"Demo at Yardley 2013 1" Sold

I been so busy and not able to get enough time to touch my computer for a several days. My Springfield   workshop went very well. After the workshop I stayed with a friend of mine in the Washington DC area for a day. My friend is an art historian. She wants to spend her ENTIRE life writing only ONE book. This book is SO esoteric that only 6 people in the ENTIRE world will have the interest to read it. Although both of us are in art, but the gap between our opinions is 7.85 trillion light years apart.  But you know what, we had such phenomenal conversation.  We like two aliens from totally different stars, full of curiosity to know the thought of the other species. We don't want to waste any moment for eating and sleeping.

After seeing goodbye to my friend, I rented a car driving through Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and arrived at Yardley Pennsylvania. I taught another 3-day workshop there. I want to thank Susie Morrell and "Artist of Yardley" for organizing this workshop. I want to thank all the attending artists for painting with me. This is my first demo on the workshop (sorry about the photo quality. I lost control sometimes).

The night before the workshop, Susie's family invited me to a great restaurant called "Washington Crossing" for dinner. We were right on the Delaware River. That great painting is hanging there, but I don't know who was the artist.

"Demo at Springfield VA 2013 1" --- Sold

Arrived at Baltimore yesterday, and started teaching at Springfield, VA this morning. I want to thank Susan W. Johnson and Gloria Benedetto for organizing this workshop. I am so excited of meeting all artists attending. After my China trip, I have not painted still life for a while. This is my first demo on the workshop, and it is a warmup for my teaching of this fall

Li River --- Sold

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Continuing posting my plein air painting in China, this one I did at Yangshuo by the side of the Li River. Yangshuo is a small tourist town. It is very westernized, you see English signs all over. We took another ton of photos here. Be sure to check our photo website. It changes everyday.

I am on my way to the Washington DC area tomorrow. I will teach two workshops: one at Springfield VA, and one at Yardley, PA. There are still a couple of opening in my Yardley workshop, please sign up if you are interested in.

Painting in China Photos

One of the artists we went to China together, Beth Bathe, has created a website, such that all the China trip members may post their photos on it to share. Now it has loaded with huge amount of wonderful photographs of this trip, and the number of images is increasing everyday. Many of them can be great reference photos for painting projects. If you want see the photos of our trip, please click: Painting in China Photos. I also created a widget for this link on my blog. If you are interested using the photos in the specific albums for painting, please contact the owner of the albums for permission. It is very exciting to share what we have seen with all of you.

Workshop Announcement

Time goes by so fast. three quarters of the year has passed. I will be on my way of workshop teaching pretty soon.

Having said about workshop teaching, I want remind everybody that Song and I will offer our Austin based painting workshop again at the beautiful Anderson Mill Garden Club on January 7 to 10, 2014. Since I am both the teacher and organizer for this workshop, you may consider this blog post is my official announcement for this workshop. This one will be 4 days. I will cover both still life painting and my recent approaches in landscape painting. Please check Qiang's Austin Workshop for details.

Workshop teaching has been the major part of my art business. I have been doing my best to offer an informative, and easy to follow art education. I am so happy to see so many of you come to my workshops, and many took several times. Now my art is improving, and my business is expanding, but as a good problem, I have been led to a point that my one person operation (plus Song's help) has reach a limit. There are still more I should do, but I am simply out of skills,  time, and energy to do it. Many friends have been giving me suggestions, but I have not taken any significant actions so far. I really need to learn management skills and team up with other smart people to make the art education more effective and accessible, and gain more time to paint for myself. In order to bring art education and services to a higher level. I am looking for people I can team up with. If you have a proposal in the fields of communication (email) management, website and social media, event planning and travel arrangement, video and online education, business management and entrepreneurship, and other improvement you can think of, please contact me. Your proposal does not need to be formal. A simple email will do. But please let me know how to conduct it, and how do we work together. If your proposal is accepted, you will win a free seat at my January workshop stated above as my sincere appreciation. Then we will work together to make the project you proposed beneficial to everybody who needs art and a win-win for both of us.

“Zhouzhuang Reflections" --- Sold

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I put my large painting projects on the back burner, now my today's post is another plein air in Zhouzhuang. This is the third one I did there. My second painting in the village didn't turn out well. On the second day we stayed, we started painting really early, around 6:30 AM. Our jet-lag was advantageous to us this time. It was still very hot and humid, 30 minutes later, we felt we need to take another shower. We picked a very popular sightseeing spot. Well, most beautiful place may not always suitable for painting (my excuse for not being able to paint well that day). In the middle of our painting process, a movie crew came suddenly. The place was packed right away. It was so crowded I couldn't see my scene. So I gave up right there. On the third day, we found a relatively quiet place. Only local villagers are around us, washing their cooking pot and mop in the same water. A group of old ladies was selling dry fish next to me. I felt very well this time, and this painting fell on my panel in a very short time.

"A Boat in Zhouzhuang" --- Sold

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I was planning to show more plein air paintings I did in China, but I decided today to take a detour. I want to update you what I am doing right now after I returned to the States. Based on tons of photos I took in China, I really want to do a few large paintings. Since I don't have enough skills of painting large landscapes. I want to plan my effort prudently. First of all, I want to put color-mixing aside. The major issue of painting large is the design of my brush works, such that I can maintain the energetic painterly effect as I have been showing on my small paintings. I don't want to deal with the color mixing simultaneously. This painting is my small study before I paint large version. Only black and white were used for it. Like in photography, Black & White approach does have its own charm. I feel I am going back history and arrived at the good old days.

"Zhouzhuang Afternoon" --- Sold

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You probably have been sick and tired of my sketches by now. It is time to show some paintings. This is my first plein air painting in China.

It was the third day after we arrived. Our group have just settled in a very elegant hotel in Zhouzhuang. This is a place you see very few foreign visitors. We were given a map of the village, but it is all in Chinese. I had to explain to all team members where we were, and where we would go. Even this high end hotel did not provide ice water. There was a refrigerator in each room, but its temperature had been set too high so the drinks inside were almost the room temperature. It was a hot and super humid afternoon. After taken my third shower of the day, I set up my Open Box M easel right outside of the hotel. It was considered as a demo, but I had no idea what I was doing. In my semi jet-lag sleep, I started to lay my darks. The perspectives were quite challenging (I thought I knew perspective inside out, WRONG!). There was a cat watching me at the beginning, then she got tired of my art and walked away. A street vendor was frying stinky tofu nearby. Perhaps, we were the only plein air painting group in the village (and it was very international). We had attracted quite an attention. Many local villagers and Chinese tourists took pictures of and with us, (as Mickey and Goofy in the Disney World). So we contributed quite a bit as a new attraction point to the Chinese touring industry. I got some comments on my painting. "You do houses all right, but you just don't know how to paint trees" said one of the tourists. Now the cat was back reminded me it should be the time to call it a day.  Many our team members painted as well, and they had done much better jobs than what I did.

Sketch on the way back

After about 30 long hours on the way. We are back to Austin this down. Deadly tired. Using my chopped time on the plane and in the airports, I copied more sketches. I have no control on my life, but I will treasure what I have. Two minutes here and two minutes there form my real art education.

Sketch in Beijing 3

I did more sketches in Beijing. The first one is from a photo I took from Zhouzhuang, and the other one is another copy I did from R. S. Oliver's work. I feel all artists should have adequate drawing skills. sketching is a good exercise and fun activity. Sketching is not only a big help to our paintings, but also a good art form by itself. I will practice this art form for sure.

Sketch in Beijing 2

These two sketches I did plein air at a park in Beijing call "Zi-Zhu-Yuan" (the Purple Bamboo Garden). Now I felt more comfortable to sketch at the site. I have been practicing on what to select and how to control the values to make the sketch more interesting. my pen-and-ink skill is still in the beginning stage, there are more patterns and technique can be added on. Learning is endless. I can't wait to get a mini watercolor set, so I can add water color effect on my sketches.

Sketch in Beijing 1

After the painting trip. I have been staying with my mother. After my father passed away in June, she has lived alone by herself. I try my best to stay with her as much as I can. Two days ago, she did cataract surgery. Everything went well. I am glad I am here to help her when she could not see well. I have not done any painting, but I had some time to think about sketching. During our painting trip, many artists brought their sketch books and portable water color set. I brought a sketch book as well, but I didn't do much. To be honest with you, I have not done enough sketch at the site, so I didn't have a good way to do it. During this time I am at my mom's place, I turned into my study mode again. I studied Robert S. Oliver's approach on sketches, and figured out a way I can effectively sketch the scene I like. This image I show today are two sketched I did. The upper one is from a photo I took from Zhouzhuang, and the lower one is a copy of Robert S. Oliver's work. I have more to show you next time

Farewell Our Painting Trip

Our Plein Air Painting in China trip has ended on September 20. I hope everybody have a safe trip back home. This photo shows the entire group in Zhouzhuang. I am so happy this event was very successful. It is another my dream came true. Very soon, I will plan my future China painting trip and let you know when it is ready.  Song and I will stay in Beijing for another week or so. Due to some technical difficulties I can not see DPW website here in Beijing, so I will hold posting my paintings until I am back to the States. 

Jaywalking in Beijing

This is our team members daring crossing a Beijing street. I don't think in China there is such a thing called Jaywalking. Road crossing needs a special skill of communication subconsciously  between pedestrians and vehicles. Our group learned so quickly, but I love everybody's expression in this photo.

Ladies in the Forbidden City

We visited the Forbidden City and ran into these two lovely ladies in beautiful dresses of the former Qing Dynasty. I think this photo will make a wonderful painting.

We are on the Great Wall

We have arrived at Beijing. It was a great challenge and test to our physical condition, and we appreciate more to the people who built it more than 2000 years ago.

An Old Fisherman

 

On the cruise ship from Guilin to Yangshuo, I spotted this old fisherman in the Li River.

Yu Long River

On our way to an old village, we got lost. I decided letting everybody get off the bus and give some time for the driver to figure out how to get our destination. I am so happy we got off. We were close to a bridge on the beautiful Yu Long river, and got the best location to photograph the rafts on the river. This is one of my shot. I am so glad we got lost in China.

On a Guilin Street

After a significant delay due to a heavy thunder storm in Shanghai, we arrived at Guilin almost 3:00 AM in the morning. Now we are in South China. Before we adventure more I shot this photo under the bright mid day sun. They paved the road with black marble, and used umbrellas to shade the sun light. There is no single drop of water in the scene. I can name this gendra (spelling? I mean the type of art) "sunny rain scape".

The beauty of Zhouzhuang

Zhouzhuang is incredibly beautiful. This is one of my photos. I am speechless here.  I wish I can stay for more days.

Painting in Zhouzhuang

We are in Zhouzhang for 3 days now. Every angle you will see a good painting. It has been very hot and humid here, but everybody were inspired by the beautiful scenes all over. We started our painting day at 6:00 AM. We are so enjoying here. I have no time for the Internet. Time goes by so fast.

The plein air painting in China team

All together our plein air painting in China team have 15 people coming from Australia, the Philippines, and the USA (Alabama, California, Florida, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Texas). The first day we spent in Shanghai sightseeing. We have visited the Shanghai Museum, the waterfront of the Huang Po river, a silk factory to see silk production process, and the Yu Garden. I also went to the local art supply store and get some odorless turp. It was a long day. This is our partial group photo in front of the Shanghai Museum. 

Good Morning Shanghai

I have arrived at Shanghai yesterday afternoon. The hotel is wonderful and the food is excellent. Due to the jet lag (11 hours time difference), I got up this morning about 4:30 AM. Shanghai is a big big city of 22 million people. There are about 6000 skyscrapers. When the sun just rises, I took this shot. Good morning Shanghai. All the members of our painting team arrived safely. the wonderful trip is starting right now.

"Pot and Pears" --- Sold

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This is the last painting I post before I get on my international flight for China. I did it with my Austin group. I kept the setup simple so the students can follow me easily.

Tomorrow I will step into something brand new. We have a wonderful group of 15 artists from the USA, Australia, and the Philippines. We will sketch, paint, and sightsee four places in China. During this trip, I will keep my blog and postcard going and share what I see and do. Please take a ride with me. The excitement will start soon.

"Tibor Nagy Study 3"

This period of study will end soon. I try my best to learn more with every minute I have. This is my third effort of studying Tibor Nagy's design. The difference of this one is its size. This one is 12" x 16", a relatively large painting. I used very large brushes to do this. In addition, it is combination of acrylic and oil. I did the transparent under painting with acrylic burnt umber, then used oil for the details and large opaque shapes. The advantage of using acrylic is it dries so fast. You can put oil on top without picking the underpainting color in a very short time.

" Demo: Delicate Porcelain" --- Sold

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I did this painting as a demo for my Austin mentor group. I also took a set of photos to show a step by step painting process. Those photos will be published with an article on one of the main steam art magazines. Since it is still early, I don't have enough information. I will let you know when I have the publishing date and where you can get this magazine. It was fun painting this antique porcelain pot.

By the way, my blog gadget for signing up for my painting emails seems working now.

"Back to School" --- Sold

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Today is a very special day to our family. Our son Jonathan has started his college life. Song and I know that we will be empty nesters, but we didn't realize it comes so soon. Jonathan is only 16. He has enrolled into a special high school program called "TAMS" (Texas Academy of Science and Mathematics) run by the University of Northern Texas. Although he is still a high school student, but all the courses he will take will be college level offered by university professors. We drove 4 hours to Denton, TX, and got him moved in. Our baby boy now has left home. It is a very special kind of feeling in my heart. I still remember the day I left my parents. My father removed his watch and gave it to me. I suddenly realized that I was no longer a kid any more. At that time, watches were expensive and they were only for adults. I left home, and moved far far away. I hope Jonathan will come home more often, no matter where he goes.

My today's painting is from a photo I took in San Francisco last July. A group of young AAU students were waiting for the school bus to come. I hope some of the AAU folks can see this image. They will relate to the scene immediately. It happens every morning of a regular school days. I remember I was so concentrated taking pictures. After I got the one I felt satisfied, I suddenly found out, the bus I supposed to take had long gone.

"Muni in San Francisco" --- Sold

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It has been a year since I stayed in San Francisco attending AAU. That time my dorm was in downtown near the Union Squire, but the Painting studio was near the Fisherman's Wharf. Most of the time I rode the school bus commuting from one place to another, but occasionally, I travel by MUNI (the public transportation in SF). I specifically like the trolly. The old fashion one is the best.

This painting is reminiscing my good time there last summer. I really enjoyed painting it.

Issues About My Painting Emails

Many artist friends subscribe my painting emails. It has been working pretty well since I established this function when I started my blog in 2007. I was using "Google Groups" to store my email list. However recently, Google has "upgraded" the "Google Groups", but my gadget for subscription on my blog can not work anymore. I tried to fix the problem, but I can't find any solutions online, and I can't find any tech support from Google. So I give up. If you are currently receiving my painting emails, there is no change for you, you will still receive my email as usual.

If you currently are not on my mailing list and want to sign up. I have just started a new group using the "Feedburner". You will receive my painting images and my writing synced with my blog, but the format may look different from my "Google Groups" emails.

If some of you are savvy about "Google Groups", please help me. I wish life can be simpler, and I just want to paint. Sigh!!!!!

"Ikebana Doll" --- Sold

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I painted this painting this morning with a group of artists I am mentoring in Austin. One of students is passionately in love with Ikebana (Japanese flower arranging). She brought a set of special ikebana items for our today's project. I put this small Japanese doll in the setup to create the center of focus. This class was full of laughters. You may have the similar experience: if you are not portrait painter, the face you paint would highly possible to look like yourself. That was exactly happened today. All the dolls my students painted were cute self portraits of themselves. We all had so much fun today. Can anybody tell me why this happens?