6"x12", oil on canvas board

"Free- Out of Box"

                                                                                                   48"x24", oil on canvas over panel, Diptych

                                                                                               

This Morning, I found that I won the first place for the monthly challenge of Contemporary Fine International . Yeah!! 

http://www.cfai.co/art-challenge-july-2012-freedom/

"Daisies II"

 "Daisies II"
4"x4", oil on gessobord

This painting took little longer. Because there was a little commotion between the yellow daisy and the white flower in front.
    I had to calm them down by acknowledging both are queens.
    One is a queen of England, the other, queen of Scotland.

"Daisies I "

"Daisies I "
4"x4", oil on gessobord

 I must like flowers.
Painting flowers on the small panel is so much "FUN"!
    Like cool breeze in the summer evening.

"Summer Pink II "

Pink roses in my garden
5"x7", oil on gessobord

"Summer Pink "

 "Summer Pink "
4"x4", oil on gessobord

It is season for the roses.
These are from my garden.
Roses are so gorgeous and easy to grow.
They love long and hot sun light in the summer.

"Head Study 10"

"Frank"
6"x6", oil on gessobord

For this portrait, more time and effort went into the background design and the composition. 

I like to show the character of the person through the whole painting with composition, design 

not only with the head.

"Red Flowers in Blue "

 "Red Flowers in Blue "
6"x8", oil on canvas board
 NFS
 My effort to give abstract quality to the plain still life.

"Jennifer_ Head Study 9"

I am happy that this painting is done spontaneously. No over working. This is from the Mugshots. She looks young and innocent. I like to paint beautiful girls. Next time I will choose a psychedelic looking guy.


  6"x6", oil on gessobord

                                                    (Ref Mugshot for this painting)

" Head Study 8"

6"x6", oil on gessobord

I am working on the composition for the whole picture plane with a head vs. just painting a head.
I want to see where this attempt lead me.

                                                   (Ref Mugshot for this painting)

" Head Study 7"

From a mugshot
6"x6", oil on gessobord

" Tearful"-Head Study 6

 " Tearful"
6"x6", oil on gessobord

I did this painting from the mugshot in the web.
She seems so regretful of whole incident.

                                                                                                                                       

( Ref-mugshot for this painting)

" More Spring Flowers"

 " More Spring Flowers"
6"x6", oil on gesso board

I picked more flowers from the hillside today.

\

"Wild Sun Flower"

 "Wild Sun Flower"
4"x4", oil on gesso board

Springtime...
Wild sunflowers started blooming along side of the hills. I always tempted to pick one while I walk with my playful puppies.

"Daisies in a Cup"

Daisies in a Cup
6"x6", oil on gesso board

This painting is done with the palette knife a few weeks ago. 

I was able to scan this painting since the painting has dried up. 

I am happy with scanning the painting rather than shooting with the camera, it gives a lot more close to the the true color of the painting, also no distortion of the size.

"Head Study 5-Basquiat"

Recently I was introduced to Jean-Michel Basquiat.
I am so intrigued by his work and his life. ..

Basquiat:A Quik Killing in Art
6"x6", oil on gesso board

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                 Reference Photos of Basquiat for this painting

                       

by Jean-Michel Basquiat

                                                                                                                                                t

                                                                           

"Objet d'Art"

 "Objet d'Art"
12"x12", oil on Canvas

This is a painting I did last Fall for the oil painting class at Pierce College.
Objective of this assignment was to intrigue the viewer and create the impact with a painting from a plain, ordinary object... not looking as random or insignificant, but awesome, intriguing, powerful, and  precious.
These are just plain oranges and a a new 12x12 cotton canvas.
I put them close together barely touching each other, to create the visual tension.  The canvas was new, still wrapped with clear plastic. It creates the reflective surface.
Canvas and oranges are just usual objects.
But in this painting, these two plain objects, a canvas and oranges, looking awesome.

This painting  was chosen for the student show for the gallery, making me so happy!

"Yellow Lyrics "

7"x5", oil on Canvas panel

.....I wrote a song for you,
And all the things you do,
And it was called "Yellow"
So then I took my turn,
Oh what a thing to have done,
And it was all "Yellow.".......
-COLDPLAY LYRICS

"White Roses"

6"x6", oil on gesso board

Another painting of roses...I picked some white roses from the side walk bushes while I was walking my pups. I really wanted to paint roses real simple and suggestive... loose, no hard edges... Not to get lost in their complicated pedals. Still I got allured again.
Finally wind calmed down. I am looking forward springtime, then summer....


PS. I am having a hard time to get the correct color for last two posts. They are too green. I am reposting. If you get double posting in your Inbox.. I apologize.


click here to purchase

"Two Yellow Roses"

6"x6", oil on gesso board

Finally, my first small painting of 2012.

I wanted paint quickly with fewer strokes as possible. Fresh start... but it turned out to be rather labored. These are yellow climbing roses from my winter garden. Even through the hash wind and cold weather still there are some blossoms.

 It is so windy during winter monthes here. These homes are built on the hill. The speed of wind today was 60ml/hr. 

I call it "Wuthering Heights". 

"Head Study 4"

Daniella
 6"x6", oil on gesso board

I am enjoying young people at the college. They are like humming birds in the fresh air.
I met Daniella at Pierce college art class I am taking this Fall. She is only 19 yrs old and so beautiful.
I thought I will do a quick study of her from a photo which I took.
Well! so much of quick study!
I was repainting over and over to capture my impression of her.  It is  almost impossible to capture just the essence  from the photograph without  copying the photo..
I had to stop here before I totaly scrub off  whole paiting out of  my frustration. At least I have something to revisit later to see what I was trying to achieve from this study.

"Head Study 3"

Pissed Off
 6"x6", oil on gesso board


I did this painting last week, but didn't shoot till today.
This painting is done from a woman's mugshot, looking very pissed off.
I am not sure that she is a celebrity or not. Maybe she is.....

I signed up some art classes at nearby community college: Oil painting and Print Making. The Fall term  started two weeks ago, keeping  me very busy. Also signed up Boot Camp style  exercise program. Boot camp is Monday through Thursday, from 5:15 till 6:30. This program is a merciless real killer.  Through oil painting class, I am learning how to build the canvas from the scratch. Go to Home Depot, get the materials for stretcher bars, learn  how to cut the bars, stretch canvas on the frame, prepare canvas with gesso .....

I get more fit and stronger and paint till 100 years old!!
Sounds like a good plan?

"Head Study 2"

The Girl with the Flaxen Hair
 6"x6", oil on gesso board

Step 1

 The reason why I chose to paint this girl was her dazzling smile .
That dazzle impressed me didn't get capture yet.

Step 2
I worked more on the painting.
The reference  image I was using to start this painting has disappeared.
I had to work out of my memory. I was so afraid working without reference,though.
I prefer the earlier painting for it's spontaneity.

"Head Study1_ Defiance"

"Defiance"
6"x6", oil on gesso board

Here is "Head Study 1

This is from a model-mugshot. I see the defiance in her expression. I wonder any body could tell who she is.
I realized that there are endless supply of mug shots. It will be interesting to see how my way of painting evolves. I like to get much more bold and expressive.
I am thinking about to focus onto one subject matter. Maybe Head studies...... a small size painting a day, so call, Daily Painting.

So far,I couldn't  post every day.
Often I  take too long to figure out the subject and setting up and lighting.
If I eliminate those prep time to slow me down.....

I  always thought I have to paint from the real setting to do good painting: actual setup for Still life painting, outdoor trip for Pleinair painting, live models for figurative works.....
Recently, I did some head paintings from photograph. It was not that bad as I thought.
I have more fun to do human head than still life. There are emotions and expressions to pull out even from the bad photos.

"Tomato and Knife II"

 "Tomato and Knife II"
7"x5", oil on Canvas board

I am trying to paint with more paint on the brush lately.
It requires a commitment. Instead of layering with thin paints or picking up the the color from here and there on the palette, I have to mix certain amount of paints to be able to load the brush.
It frees me from getting into too much details, giving the life to the painting. Also I like the interesting edges happening naturally.

This the second painting of "Tomato and Knife" for me. Since one is sold through DPW Action recently, I decided do another one.
Definitely, "Tomato and Knife" is DiebenKorn inspired subject.
His tomato paintings are looking like he just slopped down the paints in 5 minutes. But when I examined his paintings, I realized how accurate his observation is and .......his compositions!!
How could I be bold and confident as he is!
He is one of the artist I admire most. I am so amazed by all of his works!!

"Girl with Red Hat"

6"x6", oil on gesso board

NFS

"Stock Plunge"

6"x6", oil on gesso board -NFS

This is the image of a trader on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on the day of the stock market falling from LA Times on Aug 5.
I thought the diagonals with the expression of the shock in the image works together perfect. It is not my own shot but  I wanted to regenerated into a  painting for the sake of fun and learning.
I painted the  whole surface with red to begin with and kept red showing through to exaggerate the panic.

"Roses in My Mug"

6"x6", oil on gesso board

This week's DPW Challenge is to paint my mug.
I am surrounded by white roses in my neighborhood and I can't stay away from them. So roses in my big blue mug...

Recently, I am searching what I am inclined to paint and how I create the painting from them.
I have been painting under the art direction for 20 years in animation studios since I graduated from ACCD.
I don't have my favorite way of painting.
Each movie has a different artistic style and the artist has to paint what was required.

Now my heart is my art director.
One thing I know about my self is I like to have the spontaneity, some spirit and emotion in my painting. Also I like to go beyond just depicting how they look. 

This painting is available for purchase.
Bid at DPW auction:
http://www.dailypaintworks.com/Buy/Auctions
Or buy direct here:

"White Roses"

6"x6", oil on gesso board

This painting is available for purchase.

"Peach Tree"

7"x5", oil on Canvas board
$100

This is a peach tree in my back yard. This tree bears the most delicious peaches.
I share the peaches with birds,squirrels and my neighbors. Sometimes I have to be fast to pick them before birds put the marks on them.
All the peaches are gone now. All leaves!!
I did this painting to enter the DPW Challenge. It has rules of using limited palette (Ultra Blue, Cad Yellow Med (or Lt), Cad Rd Lt and white) and painting time to one hour. It was not easy to get subtle temperature change in Greens since UMB is warm blue.
Well painting time is limited to an hour, I couldn't be fussy much.
Photography didn't help me either to show cooler colors at the bottom part of painting. This is Early summer. Every thing in my garden has fresh greens. This palette might be very good to use for fall season even though we don't have much of fall color in Los Angeles, CA.