"Bananas" --- Sold

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It is my first time painting a bunch of bananas. I don't know why I didn't paint bananas before. Perhaps I was shy away from the complicated shapes due to difficult perspectives. When I painted this one I was only observe the abstract shapes obtained from measurement. It was chaotic for a while, but it started to make sense after I got the value correct. From my recent small paintings, I try to paint something I have not painted before, or not often. I try to improve my skills to paint new objects.

"We Are Connected" --- Sold

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I don't know if I am right, but I feel high key is more suitable for small paintings. My paintings are predominately low key. I like using dark background and let the center of focus shine. However, I didn't realize the display effects in an actual interior design situation. If I place a small 6" x 6" on the mantle or on a desk, the color (or the value) of the interior surrounding the painting is usually brighter than the painting. Therefore, the small painting looks like a black hole if we don't illuminate it with a designated light. So the environment-to-painting contrast will overwrite the value contrast within the painting. On the other hand, high key painting is definitely has the advantage, because its larger bright and color areas will show the design of the painting more pronouncedly. In addition, colors show better on high key paintings. So the painting can be the center of the interior. I don't know interior design. All the above is my gut feeling. If you have collected my low key small paintings. I recommend you setting up a light for them to show better effect. My today's painting is a high key one. Does it look a little brighter?

"Demo in Austin 4" --- Sold

The second demo was about painting flowers. I feel freer now when I deal with flowers and leaves. Demo is time limited. To complete a painting within two hours is rather hard. After practice, I feel more confident and the painting is getting more complicated as well. Now my second workshop is over. I hope all workshop artists keep practice what we have talked about. I want to see progress showing on the canvases on all of you. Thank you again.

"Demo in Austin 3" --- Sold

My second workshop started today.  I want to thank all the artists for coming. I am very happy to see more and more artists attending my workshop the second and even the third times.  I will try to improve my teaching as much as possible. This is my first demo. I really enjoyed painting the grapes. A cluster of grapes is a type of texture instead of a group of round fruit. I didn't render them one by one, but suggest them by using high lights and silhouette. It was such a fun painting them.

"Demo in Austin 2" --- Sold

Painting a white rose is rather challenging, but it turned out all right. This is my second demo in my Austin workshop. This workshop is over now. I hope all artists who attended have enjoyed those three days. I am taking a break today and tomorrow my second workshop will start. This is my first time piggybacking two workshop together. I am looking forward to seeing how it goes.

"Demo in Austin 1" --- Sold

Today, I started my 3-day workshop in Austin. I want thank all the attending artists. I feel very excited about this workshop. It is the first time we (Song and I) combined organizing and teaching together. I want thank my dear wife Song working very hard putting this workshop together. It is a new milestone in my art career. This is my first demo. The photo is not perfect, but you got the idea.

"Frozen Time" --- Sold

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I got this old alarm clock in Beijing last December. It probably is older than I am. The time has been frozen who knows when. You know this clock did the same thing as I do daily paintings. Part of my motivation of doing daily paintings is to freeze time. Every painting I did recorded my existence at a specific time. Now with this painting, I froze time twice.

"Feeling of the Metals"

I am happy to let you know that I am going to go back to Putney Vermont and teach a 3-day workshop on March 28 to 30, 2012. The workshop location will be at the studio where Richard Schmid and the Putney painters paint regularly. I am so honored to be accepted as part of the Putney painters and teach at this legendary place. This workshop was confirmed not long ago, so we still have a few openings. If you are interested in attending, please contact the workshop organizer Penelope Simpson for detailed information and signing up. I hope to see you in the beautiful Vermont.

My today's painting is 12" x 16" gallery painting. It took me several day to get it done. I really enjoyed the subtle grays on the bronze.

"Alizarin and Viridian" --- Sold

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Newton's First Law says: Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it. This law does not only apply to physics but also apply to daily painting as well. If we keep our painting going regularly, it tends to keep moving. Our job is to be alert to those "external forces". In this modern fast speed world, our life is not very livable any more. The "external forces" are ubiquitous (Gosh! I even can use this word). We have to apply our internal force to balance out and keep the momentum going. It is hard to do, but we don't have a choice.

I did this small painting yesterday, trying to understand the Richard Schmid style.

"Waiting for My Valentine" --- Sold

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If you follow my blog, you may have noticed that the major art activity I promise I will do in a daily bases has been actually missing for almost a month.  That activity is my small daily paintings. Daily painting is the core of my art. But gradually my other art activities have taken over my time. In my mind, it is very clear. I will not give up my daily painting no matter what happens. I know perfectly that without daily painting, I will not have my art today. Now my painting time is getting less and less, but I must keep doing my small dailies. When I started this small rose painting, I was really have no energy, and my mind was blank. But I know firmly: I must paint. So I did. and I am glad I did.

New Workshop Announcement: Fongwei Liu

This wonderful portrait was done by the successful young artist Fongwei Liu. His is exceptionally good so the Academy of Art University in San Francisco hired him to teach oil painting at the graduate level immediately after he received his MFA at the same school. I met Fongwei many years ago and learned a lot from him. If you like to paint portrait and figure, I have a great news for you: Fongwei will coming to Austin in May to teach a 3-day portrait and clothed figure painting workshop. To get more information about this workshop, please check Fongwei's workshop flyer and sign up.

"Qiang's Super Sugar Bowl"

Got up early this morning, drove about five and half hours, I have arrived a small town in East Texas called Mt. Pleasant. I did this demonstration at Mt. Pleasant Art Society. I want thank the Art Society for this opportunity and all the artist friends for coming to see my demo at this Super Bowl Sunday. I spent about two hours on this 12" x 16" canvas. I think I have progressed. For two hours I usually can only do a 6" x 6".

"Old Memories" --- Not for Sale

I haven’t posted for three days. You might think I have fell in a crack somewhere during my travel. Well, I have been back home for several days, but it happened to be that this week is my technical consulting week. I changed my hat and jumped into the morning traffic jam after just a short sleep. I felt like a single actor playing many different roles on this live (or life) stage forgetting totally who I am.

Somehow I couldn’t resume my old routine of working during the daytime and painting at the night. So I didn’t paint for several days. However, I want to keep my painting posts flow, I put one of my older paintings here to share. I did this one when I was in China last November. The flashlight and boxed ink bottle are at least 35 years old. I used them when I was in high school. They brought me so many memories of the old days. I felt I am still the young boy in my mind, but I am very different now. However, those items in the painting haven’t changed much.

"Grandma's Sugar Bowl" --- Sold

Upon workshop artists’ request, I did the third demo. The main object of this demo was a white sugar bowl with gilded gold lines. It was so fun painting it. I felt more at ease dealing with white objects now. I painted the light area of the sugar bowl quite gray, so I have enough value range for high lights. I think I can push the value down even more and still  make the sugar bowl look white. It is amazing how much potentials we have in our painting practices. That is the way we grow.

"Flower of Sacramento" --- Sold

This is my second demo at my Sacramento workshop. I usually be conservative when I do demos. I don't want paint something I have not painted before. But this time is exceptional. I got several branches of camellia outside the art center. I have not painted camellia before, but they are so beautiful and I could not resist the temptation to paint them, even doing this in front of many artists. The result turned to be much better than I thought. I enjoyed it very much. After this demo I have learned that camellia is the city flower of Sacramento.

"Demo at Sacramento 2012_1"

Continuing my travel to the next station, I have arrived at Sacramento and started my workshop teaching at the Capital Art Center at S12. I want to thank Patris Miller for organizing my workshop again. I have met many new friends and feels so good to see many old friends. Thank you all for coming. This is my first demo. I put a lot of gray colors on this one. It was a lot of fun.

"Fruit Conversation"

This is the second 16" x 20" I did in Northern California. My friend Fongwei has many beautiful bronze props.  I enjoyed so much painting them. The subtle greenish color really enhances the dark purple of grapes. Plus the warm orange color of the tangerines, I feel I have heard the chatting among those fruit friends. Similarly I enjoy chatting with you all on the Internet. I am the small grape on the table top.

FYI: Max Ginsburg Workshop in Austin

Master painter and illustrator Max Ginsburg will teach a workshop in Austin, TX on April 2 - 6.  My friend Danny Grant will be the organizer for this workshop. Following is a brief information for this workshop:

Max Ginsburg will teach and demonstrate his unique approach to portrait and figure painting in an intensive 5 day workshop at the Gemini School of Visual Arts just north of Austin, TX. 

Max has had a long career as a commercial illustrator with over 200 book covers under his belt. He has also won many awards for his fine art paintings including Best of Show in this year's Art Renewal Center Salon. In 2011 Max released a retrospective book spanning 50 years of his work coinciding with retrospective shows opening in New York City and Indiana. Max taught for many years at the School for Visual Arts in New York City and continues to give workshops at the Art Students League.

This is an opportunity not to be missed for artists in the Southwest as Max rarely teaches outside of New York City!

Max Ginsburg: Painting From Life in Oil

April 2- 6, 2012

Venue: Gemini School of Visual Art

Contact: Danny Grant

              dannygrant79@yahoo.com

              214-454-2172

Workshop Website: www.maxginsburginaustin.blogspot.com

"The Song of Silence"

Painting still life when moving constantly. It sounds really oxymoron. Well that is my life now, and it will be like this for a while probably. I am learning to adapt this new life. Currently, I am staying with my friend Fongwei Liu in northern California. This is a painting I did in Liu’s studio. I spent two days on this 16” x 20” and plan to send this painting to a gallery.  It feels so good painting together with a good artist. Painting large is very different from painting small paintings. I feel happy I am able to do some gallery level paintings when I am traveling. So I gave a oxymoron title for my today’s painting as well.

"Young Blood"

I was so happy meeting so many young artists at the Putney Painters Show. The artists in this photo are all in their 20th, well except one. From left to right are Tyler Murphy, Daniel Keys, Anna Rose Bain, Ryan Mellody, Michelle Dunaway, me, and Taaron Parsons. It is a great sign for representational art. Thank you Anna for the photo.

With Nancy Guzik

I am sitting at Phoenix airport waiting for my flight to San Francisco. The three day excitement at Scottsdale has not subsided yet. I had an extremely informative several days with this incredible group of artists called the Putney painters, especially Nancy Guzik. I am humbled in front of their remarkable paintings, and learning like sponge. They are wonderful teachers. I watch a few wonderful demos. they are very helpful for the improvement of my art. Besides this marvelous show. I really enjoyed spending some wonderful moments with a few local artist friends. Specially I want thank Li Hua and Mark Mahalik for their hospitality. Li Hua is a fantastic contemporary artist, Please check her website to see her great work. Scottsdale is such a wonderful art center. I will come back in the near future.

"On a Cruise"

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This is a very quick plain air sketch I did when I was on the cruise ship to the Caribbean Sea. I have been watching the recent Italian cruise ship sinking. It is shocking to see the a luxurious vocation turned into a nightmare just like that. So value the time you have. Live well and be careful.

I am on the road again. I will be in Scottsdale attending the Putney painters show at the Legacy Gallery. I am so honored to be part of this wonderful group of painters learning art from Richard Schmid.

"Delicate Grays" --- Sold

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I use this painting to practice the variation of subtle gray colors. The vase and the mug are slightly different in color. I used ultramarine blue, cad orange and white as my core gray and shifted that gray into yellow, blue, and purple by mixing with corresponding colors. I feel satisfied with this one. The value maybe a little dark, but in general I see progress.

In my yesterday's post I mentioned the failure I had. I didn't mean the painting wasn't working, but it was my theory. I thought I could use terre verte and ultramarine violet to mix a purplish gray, but it was not a good choice. The color could not get dark value. Having wrong theories is very common in research. That is why experiments are so important.

“Out of the Shadow" --- Sold

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After several value study exercises, I carefully moving into the domain of color. My main goal is to understand gray. I opened my palette widely and involved quite a few colors I didn't use very often: Transparent Oxide Yellow, Transparent Orange, Terre Verte, Phthalo Turquoise, Raw Umber, and Ultramarine Violet to name some. I theorized models for the color gray, and I used this small painting to test my theory. But I have failed. I need to modify my theory and try again. Now my art has turned into a full blown scientific research. Do I need to write a thesis? Maybe I will.

“Head Study 122611"

This week I didn't paint much, but I did some research on my art. There is so much I don't know in painting, Instead of simply just paint constantly, I need to examine my process to figure out the missing parts. I spent these several days researching on grays. Previously, I figure out several pair of colors I can make grays. This time I made some color charts by tinting different mixtures so I would know their individual characteristics. Next step, I will put those gray charts side by side so I will know their relationships. I feel this rigorous approach is necessary to achieve a true understanding. It will take me some time to finish this research and I will share with you what I have learned.

Since I don't have a recent painting to show, I want to show this head study. I did this one on the cruise ship a half month ago. My portrait painting needs a lot of work too, but let me take care of value and color research first. We must set priorities.

"Get Closer" --- Sold

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Coming back from Houston, I resume my small painting immediately. I know that is the only way I can improve myself in painting. Time will slip out so quick and you MUST grab it with a significant effort. With this painting, I continued on value study. I want make sure I can put high lights on the white vase, and use low values dominantly to paint the white cloth. I think it worked.

Recently, I have noticed some major glitch on my website. My website hosting company said I owe them several hundreds dollars, which I don't think it is right. The Internet is very tricky world. There are wonderful tools, but they are not dependable. So if you see any problems related with my website, please don't be surprised. I am dealing with it now, and I apologize in advance if it causes you any  inconvenience.

"Demo at Houston 2" --- Sold

I came back from Houston last night. This is my second demo at the workshop. This year, I have scheduled far more workshops than I did last year (for a very obvious reason). I need to adapt this new dynamically "nomadic" life style. I don't think I have the luxury of staying in my studio and working on my paintings systematically any more. I have to learn how to regulate a very irregular life and still progress. I wish I could slow down and live a life like the good old days, but I don't see that is possible. I will learn how to stitch all my fragmented time together to make it mean something. It is so ironic that a still life painter is having a very un-stilled life. Hee-Haw!!!

"Demo at Houston 1" --- Sold

After three days of rest, I am traveling again. I am at Houston now teaching a workshop at Houston Civic Art Association. I want to thank Jerrie Powell and HCAA for organizing this workshop together, and thank all the artist friends for attending. This is the demo I did today. I hope you like it.

"Red Balance" --- Sold

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Continuing on value design and fold study. I hardly use any white for painting the table cloth. The illumination of the setup was very warm, so the brightest area on the cloth was pure "naples yellow light" (Winsor & Newton). My goal of this study is to see how dark I can go but still keeping the cloth appearing "white"looking.

"Lonely on the Boat" --- Sold

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For these a couple of months, life to me likes a bowl of Gumbo. There are too many flavors combined. Good and bad things hodgepodged together like mixing too many colors on the palette. You know what it will turn into. I need a break from breaks and be still for a while to let my mind clearing up. I have detoured from my regular painting practice too long. I saw the quality of my art is going down, and it pushes me back almost to the drawing board, literally. Can't wait to be back to my studio.

I did this painting last night. Down to the basics, the value design was my main focus. Improving on painting fabric folds is my second purpose. I feel pretty rusted now, but I will be better after some warming up.