Announcing My New Store . . .

Captivating sold

I have just launched a gallery on DAILY PAINTWORKS, and have posted a group of smaller paintings there. More will be added in the coming days, so visit often! Most of these paintings are for sale by auction. This painting has sold.

Early morning in West Lake Park, Hangzhou

Early every morning men gathered here to visit. Some carried cloth-covered bird cages. Suitable branches were quickly found to hang cages in trees near by. Once the coverings were rolled to the tops of the cages, the owners walked up this little path to join their friends. The air filled with the soft murmur of their conversations, mixed with frequent sounds of laughter and the singing birds. A delightful way to start the day.

Between the sketch above and the June 4th post, there was a large, square platform surrounded by short walls. Openings on each side allowed entry. People began to arrive around 6:45 a.m. They were all dressed for work in the business world.

By 7:00 a.m. loud speakers came on, blaring music from the West, and the people began to dance together, ballroom style. They danced for nearly an hour. Then suddenly the loud music ended. Once again the soft murmur of voices mixed with laughter could be heard, and the dancers stepped out onto the grass-covered ground. They left as they had come, some walking and some riding bicycles.

A wonderful, rainy day . . .

On Friday our professor at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts hired a bus and took us to several of his favorite villages. It was a wonderful, rainy day and the bus ride was the wildest to date. We saw many men in hats like the one in my last post.

This sketch shows a fisherman waring one of them in the village of KeQiao, The City of Bridges. There were many little boats like this one in the canals in Shaoxing. As we walked along the canal, we passed many fascinating doorways. Some had older people sitting in them. Most had open doors revealing people going about their daily chores inside. A man in a Dutch-style doorway saw my pin, smiled and said, "Artist!" as he tipped his head toward my pin. These were given to us when we arrived at the academy. We all wore them.

Then there was a woman washing food in the canal – a reddish-brown chicken strutting alnog the path – I wanted to sit on the groud and paint them both!

Painting in West Lake Park, Hongzhou, China

During our stay at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, I walked to the lake early every morning to sketch and paint before breakfast. Here I am wearing one of the "fisherman" hats mentioned in yesterday's posting. Wondered why all the women who walk by would all smile and giggle . . . I later learned that women don't wear these, only the fishermen. Well, they worked so well in the mist and rain, all of us wore them. The image below is what I am painting in the photo above.

8 x 10

oil on gessoed museum board

On this morning one of the little boats was tied along the shore. Graceful branches from the tree above almost touched the water. The view took my breath away. I had to stop, take out my paintbox and  catch the moment. 

Sketching on the train . . .

I was looking through some of my travel sketchbooks yesterday. These are from a 1993 painting trip to China. We spent several weeks in the Yangtze River Delta area. Our train rides were in cars with little tables between seats that faced each other, and tea was served on each trip. A delightful way to travel with friends.

On our ride to Hangzhou, Darrell was seated at the table across from mine.  The sketch below is from a later ride to Shanghai. Roseanne sat with me. One of our new hats is on the table. The fishermen all wore these. The are made of very thick felt and the rain simply does not go thru them. We all liked them so much, our guide bought one for each of us.

A Kiss has won An Award . . .

This painting, posted on March 8, 2011, has won an award in the juried Visual Arts Society of Texas 43rd Annual National Exhibition. Contact VAST for exhibition catalog: ExecutiveDirector@VASTarts.org 

The sun is out again . . .

Yesterday there were a few white clouds floating in a brilliant blue sky. It was just beautiful. It was only 63º but we were all ready to call it summer. The beaches along the lake even had swimmers! And, of course, all the parking spaces were already taken. We headed for the Bellevue Botanical Garden. So many cars, there was no place to park here either. 

Our next idea was downtown Kirkland to visit the galleries and then sit by the lake in the sun . . .  of course, no place to park. The only vacant spaces were in the library lower lot, which was just about empty. The "Permit Parking Only" signs on every post made it seem quite unfriendly, so we left Kirkland and went on to Kenmore to our favorite Starbucks, where we sat outside in the sun with our favorite summer drinks. 

Coffee shop sketches . . .

I had to take the car in for an oil change early this morning. Rather than wait for the car at the station, I walked down the street to a coffee shop. Unlike my last post, I had a sketchbook with me this morning. Interesting. I think I sketched this man once before . . . also around 7 am . . . same coffee shop and I was there for the same reason.

Coffee shop sketches . . .

I arrived in town a bit early the other day, so I stopped for chai at a favorite coffee shop. These moments are made for sketching, since people always make such wonderful shapes when visiting informally with friends.
There were many more possibilities in the room. Problem was, the backs of my chai receipt and an envelope were the only blank papers I had. A small sketchbook added to my purse would be a good idea.

NAWA 122nd Annual Exhibition in NYC NY

My Red Bow

10 x 8 oil

This little painting is from an early morning walk in West Lake Park, Hongzhou, Zhejiang, China. I went to the park between 5:30 - 6am every morning to sketch and paint before breakfast. I was amazed how many people, elderly to the very young, were out so early.

This little girl was walking with her grandmother. Her sweet face, big red bow and wonderful hair, just looked like a painting to me. Even though my visit to China was years ago, I am still using sketchbook and photo reference material in my work. There were so many beautiful moments.

My Red Bow will be in the National Association of Women Artists 122nd Anniversary Exhibition in New York.

May 3 - 31, 2010

Sylvia Wald and Po Kim Gallery

417 Lafayette Street, NYC NY

Opening Reception: May 19, 2011 6 - 8pm

"Lantern Light"

20 x 16

oil on panel

In this painting I was interested in the color, value and intensity changes caused by light and shadow.

For those of you who enjoy seeing the beginning sketches, another one was posted on March 27th. For some reason it did not go out to those requesting notices of new postings. It can be seen on my Day to Day Painting site.

"Pixel"

14 x 11"

oil on panel

Pixel is the name of the little dog, an extremely well behaved pet. So well in fact he has been on stage in plays, doing exactly what was expected every night!

I usually don't shoot photos as the work progresses, but I always enjoy being able to look back after the work is finished and see how it began. By then the early sketches seem so alive and fresh. Perhaps that's because they are so quickly gone, and I have been looking at the later stages so long by the time the painting is finished.

Maybe I will stop early in the process, frame the panel and call it "finished" so I can enjoy the loose beginning for a while. Two of the early phase of this painting are below.

PleinAir magazine is back!

Many of us were disappointed when this magazine went out of print. It seems enough of us sent letters asking the publisher to bring it back. My "Back By Popular Demand" copy arrived yesterday and it is truly beautiful. What a joy to have it in print once again!

I even found a photo of my friend, Ned Mueller, receiving the 2010 Grand Prize Timothy Bills Memorial Award at a recent Plein Air Event, page 84. Click here to see some of Ned's work.

Visual Arts Society of Texas Annual National Exhibition

A Kiss

8 x 12, oil on panel

A Kiss is one of 63 paintings chosen by Benito Huerta, exhibition juror, to be included in the

Visual Arts Society of Texas 43rd Annual National Visual Arts Exhibition. The exhibition opens April 28, 2011.

another painting in process . . .

This is something I have wanted to paint for a very long time. Several days ago I began with the loose sketch below, marking the general composition.

12 x 16

oil on panel

Next came blocks of color for the larger shapes and gradually I began defining forms by adjusting changes in hue, value and intensity.

Almost finished.

Click here to see the finished painting.