"Block One in the Rain" --- Sold

This is my first "Artists' Choice" award from a major plein air painting competition. I am so happy I have reached this milestone. It is a great honor to be recognized by my fellow artists. I began painting about 20 years ago. At that time, I consider art just as an hobby. I have received so many peoples' support. On my art journey, I did run into difficulties, but so many peoples warmed my heart with encouragement. Thank you, my fellow artists, from the bottom of my heart.

Trends in cover design

I was looking to borrow a new E-book from the library and saw that they have a "collection" of more than 100 books of World War 2 fiction.  Recent fiction about WW2, that is, not fiction written during WW2.  And I hadn't scrolled very far down the page before I started noticing a trend in cover design.

Perhaps you can notice it too:

Until now, I did not realize that WW2 fiction is so popular.  Nor did I realize that we apparently have no idea whether people in those days even had faces, let alone what they might have looked like.

"Concho Jewels" --- Sold

I am very happy to receive the "West Texas Precious Water Award" on the recent En Plein Air Texas competition. Water is such an important resource, but most of us take for granted. So many water ways in the world are severely polluted. We all should put our effort into protect  this precious resource we rely on to survive.

Good cause, bad execution

I got a fat package in the mail from a religious group that runs a school on one of the big Indian reservations.  Unpacked it to find:

three greeting cards with envelopes

a calendar, a sheet of stickers and a certificate of appreciation with my name

a dreamcatcher

two cute plastic tote bags and a ballpoint pen

And of course a fundraising plea -- would I please give them $25 to help them serve the children.

You have to wonder, of course, how much it cost them to buy and package and mail all this stuff.  Not to mention how much it cost to hire the marketing genius who thought up this campaign. I'm sure it's designed to make me feel guilty -- look at all this great swag I've scored, I have to pay them back.  But for me it has the opposite effect -- if money is so scarce, why don't you spend it on the children instead of sending me plastic tote bags?  What kind of weird, stupid decision-making is going on at this institution?  Why would I support a charity with such cynical and wasteful ideas?

Direct mail is one of the most easily monitored and evaluated forms of marketing ever invented; you know exactly how many of Letter A you sent out, and exactly how much money you got in return.  If a direct mail pitch doesn't work, you rewrite the letter and try another pitch.  So there are obviously enough suckers out there who are responding to the tote bags and dreamcatchers to make them keep doing it.  But I wonder how much will go to keep the perpetual motion direct mail machine in motion and how much to the Indian school.

Oh well, the two-year-old will love the tote bags, and maybe the ballpoint pen will write OK.  The rest goes straight in the trash.

Online Drawing Class Available!

Finally, it's here, my online portrait drawing class is now accepting enrollments! https://www.schoolism.com/school.php?id=50 This is the fully critiqued version where I work with you personally, spots are limited. (the self-study version will become available in December.)

2020 Austin workshop

Time goes by so quickly. I need to let you know my 2020 art activities. Right after the New Year of 2020, I will teach a 4-day still life painting workshop in Austin. I hope my teaching can help you to fulfill your new year resolution, and make your future more beautiful. Please check: http://www.qh-art.com/qiang-huang-2020-still-life-workshop.html. for detailed information and signing up.

Unexpected marketing

I've always been skeptical of the"awareness" approach to marketing and fundraising.  Instead of contributing to breast cancer research or screening or treatment, people and organizations wear pink ribbons or use pink boxes or string bras in public to promote "awareness."

It's hard to think that many adults in the US are not aware of breast cancer, or any of the other afflictions that are the subject of "awareness" marketing.  But they persist.

Such as these luggage-cart tugs spotted at O'Hare:

LA County Fair at Dusk

Last week on Art With a Needle

After I wrote about my daily calligraphy, Helen sent a link to some beautiful embroidery by Olga Kovalenko, who starts with a calligraphed word and then executes it in stitching.  I can't tell from the detail shot what stitches she has used, but I would guess satin stitch for the long, smooth lines, maybe french knots for the little ink spatters.  The work is great -- I would be happy if I could simply do the calligraphy, let alone translate it into stitching!!

Olga Kovalenko, Uncertainty

I've finished piecing three small crossroads tops and have one quilted. Still experimenting in search of a way to display quilts in something other than the standard sleeve-and-rod format that I've been using for decades.  I'm going to wrap this batch around 14 x 14 canvases, staple them to the back, and see what that looks like.

Here's my favorite miniature of the week, beads made from air-drying clay, colored with whatever ink was left in the pen after several days of calligraphy:

"Demo at Yangshuo 2019 4" --- Sold

There is old village in Yangshuo. We went there as a one-day excursion. I did this one as a demo. I have been to this village in 2013. It has changed significantly. Many old houses have been remodeled into hotels. The conditions were not bad. I may stay at this village next time.

I have been back for a few days. The jet-lag is a terrible thing. I hope I will recover soon. Soon I will start to teach workshops again. Before the December holidays, I will teach at Huntsville Museum of Art, Quinlan Visual Arts Center at Gainesville GA, and the Scottsdale Artists' School. I believe there are still openings. Please check those places for information and signing up.

DreamWorks El Dorado, Painted Scene (Acrylic)