Worshop Announcement

I was planned to teach only one workshop this year in Austin TX and it has been full. However, I still keep getting requests of taking my workshop. So I decided to offer the second 3-day still life workshop in Austin. The time will be on September 18 - 20. Please contact Karen Wilkerson at: karenwil@austin.rr.com for information and registration.

P.S. I want to pass a notice from you workshop organizer Deborah at Cincinnati, OH: The workshop is full, however there are plenty of openings for my painting demonstration on Friday April 24, 2009, 7 – 9 PM at the Womans Art Club Cultural Center. Fee for the demonstration will be $25.00 advance reservation and $30.00 at the door. Please contact Deborah Ridgley: Dgrstudios@aol.com .

"Baby Poinsettia" --- Sold

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The Holiday Season is over, but I still have this poinsettia. As a matter of fact, I did not know the name of this flower when I painted this painting. I have to google it before this post. Now I know why poinsettia is related to Christmas. I really like the legend.

"A Warm Day"

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I can't believe it is January. Today's temperature is above 80 F here at Austin. It feels like summer. I went out and did this plein air painting. To do plein air, you want make sure you bring everything you need. I really learned the hard way. When I did my previous plein air, I forgot to bring my tripod. It wasn't too bad. I set my open box M on a picnic table. Well, today I went to the same park again. I remembered the tripod this time, but I found I did not bring my canvas. "Well that's it" I told myself. So I had to go home. After I got my canvas, I went back. I setup everything and started painting. Then I found I didn't bring my palette knife. I use it a lot to mix my colors. I was really frustrated, but I didn't want to go home again. I ended up like a man in the Stone Age. I found a piece of tree bark. That was my palette knife of the day. I hope you plein air painters do not like me.

"Morning Calm" --- Sold

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2008 has been a remarkable year, for the two countries I call home, I shed tears for the victims of the devastating earthquake, I cheered the spectacular Olympics, I was excited to see the historical election, and I shared the pain of the collapsed economics. The world is like a Jackson Pollock’s painting. I feel myself like a small insect holding on a piece of leaf floating on a vast sea full of excitements and turmoil.

It has been a good year for me as an artist. Without much of the professional training, I have jumped into the art world. Far from maturity, but I had made some progress. With the great Internet, I shared my joy and frustration with you. With your uninterrupted support, I have been inspired and encouraged to surf the art waves.

At this New Year’s Eve, my small boat is docked. The water is calm; the air is misty. I am having a sweet dream….. without aware of that 2009 is just around the corner and the new challenges are approaching.
Thank You and Happy New Year !!!

"Hide and Seek 2"

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This is another mid size painting maintaining the painterly look of my small ones. I used this composition before, but I really like it and decided to paint it again. I used very big brushes (2" wide) to do this. I may have to use brooms and mops if I paint a 30" x 40". If you like to paint large, do you use very large brushes? Would you tell me what kind of large brushes you like and where you get them?

"Feel the Heat" --Sold

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You might have noticed that I have been illuminating my still life setups from the very same direction since the very beginning. That is because I use the same light to illuminate both the setup and my canvas. It worked and I didn't bother to change it until this one. I finally setup one more light so I can separate the setup and canvas illumination. What a revolution it is to me! From the almost back-lit setup, I see so many beautiful colors within the shadow in form of reflections. It reminds me sitting by a camp fire seeing the red hot flames glowing on everybody's faces. So feel the heat.

"Red and Black" --- Sold

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I am back to my still life painting again. This one is so typical of my small painting style. Do you see anything new on this one? If you say no, I will get my purpose fulfilled. The truth is: this painting is not that small. It is a 12" x 16". I am working on the paint quality today. I want to see my large paintings as painterly as my small ones.

"Happy Holidays"

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Happy Holidays to all of you. No matter where you are, and what type of religion you have, please enjoy the merriest time of the year. I cannot send a card to every one of you, so please accept this image as my best holiday wishes to you. I want thank you for your uninterrupted support, inspiration, and guidance to my art. Without your help, it is not possible for me to keep my daily painting practice going. I really appreciate it.

"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.

"Oaks in a Park" --- Sold

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Last Saturday I went to plein air painting again. When I arrived at the small park where I did my first plein air of the year, I saw more than a dozen police cars on the parking lot. There was even a police trailer with several cages for search dogs. Later on I was told that there was a murder at large in the area. That is a part of plein air painting. You never know what you will encounter at the painting site. I did this oil sketch on a picnic table while the criminal might be lurking in the nearby woods.

Workshop Reminder

Upon the request of my workshop organizer at Cincinnati Ohio, I would like to pass the following information to you if you are interested in taking my workshop in April 2009:

Please send $50 to hold your spot for the workshop made out to WACCF. Mail the check to Deborah Ridgley, 8326 Wetherfield Lane, Cincinnati, Ohio 45236. PLEASE SUPPLY YOUR NAME, ADDRESS AND EMAIL ALONG WITH YOUR CHECK.

If you have already sent in your reservation check but did not include your contact information, please email Deborah Ridgley at Dgrstudios@aol.com so you can receive my painting supply list.

As of December 2008, there are only 6 spots still open for this workshop.

"Rock Climbers" --- Sold

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I enjoy painting grapes, but this is my first time using grapes as my center of focus. They are full of translucent colors. The shadows on the white cup have very interesting shapes. The composition is a kind of new as well. I was pondering on my still life painting for a while and felt I need to put something new to it. I think this one works nicely.

"Ski Friends" --- Sold

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I was planned to go skiing at New Mexico around the Christmas holidays, but this morning I finally decided not going. At my engineering job, we are under a lot stress because we are approaching a major deadline. It would be very helpful if I can keep working during this holiday season. In addition I can save several more vocation days. I can roll them over to next year so I can use them for my workshop teaching. I may do more paintings as well during this time instead of wasting my time driving two days.... All these excuses sound reasonable, but the true reason I am trying to cover is that I am a LOUSY skier. Now you know.

"Morning Cedars" --- Sold

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This is my second plein air of the year. Compared with my previous one, this time was much better. It was a sunny day and I painted with a group of Plein Air Austin painters. I was still working on trees.

"Desolation"

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I did this study to practice how to paint trees. It is really difficult to paint darks on the top of lighter color background. I tried doing darks first then use lighter colors to cut off the branches, but I can't get fine twigs that way. I have to finish this painting in two sessions. I have to wait the lighter background dry enough so I can paint darks on top. Do you have a good way to do this kind of thing in one session? Please please let me know.

"Colors of White 2" --- Sold

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I have received many comments and emails after I posted my plein air painting. Many friends shared their plein air stories with me. I really enjoyed reading them. Now my regular working week started and I lost my daylight again. So I come back to my still life studies. Similar to my previous still life painting, I try to use colors to present white. My colors scheme is purple for the shadow and blue for the light. I am sure there are other good color schemes for painting white object. If you have a good one, would you mind sharing with me?

"Early Winter" --- Sold

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I bought an Open Box M easel lately and I was so excited to try it out. This morning, I went to a small park not far from my home and did my first plein air of the year. It was a cold and cloudy day. I set up my clean and shining easel and carefully placed some fresh colors on the palette, afraid of contaminating the new thing. Well, life was getting more interesting. The wind came and it was getting colder. After I just blocked in my darks, it started to rain. Oh boy, using water as the medium for an oil painting was totally new to me. My paint stuck on my brush like a lollipop and refused to stick to my glass palette. I had to mix my colors on the canvas. My fingers got numbed, my hair was wet, and my new Box M..... Well, it was no longer new any more. "I think it is the time to go home" I was telling my stubborn artist's mind. I covered my canvas with whatever colors I got on my brush, and put away everything clumsily in the car. As soon as I rushed out the park's gate, Oh my Lord, the Sun came out.

What a wonderful plein air day I had! In spite of all the miseries, I sort of like what I did on this painting.

"Colorful White" --- Sold

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This is the same cup I painted last time, but there are quite a few drastic changes. I didn't use any high chroma colors. Subtlety of the colors is the goal for this one. Using the variation of the color temperature, I make subtle value changes. Following is my color mixing for this painting:

Shadow color: Ultramarine Blue + Burnt Sienna + Alizarin Chrimson + White;

Light color: Ultramarine Blue + White + Shadow color.

I really like this one. I am glad I can make a painting work without using cadmium colors.

"On the Edge"

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We have this kind of odd shaped tomatoes growing in our yard. I balanced one of them on the edge of my still life stand to create the shadow shape I like. I am glad I am back to my classic style before I got lost in the "contemporary" la-la land. So I am a good boy today, but I can't guarantee you that I won't go crazy again. I like that odd shaped tomato balancing on the edge.

At this moment, I want to say "Thank you" to all of you, for your support. You make me very happy for this a couple of years. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

"Ajijic Impression" --- Sold

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I don't know this painting is good or bad, but it is definitely new to me. It is a pure knife painting and I have crossed the representational border. Doing abstracts is not my favorite, but it is kind of fun coming out of my comfort zone once a while. It is a good study on paint work and effects. Ajijic is the Mexican town I did workshop several months ago. It is really beautiful.

I got "tagged" lately by a marvelous artist and writer Jala Pfaff. Her work is very expressive and showing solid academic skills. according to the "rules", I must reveal some info about myself. Here they are:

1. I have a very good sense of directions. I can always find my destinations even crossing the glob if needed.

2. I cannot deal with numbers in English. So I often make mistakes when I communicate if numbers are involved. I was buying a piece of art once from a gallery online. I gave them the wrong zip code, the wrong phone number, and the wrong credit card number.

3. I did studied subatomic physics in college, but I don’t know anything about the string theory.

4. I got my first ticket before I got my driver’s license.

5. I belief the world will be destroyed by computers rather than nukes.

Now here is the artist I would like to tag:

FengWei Liu

Worshop in Austin

At the last weekend EAST show I met quite a few friends requesting information about my workshop in Austin area. I have just updated my workshop page in my website and I will teach a three-day still life painting workshop at Austin on May 15 - 17, 2009. Please contact Karen Wilkerson at: karenwil@austin.rr.com for detailed information. Thanks.

East Austin Studio Tour

I am sorry for this short short notice. I will show my work at the EAST show this coming weekend. If you are in the Austin area, you are more than welcome to come to my show. I am located at Studio #70: 1406 Smith Rod Ste D. This is my first time to show Giclees of my work. I have not got time paint lately. Every night I was busy stretching canvases and framing. I don't know what I am expecting, but it will be definitely interesting. I am excited about it.

"Sweet and Colorful" --- Sold

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This one shows my typical style of painting if I have one; my typical composition, my typical way of using color, and my typical way of illumination. I remember a master artist has said that a style is the limitation of the artist. I agree. In my art practice, I never deliberately pursue a style. I only know what I like and what I don't like.

"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.

"Orange in Green Light" --- Sold

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Transparent objects like bottles provide great opportunities for putting high chroma colors on a painting. Unlike the opaque objects, the light filtered by the bottle remains high color intensity. In contrast, the light reflected from an opaque object, like the orange, usually gets bleached, and pushing the high chroma color into the area closer to the shadow.... bla, bla, bla.. You know what I mean. I had too much technical junk at work today. My brain has not shifted to the artistic mode yet.

"Go-erds" --- Sold

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"Go-erds" is way to say "gourds" in Deep South. I learned it when I was in Mississippi last month. I really enjoy traveling. It is a good way of learning new things.

2009 Workshop Announcement

I have just updated my workshop page in my website. If you are interested in taking one of my workshops in 2009, please check Here (or click the yellow "Workshop Info" button on the right) and contact the workshop organizers to get detailed information. This is a partial list at this moment. There are still several more in the middle of processing. I will post again when they are ready. I am looking forward to meeting you or seeing you again.

My wife took the photo above when I was teaching a workshop in Mexico in September. I use PowerPoint presentation, painting demo, and individual assistant to make the workshops informative and fun.

"First Orchid" --- Sold

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This is my first try of painting orchid. I had some hard time with it. My palette did not provide the colors I need. I could not mix the purple I want. If you have the experience with orchid painting, please help me out.

"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.

"Demo at Round Rock 3" --- Sold

I have just completed a workshop at Round Rock, TX. I want thank Denise Larue Mahlke and the Art Center at Williamson County for making this workshop possible. I saw quite a few old friends and made many new friends as well. We had wonderful 3 days painting together. Thank you all so much.

This is one of the demos I did on the workshop. It put quite a challenge on me, but it turned out all right. Hope you all like it.