A Little story behind the Blue & White Porcelain paintings.

This is a blog I wrote about two years ago. I copy and paste it there so I can continue document this story.


After moving into our new home in IN from CT, we practically had nothing in the empty space, even just a chair to sit. We've been world travelers. Months staying here and another half a year staying there. So it wasn't been a major issue for us to pretty up the house in a matter of a few  weeks, or, years.

But gradually we've been making progress. Firstly, my husband decided the new carpet the previous owners put just for the sale, was not ideal for a family like us, especially with a crawling baby. So he managed to put down nice-looking bamboo flooring on the 1st floor, all by himself! Not to mention that we had a major water-leak last year that the bamboo floor had to be destroyed to reach that leaking pipe under the ground! Thus he did it again, bamboo floor came back!

The picture was taken when we put down the floor the first time. Angie had just managed crawling!


Last year my dear husband decided on getting these navy blue coaches. I am not crazy about the color blue, especially when it comes to home deco. But since this is his handsfull times of choosing a home item, I will let them in. LoL. 

So it's my job to work out a theme around these blue coaches. This is how it looks now a days. 


That Christmas tree seems being there forever. We left the house after New Year 2011 and thus it has being there ever since then! ^0^

The mirror on the mantle is from an old dresser I found at goodwill. I refinished it and it looks like it is meant to be there!  I painted two sides of the walls a pale blue-ish gray, while leaving the window side white. This wall is leading to the dining room and kitchen where the blue color theme wouldn't be continued. So I decided to coordinate the blue with a blue & white curtain. Seems like it works.

Then I feel it looks kinda cold during winter time, so I added a little pop of red. The 3 tiny paintings are my works from about 10 years ago. Abstract botanical. I didn't go that direction for long so now it is a piece of history of me. 


Now it comes the real story. My Blue & white Porcelain paintings.

There is a popular show in China that people brought their collections of acient good to the expert to evaluate. It always comes out that a single tea pot cost millions of RMB. It's not their market value that desires me, but the shapes,  patterns, and the colors that our ancestors had created. And I felt our living room is the perfect enviroment to show my appreciation.

I am by no means have access to any of those valuable pieces. All the images I work from are from the internet. Thanks to modern technology!

So this is the first piece I did.


It turned out nothing like what I had in mind. I want it something
 calm, quite and timeless that's showing through these truly stunning shapes and patterns, while this one I did is just the opposite. I hadn't been working on still life for years after my "portrait period".  It surprised me that I didn't even catch such a simple shape of a bowl. The left and right don't go together.  I am also not satisfied with the strokes and patterns as well, they are too busy and "noisy", yelling for attention on a bowl with hundred of years of history? No no...

It's been another half a year until I started my 2nd Blue & White Porcelain paintings. This time around I  sat down with a lot patience and allowed me a lot of time ( 2 whole days for a 8"x10"). It is a lot better from the last one that it started to show a little "atmosphere".  But it's too time-consuming to work through the endless patterns and I felt like I was doing needle work. No this is not what makes my an artist. ^0^ I also want to show more depth and perspective. The object looks too flat from the front to the back to my liking.


Ok, here comes the 3rd one. I feel a little more in control when it come to where to show and where to hide, where to be solid and where blur. I started to feel the fun!


I become more and more appreciated of the beautiful patterns our ancestors made. They are like being poured into the ceramic, flawlessly and smoothly. Anytime I tried to be lazy and not watching the original carefully and tried to rely on my own imagination and creativity, I failed. It looked like the flow has been stuck! It's that dramatic! So here is the one after the bowl:


And the one next:


Now I really enjoy working on these time-less pieces! These patterns opens a window for me to appreciate the negative image. It's often said that a negative image is vital to a good painting. But one have to really work something out to understand. It's that important!

Timewise, I am paint more faster than before. Once I figure out a way to deal with the patterns, it will "attach" rather than being obstacles. This following piece, I finished it in about 2 hours, from 12pm-2pm today.


Initially I decided to work on the series to match our living-room deco. I will update a picture after I putting them on the wall! But after doing a few piece, I feel that I felt in love with these pots and bottles. I fell I should produce more!