Sun Moon Lake - 4 values

This is for Daily Paintworks Sept 2011 four value challenge. It's oil on 12x16 canvas panel.

The Daily Paintworks actually has some good challenges, and this is my second submission. This four value challeng was interesting because we were basically restricted to using 4 basic values and forced to simplfy what we saw. I was looking for something that would look interesting in a black and white, and remembered this picture we took a few years ago at Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan. The boats and dock were supposedly used by Chiang Kai-Shek decades ago. The picture I thought was beautiful in color and would be very nice in black and white, so I decided to use this.

The four values are: 1. lightest grey: sky and sky reflection, dock, 2. medium grey, far mountains and mountain reflections, 3. dark grey, near mountain and reflection, boat reflections, roof of boats, 4. very dark grey (cobalt blue + burnt umber), boat, side of dock and lantern posts. It was hard painting this photo with just four color, and I cheated a little. For example, for the far mountains, if they were just one solid color, they would lack definition. So I added in a little line of lightest grey and did some blending. I also added a pop of color for the lanterns, just to make the painting a little more interesting.

Chilling Out by Lake Pontchartrain, New Orleans

This is for Virtual Paintout Sept 2011 challenge, New Orleans. It's oil on 12x16 canvas panel.

Started the virtual tour by Lake Pontchartrain, I came upon these two guys sitting by the lake just chilling out. One guy dozed off and slumped over while the other guy was looking out to the lake. (ref) To me, I wondered if the two guys were involved in the rebuilding of the city, and one got too tired and rested by the same water that caused so much damage, and while the other guy was reflecting on what had happened. Okay, it sounds a bit cliché but that's what had caught my eyes.

The Google map image quality was actually very poor, so it was hard to make out the details what the men looked like. Moreover, the color in Google map was too dull and grey. So the composition and color for this painting took a bit of imagination on my part, such as giving the water more movement to the water in contrast to the people resting.

Kota Kinabalu Sunset Clouds

This is for Daily Paintworks Help the Children of Africa Challenge . It's oil on 12x16 canvas panel.

This is the first time I've submitted to the Daily Paintworks. There are so many excellent artists participating and the paintings are all so beautiful! When I saw this charity challenge, I had to do it.

This photo was taken last year when we visited Kota Kinabalu in Malaysia. The villa we stayed at was won from a fund raising auction at my younger son's school the year prior. Before the trip, I knew where Malaysia was, but I had no idea Kota Kinabalu existed (it's in the middle of the Pacific ocean next to Brunei), and boy was this place beautiful! The first afternoon we got there, a rain stormed had just passed, and there was a double rainbow. We sat down looking out to the ocean and the rainbow. As the sun started to set, there were these massive colorful clouds. So when I had to find something to paint for this challenge, this picture was the first one I thought of.

The main colors included Prussian blue, ultramarine violet, sap green, white, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow, coral, colbat blue, compose blue, Portland grey medium, and violet grey.

All proceed from the sale of this painting will go to Action Against Hunger.

Two White Peonies

This is for Rookie Painter, August 2011 challenge. It's oil on 11x16 canvas panel.

When looking at the reference photo (ref photo), I wanted to try to capture the luminescence quality of the flowers. Having so many patels made the peonies hard to paint. The values between light and shadow were so close, and thus additional complexity.

When painting the flowers, I actually made the value difference between light and shadow a little more pronounced for ease of painting (still not that easy) and also to give the flower more definition, rather then just a couple of white blobs. I also lightened up the background a little for the smaller flower on top trying to avoid having the painting too bottom heavy. The main colors were naples yellow, coral, Gamblin's radiant red, ultramarine violet, violet grey, sap green, ultramarine blue, van Dyke brown, burnt umber, yellow orchre and white.

We Are So Tired

This is for Virtual Paintout August 2011 Fairbank Alaska challenge. It's oil on 12x12 canvas panel.

While browsing through all the endless tress and big skies in Alaska, I came upon these three people cross-country skiing on wheels (ref photo) (not sure what to call this sport, cross country roller skating? cross country skiing on land? roller skating on skis?) In any case, I looked at these three people on Google Maps for many frames, and they didn't move much. The front two guys held that bent down I'm-out-of-breath position for a long time. This scene caught my eyes because I thought if I were brave enough to do something like this, I would be exactly like them - completely out of breath and so tired.

The main colors for this included permanent green light, lemon yellow, cadmium yellow, sap green, Portland grey, Paynes grey, cerulean, ultramarine violet and blue, alizarin and white. I also added in more sunlight coming through from the trees as much of the picture is in the tree shadow.

Taipei 101 at Dusk

We visited Taipei for two weeks in the summer, and this is view we had: of Taipei 101, one of the tallest building in Taiwan. When I saw the nice sunset, I had to paint this. This is oil on 10x12 canvas panel. I used mostly the left over paint I had used for previous paintings: cobalt blue, ultramarine violet, cadmium orange, terra rosa, coral, cadmium yellow, Paynes grey and burnt umber.

Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard (Larger version)

This is a commissioned work of Gay Head, Martha's Vineyard. It's oil on 32x24" (25P) stretched canvas.

After doing a prototype (see post a couple of paintings ago), I had some idea in my mind on color and composition, so I went onto the larger canvas. Most elements here were similar to the prototype. However, in the larger version, I used more knife work for the cliffs since at this size, I couldn't get the nice edges with the brushes anymore. It took a bit of trial and error and scrapping off before I got something decent. I also gave it a bit more detail with the ocean than in the prototype. The colors used here are similar to those in the prototype: cobalt, cerulean, coral, cadmium orange, terra rosa, Indian red, cadmium yellow, burnt umber, ultramarine violet, violet grey, and Paynes grey. Thanks Phil and Lorraine for your donation into Tzu Chi Foundation for these three paintings: Gay Head, Ethan and Dylan at Farm Neck Golf Course.