Sunflowers No. 3

Oil on hardboard, 7 x 5 inches -- SOLD

I painted this outside of my home studio fisrt, then touched it in the studio. I was intrigued by the subtle variation of the light and shadows around the flowers.I paid more attention to the edges in this. I love the red accents  here and there in the green-ish scene.

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.

Orange Roses in the Garden

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in. -- 

I saw these roses in the public garden in our neighborhood. I brought all my gear to paint on site, but ended up taking photos of reference. It was so hot, and there was hardly any shade to set up my easel around the roses. I had fun playing with different tone of yellow and red to create the mood in this piece.

Daisies in White No. 2

Oil on canvas on panel, 6 x 6 in. $100 unframed -- Click here to buy

It's been so hot here in Ellensburg, WA, for the last few  days, I worked on still-life painting in my home studio. This painting of daisies is actually my second attempt since yesterday. I painted the last one yesterday, and it did not turn out well. So I wiped off the canvas with paper towels. This morning, I started the new composition, and I finished it. Flowers are not my strongest subject, but I want to get good at painting them since we have so many pretty flowers in our yard during the warm seasons. I think these flowers make our home more special, and I want to be able to show that in my art..

Purple Tulips & Peter Rabbit

Pen on paper, 5.5 x 8 in.

It's been very warm for the last few days, and some flowers in the yard are blooming. These purple tulips we planted last year in our Rose Garden, have just joined the party today. The wind was calm, but the clouds were coming and going throughout the afternoon. It's not so great for painting from life when the ambiance, especially the lights, are not consistent. So I decided to draw on my sketchbook. I brought out a little tripod-chair. It took me a while to find a sun hat because I've never needed it this year yet.
  Half way through the drawing session, here comes a wild pygmy cottontail bunny. He moved into our yard a few years ago from no where, and became a good friends with our pet chickens ever since then. I named him (I suppose?) "Peter Rabbit." I've been always a big fan of bunny rabbits since I was very little. The character, Peter Rabbit, was always my hero, beside Bugs Bunny, and I grew up drawing and painting them all the time. It is exciting to have our Peter Rabbit at home. We even don't have to take care of him. He's very self-sufficient, other than taking advantage of our predator-free backyard.
  This time, the rabbit was hanging out just behind the tulips and eating grass. I was wearing dark glasses, and he probably could not see where I'm look at. I pretended I didn't care about him, but kept sketching him as quickly as possible on another page. Then I decided to juxtapose the rabbit behind the tulips to add narrative. I tried not loose track of his move, while moving my pen frantically over the paper. The rabbit also kept popping his head up to keep track of me. It was such a rewarding WOW experience.

Black Eyed Susans No.2

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

I painted this a month ago in Pullman, but I didn't have a chance to post it. I saw these flowers at the edge of a fruit orchard when I was doing my series of orchard paintings. It was sunny but breezy, and not the best condition for painting the flowers from life. But I didn't want to miss the last opportunity before the first major frost. I love the gradations of yellow petals in this.

Stop and Paint the Flowers

I've been doing small plein air paintings of various things around home as studies for larger paintings I will do in my studio during the snowy winter. One day, I was doing paintings of some flowers in the yard.

Then, sooner or later, our chickens joined me, by hanging out on my lap, and even posing for me as extras.