watercolor class project: Million Man March

Back in school, I had a chance to take a watercolor class with Mr Raynolds. (I added a link to his site on the left.) He was a good teacher, and I really enjoyed his class. This was one of the project from that class. I believe it was a image from million man march which was on Newsweek magazine. I was so fascinated by this man's powerful expression, and decided to use it for the class project. (Please don't sue me for copyright issue. It was for the class!) I was so into this zen mode painting, which I forgot the time and kept painting until dawn. I had 4 other design classes, which were killing me with their due days. But guess what? I spent most of the time painting this watercolor.

On the finals week, I was nearly up for 3 days, and got too tired to mat this picture for the final review. I lost my caution and guess what? I sliced the left lower part in half with my mat board.
I cried a bit, and decided not to turn in for the school show. So this is my first time showing to public.....

watercolor painting on canvas: spring fire

It's acrylic paint on three canvases. While I was working on this painting, I got involved in accident. My neck got injured, and it was too painful to complete this one. Anyways, it's done, and I hang them in my kitchen-studio. I don't like hanging my picture on the wall, unless it's abstract painting like this one. I usually spend too much time on my paintings, so I get sick of them by the time I finish. It is hard to be completely finish the paintings, unless I put them away. If I hang them, I will scrutinize my paintings every day.

I like acrylic paints better than oils. Pigments flow freely in the water, unlike oils. It's also cheaper than oils, I believe.

water color painting: autumn red

I've been working on a new project recently. I needed to release my stress being creative. Since I got in accident, I've been getting this annoying back ache, which prevented me from working on canvas. Because of the style of my painting, which I do not use easel, my back muscle get strained. I get lost in working on colors, sitting on the cold kitchen floor for 4-5 hors straight. When I come to realize it's time to go to bed since I still have to go to work next morning, my back in on fire.

I wish I can just paint all day just like when I didn't have a job; though I won't go back to that desperate phase anymore. No more top ramens in my life!

water color painting: breeze

It's nice to have three days weekend. I've been digging in my closet, cleaning out my old junkie clothes. After sorting them out, I got space to stuff some more. So I went shopping. hehehe. I'm not learning.

Once in a while, I feel some urge to toss all the junk I have in my apartment. The most space occupying mess I got is my art stuff. I like buying those materials which make me feel so fresh to start up new project, but sometimes, I loose my creative energy on the path. So those materials sits on the corner of dusty dining area, which we don't use to dine in anyways.

I may work on that corner, cleaning out some of my canvas, start some new project on this thanks giving weekend. I need a chunk of time to start painting again.

water color painting: aqua flower

I was planning to have more black on this watercolor, but I like the way it turned out. Sometimes, what comes out looks much better than what I had in my head. I like blue, yet it sometimes hard to use blue with only few other colors. It's get either too cheesy, or tasteless. I wanted to use only black and blue, but decided to use different blue plus touch of violet. I like the nuance of the different blue in this.

watercolor portrait: freedom

I did some watercolor portraits of people with different skin tones. I think watercolor really work well when it comes to mixing and layering multiple colors. Instead of working with some earth color, I like working with unlikely colors. For example, I used purple and violet on this painting to create juicy skin tone. I still need to work on the skin part since it has too much white out part, but I guess I'm on the right track.

water color painting: Les fleurs du mal

This is one of the most favorite in this flower series I created. Evil looks of the flower is not what I planed at first, but it turned out nicely. Water color works like a magic sometimes. Pigments moves freely against your will, and you get the amazing results. I tend to paint too tight, and put too much details sometimes. I was experimenting this "let yourself be free" type of paintings.