Sahara in blue chiffon

After 8 months of absence, I finally get back to my painting routine again. This is the painting of a young model Sahara. I painted her in one live model session and finished with photo reference. Although I felt rusty when painting her (due to lack of practice), I'm glad I did it.

Mike Plays the Harmonica

The picture was taken during the Oxfam Trailwalker fundraiser event. Mike was playing the harmonica with his band at a local cafe in the Blue Mountains just outside Sydney.

Marianne

This was done in a live model painting session. I was mesmerized by the beautiful costumes Marianne wore that time. To render the light effects on different textures with similar colors was challenging, but the result is satisfying.

Woman in Red

Portrait of a beautiful young woman.

Concentrating

My son was connecting with his friends in U.S. after a long day of sight-seeing in Florence back in the summer of 2012. It was a hot day there so we closed the drapes to keep the room cool since the air conditioner wasn't quite working. I was surprised to find out we had created a very beautiful environment for painting.

Arabian Woman

Another portrait painting that we dressed the model up like the Arabian woman.

Man with headdress

Another portrait painting. I really like the headdress he was wearing and his facial structure. He is a perfect model.

Curly Joy

I have been procrastinating on updating my blog due to my busy school and work schedules. Now we are in 2014 and I want to make sure I have a fresh start with my art career. Sharing the paintings I did in late 2013, it helps me to organize my work better. You can see that I am working on mastering the portrait / figurative domain. This painting has been selected by the Bold Brush Painting Competition FAV 15% in September 2013.

Softness

Another painting to depict the figure in a very dreamy atmosphere.

Spring Show 2013, Winner of the Small Work Award

I was just notified by the Academy of Art Spring Show 2013 that my painting "Docking" was selected for the winner of the MFA small work award. It was a great honor to be a part of this highly-acclaimed Spring Show, let alone be a winner of one of the awards. If you get a chance to visit San Francisco in the next week or 2, feel free to stop by the beautiful Palace of Fine Art and see this wonderful show presented by the best of the students at AAU.

Sandy path

Sometimes I feel I should be more thoughtful on my color choice. All those famous landscape and plein air painters are masters in color. So in this painting, I am really working on the colors to see if I can control the color usage more maturely. What do you think?

Winter storm

Surrender to the power of the mother nature

Bell Tower

The image captured during last year's summer paint-out session organized by CAC, I finally got the chance to paint it in my studio.

That old fence

Now the spring is coming, the field is full of lives and with the sun lit on everything, it's perfect for landscape painting. Love the weather here :) Nowadays I am really focusing on my composition and hope the composition of this painting captures the eyes of the viewers.

CAC "Summer Escapes" Exhibition

My Painting "French Quarter" is currently exhibited at the "Summer Escapes" exhibition organized by California Art Club. This is a fantastic exhibition at the Altadena Town and Country Club in southern California, from May 18 to September 11. I am very excited to be juried into this show. If you happen to travel to LA this summer, please stop by Altadena and view the show.

Waiting

I tried to capture the light effect in this painting - the bright bright sun shined on the horse and dry field. Also I tried to model the horse and the trailer but not over do it. I think it turned out fine :)

Hazy Morning

This is the painting emphasized on the atmosphere -- the hazy morning sun in a dry day. The light was so bright that nobody could stare directly to the scene. I really had fun painting this one as it was really a challenge to my sense of color. I would love to try more of this kind of painting in the future.

One Sunny Day - French Quarter

I did this painting at the end of December when I didn't have to worry about the work. There are so many details in this painting, like the flower pots, the chairs, windows, doors. It's quite different from the plein air painting I used to paint. Rendering those details needs a lot of patience. I also had a good practice of using the green colors. It's a good experience to try something new.