Malden Rose (canvas panel 6X6'', 3.15.2016)

This was a rose I got for myself a while back from the Malden T station, where really affordable bouquets were sold from a flower stand. I loved the orange yellow pedals that had a pink glow to it at the same time. The object of this painting was not to capture detail, but an overall sense of layer and pedal and color shades. Admittedly it could use a few more hard edges, but I thought the yellow highlights were well-placed. Next time I look forward to painting from a real rose as opposed to from a photo. It's one of those subjects that allows me to practice similar techniques, hold space to explore new ones, yet still come out unique and satisfying most of the time.  

Flushing Feast (canvas panel 6X6", 3.11.2016) GIFTED

This was based off a photo of my friend Lucy who lives in NYC. When I visited her last year in November we went out for a lamb dinner. I love the glorious light coming in and streaming past her from behind. I tried to capture that based on how I imagined it had felt. I took hours over the course of a few days to try capture her cute smile, but was only partially successful. The bright colors represent how I felt about this particular moment. This is a weird painting in the sense that I have still not decided how I feel about it.

The Cheese of Life (canvas panel 5X7", 3.1.2016)

This one is a bit more abstract, I like the curves around the rattie, and that even though his bulging belly is not completely realistic, does give him a sense of being well-fed and a lover of food. I decided to make the piece of cheese larger than life in order to portray a concept rather than what is normally considered reality. If Jesus were attempting to save a group of rodents he'd say... " I am the cheese of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

Portrait of a Friend (canvas panel 5X7", 2.20.2016)

At some point in painting this I came close to destroying it in attempt to start over, but finally after much observation I was able to capture to a decent degree the facial features of my rat Remy. What made it hard was that this friend did not like to stay still and squirmed a lot while I tried very hard to visually memorize what he looked like in frontal view. It came out a bit more formal looking than what I was going for, but there are still aspects of it that I really like especially the dark and light contrast. There's not much shape to his tummy area because he has grown fat recently. I appreciate the way the hands are kept dark to not draw too much attention to them but still give a sense of something supporting his position. This painting was especially challenging to capture on camera without a glare. It taught me a lot about how to use light and shadow in photography. The actual paintings are always more colorful than photos.

Onions (Gesso Board 6X6", 2.18.2016)

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Grabbing some left over onions from the fridge, I had a really fun time just blocking them out and trying to get the amazing almost satin-like skin they have, not to mention all the sense of layers. I like the way the green, purple, and yellow works together as well as the overall way the image came out. There's a "messiness" which I often associate with onions that came across in the rough edges, and I  find myself liking that a lot. The highlights were fun :)

Mom (Gesso Board 6X6'', 2.10.2016) GIFTED

I am convinced that art is not about accuracy as much as it is about being able to express what it is you truly appreciate about creation. Here, what I appreciated and inspired me to paint this image was the spontaneous smile and the joy on mom's face, which for a moment in life, found the opportunity to express itself freely without any sense of self-consciousness. There's no trying to cover up crooked teeth, or a mouth and a face that some might judge as "too big" and "un-pretty". Mom herself would likely find this image of herself somewhat embarrassing. To embarrass is not the purpose of why I post or paint this image, but rather, to share the hope, joy, and a sense of love that I feel from it. This is for all you narcissists out there, myself included... that our "imperfections" does not keep the world from spinning, rather see and rest in the fact that the beauty we hold so tightly to does not come from ourselves. It's a gift bestowed upon us undeserved and free to enjoy. The One who gives us these gifts will be faithful to keep the world spinning even when we fall short. May we turn our eyes upward more and more often.       

Knoll Lake Fishing (Canvas Panel 11X14", Feb.05.16) (GIFTED)

After trying really simple still-life paintings, I wanted to do something that had more interesting shapes and textures. Feeling nostalgic about a road-trip I had with two good friends a few years back, I picked out some old photographs and thought it would be fun to paint people I know. The one taking the photo in the forefront is my friend Claire, the one with a cooler in the mid-ground is my friend Biyo, and I am the person all the way in the back holding fishing poles, leading the way as usual :P
I will say this, that it is quite difficult to paint from a photo where there is almost an over-exposure of light, but it was quite a cool moment when the faces began to take on the familiar expression of people I knew so well. The trees were the most enjoyable part of this whole painting, and I kind of like the overly-saturated light effect. With that said however, I will be paying more attention to the light and dark contrasts of photos I pick out especially when it comes to painting people.

Blood Brothers (Gesso board 6X6", Feb.1.2016)

I really like the simplicity of this composition as well as the way it turned out, and the fact that it took a relatively short time to produce. It was really fun to paint as the simple shapes of the oranges and its shadows gave me the freedom to experiment with looser brush strokes. It definitely built my confidence and taught me not to judge each brushstroke too quickly before given a chance to develop its effect. Not to mention, they were delicious :)

Lemons :D (Gesso Board 6X6", Jan.28.2016)

I got some lemons to make lemon chicken from a cook book, and thought it would be rather cool to paint them in a shadow box that I made myself from cardboard boxes. I never thought I would find still life enjoyable. They always struck me as rigid and boring. But in actuality I really enjoyed the freedom it gave me to block in an area or general shape with saturated color, understand how to apply shadow and highlights, as well as the order of procedure in doing so. In this particular one my brushstrokes were still rather tight, but I was already beginning to loosen up mentally. The sprite bottle was not as hard as I originally thought and overall I liked the way it turned out!   

Rose Face (Canvas Panel 11X14'', Jan.20.2016)

I'm really glad I decided to do this on a larger canvas surface. It was from a photo of my friend's recital flowers, and I've always loved taking pictures of a rose close up. I did this with a yellow background wash, and then after sketching out the lines, filled in the shades and highlights in according to the values of the rose in the photo. This image really taught me to develop all areas evenly without becoming committed to details too early. I learned a lot about the actual colors in reality as well. What I thought looked mostly pink and white at first actually had a significant amount of blue in it, and it wasn't until I realized this that the highlights and shades began to take on a more realistic look. Doing this one had really made me fall deeper in love with oil painting. It is such a forgiving medium and the effects are wonderful and encouraging. I'm really glad to have captured to some degree the translucent quality of the petals and the delicate folds, which had always been among the many reasons why I love roses.


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Sunset Wave (Canvas Panel 11X14", Jan.6.2016)

I had so much fun doing this one, and I love the way it turned out. I took the whale tail from a photo, but innovated the color a bit. I made the sky orange and red and also reflected some of that orange and red into the water. It was really fun to experiment with colors that isn't usually associated with water, but I realized halfway that water really tend to take on any color that it reflects. In hindsight I wish I added even more red. It's an idea I'd like to try out in another painting. I felt so protective of this one that while it dried I had a dream where I accidently scraped and ruined it, only to wake up to find that it wasn't a dream, but that it was in fact ruined! And then to wake up again, realizing both those times were all dreams and that the painting was fine! Oh the nerve of me~

Rain Princess - from Leonid Afremov (canvas panel 6X6", Jan. 2016)

(my attempt)

(original)

This is an imitation of the painting "Rain Princess" By Leonid Afremov. I was a big fan of his for a little while and was curious how he produced the strokes with painting knife, so I decided to try it out. I painted it the way I imagined he would have done. It didn't come out too badly! Although it really pales to his in comparison, and I am still amazed by his creativity and technique. I learned that it's important to plan each stroke and keep the colors clean, rather than randomly scrape my knife assuming it would create the effect, also to not be stingy with paint.

Hare -study of light and shade (canvas panel 5X7'', Dec. 2015)

After playing around with different ideas and styles, this was the first painting which I seriously sat down and tried to study and imitate the value of a subject from photo. Just as in music where I often encourage my students to clarify their Fortes and Pianos by going for more extreme contrast, I tried to notice the same contrast in the light and dark areas of the photo as well. This long-eared little guy was a good subject since he camouflaged well into his background, and the color is rather monotonous throughout. I liked the way he turned out, although I am slightly worried that what he is doing isn't as obvious due to his rather obese appearance, which I should have addressed better when I started sketching him in.

City Lights (canvas sheet 9X12'', December 2015)

After several weeks of not painting and inability to decide what to paint, I finally got tired of waiting around and just decided to wing it. I wanted to do something that looked busy with buildings and lights, and I wanted to use knives instead of brushes. I thought about copying something but I was curious what I would produce allowing purely my brain and "instinct" to guide me. Turns out, I like it and is embarrassed by it all at the same time. Embarassed because I was hoping it would take on a more sophisticated look, but fondness because it captured a certain warmth and sense of coziness that I was going for. Can you spot the people? :)

Fall Trail (canvas sheet, 9X12", November 2015)

I think it was the Thanksgiving season and I really wanted to paint something that had lots of fall color. This was also a paint-along with YouTube tutorial. The guy was speaking Russian so I couldn't really understand what he was saying, but was able to follow along with what he was doing. From him I learned a lot in terms of using the painting-knife. It was another one of those itch-reliefs. It also only took about 2 hours, and I was pleased to have a decent looking picture by the end of a short session.

Autumn Dance with Snoopy (canvas panel 6X6'', 11.26.2015, Gifted)

I was visiting a dear friend in NYC for Thanksgiving, and couldn't resist bringing my art stuff along. I liked the idea of me being a "traveling artist" even though I just started not too long ago (ehehe). There was a small block of time in the morning before I left which we had not planned anything, and so wanting to bless her with something special and hand-made, I chose Snoopy as my subject choice. It turned out Snoopy WAS one of her favorite cartoon characters, so I was really glad. Art-wise? I woulda thought a bit more about my color choices. Perhaps a lighter background and different choice of color for the sky. There was an atmosphere that I was trying to go for when I chose the colors I did, but I think I was only semi-successful. This was also mostly knife-painted. I don't remember using my brush at all. Also this made me miss my bus back to Boston. But thankfully I was able to get a stand-by not too long after for free. Brings back good memories :)

Winter Moon (canvas sheet, 9X12, November 2015)

I was painting along with Bob Ross's "Winter Sun" on YouTube, but because I didn't prepare the canvas right as well as being inexperienced with mixing paint, it came out more like a night scene than morning. I like the way it turned out though, so kept it anyways. Let me know what you think!

Rose Bush (canvas sheet, 9X12, November 2015)

Another style of painting roses with the knife :) I like how each stroke is so simple, yet depending on the way you place them, come together to look like convincing petals. Definitely a more figurative way to express the petals rather than the more literal approach taken in the previous painting. I also tried scraping off the paint to make leaves instead of painting them in layers as in the last painting. This was my roommate's favorite.

Impasto Roses (canvas sheet, 9X12, November 2015)

This was my first attempt at floral subjects, also inspired by YouTube tutorials, particularly one in which the artist painted consistently throughout with a painting knife and his fingers. This one really makes me smile, it was one of those rare painting process in which the more I fussed over it, the better it actually got! (If you don't like it, you can imagine how bad it was before) One of those works that I was initially unhappy with, but ended up growing on me, and now I am so impressed with myself for actually having come up with this it's totally one of my favorite! I like how each flower is of a different color, especially the contrast between the bright red rose on the bottom (which I used ivory black as the shadowy parts) and the greyish blue one on the very top. They each seem to have different personalities as well, which are suggested through their color as well as through the various shapes of the petals. The background color I thought could use some further experimenting, but who cares about that when the roses look so great! (total amateur part of me speaking). What I especially enjoyed about this process was the big role that spontaneity and chance played in complement to my own decision-making. Even though I chose to put down every petal a certain way, I was not in control of every little detail, and I enjoyed the little surprises that came with that. It's kind of funny that I struggled so much with trying to get my name on there. That horrendous red half of my first name at the bottom left corner is probably by far the ugliest thing on this painting. (in my opinion :))   

Flaminco Dancer (canvas sheet, 9X12, October 2015)

This dancer I had attempted a few months back, a week after my first painting. Admittedly it was rather a bold choice of subject for my level, but I was so excited to try it after watching a YouTube tutorial which an artist painted the same dancer from its original photo. It took me 15 hours over 3 days to finish it as I decided to give up on polishing the shoes. From this experience I learned the importance of focusing on the development of the big picture before filling in details. Even though I was to some degree trying to be fair to all the parts and mapping out the overall structure as well as proportions, my chronic drive of detail-itis still got the best of me, and it was painful trying to fix the proportions afterwards. This was also evident in my lack of thought for the background, which lacks a sense of depth and makes the dance look 2D rather than 3D as in the photo. However I did like the intuitive golden yellow brush strokes to the top right corner. It was what I imagined to be an abstract sun or a vague source of sunlight. Overall it was a precious experience of learning, and I look forward to doing more paintings of this type perhaps experimenting with loser brush strokes.     

My First Oil Painting Ever!!!

After watching numerous Bob Ross "Joy of Painting" series, I itched to try some of the techniques he demonstrated, including the use of paint knife, and tapping a brush into the shape of trees. Here, I was fascinated with the oil medium, for allowing the application of light colors over dark ones, an aspect that wasn't as forgiving in watercolor and pencil sketching in my past experiences with art. This scene came straight out of my imagination and I had to make some changes since I was pretty clumsy with applying the knife to canvas. The highlighted area to the very left I must've fussed over for almost an hour before I really was able to get it close to the result I had hoped. The little bunnies near the bottom I just couldn't resist, although I had a little trouble making them fit into the atmosphere of the painting. They kind of look a bit popped out, like real bunny silhouettes standing in front of a movie screen. With the least of expectations, the whole process was just a super fun and fascinating experience. :)