"Green Supporting" --- Sold

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More leaf paintings and more leaves on the painting. I can paint leaves faster now. I still limited my attention to the shapes and values. I touched base of edges a little. Colors and paint quality still needs much more improvement.

"Covering Up" --- Sold

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I resume my small painting again and continue working on leaves. I start to pay attention on stems too. The shape variation of the design makes the painting more dramatic. The leaves and stems provide opportunities to achieve this shape variation. I am on the right track, I think.

"Demo at Newport 1"

Except issues with a pair of broken glasses, an expired driver’s license, and a few of Internet problems, I came back to Austin with a very success trip in New England. This painting is my first demo at my Newport workshop. I really want to thank Mrs. Judy Chaves for her wonderful job of organizing this workshop. I really enjoyed meeting a group of wonderful New England painters. I am sorry for posting painting on this workshop so late. I forgot to photograph them in time. If you have bought my demo paintings at this workshop, would you please take pictures of them and send the images to me so I can share them in this blog? Thanks.

"New England Forest"

After we met Richard and Nancy, my family arrived at Boston. We stayed with my friend there. They just moved into a new house, but there was no Internet yet. So I was out of touch for several days. I did this quick sketch at their backyard. You may see Richard’s influence on me right away. The painting needs more enrichment at the center of focus. I will get there after some practice. This style of painting is not what I used to do, but I feel comfortable with it. I feel confident I will get there soon.

Knocking on Master's Door

In the legendary Chinese martial art (or Kungfu) history, there were full of stories of how sincere novices approaching masters with courage and tenacity. The mentoring of the great masters significantly accelerated the growth of their disciples. I don’t know any martial art, but I admire the spirit. To bring my art to the next level, I want to learn from the best artists. After a long hesitation, I finally gathered enough courage. I knocked on the door of Richard Schmid and Nancy Guzik.

This is a remarkable milestone. On June 19, 2010 I had the great honor and met Richard and Nancy in Putney Vermont. We had a wonderful day together. My wife Song modeled to the masters. Richard and Nancy are so kind and given. I was so thrilled beyond any words can express. I wish I could articulate better, but I will show my appreciation by demonstrating improvement in my paintings. I can’t wait to come back to Vermont to learn a great amount.

I also met quite a few other great Vermont artists. I felt so lucky. Thank you all.

Yale University

We arrived at New Haven, CT yesterday. This morning we toured the Yale University. This trip will give Jonathan the first impression of several famous schools.

Cape Cod MA

Now, it is wonderful time to have a vocation in New England. The tourist season has not officially started yet, but the weather is great. Lodging is easy and cheap. No problem to find parking. I am in Cape Cod at this moment and feel great.

If you have purchased my paintings and filters this week, please forgive me that I cannot ship them to you right now. I will do that right away after I return home.

Newport RI

Right now, I am in a super beautiful place: Newport RI. There are so many good looking houses here. Oh! I think they are called mansions. I guess I have to sell more paintings so someday I can l buy one of them, but I am concerned. It will be too hard for Song to keep it clean.

"Nice Hairdo" --- Sold

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I am keeping work on the leaves. This one took less time than the previous one. That was a kind of progress, wasn’t it? I will continue working on different leaf pattern designs until I can manage to create adequate amount of drama I’d like to have.

"Full Moon" --- Sold

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I was really working on these leaves today. I usually pay less attention on leaves because they are considered as secondary supportive items, so I used more abstract approaches to paint them. It was all right doing that when I had a handful dealing with composition and center of focus. However, after I became more comfortable with the fundamentals, leaves have started capturing my attention. The variety of their shapes creates very dramatic effects. They provide endless design opportunities. They look casual and trivial, but they are pretty hard to paint.

"In and Out" --- Slod

I spent two mornings on this gallery painting. From the OPA show, I brought back some medium samples from Gamblin. I did an experiment on this painting. Instead of linseed oil, I used “Galkyd Lite” to coat my canvas before I paint. It felt OK, but the painting turned to a very “matted” look on the second day. I don’t quite like it, and I had really a hard time to photograph the painting. If you use Gamblin medium, would you please let me know how and why you use them. Thanks.

In my previous post, I asked questions about Facebook. I got many feedbacks. Most People who answered me considered Facebook is waist of time, and blogs are much better tools for artists. Thanks for your feedbacks. I will not spend much time to explore Facebook any more.

"Copper Cup and Oranges"

I spent all day yesterday and did this gallery painting. As matter of fact, I did this one on top of an old demo painting. I seldom work on my old paintings before because my mood has been changed from the early time. However, I think it is good exercise to paint the same painting twice. I can see what I did wrong earlier, and make the painting to the higher level.
Thanks to my Facebook friends for the happy birthday notes to me. At this very moment, Song and Jonathan are baking the birthday cake for me. Nowadays, Facebook became so popular. I have a Facebook account, but I am not active at all with it. I think my blog is adequate for me. However, I am really curious if I have missed something important if I do not facebook. If you really Facebook savvy and benefit a lot from it, I would appreciate greatly if you can share with me, and show me some tips. Thanks.

"Lou Neff Point"

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I painted with the PAA group yesterday at the downtown Austin. I felt good painting together with a few friends and weather was great too. However, my painting today taught me something. To be honest with you, this is not the type of painting I would like to paint. I always like to have something identifiable as a focal point. However, this one does not have one. I think it is the issue (if I don’t call it a problem) of the plein air painting. When the beauty of the scene in front of me cannot be represented by one or a small group of objects, I will have a hard time to make a painting work. Although it is not ideal, I still enjoyed the experience. It is good exercise on the color study; I got better paint quality as well.

"Highland Lakes Marina" --- Sold

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I went to a marina this morning and did my second plein air boat painting. It was a great day, plenty of sunshine with no wind. My color got improved a little, but I still went through a quite struggle. Somehow, I can’t paint thick with my plain air so far. I think it is because I am not certain with what color I should use. I did a lot of blending and smearing, which I know I should not do. Well that is part of the learning curve.

"Painter's Gadgets" --- Sold

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I continue working on my grays. I have a long way to go.

"Fixing Everything" --- Sold

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“If you have WD-40, you can fix everything.” I don’t remember where I heard this saying, but it is definitely very handy for most of people who like to working on cars or anything mechanical. I am not a very handy person, but I do have the wishful thinking that there is something existing that can eliminate all problems in the world. We have too many problems, especially now. Well, let us keep our wishes in dreams, and confront our everyday challenges face to face. For my today’s painting, I included the WD-40 as a carrier of blue and yellow. Different from my usual flower and fruit paintings, this one has more interesting shapes and designs. I spent much longer time setting it up, and really enjoyed painting it. Whether or not this type of painting has a market, I am curious. I put this WD-40 into the test, and see if it can fix a problem in art.

"Distorted Mirror" --- Sold

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Recently, you have seen so many my demo and plein air paintings. However, painting small still life, which is the center of my art, has been neglected for a while. I finally freed some of my evenings, and resumed small paintings. I hope it is the sign that my life has started to be normalized. In this painting, I focused on doing the reflections on the steel cup. The distorted image of the apple makes an interesting shape. It is completely different from the apple itself. This makes me think. In our minds, the images of ourselves are usually formed from the reflections of the world. They are often distorted. We should always maintain a balance mind no matter how good or bad we think we are.

"Morning at Marina"

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I had another wonderful plein air day today. It was my first time painting boats from live, and it was also my first time using wide panorama format. I still feel clumsy of using grays. It will take me a while to develop the sensitivity. At least I feel I know what I am doing. This marina is only 5 minutes from my home. I will go there more often doing more boats.

Demo at LSAG 2010 Convention

Last Friday evening, in pouring rain, I was on the road again. We travel to Conroe, TX attending the Lone Star Art Guild 2010 Convention. I did this demo in front of a large crowd. I had a relatively large canvas this time as well, but I have only two hours. I didn’t cover the canvas completely, but I kind of like the spontaneous look of the painting.

"Chapel Dulcinea" --- Sold

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When I was in Scottsdale, AZ, my friend Li and Mark told me that there is beautiful place in south Austin called Chapel Dulcinea. Coincidently, the local Plein Air Austin group had a paint out there this morning. I went out with them and did this small oil sketch. The weather was great. I had a wonderful time. I started to have some feelings about plein air painting now. My value range is improving. My colors are more under control. The paint quality has not reach to the level I like yet, but it is getting closer. In a nutshell, I feel good about this one.

"A New Drink" --- Sold

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With one tomato, three quarters of an orange, and a bottle of beer, can we make a good drink out of those? Maybe, maybe not. My life is kind of like this. I am doing several things, which are completely unrelated to each other. I draw myself pretty thin now. My eBay store is very empty; I am behind on gallery paintings. I am flying all over the places. Some time I woke up in the morning, and couldn’t figure out where I was. On our company meetings, I felt really odd that I still blurted out gobbledygook that sounded technical. Many people told me that I have a wonderful problem. Well it is a problem for sure. I am learning really hard to manage my life. At this moment, I am still a lousy manager. It might take me while to go through the learn curve. My art will definitely suffer during this period, but please hang in there with me. In my technical career, I have learned the hard way. I have understood now that I must be an entrepreneur to survive in this money driven culture. Being talented can be a curse if you are not careful.

"Wild Texas Beauty"

Different from most of my workshops, I did not do a demo of painting roses this time. I was so overwhelmed by the beauty of wild flowers around me. I got a handful of Indian Blanket and Coreopsis. Without much of adjustment, this composition came out naturally. I had a great time painting this one. Submerged in all kinds of colors in the wild Texas hill country, I feel we are so blessed. We do not need to travel long to find beauty. The beautiful flowers are everywhere. They are free, and they are priceless.

"Demo at Wenmohs Ranch 1" --- Traded

This is my first demo at the Wenmohs Ranch. I want to thank Dena Wenmohs for organizing this wonderful event. I met many new friends and saw a few old friends as well. When I did this painting, I enjoyed so much of the vibrant red color when light transmitted through the grape fruit.

"Wild flowers at Wenmohs Ranch"

I am in the beautiful Texas hill country. The Wenmohs Ranch is very large and full of wild flowers. After the class today, we did a hike in the wild. Under the late afternoon sun, the scene is just incredibly beautiful.

"With David Leffel at OPA"

I am sorry I don’t have a painting to show you today. I just came back from the OPA National Show at midnight yesterday. It was a great event. I was so excited meeting and seeing so many great artists. The photo above showing I was with the still life painting master David Leffel. I am very grateful to have David as my teacher. I did not win anything this time, but I am very happy that my painting was sold right away at the reception night. I learned a lot this time from observing great paintings, watching masters demos, and discussion with other artists. It was a quite phenomenal and inspirational event.

I went to work as a regular engineer today, but tomorrow I will be on my way to the Texas hill country. I will teach a painting workshop at Cypress Creek, TX starting on Wednesday.

"Superstition Mountain, AZ"

I arrived at Scottsdale Yesterday morning. My friend Li picked me up, and then we did some sightseeing. The beauty of the desert stunned me. This is the Superstition Mountain. I am bewitched, couldn’t move and turned into a saguaro.

"Cantaloupe Glow"

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I did this gallery level painting over the weekend. Somehow recently, I really enjoy using the complete dark background. The glowing warm colors show my passion about life. As a matter of fact, my life lately is rather chaotic. I got disorientated with my multi-tasking business, and tried my best to manage all aspects to make sure nothing was falling apart. Oh boy! It is rather hard. But I am hanging in there. I like what Beethoven had said: “I will seize Fate by the throat. It will not wholly conquer me! Oh, how beautiful it is to live - and live a thousand times over!”

I will go to Scottsdale, AZ this Thursday, and attend this year’s OPA National.

"Demo at Las Cruces 2" --- Sold

It was so much fun doing this demo. You probably have seen many of my demo paintings now. I usually am conservative when I do demos. I want to make sure that I do not run into unexpected difficulties that not only make me struggle but also waist other people’s time. For this one I went out my comfort zone a little. I placed an old book in this one so I was able to show students how I measure and make the perspective correctly. I haven’t painted many old books before, so I hesitated a little. But it turned out good, and it surely was an enjoyment.

"House in Austin 2"

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I took this morning off, from both my art and engineering. It was a perfect morning for plein air, beautiful weather and no wind. but …… I didn’t paint. having been working my two professions for a long while; I did feel a little tired mentally. Coming back from my workshop trip, I went immediately to my lab and had a long day with lasers and lenses yesterday. So I want to do something else today. About four months ago, we bought 2 acres in the Texas hill country. It is about 20 minutes drive from our home. So I went to this country land this morning. Chainsaw in my hand, I worked my butt off cutting down old cedar trees. You know I am not in good shape. Not for too long, I was exhausted physically. Panting and sweating, I crashed by a small creek. Hearing the water gurgling down. Men! I felt sooooo good. The simplest life is the best. To make myself not feel too guilty for not painting, I post this plein air I did about a week ago. I was so busy, and didn't get chance to show it earlier.

"Demo at Las Cruces 1" --- Sold

I came back from New Mexico last night. I had another successful workshop. Mrs. Julie Oliver did a great job of putting this workshop together. I would like to thank her and all the workshop attendees. I had a wonderful time in Las Cruces. I enjoy the mountains and openness of the south New Mexico. I am really lucky that the workshop I taught gave me opportunity of traveling to many new places. I spent some time in the White Sand before capturing my flight back at El Paso. The beauty of the desert has blown me away.