I have a workshop next month at the Scottsdale Artist School (https://www.scottsdaleartschool.org/events/130/). I will show you my techniques. Life is short. If you want to paint goodly (I mean well), I will teach you how to "cheat" correctly.

Cityscape Study

 

Master artist Hsin-Yao Tseng did a cityscape workshop here in Austin last November. I did this painting by using one of his reference photos. Combined what I have learned from Hsin-Yao and the color research I have been doing, I witness this painting gradually revealed itself in front of me. The color scheme is dominated by the warm and cool lights, while the local colors are rather subtle.