"Harbor of San Diego" --- Sold

I have attended the 6th Plein Air Convention in San Diego. I did this plein air painting right out of the Sheraton Hotel at the Harbor Island. Be honest with you, I really didn't know what I was doing. The scene was very busy with zillions of boats. I was in my "just do it" mode and follow completely my intuition. The result was better than I thought. Many artist call themselves intuitive painters. I am not.  But sometime I was in the spot and have no way out. Well, I just do it.

Plein Air at Pingshan 1

Pingshan is another old village in Anhui province, China. It is not far from Xidi. I did not see too many tourists there, but many many art students. I did two plein air paintings there. This is one of them. This one is available for $400 unframed through DPW.  Please click here to buy.

"Plein Air at Pingshan1", 8 in by 6 in, oil on board

"Morning Laundry"

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I did this painting from a photo Song took during our last year's China trip. In the first morning we stayed at the Xidi Village, I saw a group of ladies doing their laundry at a small pond. The scene was spectacular. It was incredibly beautiful. I like the good old days. The life was more painterly then what we have now. Some day I might paint people with smart phones.

The China trip we have planned for this year did not make it. What a pity! We have postponed the same arrangement to 2017. Now we have much more time to think about it. If you are interested in join us in 2017, please contact Song to be on the list.

"Future Star"

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Keep on going. Paint more figures. This one is my number 9 for this series. I have established my procedure. I am able to get a decent figure with adequate accuracy on proportion, anatomy, and perspective. I feel this is the first step, which is the study stage. Next, I will concentrate on the design to make the image more dynamic or dramatic.

"Drummer 3"

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I have followed the momentum of painting Impressionistic figures. This one is slightly easier than my previous one. I started to develop a procedure of this kind of work. It is rather different from my still life painting. When this procedure gets mature enough, I will share with you.

"Drummer 2"

10" x 8", oil on board, framed, $850 + shipping

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I have spent more than a day on this painting. Boy! painting figure is hard. Especially the face and hands. They got to be absolutely correct. Artist's license will not work. This is my second drummer painting. When I posted my previous one, many friends did not know what the figure was doing. This one should be self-explanatory.

"Ring Man"

8" x 6", oil on board, framed, $750

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I have gained more momentum in figurative painting. I did another one today. For figurative work, I feel it is rather difficult to compose. Different from a still life, in which I can easily move the objects, figure is difficult to move because there is too much involved. In addition, I have a hard time to maintain the size of the figure. It changes a lot when I try to get the proportion correct. To solve the problem, I have stopped using pre-sized panels and canvases. I tape a piece of loose canvas on a board, and figure out my composition by cropping the canvas after the painting is finished.

"Young Artist 2"

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I did a painting called "A Young Artist" many years ago. That boy must be a handsome young man now. Almost at the same location, I shot another photo a couple of weeks ago. Now this artist is doing almost exactly the same thing, innocent with the same concentration. Is the time really exist? I doubt it. If we don't individualize, We have already lived in the Eternity.

"Plein Air Painting at Tucson 3"

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This is my third plein air piece at Tucson. On the fourth day of the convention, we went to the Old Tucson. I feel a little better than my previous one. The light and shadow is more obvious. I can handle it better. However, my feel is not strong. How to get a strong feeling in front of the scene is not easy. I have more feeling when I setup my still lives, but for landscape I have not got there yet. Need more learning.

"Plein Air Painting at Tucson 2"

I use my blog to document my painting activities including successful ones and failed ones. My today's post is about a failure. On the second day of the Plein Air Convention, we painted at the Catalina State Park, where has beautiful scenes of mountains and saguaros. I was overwhelmed by what I saw, and having a hard time to decide what to paint. The light changed quickly, and finally I find a piled of ruck with cactus with a back light. The shadow colors were beautiful, so I decided to give a try. I was rushed for about 30 minutes, then the light was gone. I barely got some value and no time to think about colors at all. That was I had. How do you like it?

"Spring at Dies Ranch"

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I did this plein air painting this morning. The spring in Texas is spectacular and the colors are so fresh. I enjoyed the perfect weather today. It is one the ideal days to paint outside.

The weather is wonderful, but the climate is so strange. The spring comes so early this year. The temperature has gone beyond 90 F this afternoon. We might have a super hot summer this year.

"Xidi Carved Window 1"

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I am continuing on the research of the monochromatic paintings. I started to consider to remove the transparent oxide red off my palette. This painting was done with burnt umber, white and a little black. It looks the experiment works. This way will save me significantly on the expenses on paints.

I have a major computer crash over the weekend. I have lost quite a bit of information. If you used to receive my daily painting emails, but found you did not receive this post and posts in the future, please let me know, I have to manually put you back. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

"French Legation Museum, Austin"

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This morning I joined a group of local artists, painted plein air at the French legation Museum at the downtown Austin. My color scheme for this painting is rather weird. I did not plan to do this but it turned out like this by itself. I don't quite like this color scheme. Can any psychologist explain what is going on?

"Keep Austin Weird" is the motto of this city. I must be possessed by a "weird" spirit this morning.

"Big Apple and Small Onion"

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I have been back to Austin for a few days now, and this is what I did today. Somehow every time I am back home, it is always difficult to start painting right away. So many other things because priorities, and painting have to give in. Several days passes quickly and my mind is blank at this moment, so I used this simple painting to warm up.

"Xidi Doorway 6"

Now this is the last (No. 5) painting I did on Derek's workshop. I used my own ref. photo this time. You probably have seen my other Xidi doorway paintings before. They were more monochromatic. Now this one is colorful. Do you like it? I am not sure myself. The painting definitely not as rigid as before. I have enjoyed the freedom, which I did not have before. However, do you like the color? let me know please. Thanks.

"Derek's Trees"

This is my 4th painting on Derek Penix's workshop. It is the best one I did during his class I think. Trees are not my cup of coffee (or tea) for sure. I felt lucky I have run into a few happy accident during painting this one. I like the colors and the harmony. I am glad I did not use much of the green colors in painting the leaves.

"Derek's Boat"

I did this painting yesterday on Derek's workshop. I started to practice the Impressionistic way of using colors. Since boats have more has more rigid structure, I felt more comfortable than the day before. I have really hard times doing rocks and waves because they don't have a regular structure I can following. It is really a good thing that an artist knows his/her weak points. If you work on improving your weak points, you will progress quickly to reach the next level.

"My first seascape"

This is my very first seascape painting. I am not particularly like it, but here it is: a milestone for me.

"A yellow bird" --- Sold

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I felt so great to be a student again. For quite a few years I have not taken any workshops from other artists. I was so busy teaching, and forgot that I have run out of juice. Although I am research and investigate art issue by myself, but that is not enough. Now I am at the Scottsdale Artist School taking a workshop from Derek Penix. I really like Derek's impressionistic approach of colors, and his delicious impasto brush textures. I am so happy learning from him. This is my very first bird painting.  It is not too bad. I start to feel something new.

"Anderson Mill Water Wheel" --- Sold

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I did this small plein air study a week ago. That day my wife Song went the Anderson Mill Garden Club for quilting. I went along but stayed outside and painted this one. The weather is so good in Austin this winter. I have been lucky and been able to paint so many plein air studies.