"Sargent's Color"

I did a short demo painting yesterday. My son Jonathan has taped the process, and the demo will be used as a part of my online color course. We will finish the recording the course today, then Jonathan will edit the video and select a online platform we will put the course on. We plan to publish the course at the end of June, or the first week of July. Please be patient with me. I am trying my best to make this course informative and practical.

"Still life in green study 043020"

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I did another monochromatic still life study. Today's color is green. The colors I have used for this one is sap green, cadmium green pale and white. Green is relatively easy color for tinting and shading. It was fun doing this kind of studies, and it is very helpful to know the colors. I wish I did this kind of work a long time before.

"Still life in turquoise study 042120

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This is a painting I did for my color research. During my color scales exercise, I have figured out what colors to use to produce a value scales for any tube color I use on my palette. For this painting, I used my turquoise scale, which has black, phthalo blue, cobalt teal, radiant turquoise, and white. I can get any value for the turquoise family with relative high chroma, so I decided to do a monochromatic painting. It is exciting to see the result. The color is so intense that is hurting my eyes. I can use this kind of painting to study the psychologic impact of a color.

I also want to test the market effect of this kind of painting. I am going to post this painting on Daily Paint Works (https://www.dailypaintworks.com/) as an auction to see the reaction.

"Morro Bay"

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Not long ago, I did a workshop in Paso Robles CA. It was so beautiful there. I got a chance to visit quite few beautiful places. I did this painting today from a photo I took at Morro Bay.

This painting is available on dailypaintworks.com.

Backyard Habitat

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I painted plein air in my backyard yesterday. The subject is a small house I built with my own hands not long ago. I have been experimenting living off-grid. The small house is powered by two solar panels. I have camped in it a few times. It was a cloudy day. So the light is cool and shadow is warm. I know this principle theoretically, but I didn't observe this until recently. It is not that obvious, but it is true.

"Red Barn in Lancaster PA"

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This one I did from a ref photo taken at Lancaster Pennsylvania in spring. Although I paint this one from a photo, but I kept my approach similar to plein air. I know I still have a quite journey before I can reach the quality I want for my landscapes, but if I keep on doing this kind of small studies. I will be closer to my goal gradually.

"Plein Air at Driftwood"

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I went to plein air painting last Saturday with a group of Austin artists. The day was hot, but I picked up a shaded spot. So it wasn't too bad. The building in the painting is an old Texaco gas station. I didn't think it was open. However the traffic on the road was quite busy. There is well known Texas BBQ restaurant nearby. Most of the people must be going there.

"Poetic Colors"

Today, with my limited time, I did this abstract study. I started this one as a still life (you probably still can see it), but somehow I want to push it into a pure abstract direction. I have played with designs of geometry, color, value, and texture.  To many representational, especially realistic painters,  Going abstract is not easy. We are too used to following the visual world outside, but we don't know how to follow our internal world. Learning how to observe our subjective mind objectively will be very helpful to our art. There is freedom there, but we need to learn how to use it.

"Smoke House"

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I didn't have to teach last Sunday, so I went out did this plein air painting. Since I painted with Calvin Liang, my attitude toward landscape has changed quite a bit. I know what I am looking for. Well, however, when I actually doing it, I find I get confused again. I know I have to do more until I have some sort of control.

"South Wind" --- Sold

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It is pretty cold these a couple of days. So I did this one trying to bring some south wind to warm you up. This is not plein air. It is from a photo I took at Rock Port, TX in spring. I loaded the photo on my laptop and put it on my still life stand. Maybe we can call it computer plein air.

You know I was having problems earlier of painting darks on top of lighter colors, and many of you provided me tips. Through few studies I find a way I like, and practised on this one. I thin the sky color with turp and paint it on first, it dries pretty fast. Then I paint darks on top. It works well for me. So thank you for your help.

BTW, the murder whom the police was searching for last weekend killed himself. His body was found two days after my last plein air day.

"Natural Dryer" --- Sold

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Two days ago, our washing machine quitted. I tried to fix it, but it was much harder than I thought. We have to buy a new one I am afraid. What a shame it was. It still look new to me and most parts still working. This reminds me the old days. We hung cloths and sheets under in the open air to dry. I still remember the smell of the Sun.

I did this painting from a photo I took in Mexico. I started (again) painting landscape now. It is more difficult to me since I have not done it enough. We will see. Maybe I would like it.

"Demo at Round Rock 2" --- Sold

This is another demo I did at the workshop. I got a nice secondary light source from a winder on the right. The cooler light made this painting with a morning freshness. I did most of my paintings in evenings under artificial lights. So, I really enjoyed having this natural light shining on my setup.

"After Work" --- Sold

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I drink socially only. Usually a beer and a glass of wine will do it. But drink Tequila was absolutely new to me. This happened at the last day of my workshop at Ajijic, Mexico. We had a potluck party. I was told by one of the artists that I MUST drink Tequila. Well, here is Mexico, I got to follow the rules. So I did. I finished a 50 ml bottle in two gulps..... Wow!!! It was strong! But it tasked really sweet and it smelled really great too. It wasn't what I thought it was. "Now, I am ready for another painting" I thought. Of course, I didn't do it, but I really had a great time at the party afterwards. I took the empty tequila bottles back to my studio and did this tequila painting today. I hope you all like it. Be honest to you, I didn't drink before I paint this one.

"Blue and Red" --- Sold

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I was listening the VP debate while I was painting this one last night. This election is so important to everybody this year. Blue and Red are the seasonal colors now. I hope all my American artist friends will vote this November. Do you want to know who I will vote for? I will vote for Change.

"Lean on Me" --- Sold

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When I setup this group, the green vase was rolling. The black vase and the apple came as stoppers and established the stability. In this world we all need other people's support. As a painter, I am very grateful to have the support from my collectors, and my fellow artist friends. Thank you!!!!!!

"Another Rose" --- Sold

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"Another Rose" - What a boring name it is. I am not good at naming my paintings you can tell. I admire some of my fellow daily painters who can generate really exciting names for their work. If you have some tips, please help me out.

"Fishing Float"

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I found this float in a park the other day and was attracted by its vibrant fluorescent colors. It gives a wonderful texture contrast against the metal pot in this painting. Plastic items usually give an impression of cheapness, and not every artist likes to paint them. Well in some cases, they do have a position in art. Next time my wife going shopping, I will ask her to buy me a rubber ducky.

"Iron Bowl" --- Sold

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Actually, the bowl in this painting is not made of iron, but I like the rusty color. The Iron Bowl has several meanings. To most of Americans, especially Alabamians, Iron Bowl is a football game. I don't know much about football, but I did live in Alabama for seven years. To most of Chinese, especially the Mainlanders, iron ball symbolizes the job security, because iron bowl can not be broken so it will provide food with no end. The logic is a little shaky, but you have got the idea. At this difficult economic time, an iron bowl is surely good to have.

"Specular" --- Sold

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Metallic surfaces are intriguing to paint. They give design opportunities for gathering rich colors into a small area by means of reflections from the surroundings. I will explore more in this field.

"Orange Rocks" --- Sold

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I would like announce and congratulate the winner of my abstract painting I posted on April 2, is Mr. Omar Moreno in San Antonio, TX.

Now I am back to realism again. As a matter of fact I did this painting the same day I did the abstract. I was preparing the demo for my workshop. I often think the realism paintings are also abstract too. We are painting just shapes, value, and color. We don't have to put names on them.