"Pink roses in cool light"

I am painting in my studio, and I decided to do some color experiments. This is what I did today. I used two light sources, one cool and one warm. I ended up with this.

This painting is available. It is a small painting. I want to sell it myself. If you are interested collecting this one, please contact me. Thanks.

"Egg Plants and Turnip"

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I did a small daily painting yesterday. Life is cyclic. My art career started with doing small paintings daily. Then I have tried all other directions. Now, I am coming back to it. I feel the most tangible way to run your own art business is still selling small paintings on the internet. Life gets more complicated, painting time is harder to come by. Very few artists can survive if they do not have a rich family. So down to earth, and face the reality. As a beginner artist, do small,  and learn a lot.

" Sunflower Study 021018"

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I did another small sunflower painting. It happened that my son Jonathan was home. He made a time-lapse video for me. I have upload this video on Youtube. Please click: Sunflower time-lapse to watch.

"Sunflower Study 020618"

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February is the time I paint a few individual flowers. I hope I can progress a little every year.

"Carnation Study 011618" --- Sold

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I have painted many roses and sunflowers, and feel relatively comfortable painting them. However, I have not studied thoroughly other kinds of flowers. My general impression about carnations is a colorful whole bunch of mess. I never examined the anatomic structure of this flower. I did a close study of a pink carnation. My brush work was a little restricted and the painting looks mechanical, but is a good start. I need to do more to develop the skills.

"Rose Study 2017 09"

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This is interesting. My mind is telling me: "You thought you know how to do it. Guess what, you don't." That is true. My today's painting didn't come out as I want it to be. In other word, I still do not have a control on my rose paintings yet. I am humbled even more. I will analyze what is going on. At least at this moment, I know, (maybe that is my advise to you as well): DO NOT listen the news when you paint. I will sell this painting cheap.

“Rose Study 2017 08"

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Red rose is always difficult. So I don't paint this kind very often. It is hard to vary the value to make the red go brighter without losing its vibrancy. Even photographing the red rose painting is difficult. I have a feeling that the digital cameras do not show the variation of red well. I can't tell the difference among pink red, cadmium red, and orange red from the photo. The painting looks a way better than the photo.

"Rose Study 2017 07" --- Sold

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So many artists want to paint looser. I do too. However, before you loos up, you must know how to make a tighter painting work. At least I think so. Painting is no gimmicky, and I don't really consider the significance of being talent, because I don't believe I have one. Painting is hard, but I am willing to bite the bullet.

"Rose Study 2017 06"

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Observing my previous 5 rose studies, I have seen that the integrity of those flowers gradually fallen apart. I didn't know what has happened, and I didn't even know this is happening until I did this one. Many years have passed, and I did so many roses. However, I suddenly found that there is so much I still do not know in painting this relatively simple subject matter. It makes me humbled even more.

"Rose Study 2017 05"

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When I did this study the rose was completely back lit. So I was struggling to show the translucent light effect. Using back lit for roses is new for me. I need to across this learning curve.

"Rose Study 2017 04"

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Yesterday was my mentoring class day. I did this painting. I did struggle a little. You know rose is a subject that does not allow me to over work. So I turned off my art mode and turned on my analytical mode. I took a photo of the painting, and compare it with my ref. photo. The comparison gives me something to try. I feel much better with the result.

"Rose Study 2017 03"

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I painted this rose back lit. The simplicity makes rose look elegant.

"Rose Study 2017 02"

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Valentine's Day will come soon. I will try my best to provide a few floral paintings to you. I have been painting roses for many years, but still feel there are so many areas I need to improve. This is good opportunity, for both my business and art development. I hope you like my today's painting as well.

Rose study 2017 01 --- Sold

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Recently, I have been pondering my art journey, and find suddenly that I have been running art as a business for a decade. I started selling my paintings as a "daily painter" on eBay. That was January 2007. Ten years have passed. I made some progress. I am so grateful that so many people have been supporting me. Sometimes, I hallucinated that I have got there. I have been trying new things, painted larger paintings, and gradually moved away from my daily painting discipline. I have been not doing my small daily paintings for about two years. I have tried new market for my work, but the result was not that good. Now I want to re-activate my small painting exercises again and use online bidding to sell my paintings again. I did this rose study a few days ago. I hope you like it.

"Two Engineers and an Artist" --- Sold

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After being full time in art for a month. I have been called back by my engineering company for an emergency. I will work here for a week. I may not paint much at this time. Sitting at my cube and turning on my old computer, I felt really odd. It seems I came back from the future by a time machine. For engineering, I entered this field so naively. I thought I could build a career here. I thought I would create something to make the world a better place. So I have invested so many years of my life getting educated to the highest level, and I have been a very good engineer. However after many years of hard work, I have learned. I feel disappointed about the corporation culture. I am wondering how many people in industries are really interested in making the world a better place. It is so ironic. Now I feel more that the world was used to be a better place. Looking at the people around me, busy and “working”. I better not disturb “the sound of silence”.

"Tomatoes and a Dry Stem" --- Sold

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I have several tomato plants in the back yard, and they have given us many tomatoes. However, I have not taken care of them well. Now they have all dried up. This morning I cut a section of the dry stem for my setup. Like leaves, painting stems is my next practice I want to manage. I have spent quite a long time just on that piece of stem. There has been a lot of knife work and negative space cutting. It is not perfect, but it is a good start.

Many friends have given me tips on fast dry medium. Thank you so much. I will try your suggestions, and find the one most suitable to me. I will share with you when I decide.

Next week, I will go to Putney Vermont. This will be my first time work together with THE Master Painter Richard Schmid. We will do a painting demo together. Please check Richard Schmid's website and see the event in July. It a great honor for me, and I am very excited about this trip. I will be very nervous for sure, but I will try my best.

"Riding the Wave" --- Sold

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This painting is still a part of my gray study. I have used ultramarine violet + cadmium green light + white. The mixture is good for light gray, but it can not make dark gray. I also start to touch base of depict the folds of the drapery. I painted drape before, but I need more systematic understanding to gain control.

"Herbal Tea" --- Sold

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I am continuing my research. I am working on grays with this one. I tried ultramarine blue plus transparent oxide red and adding white. It wasn't working. Then I replace ultramarine blue with phthalo blue. I got much better result.

"Green Rhythm 2" --- Sold

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My exploration on leaves continues. I can't say much of progress on this one, but it did document my journey. I think the ability of painting leaves can connect the both still life and landscape painting together. We have talked about that very few artists can do both well. I believe painting leaves will help for sure.

"Tomato Behind Leaves"

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I don't know what has happened to Blogger. It was down for a long while. Thank God it comes back. When you deal with computers and the Internet, please remember: no matter how powerful and convenient these tools seem to you, They are the most UNRELIABLE tools. If you want to have a good life, please set your foundation on something else. Do not worship technology, because the main purpose of technology is to make a small group of people rich. Providing convenience and enjoyment is quite secondary. If you were addicted to technology, you were doomed. If the world is addicted to technology.... I stop here. I have been working in high tech all my life. I do learn something.

I did another leaf painting. I am not addicted to leaves. I do this because I see a tangible way to bring my art to the next level. I really appreciate many people's compliment to my work, and I will continue sharing artistic enjoyment with you. However, I am not a master. I just like to paint.