Sign of the week

“Downtown Austin (Partial) (Day 14)"

I have almost a week at home before I go to teach another workshop. So I continued studying and painting my large "Downtown Austin" painting. I have spent two solid days, however the progress is painstakingly slow. I have seriously taken notes about my thought, my actions, my mistakes, and my discovers. Now my note about this project has 32 pages long so far and it is getting longer.

For self-learning painters, especially for painters who have been painting for a while, I highly recommend working on a few large paintings seriously and long term. This will save your time for going through what you have already known again and again, and staying in the unknown territory for as long as possible time. So you know your weak points. You work out solutions and get better. I know it is not fun working this way, and it is absolutely making no business sense if you are only market driven. To me, it is worth every minute. I am a late starter and have not got enough formal training. So this is my Academy.

The Mending Project 1

Perhaps you have come across examples of a new variety of art, call it performance art, participatory installations or relational aesthetics, in which the artist has various social interactions with the public that constitute the "art."  One of the long-time practitioners in this genre is Lee Mingwei, born in Taiwan, educated in the US and about to move from New York to Paris.

In one project, Lee cooked and ate dinner every night in the museum with a visitor.  In another, he and a visitor spent the night in the museum, having a long conversation before sleeping, and the visitor left objects on the night table for the next night's visitor.

He also did installations in which he was not on premises, such as where different museum staffers would bring their own treasure collections to show and discuss with visitors; where visitors were invited to write letters to dead or absent loved ones; or where visitors could take a flower from the museum to give to a stranger encountered afterwards on the street.

Falling into the latter category is "The Mending Project," in which visitors are invited to bring a garment that needs repair, and an artist will mend it.  When Lee first performed this project, he was the mender/artist, but in a show that opened last week in my local museum, the Kentucky Museum of Art + Craft in Louisville, he will be absent and a bunch of volunteers will serve as the artists.

The Mending Project -- open for business

Since I've always thought of mending as an art form, and one which I love to do, I had to sign up for the project.  But going in, I confess to some ambivalence about various aspects of the operation.

First, what are the ethics of being asked to put on a show with one's name on it and then having the entire project executed by unpaid volunteers?  (I'm still chewing over the same question in regards to my other big volunteer commitment, the International Honor Quilt organized by Judy Chicago.)

Second, is it bait-and-switch to offer to mend somebody's garment and not actually do so in a functional manner?  We're hand-stitching with shiny polyester embroidery thread, which may hold up just fine for a little hole on the collar but isn't going to accomplish much if you ripped the seam on the seat of your pants.

I decided to attend the volunteer training program -- the only opportunity to actually meet Lee in person -- and sign up for a couple of shifts as an artist/mender, and see how I felt about it. I'll report on how it's going in subsequent posts.

Quick Gouache Comp

"Demo at Montreal 2015 3"

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My third demo was a mid-key floral. The yellow roses were not in good shape when I set them up. Being into this miserable world for too long, they kept wilting and fading. The gravity was mercilessly pulling their petals down to the center of the earth. I was using all my might to cheer them up and fight to use every minute to catch the last bit of their vitality and documented on my canvas. Oh boy It was a demonstration of struggling, both me and the roses.

Art is always a type of struggle. Things are not always working out. We don't have control on our fate. The only thing we can do is keeping on trying, and try a little more.

A lot of knots -- update

I wrote a few months ago about a new technique that I came up with during a boring business meeting and how I fell in love with it.  Time for an update, because I have become really excited about it and have made a bunch of little sculptures.  Basically it's just tying overhand knots, one after the next, letting them pile up on one another and start to form remarkably solid bunches.  Because the thread is so light and the knots are so firm, it's possible to make vertical "branches" that stand up straight or extend out horizontally.

At first my pieces were quite small and I mounted them in frames.

But then I realized I could have them emanate from other objects, such as spools, slide mounts or rusted teaballs.

As I keep working, the constructions are getting bigger and more elaborate.  I've figured out how to end the knotting without having the cut ends of the cord hang out in a fringe (although some people who have seen these think the fringe is good).

It's surprising how long it can take to make a little sculpture only a few inches tall, but I go into a Zen state and barely notice the time passing.  I'm a happy artist.

Photo suite 174 -- train trip

One of the things I love about Europe is train trips -- this one from Germany to Czech Republic and back.

"Demo at Montreal 2015 2"

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This is my second demo. A couple of yellow roses and a wood thingy in the back. It was very enjoyable of painting it. This painting is still available. I put it on the Daily Paintworks.

I am on my way back home this afternoon. I have taught 3 workshops in a row in this trip. It is a new milestone on my art journey.

International Threads challenges 4

I mentioned in my last post that one of our challenges for International Threads was "lines."  Having worked with lines in dozens and dozens of different ways in the last eight years, I decided the only area I hadn't yet properly explored was curved lines.  I had tried to piece very fine curved lines a couple of years ago with limited success, but on the small scale of our challenge pieces I thought I could do a good job.

Sargasso, 2015

I liked the result, and had fun putting the scales on the fish with free-motion quilting, but not sure that I am enthralled enough to go do more curves.  Before I do, I'd need to have an idea -- for instance, if the curves represented waves I might consider a series commemorating my love of ocean travel.  But it would need more meaning than that.  Just "ocean" or "fish" doesn't have enough intellectual weight to carry the commitment of a series.

"Demo at Montreal 2015 1" --- Sold

Bonjour! I came out of US again. My 9th workshop of the year has been conducted in Montreal Canada. Great thanks to John Goodger for organizing and to all the Canadian artists for attending. I have really enjoyed these a few days. This is my first demo.

Sign of the week

International Threads challenges 3

Our fourth and fifth prompts in the International Threads group were "pattern and repetition" and "lines."  Neither of them seemed very exotic or challenging to me, as I have been working for years with pattern, repetition and lines.  Also I was getting behind schedule on our challenges and the deadline was approaching.

When I was teaching at the Crow Barn in October I made a bunch of strip sets to illustrate my production methods, and to have something to stitch on while my students were working.  As the clock ticked, it seemed like a good idea to sew them up into a quilt top.  But I had resolved to learn something with each new piece, and I noticed that if you made some strip sets but didn't then slice them into relatively narrow strips, you would get a different, more open effect.  (Note this especially in the lower right-hand corner.)

You might also note how the quilt has outgrown its bounds, indicated by the pinned-up selvages on the design wall.  You might not think that without noticing it you could get eight inches too big when you're working on a marked grid, but you would be wrong.  I eventually cut off some of the extra so as not to be too out-of-sync with the other pieces in the show, but I wasn't happy doing it; this composition seemed to be pretty good.

I have always been intrigued by the juxtaposition of densely fractured areas with sparser areas, as in the older quilt shown below.  The little piece for International Threads was an opportunity to try it out in another style of piecing.

Crossroads 4, 2011

So here's the new piece:

Crazed 21: Desert Development, 2015

"Demo at Lowell 2015 3" --- Sold

This is my 3rd demo. It is a new experiment. At the art center, I saw may spools of springs and ribbons. They have all kinds of colors and sizes. So I decided to give them a try. I formed this composition, and did this high key painting. It was challenge of doing this experiment in front of all workshop artists as a demo. I demonstrated how I struggled to learn new stuff.

The workshop at Lowell has ended. I have arrived at Montreal Canada yesterday.

International Threads challenges 2

The third prompt for the International Threads group was to juxtapose areas of large scale with areas of small scale.  I was the one who came up with this prompt, and ironically it's probably the quilt I like the least of the entire series.

A bit of back story: a few years ago I made a quilt based on a Photoshopped picture made by my art pal Keith Auerbach (read about that here).  It wasn't my best work; the composition was crude, there were technical problems with the quilting and I was unhappy with how much the black and blue fabrics frayed and the loose threads were visible through the adjoining white stripes.



I didn't think the quilt was worth finishing, but I loved the way the stripes worked together, especially the places where the regular pattern was interrupted and distorted.  Ever since I have been meaning to make another quilt to explore what can happen with stripes.

Here's what I came up with.  I used some of the leftovers from the previous piece for the large-scale stripes, but I cut the small-scale stripes out of a commercial striped fabric (boy, did that solve the show-through problem on that part of the quilt!).

Obelisks, 2015

I like the high contrast of the black and blue against the white and would like to use that again.  And I like the interruption patterns. But I'm not sure I'll make another piece to turn this into a series.

"Demo at Lowell 2015 2" --- Sold

This is the second demo. Roses and a turnip were together. It was kind of odd, but I was look into the colors for the painting. I guessed it was all right.



The workshop went well so far. I have tried my best to make the students learning easily and the information I give was practical and easy to remember. I hope the people who took my workshops can progress steadily and become better painters.

"Demo at Lowell 2015 1"

Flown out of Portland OR, I have arrived at Grand Rapids MI. Thanks to Franciscan Life Process Center and Kathy Bechtel for organizing my 8th workshop of the year. Thanks to all Michigan artists for attending. It is very quiet and peaceful here, It reminds me the meditation retreat I did a year ago. It is the world it should be.

"Demo at Hood River 2015 3" --- Sold

This is the third demo at Hood River Workshop. I tried to approach my still life painting a little differently. I hope my high key painting will mature someday. Currently it is in the middle of development. If you have any suggestions, please let me know. That will help me significantly to grow.



Recall these a couple of years, I feel I have entered a relatively difficult phase of my art career. I need to recharge badly. However, I don't have enough time to concentrate on learning new stuff, and my existing style of painting has got too stylish. I personally don't feel satisfied with the current status, and long for new growth. I have been patiently studying with my very fragmented time, taking notes, did a large amount of research. You may not see much of changes on the surface in a short run, but I am getting better. I have discovered a lot of unknowns in my own art education, and little by little I am filling the gaps. For a while, you may still see too many similar demos paintings, but I am working hard and need your encouragement and guidance.

The typographic observer 11

Hey, your N is upside down!



(This is a restaurant where the menu lists "sammiches" so what's a serif -- or should I spell that seraph or sheriff -- between friends?)

"Demo at Hood River 2015 2" --- Sold

Low key still life painting is the scheme of my second demo. I felt pretty happy about this one. The color is harmonious. The center of focus is obvious, and the reading is smooth. The information about the bottle in the background is just adequate. I hope you enjoy this painting too.

"Demo at Hood Rive 2015 1" --- Sold

My 7th workshop of the year has just finished at Hood River, OR. I want to thank Columbia Center for the Arts for organizing this workshop, especially Ceri and Sally. Thanks to all artists from Oregon and Washington States for attending. This is my first demo. The setup is very simple, but all the objects in this setup manipulate light differently. Painting light is the key.

Sign of the week

My camera didn't want to focus on this label -- that's OK, I don't particularly want to think about it either.

Disney Color Key

"Dies Ranch 2"

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The day before yesterday, Hsin Yao and I went plein air painting. We went to this old house near where I live. I have painted this place many times. It was cloudy. Hsin Yao loved it. I like light and shadow. Cloudy day is challenge for me. I have learned a lot by watching him painting. I was amazed how much paint he used - at least 5 times of the amount I used. You can imagine how rich and thick his painting was. You can tell how confident a painter is by how much paint he/she put on palette. So quantitatively, Hsin Yao is 5 time more developed than I am.

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