Early Spring - Muir Beach

My 8"x 8" canvas came too late, so I missed Waterhouse Gallery’s Small Gems show :( I will paint something earlier and join them next year. Anyway, I did this small landscape last week, I feel 8"x 8" is an interesting size to paint.

I have good news this week, my painting “Christmas in the Park” has been accepted for 21th Annual National Juried Exhibition of Traditional Oils by OPA, wish me luck! :)

By the way, I was honored to be the judge of Boldbrush Painting Contest for last month, and it was difficult for me to eliminate so many beautiful paintings. Congratulations for all the winners!!

April Workshop at Sunnyvale Art Gallery

I am going to do a 2 day (27^th and 28^th) Workshop at Sunnyvale Art Gallery next month. If you are interested in painting portrait or clothed figure with me, please contact Sunnyvale Art Gallery as soon as possible, the spaces are limited.

By the way, the drawing Workshop in my studio last weekend was very successful, everyone did an excellent job. The only regret was that I did not get enough time to finish my drawing, so could not share it here :(

I fixed the problem on my last painting, I like it a lot now :)

Gregory - SOLD

Gregory is a great model, he never moves once he sits down. I painted him a couple of years ago from the other side because there was no open space in front of him, same thing happened again the day before yesterday, I have to put my canvas on this side of him.

I know many artists like to paint from the 3 quarter view, that’s probably the best angle to create the 3D looking, but I actually enjoy painting from the side view sometimes. I know I lost some value contrast on my canvas by painting from this angle, it will be more difficult to model the forms. But on the other hand, I got more room to play with the subtle colors. Also I need to push more on the brush works to create the interest from the model, that actually helped me to capture the feeling that I got from Gregory.

An artist friend left this question in my last posting

“Its said that edges which appear hard on squinting should be retained the way they are whereas edges taht blur on squinting must be painted soft. Its been my observation that higher the value contrast across an edge, the harder it appears on squinting and vice versa. So is it correct to conclude that edges with higher contrast must be painted as hard edges while those with lower contrast must be made softer?”

I think I agree with that if we are painting what we see, less contrast will look softer, and more contrast will look harder on edges.

But the next thing we should add is what we know to our painting. For example, in this painting, I added a few dark strokes on the top of the canvas to support his white hair; I added some light strokes under his nose and chin, some dark strokes on top of his nose and forehead to support the shapes there. Those values and colors might not be there from what I saw, I used what I needed to create what I wanted…

Furthermore, most important for an artist is expressing our feelings from our artwork, that’s why I think my paintings are my language, no matter what I paint, even just a small object.

Early Spring - Morgan Hill

An artist asked about edges in the comment of my last posting, here is a little bit of my thoughts about the edges, hope it will help.

There are many differences in degree from hard edge to edgeless. The edges are related to values, and we do have a couple of principles for applying the edges when we paint something:

Harder edge for form shadow; softer edge for cast shadow; sometimes no edge between the form shadow and cast shadow.

Apply harder edge if you want to create something closer, apply softer edge if you want to create something further.

Of Course, there are a lot more we can talk in detail about the edges. .. The values and edges are like the notes of the music, bouncing around on your canvas, good artists compose them to a beautiful music.

Leave your question in a comment if you are interested in my thought about the question, I may share in my later posting when I get a chance.

By the way, I did not like the head part of my early painting “Figure Series 12-01” on February 17’s posting, I repainted the head and reloaded the image, I think it looks better than before :)

Figure Series 12-04 - SOLD

The gesture interested me. I used wash technique for the dark part of the painting, and watercolor technique on the light part of the sofa.

Let me know if you are interested in me sharing a little bit of my thoughts about my posting, I can write a little more for the later posting...

In the Garden - SOLD

I was trying to capture the moment that something interested the beautiful girl in this painting. I like the cool reflecting light in the shade against the warm light in the back.

March Workshop at my studio

My Workshop at my studio this month will be on the 10^th and the 11^th, here is what we are going to draw – the beautiful “Giuliano Medici”.

During this two days Workshop, I will do the step by step demo and draw with other artists. Again, I think this is one of the best trainings to learn the technique concepts and improve the modeling skill before drawing or painting from model.

I may have one more spot available this month, if you are interested please contact me by email at fongweiliu@gmail.com as soon as possible.

Figure Series 12-02 - SOLD

Museum Series 12-01

I feel this is an interesting subject to paint, will paint more when I get chance.

By the way, I finally created my website, please check it out: fongweiliu.com I am still working on it, please let me know if there is anything can be improve.

Drawing demo in my studio

My first weekend workshop in my studio was very successful!:)

Here is one of the step by step demos I did during the workshop, I feel that I need more time to warm up, but not too bad. I did not draw any cast after 1994, but I benefited a lot in my art work from my early drawing training when I was young.

I created this drawing workshop before we start painting from model, because I feel the artists attending my studio are learning the art very seriously. Drawing the cast is one of the best training to improve the modeling skill and learn the technique concepts. I highly recommend the artists who want to improve the painting technique to get some of this training, it will benefit a lot when you paint. Use pencil to draw, not charcoal, sometimes charcoal drawing hides your weakness.

I may still have one or two cast drawing classes for following monthly weekend workshops, I will be drawing with other artists, contact me if you are interested, I will post the workshop date later.

Figure Series 12-01 - SOLD

I plan to paint some small nude figures this year, here is the first one I did, find that is difficult to paint full figure with all details on a small canvas.

Portrait painting in progress

Summer Workshops Announcement

I am going to have two Plein Air Workshops with Silvana Gallery this summer. One is in Barcelo Puerto Vallarta, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, another one is in Mammoth Lake, California.

Silvana did perfect arrangements for the workshops, if you love to paint, breathtaking and scenery, join me this Summer !! I would love to paint with you :)

Austin Workshop Announcement

I am going to have a 3 days Portrait and Clothed Figure Workshop at Austin, TX from 18th to 20th this May. My good friend Qiang Huang will host the workshop for me, please check the information on Qiang Huang's blog, and more detail information on Fongwei's Workshop Flyer.

Look forward to see you in Austin !!

By the way, the painting I am sharing here today is called "Christmas in the park", I really enjoyed paint this painting :)

Award and Workshop

I am so proud to be the “Winner of the Southwest Art Award” on Southwest Art magazine February 2012 from “6^th Annual Great American Figure Artists Exhibition” – Waterhouse Gallery. Thank you Southwest Art and Waterhouse Gallery!

Workshop Announcement

I plan to do weekend drawing and painting workshop once a month at my studio, Santa Clara, California. This month will be 18^th and 19^th, please contact me at fongweiliu@gmail.com if you are interested, I still have two more spots available.

Last Fall - SOLD

After rain - SOLD

Song of the Morning - SOLD

Cottage in the vineyard - SOLD

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Rose study - SOLD

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I painted a same rose twice by different approach, and this is the one I kept for a while :)

Flowers in the pot - SOLD

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My painting "Lunch Time" won a price from BoldBrush Painting Competition last month, the painting still available at Silvana Gallery, please contact Silvana if you are interested in the painting :)

Happy New Year!

Morning Coffee

Available at Waterhouse Gallery.

This is a painting I did week ago before a cruise to Mexico, I may have some small studies from the cruise later when I get chances, it was a wonderful cruise with our friend families :)

I wish you have a happy new year!

Fongwei

Break In Studio Series

Available at Waterhouse Gallery.

Who was that girl? Once a mom saw this painting, she told me "Could be my daughter :)" I really like the moment that she was taking the break in the studio.

Clashing Waves

Available at Waterhouse Gallery.

First try for waves, interesting! Ah, maybe paint more.

Signe

Charcoal Sketch - SOLD

Sold by Waterhouse Gallery.

This is the big version of one of my small studies I did before, available at Waterhouse Gallery, Santa Barbara for Great American Figurative Artists Exhibition 2011, the opening will be 19th this month, wish to see you there. 

I was not able to send the recent postings out via the Google group and I don't know why, please let me know if you can help. 

I have sent a email "test" to my group to test, and then I realized that it may sent out, sorry for that if you have got that email.

Kitchen Scene

Available at Waterhouse Gallery.

Tracking Dream

Available at New Masters Gallery.

This is another painting I just sent to New Masters Gallery recently, please contact them if you are interested in having it.

I really admire many artists who can paint daily. I can only paint one day per week, a poor weekly painter.

By the way, my daughter titled this painting, I like it :)

Figure Study 10-31 - SOLD

By the window

Available at New Masters Gallery.

Tendai

The finished painting.



The detail of head.



The detail of torso.

Available at Waterhouse Gallery

Tendai - part 1

Available at Waterhouse Gallery.

I am working on a two days pose painting, and this is what I have for the first day. I would like to share a little of my approach for painting a model more than one day today.

At the beginning, I need to have an idea about composition, the design of color and value; of course, most important is the idea for the painting, these take a lot of time for me sometime.

Then I will mark some key spots for the proportion. When I continue on the painting, I will just focus on one part of the painting each day, and try to finish the part as much as I can. I find this is the best way for me to paint a live model because next time she may not pose the same thing for you :) but I will still need to come back adjust the whole painting later.

I will try to do some set up for next time by the end of the day, therefore I will have some chances to apply different techniques on the painting later.

Tendai is a beautiful African girl, the texture on the canvas showing through her face added a trace feeling of wildness to her, I like it.

Portrait of Richard - SOLD

I am teaching a graduate school online painting class this semester, here is a "exercise" I did for the class over the weekend.

I have not done this for long time, and this is the first time I paint the "exercise" from a photo reference. A little too tight, but not too bad for a demo :)

Studying Rembrandt

Available at Waterhouse Gallery.

This is the big painting I did by one of my small study, now you can tell who painted the painting in the background :)

Richard - SOLD

Here is a study I did today in San Francisco. I picked this angle and I like it!

La Traviata

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I did this small painting last evening with friends, it reminds me the time back to many years ago when I practicing the drawing.

Girl with hat - SOLD

Today's effort, pretty expressive, isn't it?

Figure study series - SOLD

Another small study.

Cityscape - New York - SOLD

This is a small cityscape study I did a while ago, just for sharing :)

Girl with white shawl - SOLD

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This is a small study for a big painting. A beautiful girl lean on the red door, her white shawl really catches my attention.

I will share the big painting later.

Girl Reading - SOLD

Steak House - SOLD

This is a moment from an evening of downtown San Diego when we visit the city earlier this year. I really like the actions in the kitchen, this is a small study, and I also did a big painting this week for a upcoming exhibition this November, I will share the paintings later :)

By the way, I have another upcoming exhibition - International Salon of Figurative Art at Silvana Gallery with many great figurative artists this month, the opening of the exhibition will be this weekend, September 10th. Please check it out if you are nearby.

Shangri - La -- the Village - SOLD

Shangri - La -- the Temple -- SOLD

Museum scene 2 - SOLD

Museum scene 1

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My last post was an accident, I clicked "enter" instead of "backspace" :(
Please discard it if you received by email, sorry.

Mid-night Street - SOLD

I had been at Shuhe old town three years ago, I like the night there very much, even better than Lijiang old town, but did not get chance to paint it last time.

My previous painting is the busy time of the night, it's all about the motion and energy. The town is totally calmed down after mid-night, the calmness is the only thing I want to talk in this one, it is the feeling in my memory.

I believe the feeling is the soul for the artist!

Night Market - Shuhe old town

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Hey, I am back :)

I had a great vacation at my hometown this summer, and did a few small studies there, not much :( I may use them for big painting later.

A couple of night scenes, here is one of them, enjoy!