"Viola Solo" (oil on stretched canvas; 14" x 18") sold

sold

Aldwin is a high-school senior and talented musician who plays the viola, guitar and piano and also sings in the school choir.  As I was listening to his solo performance of Max Bruch's "Romanze for Viola" during the winter concert of the Washington Metropolitan Youth Orchestra at the beautiful auditorium of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, I was impressed by his poised mastery of his instrument.

"Melodious" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") nfs

nfs

This portrait of my daughter practicing the flute started out as a black-and-white exercise for Danni Dawson's portrait painting class.  I decided to turn it into a regular portrait in color.  It is a small painting for a half-length portrait with a musical instrument and all!  By the way, she was playing C. Chaminade's "Concertino"--a romantic, dramatic, and difficult piece.  She is enraptured in the beauty of the music!

"Flute Practice"

"Flute Practice" (oil on linen; 9" x 12") nfs

NFS

My daughter in flute practice.  She is playing C. Charminade's "Concertino"--a dreamy, dramatic, and difficult piece.  She is enraptured in the beauty of the music!

Why black and white?  It is the class assignment by Danni Dawson.  I was allowed to use only three "colors"--white, Torrit gray, and black.  Torrit gray is by Gamblin, made from the previous year's leftover paints.  It varies from year to year.  This year's batch seems quite warm, so I decided to use it for the skin tone, flute, and background.  The hair and shirt were painted with ivory black and the cool gray mixtures of the black and titanium white.  I must say I enjoyed the challenge!

The black and white palette: ivory black, Torrit gray, and titanium white.

I started blocking in.  This year's Torrit gray seems quite warm.  Compare it (the background color) with the cool gray mixed with ivory black and titanium white.  It will be good for the skin tone in this extremely limited palette painting.

"Flute Practice" is all blocked in.

A little more developed.

"Music from Heart" (oil on stretched canvas; 16" x 20")

click here to buy

I don't paint figures often.  Why?  Because it is very hard to do a good figure painting! When I do, they seem to get attention, like the little girl's painting I did last year.  "Music from Heart" was featured on a site called "Black Art in America."  It is an honor.

Yesterday I shared the news on my Facebook page, which has at the moment 925 fans, and it went completely viral!  Within a day, the post reached 396; more than half of them were viral.  The curator just emailed me with the news that Facebook is doing a display of my painting.  It has already over 60 likes.  Wow!

"Young Musician" (oil, 12" x 12"; sold)

The Upcoming Two-Person Show

Invitation to my show

I have a two-person show that starts shortly and want to invite you if you live in the area. I have 30 new oil paintings hanging; my friend, Alice Kale, is showing mostly watercolors and some oils. It runs from October 30 to December 26. We are not having a reception for a personal reason (my friend is moving at the beginning of the show!).

The show is at the Manor House at Green Spring Gardens Park, which is located at 4603 Green Spring Road, Alexandria, VA 22312. Their website is www.greenspring.org. The Manor House is open between 12:00 and 4:30 pm on Wednesday through Sunday. Call ahead (703-941-7987) to make sure that it is open to the public on the day of your visit!

"Young Musician" (oil, 12" x 12")
sold

I have another exciting news to share. My painting, "Young Musician", was selected as part of the FAV15% (jury's favorite 15% of the entries) in the September 2012 BoldBrush Painting competition.

You may view the FAV15% paintings, including mine:
http://faso.com/boldbrush/fav15/91

Thanks!

"Young Musician" (oil on linen, 12" x 12") sold

sold

The Levine School Suzuki Flute Ensemble performs at Kenmore Middle School in Arlington, VA; the soloist is my daughter!; the seated girl in the front row on the far left is the model

I saw this five-year-old musician at a performance of the Levine School Suzuki Flute Ensemble back in April.  I was mesmerized by her innocent beauty and just had to paint her (with her mother's permission, of course, although it is not a commission).  Boy, it was a tough task!  I had started the painting in May, worked on it for three sessions, then left it sitting on the display easel for two months. 

Do you know why?  I was intimidated by what I had done so far and didn't want to ruin it.  I know it sounds silly, but it happens all the time.  The fear of failure grips us artists at times, and we don't know how to battle it. 

Eventually, I had enough of my timidity.  I decided that the face was good enough, although  it was not exactly her (the girl is a lot prettier than my painting).  She has also that worried look, which the photo doesn't.  I let my self-criticism go and focused on the rest of the painting: the background, white blouse, wonderfully braided hair, and flute, which was a lot. 

The girl's skin tone had hints of purples, mauves, and greens, so I worked those colors into the background, blouse, and even hair.  The burnt umber ground that had made everything look dirty receded.  Suddenly, Khloe came alive!  I am glad I saw the painting to conclusion.  Now I can get on with my life.

By the way, did you notice that my blog now has more than 20,000 views?  When I started blogging two years ago, there was only one person who read it regularly, i. e., myself.  Now every post seems to get about 200 views.  As they say, if you build it, they will come.  Thank you, my loyal readers!

"Music from Heart" (oil on stretched canvas, 16" x 20") sold

sold

The flutist's beautiful regal face and braided hair caught my eye during a Christmas concert at the Mormon Temple.  There were actually hundred other young musicians playing the flute, as the Suzuki flute teachers in the Washington metropolitan area show off their students' accomplishments with holiday melodies every December.  It was this poised college senior, however, who inspired me to paint the flute and the hands.

There are artists who can paint reflective surfaces with their eyes closed.  I am not one of them.  The hands were as tricky.  I had them so big (did you notice when you obsess with something, it tends to become magnified?) that, but for my teacher, Diane Tesler, the girl would have ended up with a giantess' hands!  Someone in the class asked if she were my daughter.  I told her that I didn't have an African-American child, but I would be proud to have a daughter like her.