Saddie in the Evening Linght

Oil on panel, 6x8 inches -- Sold

This is a commissioned piece I painted recently for my clients who have lovely highland cows in Ellensburg, WA. Saddie is a young female highland with lovely, fluffy fur. I emphasized her fur around the ears and forehead by using a palette knife to create extra texture.

Sheep in the Morning Prairie

Oil on linen on panel, 6  x 8 inches -- Click to Bid

A few weeks ago, my artist friend Hita and I visited another artist friend of mine, June, in Prairie City, OR, and did plein air painting together. June and I used to paint en plein aire together in the central Washington till last summer when she retired and moved to Prairie City where her sisters live. I was sad to lose my plein air painting buddy, but glad that she now lives in such a beautiful country side. I love visiting here and painting with her again. It was just before the heat wave started, and it was nice painting outdoors.

This is what I painted by a large private ranch on the hill. The owners were very friendly when we approached and asked for a permission to take photos of their animals on their property and paint by their pastures.

I loved these sheep, especially when they were marching toward the barn in a line. The field was so green, but I enhanced the "non-green" colors to make it look more interesting.

Horse in front of White Mountain Peak

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 6 inches -- SOLD

I painted this in Bishop, CA, earlier. The horse was not staying still for me to finish painting. But I tried anyway. Fortunately I had a camera with me, and took several reference photos before the horse disappeared. So I touched it up after I got back from the trip.

Gold Creek Pond

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 8 inches -- $150 (unframed) -- Click here to buy

On the second day of the workshop with Ned Muller, we went to Gold Creek in Snoqualmie Pass, WA. The morning light around 9:00 AM was brilliant, and the air felt nice and crispy. It was  supposed to be very hot in Ellensburg that day. So it was a right choice to come up to higher elevation to escape heat. By the time everybody gathered, and Ned started his morning demo, the light was already changing, and things were starting to look flatter. We had to spray insect repellent a lot to keep most of mosquitoes away. There were tons of them.

I set up my easel in a big tree shade. My objectives in this painting were to push colors, to use more paint in each brush stroke, to make the shapes of trees in the front more interesting. I love the variation of the colors around the mountains in the back. Putting snow caps effectively was a bit of challenge. 

Red Barn in Roslyn

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 8 inches -- $200 (framed) -- Click here to buy

This is the second painting I did last Sunday in Roslyn. I shortened the barn to fit in the canvas better. I eliminated the fence that was on the left of the barn. I did this in about half an hour.

Roslyn Cafe

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 8 inches -- $200 (framed) -- Click here to buy

Right after coming back from Bishop, CA, for a few weeks, I took Ned Muller's plein air painting workshop for two days in the central Washington. On the first day, we went to Roslyn. After a lecture and painting demo by Ned, we painted in the afternoon. This is my first painting. It was Sunday, and there was Farmer's Market on the other end of this street. The street was quite busy with people, and it was very hot that day. But I found a perfect spot on the sidewalk with solid shade and breeze. The yellow brick building on the right is the famous Roslyn Cafe. There were a quite few people eating there, including some on the sidewalk. I wanted to suggest those figures with abstract shapes of colors. The background of the restaurant was originally empty sky, and looked boring. So I put tall trees behind the building the building to add interest.

Boat Dock at Lake Mamie

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 8 inches -- Click Here to Buy

I went to Mammoth Lakes from Bishop today to do plein air painting with my friend, Evenne, and my nephew, Iden. We hang out by Lake Mamie, for the morning, after walking along the lakeside. I found this gorgeous view, plus a boat dock on the left corner. So I moved the boat dock to fit inside the picture frame, and made it into a center of interest. I loved the color of water surface and mountains.

Lavender in the Sierra

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 8 inches -- Click here to buy

I was invited to go painting with a local plein air painters group in Bishop, CA. Every Tuesday, they pick a place to go painting in the morning, and then they have lunch together. This time, we were invited to paint at a private home with a beautiful garden in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, through a personal connection. It took me a while to settle down with what to paint because there are so many beautiful things everywhere. I was intrigued by the fresh lavenders and greens against the mountains. I also enjoyed the big tree shade where I could paint standing up, while most artists chose spots where they can sit down and paint.

Sunset Pasture

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 8 inches --

This is a view from the backyard of our friends whom we are staying in Bishop, CA. Their neighbors have horses. The pasture is actually on the other side of the wooden fence, but I eliminated the fence for this composition. I realized that the horses are positioned lower than I wanted. So I made them as subtle as possible. Painting horses from life is not easy. So, I photographed the horses, then put the camera by the easel so that I can look at the photos for reference.

Studies of Chickens

Pen on Paper, 6 x 8 inches --

It was overcast and kind of rainy outside. So I invited some of our pet chickens inside the house while I was working on desk work. Bennie, the Golden Laced Wyandotte, was lying down right next to my chair, and didn't seem to want to go anywhere for a while. She just wanted to hang out with me. So I decided to do drawing of her from life. She was sitting still so long that I was able to do several drawings of her. Each time, I was getting a better sense of how much information I wanted to add, or how much is too much. I numbered each drawing. The figure number one had more information than I actually needed. And here's the last piece with longer sitting. After a while, she actually start getting impatient, and moved away. So that was the end of the drawing session. Thank you Bennie!

Here's a study of Leo, the rooster. He was standing in front of the deck, and standing very still for a long time, except turning his head side to side occasionally. I think he realized that I was drawing him, and wanted to pose for me.

Sketch from the College Hill

Pen on paper, 6 x 8 inches --

This is one of the sketches I did during my last visit in Pullman. It was so overcast in the mid-afternoon that landscape looked less exciting for plein air painting without strong contrast of lights and shadows. I drove up the College Hill near WSU, and walked down a trail toward the bike pass along the rail road with a camera and sketchbook. This old building and grain tower was sandwiched between a highway and railroad with busy traffic and so on. But I drew only what I wanted to show. Plus I didn't want to spend a lot of time to include all other stuff around my main subject. I really liked the result. Nice and simple with enough information of tonal values. It could almost be anywhere. Now I feel like I could create a painting out of this. I think I'll do sketch like this more often and post it on this blog.

Twin Stars

Oil on linen on panel, 8 x 6 inches -- Click here to buy

Each of these horses has a nice star marking on the forehead. That's why the title of this painting is "Twin Stars." These beautiful horses belong to my artist friend, Hita. I took this photo when I was visiting her last fall. They were standing right next to each other, and it was important to add the reflected light on the left horse that was bouncing off the right horse. The scene was almost like back lighting, with the sun so low behind them. I love the light on them, especially the mane. This piece is a study for a bigger painting, and my main goal was to resolve the values and color scheme. I used orange mixed in pretty much everywhere in this, including the tree line in background.

Leo the Rooster

Oil on linen on panel, 8 x 6 inches -- $165 (framed)
This is our sweet, handsome rooster, Leo. He's a year and half old Welsummer rooster. He's friendly with people. He loves to be held on the lap everyday. He has long orange-red feathers around head and back, and green iridescent dark feathers throughout the body, including the tail. I started out painting the individual tail feathers, but ended up going over it with a bigger brush with fewer strokes. I also tried to minimize hard edges, creating a soft and fresh impression. I painted this without my usual orange-red undertone, instead I used the mint green as abase for the background. I like how bright it turned out.

Available at:
Gallery One
408 N Pearl St, Ellensburg, WA 98926

(509) 925-2670

Olmstead Cabin

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 8 inches -- Click Here to Buy

This is the original cabin at Olmstead State Park in Ellensburg, WA. It was built by the Olmstead family, who resided here since the pioneer era in the late 19th century. I like painting historic building structures. Since it's a state park, we can go there and paint anytime. Pretty much everything around this park is preserved as it was back then, yet the yards and gardens are very well maintained. I painted this when it was overcast. I might go back there and paint the same scene when the weather is different..

Wine Barrel Fountain

Oil on linen on panel, 8 x 6 inches --

I painted this in the backyard of our friends' house in Pullman, WA. The barrel was surrounded by plants with flowers, creating a nice harmony of green, yellow, and orange. It looked so peaceful, in addition to the sound water fountain. A few house sparrows kept visiting the fountain to drink water while I was painting.

Teepee at Hidden Valley

Oil on linen on panel, 8 x 6 inches -- SOLD

My friend Marlene in Hidden Valley has a teepee in her backyard. I was intrigued by the lights on the teepee, especially the warm glowing orange you can see through the entrance. Because the teepee has multiple plane surfaces, each at a different angle to the light, it was a good subject for a value study.

Thorp Mill

Oil on linen on panel, 6 x 8 in. -- SOLD

I visited this historic mill in Thorp, WA, with several artist friends to paint there. The building is turned into a historic museum, and the exterior is well maintained for the visitors to walk around. I was intrigued by the subtle variety of shades on the building in the early morning light. Toward the noon, the light and color changed so much, while I was still finishing up this painting. But the experiences of the dramatic morning lights and crispy atmosphere were so inspiring. I wore my dark glasses throughout the painting again. It works pretty well for working with very bright subject like this building.

Bridge in the Canyon

Oil on linen on panel, 8 x 6 in. -- Click Here to Buy

I went to the Yakima Canyon with some local artists to paint at the Umtanum Creek Recreational Area this morning. It was a sunny and the morning light was gorgeous. My main interest of the day was to paint something with the river. I found a nice flat spot by the boat launch. There was no shade, and I was standing the sun behind me. My canvas and palette were in the full sun which was not the most ideal situation. I usually paint in the shade or at least put my easel facing  away from the sun.  But I wore my sun hat and dark glasses, and I prevented getting my painting too dark which tends to happen in this situation. I'm very pleased with the result.

Old Shed with Chickens

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 8 in. --

This is a makeover of the recent painting, a study for a commissioned piece. Based on the request from my client, I worked over the facade of the shed with more muted color, and toned down the red flowers in front of the building corner. I also enhanced the roof with oranges sparkles to suggest the sunset light. as well as adding more contrast in the trees in the back.

Sketch of the Old Shed

Pen on paper, 5 x 7 in 

This is a preliminary sketch for a commissioned painting. The lines inside the page represent the cropping area for the final composition. I combined various elements from the photos I shot at the scene to create a narrative using Photoshop, and drew this from the edited image. The biggest challenge was to determine the true horizon of the landscape, as the shape of the shed is so distorted, and the it's on the slope. Fortunately I had another photo of the  zoomed out scene that shows a new garage with reliable vertical lines. I used that reference to transfer the actual orientation to a telephone pole in the distance in the close-up photo. Then I corrected the orientation of the landscape. When I paint on the site,