"Jefferson Memorial Twilight" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

sold

The Jefferson Memorial on the Tidal Basin in Washington DC is a beautiful neoclassical building. At twilight, it is breathtaking. I used the pointillist technique for the painting, pretending that my dots are stardust!

"Tidal Basin in Bloom" (oil on linen; 8" x 8") sold

sold

These days I seem to be getting quite a few commissions to copy my sold paintings. I suppose it's a good thing as it keeps me busy! Here is another commission that made me revisit my old work. The reference photo was taken on a misty, overcast day, which created a mellow, romantic mood, which the client loved. She is going to give the painting as a belated wedding gift to her brother who got married at the Jefferson Memorial. I hope he loves it too.

"Washington Monument Cherry Blossom Season" (oil on linen; 11" x 14")

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The sun sets over the Washington Monument and cherry blossoms at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC. It is a breathtaking view. I used the pointillist technique for the cityscape, pretending that my dots are stardust. Aren't we all made of stardust after all?

"Jefferson Memorial Glow" (oil on linen; 8" x 10")

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The Jefferson Memorial at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC, during the National Cherry Blossom Festival becomes a lavender jewel as the sun sets and bathes the beautiful structure in golden light.

"Washington Monument Cherry Blossoms" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

sold

On a lucky day, one can see the sky like this at the Tidal Basin during the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The Washington Monument stands tall and beautiful against the equally beautiful blue spring sky.  The festival just started this weekend; Washington, DC is already being mobbed.  What you don't see in this painting is thousands upon thousands of people milling around under the cherry trees!

"Jefferson Memorial Sunset" (oil on linen; 7" x 7") sold

sold

I wanted to see how small I could paint a famous Washington landmark such as Jefferson Memorial and still capture its majestic beauty.  The painting is not only as small as 7" x 7", it also shows the monument at its prettiest--at sunset during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.  How about that!

"Jefferson Memorial Cherry Blossom Sunset" (oil on linen; 10" x 12") sold

sold

Jefferson Memorial, dedicated to an extraordinary man, is my favorite memorial in the city of memorials--Washington, DC.  I have painted it many times, often set at cherry blossom season, like this new one.  Below is the sketch done in chalk pastel pencil on toned scrapbooking paper that I drew while watching TV in the evening.  I liked it so much that I decided to do an oil version in pointillist style.

"Jefferson Memorial Sunset" (chalk pastel pencil on toned paper, 8" x 8")

"Washington Monument Sunset" (oil on linen; 11" x 14") sold

sold

On a very lucky day, one can see the sky like this at the Tidal Basin during the National Cherry Blossom Festival.  The Washington Monument stands tall and beautiful against the equally beautiful sunset sky!

"Jefferson Memorial in Cherry Blossom Season" (oil on linen; 12" x 12")

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The National Cherry Blossom Festival at the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC is in full swing!  I went over there on Thursday in late afternoon to catch the sunset.  I have never seen the cherry blossom festival at sunset; I was curious how the warm lighting would affect the famous scenery.  As the sun set, the dome of the memorial glowed.  The golden light turned orangish, then pink.  The sky was the harmony of pink, mauve, and blue.  The drama lasted about half an hour.  I returned home elevated by what I had just witnessed.

Cherry blossom lit by the setting sun. Aren't they beautiful?

Even dogs love cherry blossoms!

Collage of My January Paintings

How do you like the collage of my January paintings?  I was going to take it easy in January, but ended up creating as many paintings as during the previous month.  I guess painting is in my blood!

Off to paint another masterpiece today.  Hahaha.  Have a great month!

"Tidal Basin Cherry Blossoms" (oil on stretched canvas; 10" x 8") sold

sold

What winter we are having!  Even the deep South is in deep freeze!  We are in desperate need of spring weather.  As I lack the power to magically conjure up warm sunshine, I did what I could.  I painted the National Cherry Blossom Festival at the Tidal Basin in Washington DC.

By the way, I want to show you how I "recycle" my precious reference material.  Both "Tidal Basin Cherry Blossoms" and "Cherry Blossom Festival at Sunset" were based on a same photo. How about that!  Which painting do you like better?

"Cherry Blossom Festival at Sunset" (oil, 12" x 12)
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"Jefferson Memorial Sunset" (oil on stretched canvas; 8" x 10") sold

sold

During the Martin Luther King Day weekend, my daughter, an accomplished flutist, took a flute workshop in Washington, DC.  On the way home, we were on a road right next to the Tidal Basin.  I looked out the car window and saw the above scene.  It was not a spectacular sunset. It was a mellow, exquisite sunset that we were glad to see on a cold winter day. 

"Cherry Blossom Festival at Sunset" (oil on linen; 12" x 12") sold

"Cherry Blossom Festival at Sunset"
sold

"Waterlily Pond" (oil, 8" x 8")
sold

In the morning of the last day of Dreama Tolle Perry's workshop, we did a wild thing. Each student was given a reference photo, in my case, a pink waterlily; some students, including myself, had to paint their pictures upside down.  We were given about five minutes to get the painting started.  After that, we did the unimaginable thing.  We moved to our neighbor's easel and were given three minutes to work on her painting!  After five "musical chair" effects, we returned to our own easel to face the music.  Dreama told us to finish the painting with three additional strokes.  Yes, three strokes!  (I added a few more strokes after lunch.)

The point of the exercise was, I believe, non-attachment.  We get so hung upon the product that we sometimes forget to enjoy the act of painting or live in the moment. By being forced to go around working on other students' paintings in such a limited time, we had to toss our attachment. Strangely enough, I felt like living truly in the present. I also tried to do my best, to leave each painting a little better before moving onto the next.  I was sincere.

When I turned "my" painting right side up, I saw a beautiful work of art.  It was a gift from the workshop participants.  Look at how nice these "collaboration paintings" are!

"Collaboration paintings"

After lunch, we had to face music one more time by working on our own paintings.  To be honest with you, I was freaking out quite a bit.  Here is why.  I don't want to paint like Dreama.  I am no body's copycat.  At the same time, there are many things I admire in her work.  How do I incorporate what I learned from her into my own work without losing my artistic integrity?

I chose a reference photo I took at the Tidal Basin last week.  This is the kind of stuff I paint all the time.  But as you can see in the finished painting, it was done differently.  I started with a dark/mid-tone underpanting, which seemed to suggest a sunset scene. So I followed my gut instinct by changing the time of the day from early afternoon to dusk, which meant that the cherry blossoms could not be as light as in the photo. The painting became quite moody and more interesting.  If I had been left to my own devices, I would have added three hundred more strokes for the dainty cherry flowers. No, I did not succumb to the temptation.  Dreama loved my colors.  I was pleased like a little girl at her praise!

Reference photo for "Cherry Blossom Festival at Sunset"

I am going to end my "Dreama experience" with what she said at the very beginning of the workshop.  She encouraged us to be true to our heart.  She pleaded us to be not our own harshest critic, but one's own best friend.  Each name tag she had made for us came with an uplifting message.  Mine read: "My paintings are extraordinarily great!" I was meant to become an artist.  Don't ever forget why I am doing this. Style will come with doing lots of paintings.  But what guides my life is the JOY of creating art.

"Tidal Basin in Cherry Blossom Season" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

sold

The Tidal Basin during the National Cherry Blossom Festival in early spring is the mecca for tourists.  In this painting, I nestled the famous Jefferson Memorial in a circle of cherry branches.

"Jefferson Memorial Nocturne" (oil on linen; 10" x 15") sold

sold

"Jefferson Memorial Nocturne" was the first of my new mini series--mellow nocturnal scenes of Washington landmarks.  Initially it turned out dull and boring instead of evocative and stirring.  So I let it dry and reworked with more paint and colors.  The famous memorial to the great president doesn't look dirty anymore; its reflections in the water have colors instead of mud. 

We are used to seeing Jefferson Memorial and Tidal Basin during the National Cherry Blossom Festival against gazillion, fluffy, pink petals.  I wonder what President Thomas Jefferson feels about that in his grave.  To this man of many talents and great vision, three achievements mattered the most. 

Thus, he penned his own epitaph on his tombstone at Monticello, VA as follows: "Here was buried Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the Statue of Virginia for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia."

"Cherry Blossoms Cascading" (oil on stretched linen; 30" x 20")

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Before

Reference photo

I painted "Cherry Blossoms Cascading" in Diane Tesler's class last year.  Diane is one of my favorite art teachers who taught me many things from how to stretch canvas to how to paint practically everything.  She would come to the four-and-a-half-hour class before it stated, stayed through the lunch break (she didn't eat lunch herself to find more time for students), and never left until everybody cleared out.  I must say that she was the most dedicated teacher at the Art League School in Alexandria, VA.  Alas, she decided to retire and moved to Indiana this summer.  I will miss her.

Diane (in the center) at reception for her solo show in June

Diane is the kind of artists who see beauty in beat-up trucks and abandoned houses.  She paints soulful, gritty stuff, not fluffy pretty things like cherry blossoms.  I had to wait for another teacher to show me how to paint cherry blossoms.  It was Bobbi Pratte who told me to find darks to bring out lights in cherry blossoms.  "Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin" was done without her help, but the idea of keeping dark the blossoms in the shadow at the top of the picture was straight from her lesson.  The painting got sold right away at a gallery, so I must have done something right.

"Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin"
(oil, 14 "x 11")
sold

This week I brought down "Cherry Blossoms Cascading" that had been languishing in my office upstairs to give it a major makeover.  Can you tell what I did?  I strengthened the sky first, then went to work to make cherry blossoms come to life.  Now the painting hangs in the family room so that all who come to my house can see it!

I am grateful to all my art teachers.  They may have different painting styles and teaching methods, but I learn valuable lessons from every single one of them.

"Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin" (oil on linen; 14" x 11") sold

"Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin"
sold

"Cherry Blossoms Cascading"
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I succumbed to the crass commercialism and painted "Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin" to make some money off tourists who will be pouring to Washington, DC to see the National Cherry Blossom Festival later this month.  Do you know that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the planting of over 3.000 cherry trees, which arrived here as a goodwill gesture from the people of Japan?  The majority of the trees were planted around the Tidal Basin; that is what you see in my painting.

In defence of my commercialism, I want to emphasize that it is not easy to paint cherry blossoms.  They are so flurry, dainty, and pretty that it is easy to end up with the saccharine-sweet pink fest of paint blobs.  Believe me.  I've tried to paint them many times.  "Cascading Cherry Blossoms" was painted last spring with the help of a former teacher of mine, Diane Tesler.  This weeping cherry caught my eye last year during the festival.  Here the subject is not the landscape around the Tidal Basin, but the cascading "waterfall" of pink flowers against the crisp blue sky.

Bobbi Pratte, another teacher, insists that one should never paint cherry blossoms too light.  Bobbi is absolutely right.  Just before "Cherry Blossom Festival," I worked on another painting of the same theme, featuring the Jefferson Memorial.  As much as I hated quitting, I had to give up on it, for it was a vulgar pink thing. 

In "Cherry Blossom Festival at Tidal Basin," with the Washington Monument as the focal point, I made sure that the backlit, overhanging branches with cherry florets were dark and warm enough.  Why warm?  It was an overcast day with cool blues of the sky dominating, although there was sun, so that the shadows were warm-toned.  This is definitely a feminine painting; but I hope it has an artistic merit.  What do you think?

"Tidal Basin in Bloom" (oil on linen, 7" x 7") sold

sold

The Tidal Basin during the Cherry Blossom Festival is an irresistible subject for a painter.  But it is impossible to paint en plein air with all those people milling around.  The reference photo was taken on a misty, overcast day, which created a romantic mood.  When parts of the country are under snow, it's perhaps good to remember that the spring will come in about three or four months.