August!

Time to change your desktop calendar for the month of August!

Click on the image below to download from there. Enjoy!

“A Small Boat"

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I feel I am a small boat, very happy in a small river. I thought I know quite a bit, until I reached the sea.



My art experiments expand. Painting the old streets for a while, I feel I want to get some fresh air. So here I am. Thanks to Dianne, one of the artists in my mentoring class, for telling me about the "Paint My Photo" website, where you can get reference photos to paint without worrying about the copy right issue. I want to thank the photographer for posting this photo for artist to use. I have not painted many boats before. So I feel inexperienced. But I like the color scheme. I have moved quite far from my usual low key still life paintings. I might have lost my identity or style. Should I concern about it? Who am I anyway?

Sign of the week

"Wuzhen Street 3"

Now all my three "Wuzhen Street" paintings are done. This is the final look of the 3rd one. I like this one the best. I have gone through significant research and experiment in this painting project. I enjoyed this learning process.



Thank you again for all your support to my art. About the issue of how to market my serious paintings, I will let it go and not worry about it. I may send it to galleries, or sell them myself. My collector friends are more than welcome to contact me. If you are in Austin area, I can show my paintings to you. On my art journey, I will keep going and sharing.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HELEN!!!

Helen I am so sorry I nearly missed this!!! We have been busy all day with a pet who passed away and I have not been tending to business!~

♪♫ •*¨*•.¸¸ ♥ ¸¸.•*¨*• ♫♪ Happy Birthday to you-u-u-u, ♪♫ •*¨*•.¸¸ ♥ ¸¸.•*¨*• ♫♪ Happy Birthday to you-u-u-u, ♪♫ •*¨*•.¸¸ ♥ ¸¸.•*¨*• ♫♪ Happy Birthday, dear Helen ♪♫ •*¨*•.¸¸ ♥ ¸¸.•*¨*• ♫♪ Happy Birthday to you-u-u-u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Motivation!

I am placing Robert Genn's most recent letter here for us to mull over...it is worth discussing this as it is something we talk about often and it is a problem that repeats itself unless we learn to know ourselves.

Work is not work when work is loved. This thought is affirmed by legions of artists

who have no trouble being motivated. Many get themselves started with the expectation

of joy. But hardly one of us hasn't, at some time, lacked the desire to do so. In my

studio, when there's no joy, there's no work. In studying motivation, I've found at

least three prerequisites that must be present: challenge, process, and the feeling of

progress. Without challenge, the muse dies. If an artist underestimates capability or

goes too long with outworn motifs, interest fades and motivation fails. Complexity,

nuance, even novelty, need to be consciously added to the mix.



Process is the actual bit-by-bit activity that causes the work to unfold. Some of

these bits need to be personal and unique. They can be anti-academic. Style-force

develops out of what you're doing wrong, and the result is ego-force. The artist,

having fallen in love with her own process, shouts convincingly, "It's my stuff and

I'm doing it!" The feelings of progress and growth are above feelings of mere change.

Progress brings refinement, evolution, revelation, and exaltation. You see it in the

work, and the work begets work. Even failures become treasured stepping stones to

further progress.



I've always been fascinated by the conundrum of motivation. Why is it that one time

we're full of moxie, and another time we're dead ducks? "Comes with the territory,"

you might say. I've observed that some artists are masochistic and deliberately shoot

themselves in the hand. For others, the idea is to simply become a "master." Masters

master themselves. They know their own habits, good and bad. They keep on keeping on.

There's a tipping point. When masters willfully step into the studio, prime the pump,

understand and embrace the three prerequisites, they may not easily get things

stopped.



Best regards,



Robert



PS: "Desire is the key to motivation." (Mario Andretti)



Esoterica: Desire is more than a wish--it's a craving. When the artist has the feeling

that the work at hand is worthwhile, in and for its own sake--and temporarily safe

from negative input or jaded critique--then the artist simply craves the work for its

own sake. This state of desire often requires the self-delusion and iconoclasm that

isolation provides. In private times, the tender shoots of desire appear and flourish.

And while desire may prime starting, starting also primes desire.

"Wuzhen Street 3 (Day 3)"

My journey keeps on going. Thanks to all the artist friends for cheering me up after my yesterday's post. I really need it. The road is getting more treacherous. I often feel lost. So your help is right on time. I appreciate a lot.



I pull my 3rd Wuzhen painting out of the back burner. This image shows how much "damage" I did on it today. As matter of fact, nothing is whimsical or arbitrary here. I planned all the accidents. If you squint on the painting, you will see what I am trying to say. Due to my clumsiness, My statements are not clear, but I feel I am in the right direction.



As a daily painter for so many years. I have reached to a point that I need to do some serious thinking. I hope all the daily painters, especially the developed ones, should think as well. Should we just do small paintings, sell them online, and feel satisfied? Daily painting is a fantastic way for beginning artists to make his/her art activities more meaningful. However, what we should do next? I feel the risk of my recent activities. I am experimenting larger format work, exploring and practice a lot. It is be a long while before I can reach the next level. The market for what I am doing could be very slim, and I may not able to generate as many small paintings as I did before. Currently, I teach many workshops to make ends meet, so I take all opportunities I have to experiment and grow. This must the life supposed to be. I will "stay hungry, and stay foolish".

Gouache Sketch

MEMORIES AND OLD LACE

I did a collage demonstration yesterday at our local art store. This is one of the demos which I really enjoyed making. Click on the painting to see the details.

"Wuzhen Street 2 (Day 4)"

Last month, I started 3 cityscape paintings based on the photos I took in China. I finished one of them and learned a lot, and left the other two on the back burner. This a couple of days I worked on the 2nd painting. This is what I have got so far. I worked on the color harmony mainly. I found that purple grey and green grey can not co-exist on the same painting. If they do, one of the greys will look dirty. I apply this new "home made" principle to this painting. I feel it works pretty well.

"Morning Glorious" oil on canvas on 25-story billboard in Times Square

Here is my "Just Glorious" oil painting on a 25-story billboard in Times Square last night. Thanks to everyone who voted or bought a T-shirt or postcard to get me there! What a thrill!

h e a r t s

- 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 -

Signs of the week

on the public toilets in the park in Oslo

"Blue Duet"

Click Here to Bid



Back to Austin now. I did this painting with my Austin mentoring group. I feel my high key art is getting more stabilized. I started to understand why some of my old high key painting didn't work well. I have document my feeling into so called "principles" to guide my future practice and share them in my teachings. For instance: Cool colors work better with high key paintings, while warm colors work better with low key paintings. This kind of "home made principles" help me coming out the blind "just do it" or pure intuitive approaches to art. They also made it easier to share with other artists. To make a juke: In science, when someone made a significant discovery, people put his/her name with the discovered effect, such as Omh's Law and Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Why shouldn't I called my understanding the "Huang's principle". Ha Ha. I am just kidding. Art is different from Science. In science, people try not to "reinvent the wheel". However in art, every artist have to invent his/her wheel themselves.

Savannah

After the workshop, I went to Savannah, GA. I really like this old city. There are so many old houses. It is wonderful place for cityscape paintings. The movie "Forest Gump" was shot here. I really like that movie. "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get". It is so true.

agata bielen jewelry

AGATA BIELEN is a raw contemporary jewelry brand from Poland. The geometrical lines and simple shapes immediately caught our attention. The main inspiration for her work is this straight line, that is the basic unit of geometry found in space.



After being spotted by Scott Schumann from The Sartorialist while sketching her jewelry pieces in a little cafe she decided to do what she truly loved resulting a beautiful jewelry collection.



Especially the FINE LINE collection is one of our favorites. The FINE LINE collection is a return to the first inspiration, the original point of departure - a straight line. Two-dimensional geometry is raised into space. The line breaks in several angles creating three-dimensional forms. The outcome is a small sculpture-like cubical pieces made of movable tubes that adapt to the body forms.

One hour quick draw today at the Art-A-Fair.

Nap Time

Nap Time 4 x 2.5" Well...here's my posting experiment. It seems to have gone through, (though it's a bit faded looking). This little bear was posing for me at the Lincoln Park Zoo a couple of years ago. I didn't get around to painting him until recently. I couldn't "BEAR" leaving him alone any longer. He's one of three miniatures I have ready for upcoming fall shows. I have a bunch on the desk too but they are not yet completed.

Photo suite 133 -- knock, knock

The traditional entry in Italy has double doors, with a matching pair of doorknobs or knockers.

Sunflowers in Old Bucket

18x12 watercolor on Canson 140 lb CP, drawn yesterday from separate photos and combined into one composition. Painting was begun yesterday also, part of it, for a man who came into the studio and wanted to see how wc is done. After doing that demo, I finished it up today. The old metal bucket I got at Les' family reunion a few years ago; it had pentas in it and they died, but these sunflowers won't!

Image is COPYRIGHT 2014 Kay Smith.

h e a r t s

- door | words | drawing | clothing -

Comic-con, Friday and Saturday Demos!

I'm excited to bring you 2 presentations at the Schoolism booth # 2042:

Environment Design for Visual Storytelling , Friday, July 25, 2pm - 3pm

Photoshop Demo: Building an Environment , Saturday, July 26, 2pm - 3pm

See you there!

Studio Moe

Studiomoe started in 2003 in New York City with the intention of making simple, well crafted furniture. Inspired by Scandinavian and Japanese furniture Studiomoe creates elegant modern furniture with attention to detail and sustainability.

In 2009 the Oslo line was launched, a collection in Ash and Walnut and available in different pieces like a chair, table, bench, desk and dresser. Any piece can be altered in size to fit your individual needs.

See more of this beautiful collection here.

"Demo at St. Simons Island 2" --- Sold

I really like the silver thingy in my second demonstration. This demo is unusual. I didn't have any light objects. I didn't have much of high chroma colors either. The center of focus was developed by the texture of silver. The distribution of the colors is more from the reflections rather than using local colors. This may imply new directions. I felt excited.

"Demo at St. Simons Island 1"

At St. Simons, I started my 3rd Island workshop of the year. I want to thank Mary Anderson for putting this wonderful workshop together, and thanks to all the artists for joining and painting with me. My first demo was with complete black background. That gave me great contrast to show the white vase. I enjoyed this composition. My still life starts to show more texture variations. I am happy about that.

Sign of the week

Rio 2 Panorama

This is one of my panoramas painted for Rio 2. Below are crop in views for detail.

My paintings now available printed on t-shirts

T-shirts are available at http://ift.tt/1nlo4VU

You may select from several images and move the image around on the shirt to suit your own creative style.

Prints full image on front and back. Vivid colors and very nice quality.

"Demo at Jacksonville 2014_2" --- Sold

I have arrived at St. Simons Island, GA. Since my hotel room is not ready, I am sitting in a restaurant and have some time to kill. It is really quiet here. Beautiful golf course is right out of the window.



The painting for today is my second demo at Jacksonville. I like that blue thingy. The copper pipe adds on linear shapes making the geometric design of the painting rather interesting.

Photo suite 132 -- found letters