Petal Light III (Finished!)

I stayed up late for three consecutive nights and finally managed to finish this one for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society's Annual Member Show! I am quite happy with the wet-in-wet passage of the big tree stump behind the flower -- but it was absolutely scary when that whole area is wet, and thick pigments of French Ultramarine and Quinacridone Burnt Sienna oozing in amorphous shaped puddles, and I was frenetically trying to lift out some brighter passages within the whole mess of darkness... I did struggle back and forth about whether I should even leave the stump where it is before starting to paint this image -- or whether I should simply remove it and put in more foliage behind the flower. I finally decided the image has enough areas of foliage and the stump could potentially break the monotony of blues and greens, add a little muted warmth to the imagery, and decide to leave it in the picture. To contrast with the detailed flower, I decide to paint the whole area wet-in-wet, using only brushwork to hint the wood grains and rough textures on the bark. I'm really glad that I did it this way -- and on this difficult paper, because it did force me to totally loosen up and break away from my reference photo, and only concentrate on WHAT IS HAPPENING ON MY PAPER to make interesting shapes using light, medium and dark value patterns and warm-cool color contrasts. It is so liberating and I really need to do this many, many, many more times!!!  

Petal Light III, 

Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper,10"h x 14"w, 2012 #50

Buy It Now from My DPW Gallery ($200)

I choose a dark copper-bronze colored frame to echo the warm rusty hue of the tree stump, and deposited the painting at the Rose Shenson Gallery of Triton Art Museum in Santa Clara. The show runs from October 4th to November 3rd, and the opening reception is next Saturday, October 7th from 1:00 pm to 3:30 pm. I will be at the reception. If you are in the area, stop by and say hi! 

Petal Light III, Framed (Frame Size 16"h x 20"w)

Work in Progress: Snow White (and the Huntsman?...) (Conflict of Styles?...)

Have you ever experienced this -- you are looking at a beautiful reference photo, and you have a clear vision of how the painting will turn out. You sit down, start to work on it with a specific technique that you know will work with the imagery and bring out that special "zing" of it. You work more -- and then suddenly you realize a different technique, a different way to deal with the imagery, a completely different vision is taking over and you are torn between the old and the new? What do you do in this situation, my friend? Do you let your initial idea persist and work out the later inspiration in a second attempt of the same reference, or do you let the painting take a life of its own and dictate how it wants to present itself?...

I started this painting of a white rose back lid against a field of dark foliage as an experiment of blending colorful grey on the shadow areas of the petal -- using Permanent Rose, Aureolin Yellow and Cobalt Blue to mix greys with subtle color temperature shifts. I was quite happy about the results of the first few petals on the upper left side, but when I proceed on to the lower right side, I suddenly realize that I am practicing the painting technique I learned in the Amazing Jeannie Vooden's class and directly blending the three primaries on paper and layering them on as glazes instead of finishing each shadow area in one go. Suddenly realizing this could be one of the images of "colorful whites" that I love so much about Jeannie's work, I am eager to try out the technique. Yet as I was taking a break (while waiting the paint to dry, haha, I'm sure I am not the only one who is guilty of doing this) and surfing through the web, I came across one of the amazing images of Ann Pember, one of my favorite flower painters of all times, I was reminded of the beautiful way she paints white flowers -- wetting each shadow shapes separately and use wet-in-wet brush to hint the folds and turns of the petals, finishing each area in one go using high-saturation colors and let them blend on paper. I realized that I've wanted to try this method on for a long time -- and this imagery presents a find opportunity for doing that! Now I am really torn about how to proceed forward... 

Snow White, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 8"h x 10"w, WIP 1

As a result, I put the white rose aside and resumed working on this bird of paradise painting (another one!). It has been a real challenge to work on this Fabriano #140 Cold Press paper -- I like to put on color a bit more thickly than people who does a lot of glazing to build up the color intensity, and as a result, whenever I try to rewet an area to do some detailed work wet-in wet, the underlying layers just lift like crazy. But, the color brilliance that can be obtained on Fabriano paper is just hard to match using Arches. So I am pressing on... (Speaking of enjoying the process versus results, well, while painting on the Fabriano paper I am clearly aiming at the latter instead of fully enjoying the former. Am I bad?...)

Petal Light III, 

Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper, 10"h x 14"w, WIP 4

Speaking of results -- the jurying results were in for the Fremont Art Association's 47th Annual Open Juried Exhibition, and my work, "Peppermint Rose" has won the silver medal of honor in Watermedia! I am so excited... The awards ceremony is this coming Sunday at 1pm. If you are in the bay area and not busy, come by and say hi!...

Peppermint Rose, 

Watercolor on Fabriano Artistico 140# Cold Press Paper, 8"h x 8"w, 2012 #36

Buy It Now from My DPW Gallery ($125)

Here's how this painting looks in its frame -- I chose a simple black frame a little wider than 1" and 2" white mat all around, nothing too fancy to direct viewer's eyes away from the painting...

Peppermint Rose, Framed (Frame Size 12"h x 12"w)

High Summer Dreams III (Deadlines Here I Come...)

I finally manage to finish this and send it off before the deadline today... It was literally painting against the clock. Two down, one to go! I am really hoping to finish another Bird of Paradise painting by next Friday for the Santa Clara Valley Watercolor Society's Annual Member Show...

High Summer Dreams III, 

Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 10"h x 14"w, 2012 #49

Bid at My DPW Auction (Starting Bid $150)

Regarding shows -- it is old news now but my painting "Beauty Queen" is awarded an honorable mention in the Watercolor Artists of Sacramento Horizons' open juried show this year. "Petal Light II" and "Spring Breeze IV" are also juried into this exhibition, which runs through next Saturday, September 29th in Sacramento Fine Arts Center. If you happen to be in the area, stop by and take a look! :-)

Beauty Queen, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 7"h x 5"w, 2012 #41

Buy It Now from My DPW Gallery ($100)

Hide and Seek III (I'm Back!!!......)

Hi everyone! I am finally back from China... It's been a long absence and I've done a bunch of landscape sketches that I am going to share on this blog in the coming days, but for now, I am stressed over two coming deadlines -- one for this Friday and the other one for the coming Saturday, both 11" x 14" bird of paradise paintings (large ones for me). I will post the progress shots along the way, I promise.

I have not been able to manage to paint much during my absence, and when I tried to get back at it -- it's almost like learning everything from start again! (The deadlines surely did not help either...) I found that I am having problems gauging the wetness of the brush, the exact mixture to use for a glaze, and the timing for large, wet-in-wet applications... I've messed up a couple of starts and finally decided to get back into my grooves by redoing "Hide and Seek" as an exercise -- and I do need some pieces for some art fairs and a gallery jurying process coming up in October (again, more details later). I made numerous mistakes painting this one, and was fortunate to be able to catch and correct most of them, and end up with the result that I am quite happy with:

Hide and Seek III

Watercolor on Winsor Netwon140# Cold Press Paper, 10"h x 14"w, 2012 #48

Sold!

I did this version on Winsor & Newton #140 Cold Press Watercolor Paper, and it is a good test for unfamiliar paper as well. I've found the Winsor & Newton paper has a handling quality close to that of the Arches', but slightly easier for lifting, although repeated glazing for too many times may cause paint to bleed on the edge of wet area more easily than Arches as well. The final resulted color on this paper seem to dull down quite a bit, even for high saturation transparent colors like Permanent Rose, which may present a challenge for flower paintings in particular. I will experiment with it more and report it here.

From the juried exhibition front, my painting, "Petal Light #1" was accepted into the Hawaii Watercolor Society's 2012 Open Exhibition. A Fellow DPW painter and blogger, Colleen Sanchez, has selflessly contributed her time and effort helping organizing this fabulous exhibition. Colleen paints amazing watercolor flowers and lately has taken the adventure of oil painting. If you haven't already, be sure to stop by her blog, and I promise you won't be disappointed!

Petal Light #1, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 10"h x 8"w, 2012 #40

I am trying to paint as fast as I can to catch up, and in the same time -- trying to catch up with all the fabulous works you have done during the time I have no access to blogger or facebook. Everyone seems to be really productive -- lots to catch up with...

Sun Dance - Sold, and a Possible New Gallery!

I worked on this painting as my demo in the "Meet the Artists Day" event in Filoli Garden over the weekend, and managed to finish it today. One of the curators of the Filoli "Handcrafted and Through the Lens" show, Teresa Silvestri, who is a wonderful watercolor artist specialized in pet portraits, saw the painting and wanted to have it -- before it was even finished. I was so flattered!... So, when it is finished today, I carefully matted it and put it in a clear bag, drove down to Redwood City where her gallery is to deliver it...

Sun Dance,  Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper , 8"h x 8"w, 2012 # 45

Sold!

You can buy an 8" x 8" Giclee print of this painting from my etsy shop here ($35 + Shipping, limited eidtion of 50): 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/107558595/giclee-print-of-yellow-rose-watercolor?ref=v1_other_2

And today must really be my day, because on top of the instant sale, she invited my to join the co-op gallery she is a member of! The gallery -- Main Gallery of Historical Redwood City, is literally inside one of the oldest buildings in Redwood City, which is a lovely garden house. They have many wonderful creative artists members, but only two watercolor artists and no one specialized in florals, so it is a natural fit! Now I have to really speed up painting some pieces for their holiday show... I will submit five pieces of my work for official jurying process at the end of October. Wish me good luck!

Purple Hibiscus - Sold, and Something I Learned in My First Art Fair

After putting this one aside for a couple of days and work on minor adjustments here and there today, I decided that nothing I do would add to it further, and instead I am just "fiddling", which is a dangerous thing to do and may cause a painting to lose its freshness. So, I signed it, and pulled it from the gatorboard -- another one finished!

Purple Hibiscus, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, 2012 #44

Sold!

I was hoping to get it done before the weekend, but was not able to because I had to do a lot of matting and wrapping for my first art fair event -- the "Meet the Artists Day" event held at the beautiful Filoli Garden. It turned out -- the event was totally worth all the effort! I had a blast meeting all the wonderful artists exhibiting in the same event, learned tons of tips and tricks regarding photographing, printing, making note cards and organizing my exhibition booth/table area. Everybody was very friendly and helpful, and I sold several small pieces of painting, including "Across the Bay"...

Across the Bay, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper , 5"h x 7"w, 2012 #38

Sold!

I made the interesting observation that most of things sold at such art fair events are items that are simple and "painterly" -- most of my paintings that got sold are very simple small landscape pieces. The more complicated flower paintings got lots of compliments, but not purchases. Is it the price? I did notice most of the items sold are below $40 - $50, and it seems anything beyond $100 tag is a hard sell. Or is it the style? Are people looking more at paintings that look more like "paintings" instead of photographs in an event where painters are exhibiting side by side with photographers like this? I am really intrigued. I have two other art fairs coming up in October this year, so I will keep on making my observations. What is your experience? Please share with me!...

Green Orchids - Sold, and Some Good News from Juried Shows!

I have divided my time between this one and the Purple Hibiscus painting, which is also close to finish at this point. After doing several layers of glazes on the flower petals on this one, I realized that the value between my subject and the background is getting very close, therefore the flowers no longer stand out again the background. So -- up goes more darks! I mixed in Brown Madder Alizarin and Alizarin Crimson with Holbein's Undersea Green to create a very thick, creamy mixture and painted it over the left side background, varying the density and color dominations a little to create subtle value changes instead just a monotonous layer of black -- it's hard to see such subtle effects in photos because the value range of CCD cells on most digital cameras are far inferior than the human eye, but when viewed in person, the subtle variations are evident. I was happy with the results and decided not to finesse it any more. So here it is!

Green Orchids, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, 2012 #43

Bid at My DPW Auction (Starting Bid $40)

I've also received some more exciting news from juried shows -- my painting, "High Summer Dream", was accepted into Kentucky Watercolor Society's Aqueous USA 2012 National Juried Exhibition! The Jury this year is Ted Nuttall, an artist I greatly admire. It's a great honor to be selected into a national competition, and it's even more exciting that someone whose art you have looked up to actually awarded you such honor. I am really thrilled...

High Summer Dream, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 10"h x 14"w, 2012 #1

Sold!

Work in Progress: Orchids and Hibiscus

Despite of my best intentions, painting in thin layers of glazes is a process that cannot be hurried, and I am still not very dexterous with painting wet on dry using brush strokes instead of washes. Therefore, contrary to the promise I made on my facebook page, these two little 6" x 6" pieces are still not finished, although promisingly close...

Purple Hibiscus, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, WIP 2

Green Orchids, Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 6"w, WIP 2

Work in Progress: Two Bird of Paradise Paintings (Jungle Fever Continues...)

I did keep my promise and stayed focused, although this newest progress of "Jungle Fire" does not seem to differ too much from my last update, it did take several hours' more work, mostly in the details -- darkening some shadow shapes, lifting soft highlights, cleaning up edges so that there is not a hard line in between various background shapes...  The paper is gradually getting saturated with pigments and now it's time to start that center flower, something I think I have been subconsciously putting off in the fear of ruining the good progress so far... (Here we go again!...)

Jungle Fire,  Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper , 8"h x 10"w, WIP 3

Instead I started the background of another bird of paradise painting. This time, I've kept my initial washes very light and watery, and focused on practicing wet-on-dry applications. The background it actually not painted all at once. Whenever I had to stop, I softened the hard edge after the entire painted shape had dried. When I restart at the adjacent shape, I wet the previously painted shape with clear water and paint with light wash up to the boundary. I am pretty happy with the seamless results. This one looks a bit more airy comparing to "Jungle Fire", which is the effect I am after. We'll see how it goes from here...

Soar,  Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper , 6"h x 6"w, WIP 1

Fire... And Ice! (A New Finished Painting, and Some Progress in the Tropics Series)

Life has been a bit hectic this week... With somebody denting the front fender of my little car, I am running between insurance, car repair and police station, so the painting time get significantly shortened, much to my dismay. I did manage to finish another little landscape piece -- yes, it is a winter scene. Regarding what inspired it? Well, well, this may be a fictitious quote but I'm sure every tour guide here mentions it -- "The coldest winter I ever had was a summer in San Francisco", legend has it, by the famous author Mark Twain, go figure. :-P

Before the Spring Thaw, 

Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper, 6"h x 9"w, 2012 #42

Sold!

(The truth is, I just love painting snow and fog. There a lots of room to play with wet-in-wet to create atmospheric effects in either of those, like the blurred tree line in this little painting...)

I also manage to squeeze out time to attend a one-day workshop with the wonderful artist Jeannie Vodden again, renewing my memory on her signature "multi-colored" glazing method. I promptly tried it out on the progression of my newest bird-of-paradise painting, and loved it! This method gives a little more control than my usual wet-in-wet technique, although it is much slower. Now I just have to figure out how to incorporate both of them into my normal painting procedures to the best final effect... Digesting a newly-learned technique can be confusing at times, especially if you want it to work with your old techniques instead of working against them. But, it's fun! The background is almost finished. I will put in the flowers tomorrow... That is, if I don't get side-tracked by other on-going projects :-P

Jungle Fire,  Watercolor on Arches 140# Cold Press Paper , 8"h x 10"w, WIP 2

Ok, I promise I will be focused...