Pepper Lover's new work.



I grew up in southwest China in a big city called Chongqing. It is famous for its spicy food with strong flavor. "Hot Pot" is like a mini chili pond that people enjoy just looking at it as if it's a miniature landscape.

 
There are lot of other dishes fully loaded with the flavor of different kind of peppers. Chonqing is hot for both it's temperature in summer and it's chili dishes.
 


I just couldn't resist painting the colorful and delicious antioxidant!
Salute to the Mexicans!

New works on Daily Paint Works.

Very glad to have my miniatures available for sale on Dailypaintworks.com.
And glad to be among other hard-working artists. It's such a great community. Very up-lifted spirit there!

"Purple Flower"
6"x6" pastel on paper
matted and framed, frame size 10"x10"



Celebrate miniatures!

They are tiny. They don't cost me a lot of time. They let me try different subject sand techniques with no worry. Most importantly, they are so much fun!

 
 
 




 




I love clouds! I've always been this way. I love clouds for their various shapes and color. I love clouds for their restless transformation that no inmagination can be too dramatic. I love how the light travel though them and and how they echo. Their possibilities are endless! 
 
 
 
"Restless"
pastel on panel     16"x20"
 

Summer Grill

This one was real a pleasure to do. It got to come to a completion in a single day!

Title: "Summer Grill"
Medium: soft pastel
Size: 18"x24"

First show of the year. And first Award of the year!

We had a astonishing weekend at the Cherokee Triangle Air Fair last week. The show took place at the beautiful historical triangle park area. I can't tell you how much I love the well-maintained houses along the block and all those beautiful tree and plants! I saw many times that the patrons stopped walking and looking up. I thought they were looking at my booth up the steps. No, they were actually looking at the trees with rays of sunshine showing through. It would be nice enough if we were there just to relax and enjoy this spring weekend. Not to mention we were there meeting art lovers and literally selling!


Saturday saw it raining all day. But it didn't stop people from coming. They walked the show under umbrella and in their rain boots! A lovely couple bought two of my miniature paintings in the rain and happily took them home and they got hanged up on the wall right away! I was also surprisingly witness the kind show director bringing me a HUGE bow sitting in a tray. I was talking on the phone and didn't realize it was for me. He patiently waited in the rain, holding the tray until I finish talking. I am so grateful and honored. Thank you Cherokee Triangle. 

Saturday night was horrible. A big thunderstorm came along with hail. I mean, a lot of them! Fortunately, I took all my paintings down and stored them in the car for the night. Pastel paintings has a powdery surface and moisture is their biggest enemy!


Sunday welcomes a nice sunny day and two of my originals were parted from me. I am happy they found new homes that will cherish them from now on. 


Now it's time to sit down and paint!


My next show will be Art Birmingham, MI. It takes place in the streets surrounding Shain Park, in downtown Birmingham, Michigan. Show dates will be May 8th and 9th. 


Hope to see you there!







Honorable Mention Award 
Cherokee Triangle Art Fair, 2015

Mid Summer Fest

Hi All,
 I've been messed around with my blog, trying to develop a personal website around it. So far as you can see, it's a mess.

 And life is getting so busy. Hey, spring time is finally here! Me and my husband were busy digging in our backyard, dreaming of a beautiful flower and vegetable garden. Meanwhile, I have finally done with this piece. I named it "Mid Summer Fest", as the Mid Summer Festival at Kholer Art Center, WI was such a success that I want to mark it with a star for my first year art show adventure.


Here are some WIP for the piece: Here comes the first step. A reddish brown pastel pencil sketch to settle the composition. A piece of pipe insulation was used to lock down some value mass. (It was used and dirty. You could see some funny color on the painting. Ooooops.) 



This is the block-in stage. Thank liz Sullivan for her wonderful book and video. She is an expert in simplifying things! 

Another piece of pipe insulation comes on duty. It started to give the piece a painterly look. I tried to keep focusing on the big mass.




Now it's time to build up details. I worked on the fruits from left to right so my hand would not smear the painting. 

Final stage. The fruits were given the most attention. I wanted the clouds to step back a little. So I picked a light peachy brown hard pastel, using the side to lightly swipe the whole surface. 

Landscape practice

       This is a small 8"x10" painting I've just got done in studio from a picture. I am still a "newbie" when it comes to landscape. Different than my representative still life works, I want to catch that loose and "go with your mind" kind of feel when doing landscape paintings. I feel I am lack of my painting languages that suggests the diversity of organism.  

       I am still learning. 
       And learning is FUN!

"Poppy Field" 10x8" pastel on board
Available

                                           



Perfect for a Snowy Day.

We were planing to go hiking at Ford Harrison state park today. My 5-year-old loaded her bicycle to the trunk yesterday and has been planning to go bike racing with me, only to wake up to a big Snow Day!

Our plan then be altered to a snow painting day.

Needless to say, we had a lot of fun. And she adopted the idea of let some warm color showing through the cold snow to suggest the warmth of the earth. She managed to only use crayon to approach that effect! I am so proud of this little artist. (BTW, she didn't like me to call her "little" artist, instead, she calls herself big artist.)

This painting was done on gesso board. I like the stiffness of it an the texture I got from clear gesso. 

Yeah, this is what we do on a snowy day. Keep warm and appreciate the season!


"Daybreak of a Cold Day"   10x8"  pastel on board
Available
                                                    






First Show in 2015.

I am happily announcing, that three of my works have been accepted into Love, Lust & Poetry 3, hosted by Nickel Plate Arts, Fishers, IN. 

It will take place Feb.6-28. The Opening Reception will be held on Friday, Feb.6th, from 6pm till 9pm.Please feel free to invite your family and friends to this free First Friday event!

What a great way to celebrate Valentine's Day!



"Orange Fever"  pastel on paper 12x18"


"Moon Beam"  pastel on paper  13x19"


"Moon Rising"    pastel on board   22x22"


Life Drawing Fun!

Thanks to my new friend artist Charlene Brown. She's such a passionate artist with such fun personality! Charlene introduced me to this life drawing event that happens every Thursday at Sullivan Munce Cultural Center, Zionsville, IN. 
I havn't got the chance to draw from life ever since graduated from college. I was a little anxious at the first quick  sessions but managed to calm down during the 2-hour pose. 
Here is the result. Done  on plain Canson Mi-Tient paper. Cheap and wild available as is, it is still one of my favorite surfaces for my pastels. 
It was so much fun attending the event and get to know many artist in my area.  I will make sure to go next week!


Life Drawing, 16x20" Pastel on Paper
available

                                                  
 




Pears and Clouds

My recent still life works involves iconic shapes and symbols, reduced to their simplest forms. They could be a glance of an subject, a suggestive scene of landscape, or a dominate shape of fuzziness.

I started with pieces of my thoughts, or the blurry dream on that rainy night. I use different artistic language with gestural marks, scrambles, and whispers. They slip into the painting like an conversation between the voice-over and the "real" subjects. I hope this could also reflect some reality from the heart of the viewer.  


"Whispers in the Air"  pastel on board  12x12"
Available  





New Painting just cooked up.

I'v had a lot fun the 1st week of 2015. 

This painting was done on my all time favorite pastel paper Canson Mi-Tient. It might surprise many of my viewer as Mi-Tient is always considered an entry-level surface fro pastels. However I found it works wonder for detailed realistic pastel work. The smooth side of Mi-Tient gives enough support for my layers and it helps me achieve a soft and dreamy effect. 

The drawback of Mi-Tient is that it is a relatively thin paper and thus very fragile. I've tried the Mi-Tient Touch, which is a fine sanded board. It gives ample support but it's sanded so it's not as smooth as its paper version. 

So here is my experiment:
I used a piece of gator board as my support. Then I brushed paper cement onto both the gator board and the texture side of my Canson Mi-Tient. I waited for a minute and carefully attach them together. I then put something heavy on top it (my weight is a box of Christmas lights!) The cement is very strong, so I get a perfect mounted pastel board in about half an hour!

I was so excited to find it being acid-free and it's not as messy as a spray adhensive.  Here is a link to this wonderful products.

http://www.michaels.com/best-test-white-rubber-paper-cement/10061547.html#q=paper+cement&start=1

The gator board offers great support when painting. To put it into a frame is easy as a click!
"Moon Rising"   24x24" Pastel on Board


                                                      SOLD






Why Paint Realistically?

I've been heard compliment like "It's almost like a photo!" "Does the cat bite?  It looks like it gonna jump out of the painting."

I know people are trying to be nice sometimes. But I have to ask myself why I should bother to try to depict the real world faithfully, when mostly, a camera does a better job of depicting the real world, than I can do? 


Photography is an art medium in its own right. Art has many mediums. As of any other medium, it has it's only distinctive  character that is hard to set apart.  It's the new fashion of art, which I feel greatly lucky living in the new age.  However, we do still need realistic art even though it's the digital age and photography is widely available.

To me, Digital art is a sketchbook with unlimited pages and a big range of colors and textures.  A painting, a good painting, is edited by the painter's mind. I do work from reference photos and they are of great help. But I try not to be restrained by it. I love to play with composition, the light and shadow, and the air that is circulating through my subjects. Every single minute playing with these elements is delightful and exciting.  The turn-out is the summary of my personal journey through out the process. If the viewer echoes what I see and what I feel, it will sing!


Art and images of the world are not a necessity for survival. However, they are important. They are one of the things that makes us human. We have the ability to appreciate the world as is and we are trying to approach to our limit to bring out the natural beauty faithfully.   
Painting what we see will change how we look at the world. That's something no camera can teach a person. 


"Silent Hours of Night"  14x20" Pastel on Paper