A Wonderful Trip to Hawaii, Part 2. Maui

First of all, Happy New Year everybody!

So in day 4, I was at Maui Island where I spent the most of my time during this trip, because everything here is soooo beautiful!.

When I saw the whole island from the airplane, I felt like this island has much more diversity of landscape than the big island, field and mountain, beach and cliff. Driving all the way to the south, Hana, I was too sick of the mountain road where the likely falling rocks on the right side and steep cliff on the left side. But I have to say that the vegetation is so diverse and the natural fresh air made me dive into the forest. Hana Bay is just a small bay and I thought it was not worth driving this much long. When heading back, I was stunned by the stars and milky way above my head. I haven’t seen these amount of shining stars in my life and the airplane also looked like a shooting star. I turned off the car and enjoyed the present of god. All I could hear is the water beating the rocks and the bird tweets. Everything was so sacred and peaceful and I felt myself too small to be a mankind in the galaxy. I saw Venus if I was right. I couldn’t capture the spirit by using a camera so I just was watching and watching...

Starry sky at Hana

Next day, I spent whole day getting tanned on the beach. The northwest of Maui Island is a nice place to drive while enjoying the beach view. Kapalua, Napili and Kaanapali area are the best place to go surfing. Speaking of surfing, everybody should move to Hawaii and live a surfing life, seriously. The natural waves are so perfect for anyone who loves to fly on the sea!

Napili Beach

Next day, I was on my way to Nakalele Blowhole that locates in the northeast of the island, unfortunately the road was closed, but you cannot believe that the unpaved road is so worth driving. Each turn was so thrilling for there were falling rocks on the left side and cliffs on the right side. Once I arrived the deep of west Maui forrest, I was kind of understand why so many people withdrew from society and ended up with living in the mountains. There are no distractions, gimcrackeries, pollutions, bustles and whatsoever. It is so easy to hear yourself and your breath.

West Maui

Then I went to Lahaina historical district. I just didn't fall in love with those commercialized stores and restaurants that forces you shopping. There were a lot freelance artists who set booths selling their works. The Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. was there and I had a nice dinner. I almost forget to say the sunset. Every sunset I've seen here was so amazing like nowhere else could share the same thing.

Sunset at Lahaina 

Last day at Maui, I sailed off to Molokini Crater snorkeling in the morning.When I jumped into the water, only a small amount of tropical fish was moving around. I got kicked as too many people were in the water at same time and some of them couldn’t even swim! I was unable to see the turtle because the water was so cold. Then went to Haleakala National Park to watch the sunset, I had to say that this was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen! The sun was going down little by little, and everything was turning into orange red. The soft clouds were like marshmallows. You could actually feel like you are in the air.

Sunset at Halealaka

More pictures, please visit Yubin Wang Photography

To be continued...

All rights reserved by Artist Day 1 to Day 100

A Wonderful Trip to Hawaii, Part 1. Honolulu-Big Island

2013 was a tough year. There are ups and downs, laughs and sobs, awesome adventures and deep regrets. So, I decided to treat myself a once-in-a-lifetime trip, the trip to the wonderland.

Here are my basic schedule during the trip:
12/15 Honolulu, O'ahu
12/16-12/19 the Big Island
12/20-12/23 the Island of Maui
12/24-12/26 Honolulu

After I landed on Honolulu International Airport, I took the city bus to Waikiki Beach that is near my hotel. It was in the evening but the city was so busy and alive. Travelers, restaurants, hotels, bars, and souvenir shops, they were running through all over the place near Waikiki area, making my following trip more exciting. Later on, I realized my overexcitement due to the long time living in Texas...

Next morning, I walked along the Waikiki Beach as my hotel had a super nice location! I got to see the Duke's Kahanamoku Statue which surrounded by many tourists. Having walking on the beach, I suddenly saw an old couple holding hands in the water and I felt so warm even it was like summer.

I had to catch the flight from O'ahu to the Big Island so I left Honolulu early in the afternoon and I would come here again in Christmas Eve!

Waikiki Beach

Next day, I woke up early in the morning and headed to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park where is located at the south of the big island. Due to the active movement of the volcano, all the hiking trails to lava were closed. Driving was the only way to go around the park. The world's biggest active volcano is here! It was not really active as I expected though. In the evening you may see the red lava coming out if the vent of the volcano but not in the daylight. There are several sightseeing spots all over the park. Most of them are the lava remains in recent historial time. The weather close to volcano was not stable, sometimes raining and sometimes sunny. The amazing one to me is the one goes into the ocean. I climbed onto the cliff where the lava goes into the sea and I felt I see the end of the world as the the sky and the sea disappear into the same horizonal line. The wind was quiet strong at here. I almost got blew away. 

Mauna Loa

Apua Point

Plants inside the lava flows

Driving all the way to the south, I arrived at Black Sand Beach. It is the best place to see lazy turtles and unsurprisingly, I saw to turtles lying on the beach, which was really funny at first because the tourists seemed more happy than the two turtles!

Black Sand Beach

The two turtles

The next day, I was supposed to see Mauna Kea, the highest spot here and a good place to watch stars at night. The Web Cam showed that there was snowing which was so weird and the road was closed. Also I could't find the way to Captain Cook after following the GPS. When driving to Mauna Kea, I found out the diversity of vegetation in Big Island. Coconut palms grow along the beach and dry grasses grow on the mountain. After failed to follow the plan, I decided to drive to the south of Big Island. So pretty much got to see all the view there.

The road to Mauna Kea

In the afternoon, my first time air tour happened! The small plane took me to the popo oo volcano. The pilot drove as close as possible to the vent of the lava flows. I could see the burning trees right down my feet. The black and grey lava was evading the forests little by little and the trees had turned into dry barks after got influenced by the air movement above the lava. I really had the hard time on the plane as I had the fear of height and hated the felling of falling down. I kept imagining what I would be like if I was skydiving...

Lava flows

More pictures, please visit Yubin Wang Photography



To be continued...

All rights reserved by Artist Day 1 to Day 100

Day 5: Landscape-Scotland, Oil on Canvas

This Sunday I will head out to Hawaii with my friend who is coming from London!I'm so excited because we will stay in Honolulu at Christmas Eve! I started wondering what kind of present I should give him as the Christmas gift. I remember that he was so fond of Scotland when he was traveling there, so I looked up some photographs of Scotland and began to paint!

Scotland, Oil on Canvas

The painting above was still unfinished. It took me three weeks as I had to let it dry every time before I put a new layer on it. Anyways, this is my best oil painting so far!

Also want to share some landscape oil painting techniques with you:

Ice Trees and Power Outrages in Dallas

My room is like a ice box right now due to the icy weather and power cut-off. I spent a hour got my car de-iced, and experienced a exciting driving adventure on the slippery road. It's so wired that North Dallas is having a such snowy and icy weather this winter.  I found a safe and warm place at school and started to show you the most severe and beautiful weather in Dallas!

Day 4: Figure Drawing Techniques

Charcoal 18x24

Pencil 9x12

I've been practicing portrait and figure drawing for a while, and I find myself pretty good at capturing the beauty of human.The two drawing above are what I did in my drawing class.The very top one was done by charcoal which is an amazing media creating great values between black and white. It turned out to have really dirty hands, but the process was enjoyable. Except for the outline of the female figure I drew the values by my fingers. I left the area that was the brightest and created the little details with fingers rubbing the paper. One good thing about charcoal drawing is that it could give what you want right away. With the saturated black and pure white, you will draw the most beautiful values on the paper. The next one was done by pencil and not like charcoal, pencil drawing needs more time to develop 3D effect.The teacher told me that I should have the basic outlines before I start the details like eyes and hands and that I can always exaggerate the features of female like the breast and waist.

I highly suggest you to try charcoal sometime!

Also I find that there are tons of drawing techniques out there. I'd like to share some of them with you.

Figure drawing from life using the reilly techniques online class(Free):
https://www.udemy.com/figure-drawing-from-life-using-the-reilly-technique/

My drawing tutorials:
http://mydrawingtutorials.com/category/figure-drawing/

The Human Figure(Dove Anatomy for artist):
a really classic book, you can find it at Amazon for $7.16.

Digital Marketing: Buying Art Online Is Here to Stay

A piece of art news I found out today, I thinks it's a good message for artists who selling their art works online.

The original article

"In early August, Amazon launched its second entry into the art category with Amazon Art, promising fine art to the masses at reasonable prices. With the new marketplace, you don't need to leave your bedroom to peruse or purchase. In fact, it's downright convenient.

Amazon Art is the culmination of the digitization of art commerce. In just a few years, over 300 online art selling/buying platforms have launched, with the category trying to catch up with demand. And the demand is there. Fully, 71 percent of art collectors have now purchased art of some form online. Now, more than ever, art is becoming less physical, evolving into a more accepted digital-first experience.

This shift is largely representative of our culture's habituation to shopping online. According to a recent UPS study, 70 percent of more than 3,000 online shoppers surveyed in February 2013 say they prefer to shop their favorite retailer online. Beyond shopping, look at online dating. 22 percent of heterosexual couples and 61 percent of same-sex couples report having met on the web. Doing things online is the norm.

Buying art -- which some would argue can be as difficult as dating -- has now been added to the list.

But there's more to the picture here. Yes, selling and buying art online has benefited from an online shopping trend that has been ongoing for years (led by none other than Amazon). But, the migration of the art experience online has actually helped address longstanding issues that hindered artists from succeeding and art collectors from buying.

Here are some of the more noticeable advantages we're seeing from the shift toward online art.

Gloria Blatt's Fioridiprimavera. Still from UGallery. For collectors -- art demystified

Let's be honest; prior to the digitalization of art buying, art culture was often seen as a private club, only accessible to deep-pocketed collectors with a rarefied pedigree. The traditional brick-and-mortar gallery is actually the physical manifestation of this ethos, as only an exclusive few artists are represented, with their art typically pricing them out of the everyday buyer's budget. This is why you'll often hear those outside of the traditional art community labeling galleries and art houses "intimidating." They seem inaccessible to novices who are genuinely interested in art, yet unsure how to find quality work. The art community has built an elitist reputation that has hurt its ability to organically expand and sell artwork on a larger scale over the long term.
Today, however, online art platforms are disrupting and reversing the old order. Services like Amazon Art, UGallery and others are breaking down the traditional barriers to entry for buyers and demystifying the purchase process. Rather than visiting a physical gallery without insight into pricing or the artists they have on hand, you can visit a curated online gallery and browse thousands of pieces with all the information you need on the artist involved. It's not a nerve-wracking experience by any means. You can take your time to learn, without expectations or pressure. There's transparency enabled through online galleries that make buying a whole lot easier.

Online galleries also represent more artists, meaning larger inventories and a more varied collection, with different price points for any budget, making art more accessible than ever.

For artists -- sell and be seen

Prior to the launch of the online art gallery, to be successful and carve out an actual career, artists needed to develop close relationships with physical, brick-and-mortar galleries and art houses to help market their work, drive sales and establish credibility. This is easier said than done, of course.

Galleries are notoriously sensitive about the artwork they take on and the artists they ultimately represent, with only a small percentage eventually breaking through. For those artists who don't have physical gallery representation or just aren't located in an area with any galleries -- this happens quite a bit -- an online gallery is the perfect partner. And while some online galleries curate their collection like a traditional gallery, from a sheer physical space standpoint, online galleries aren't limited and are inherently designed to take on more inventory. Plus, in a world where over 70 percent prefer buying online, online galleries, unlike their physical counterparts, are masters of digital marketing to drive real sales.

Moving beyond the accessibility factor, online art galleries offer unparalleled, global scale for artists in a way that traditional galleries can't. Now, an artist based in Michigan can sell a piece to a collector in China. In the past, reaching New York and international markets was a struggle for all artists. Thanks to platforms like Amazon Art, artists are selling worldwide, regardless of location.

Suren Nersisyan's Street in Washington DC (Midday). Still from UGallery. Online art & physical galleries coexisting

While I'm clearly a proponent of the digital art experience, both an online presence and an offline one are necessary for the art world to expand its' base successfully. There will always be the affluent art patron who has cultivated valuable relationships with gallery experts and who prefers to see the work in-person before spending thousands or even millions on an original piece.

Online galleries, on the other hand, support the needs of a previously underserved market of artists and a new generation of art buyers. They're opening up a previously closed channel and bringing "art to the people" in a more personal, accessible and convenient way. Market penetration for original artwork is still relatively small; most people start with prints, where they may naturally feel most comfortable. But the opportunity provided through online art to spark real growth for original work has never been greater."