2023 Relaxation small oil painting series (1)

Initial thoughts When I planned my fantasy art sketches, I also planned several smaller size paintings in order to balance the fatigue of larger size oil paintings. The goal for these smaller size paintings is relaxation. The color palette is simple. The brush stroke is loose and details are limited. I prepared five of them. […]

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Differences between Cuttlefish, Squid and Octopus

Background Where do I begin? I am Asian and I grew up in east Asia. My knowledge of these tentacle ocean creatures in my childhood was all about cuisine. The only difference back then was adding spicy sauce or not. Later when I learnt about their intelligence part, the question came to me “What did […]

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Mixed media painting with collage “Ramen noodle” series

Background Ramen (/ˈrɑːmən/) (拉麺, ラーメン or らーめん, rāmen, IPA: [ɾaꜜːmeɴ]) is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of Chinese-style wheat noodles (or 中華麺, chūkamen) served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including sliced pork (chāshū), nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in […]

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Upcycle project #7 and #8 abstract oil painting

Previous Upcycle project Painting process This project is to use leftover paint after every painting session. For project #7 and #8, I practice more with palette knife. Well, I have to admit that this type of random color block is out of my comfort zone. However, it is still a good experience of playing paint […]

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A tip for cleaning up dirty oil color palette

Method I found out this trick to clean up dirty oil paint palette by accident. One time I left a puddle of acrylic paint in a tray and forgot it. The next day when I peeled off dry acrylic paint film, it lifted the old oil paint residue on palette beautifully. I tried several times […]

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Oil painting Blue Dragonfly

Years ago when I lived in Georgia with my family, we made a trip to Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. It is not a national park which means it has no various attractions. They have a simple boat tour and all you see is wild untouched wetland. I love the view. There were tons of waterlily […]

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Ceramic teeth wheel painting series

This series is a conceptual test trial for something called “Conceptual contrast”. I learned this term from YouTube video by Sinix Design. The example he used is light saber from Star Wars. It is a sword which often relates to old time cold weapon. But the sword is made of laser which often relates to […]

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Trying out pink underpainting

I tried pink underpaintings with these four pieces. Finished paintings I often see artists laying out pink/magenta underpainting on canvas. They often leave some pink/magenta edges in the following layers. It makes the painting very interesting because you can see through the warm and saturate underneath color. I am curious about this pink/magenta base color […]

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Experiments with gold paint pigment

After I finds out gold pigment for oil painting by Schmincke Oil Bronzed, I need to try them and test them. I got several wood sign boards from local crafts store and try to paint something that is simple and straightforward. I want to test out the gold pigment only. I don’t want too many […]

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Canvas prints of my artworks with iCanvas

Early this year, iCanvas reached out to me to see if I’m interested in working with them. I was skeptical because I wasn’t sure about this “prints on demand” thing. But iCanvas told me that they are different from websites such as Redbubble or Society6. After reading all paperwork they sent me, I thought “why […]

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