Xiaoqing Ding and Tara McPherson Solo Shows at Jonathan Levine Gallery, NYC

Hello there beautiful readers,

We decided to head out to the city for the opening shows of Xiaoqing Ding "At The End of A Rainbow" and Tara McPherson "The Bunny in The Moon". I could be a hermit when I'm working on something, especially now I'm working on a new painting and preparing itty bitty things before my show in Nov. 19th, but I managed to drag myself out from my cave.

Going to see other artist's show is always a nice experience. I personally think that it keeps you humble, too, as an artist. You're always reminded that they're so many more talented and hard worker artists out there. I only wish the opening was only a couple blocks away from our place..hehe.

I had a pleasure of talking to Xiaoqing Ding. I like her as a talented artist and I also like her as a person. She's so much fun to talk to. Her works are simply stunning! I always have this admiration for any artists who still apply old masters techniques into their paintings. Xiaoqing Ding is one of those artists that I respect.

The other show at that night was Tara McPherson "The Bunny in The Moon". I saw Tara's drawing at Last Rites Gallery before and it was exciting to see a huge range of her other works from oil paintings, pencil drawings, to soft sculptures.

Xiaoqing Ding

Tara McPherson

Some Art Updates (Exciting News): My First Solo Show, and Pop Surrealism Magazine

I haven't gotten enough time to update this blog and I apologize for that. Things have been great and there are so many sweet surprises recently. There're so many nice people that I just feel what I have done to deserve that kindness....seriously:)

One of the  cool news is an upcoming solo exhibition. I've known this for a while but I haven't mentioned on this blog because I don't like to expose things unless it's almost finalized or even better, it's already finalized.

My solo show entitled "Beautiful Little World of My Solitude" will be at David Apuzzo Gallery in Hamden, CT.Here's the detail for the opening
Date/Time: November 19th, 2010/ 5pm-10pm
Location: 4133 Whitney Ave. Hamden, CT 06518
Snacks and drinks will be served.

Please swing by if you're in the area. I would love to meet and talk to you. I'm a bit shy to people that I haven't met, but I promise you that I'll be more than happy to chat with you:)
 Here's my show card

Other exciting news is, Richard Kalisher, the publisher of Pop Surrealism Magazine, has kindly included me in their Fall 2010 edition. Thanks so much, Richard! It's truly truly an  honor to be among all of other artists that I admire and respect.You can read the digitized version of the magazine here http://www.popsurmag.com/
I'm so happy to see any art magazines like this around. I think it makes the world happier...at least that's how I feel...hehe

As far as my painting progress, there's one finished painting that I'll post the pic soon. I need DH to take a better resolution pic of it and also put it up on my website. One painting is on progress and there's other thing I still need to do for my solo show. I'll post about it later.

Quick Post of Current Painting in Progress

One of those earlier stages. Pardon me again for the image quality
Also, I've decided that I prefer painting on linen better than on wood. Somehow it's just more satisfying.

Autumn is Here and some pictures from Hammond Museum Japanese Garden

I can't believe I'm wearing long sleeves shirt and pants when less than 2 weeks ago I could still wear shorts!
I'm not complaining since I always prefer Autumn compared to Summer, just amazed of how fast things are.
The beauty of painting at home is that you can just wear the silliest but warmest outfit around the house..hehe

Less than two weeks ago, we went to Japanese garden. DH thought it would be a perfect time before everything would turn out dreary. The Japanese Garden was at the Hammond Museum, North Salem, NY.
It was a nice and relaxing garden with a pretty pond. We spent time walking around the garden for a while before heading inside to see an exhibition. Yup, there was an opening reception for tri-state competition show. I had no idea there was an opening that time. Nice surprise:)
Some pics from our trip. Enjoy!

                           Silly dance

                    Beautiful B&W photo by DH. Well, all photos in this blog are mostly by him

Contance Kiermaier

 

Joanna Wezyk

 

Mayumi Takagi

Mayumi Takagi

It may be a bit harder to see but that little box is actually a miniature of inside a train car

Closer look. That little pillow is adorable!!

My Painting for "Totally Terror" 80's Horror Themed Art Show at Madison Art Cinemas

I finally finished this painting. I have a bad habit of putting off the final touch to my painting when it's near done. Somehow I always need to find that right momentum again to finish up. Maybe it's derived from my attitude of building my painting slowly:)

As I mentioned in my previous posts, I did some drawings and  experimental things with acrylics so I had to set aside this painting in the corner. It kept staring at me until I finally got that feeling back to put the final touch..hehe.

I Don’t Know Who My Real Friends Are
oil on wood
12” by 16”
2010

This piece is my contribution for “Totally Terror” Group Art Show, an art show inspired by the horror movies of the 1980’s. Perfect for Halloween.
If you’re in the area of Madison, CT or nearby on October 28th, please swing by, see the artwork and meet the artist.

The opening will be from 7:30PM- 11:30PM

Here’s the detail of the show. Spread the words guys:)



Madison Art Cinemas presents Totally Terror; an art exhibit inspired by the horror cinema of the 1980’s.

The show will be held at the Madison Art Cinemas gallery from October 28th to December 11th and will feature the work of 20 plus artists presenting their visual interpretations of some of the most well known and not…-so-well known horror films from the “Me” decade.

There will be an opening reception and an artist meet and greet on October 28th 2010 from 7:30-9:45pm followed by a FREE viewing of the horror film Demons.

Madison Art Cinemas is located at 761 Boston Post Road, Madison, CT 06443. For directions, please visit madisonartcinemas.com.
List of participating artists:

Matt Sharp
Magge Gagliardi
Thomas Drew
Yosiell Lorenzo
Daniel Yagmin Jr
Tom Ryan
Osiris Orion
Michael Shapcott
Craig Medeiros
Rick Beapre
Dave Estes
Adam Hathorn
Nate Lewis
Clare Jordan
Matthew Fletcher
Heidi Alamanda
Raquel Cude
Chris Uminga
Liz Squillace
Ricky Borchert
Coniah Timm
Pete Shigelkowski


You can RSVP here:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162665313747057&ref=ts

I hope to see you there ^_^

Drawing drawing

Hello beautiful people,

I haven't posted the progress of my painting lately and to be honest it's been a bit slowly than usual. Nothing to do with feeling unproductive, on the contrary I'm feeling experimental. I have this feeling that if I don't do this now that I'll never have time to do it. Basically, I feel now is the right moment. That's why I haven't posted the progress shots of my oil painting as frequent:)
I've been experimenting with some mixed media stuff. Below is only some of them.  Pardon me for the messy desk appearance:)

Bold Hype "Things to Come", Alex Gross "Discrepancies", and Esao Andrews "Solid Void"

We went to the city last Thursday and Saturday. Bold Hype had the opening after closed for summer. Lots and lots of cool artworks at their group exhibition from artists that you maybe already familiar with. Aron Wiesenfield, Allison Sommers, Chris Buzzeli, Dan May, and Nathan Spoor are just to name a few.

Travis seemed to have an interesting story going on while Eric and James were looking attentively:)

Allison next to her highly detailed painting.

Our favorite painting by Joe Scarano

Chris Buzelli

 Dan May

We like this one too from Aron Wiesenfeld

All in all, it was a great night. There were several openings going on around there. RARE gallery, Bold Hype's neighbor, had an opening that night and wow it was just cramped. The gallery was a bit small and there were way too many people there. I really wanted to see the artwork since they all looked pretty cool and scifi looking, but I just couldn't handle to stay there longer. I felt a bit claustrophobic and it was hard to see the artwork up close since people tend to hang out around the painting (I mean socializing but looking away from the painting...weird). DH managed to snap this one.

Jean-Pierre Roy

We swung by at Joshua Liner Gallery before leaving to check out Dave Kinsey's works

Dave Kinsey

We headed back to the city on Saturday a bit early so we could have lunch at Koreatown for some Korean foods and bakery. First stop was Gahm Mi Oak for a filling lunch, then walked around for a bit before had another round at Koryodong for yummy treats, iced green tea latte and squishy breads.

Kimchee. This one is sooo good

Happy boy with his tasty lunch

Cappucino mousse and iced green tea latte at Koryodong

We went to Jonathan Levine Gallery with happy tummy:) Jonathan Levine had two solo shows of Alex Gross and Esao Andrews. I've been a fan of Alex Gross' artwork for a while and I found Esao Andrews' works not too long ago and was completely in awe. I was lucky to meet Esao and Alex right after I stepped in the gallery. They both were standing next to the front desk, so it was very easy to spot. I sort of knew Alex (I said sort of because we were both connected through facebook hehe), but have never talked to Esao at all. I always feel nervous when it comes to meeting new people and that happened during that night but of course I tried to brush it off...pheww. Fortunately, they both were super nice and friendly. Esao was awesome and it was funny of how shy he looked when I basically told him that his paintings blew me away. Alex was really busy that night talking to a lot of people but we got a chance to talk to him for a bit. I ran into Allison at the gallery...what a surprise! She's always so much fun to talk to. Overall, it was a great night full of good foods and artworks...what more can you ask?

Alex Gross

Esao Andrews

Esao's

Esao's

Alex Gross'

Alex Gross'

The lovely Allison Sommers

Hello September and Random Bits Around Here

Whew time flies and it's already September. I feel like this year just goes by so fast while I still have a lot of things that I wanna do. I've been experimenting painting on paper. I have this acrylics set that I got from Christmas present 2 years ago. I've been wanting to try it for a while but didn't really have time to do it. My main focus was (and still is) oil painting. Now I feel like it's the right time and it's also something refreshing while still working on oil painting.
I tried some papers from drawing paper to watercolor paper. I just recently bought hot press paper and it seems to handle the kind of effect I want to achieve.

I just signed up to Sketchbook Project. It'll be my next priority after I completely finish my Poltergeist inspired painting and some stuff for my upcoming show in November in CT. The project is a bit challenging for me since I don't always sketch my ideas. Sometimes I would sketch into my moleskine, draw it and transfer it, but mostly I just draw it and transfer it into canvas. The main reason is that I like to maintain the excitement of exploring my fresh ideas...if that even makes sense:)
We'll see how my sketchbook will turn out, but for now it's still a mystery:)

Random bits around the studio

Run Pablo Run

Latest progress of the painting

There are two more paintings in progress. One of them still need more love and the other is still in underpainting (first stage) I will post more when I get a chance.