Day 8: Figure Drawing Practice, Pencil

Have been practice figure drawing these days. Tried the font and side female nude, seated and standing. For me, mastering the structure of bones is the first important thing when understand the proportion of the figure.

Day 7: Acrylic on Canvas, Self-portrait of Van Gogh 16X20

Acrylic 16X20

The Original 

Van Gogh used portrait painting as a method of introspection, a method of making money and a method of developing his skills as an artist. While, I'm replicating the masterpiece as a method to improve my portrait skills.

The Telegraph: The best and worst art shows of 2013

Found a pretty funny articles on Telegraph website:

The best art shows of 2013

1. Barocci: Brilliance and Grace, National Gallery

^{'Rest on the Flight into Egypt'. Before 1573 by Federico Barocci, © Scala / Art Resource}

Achingly beautiful paintings and drawings by a 16th-century Italian artist who emerged as both heir to Raphael and precursor of Caravaggio.

2. Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum, British Museum

^{A garden fresco originally found in the House of the Golden Bracelet in Pompeii, Soprintendenza Speciale per i Beni Archeologici di Napoli e Pompeii}

This show about daily life in the 1st century AD was all the more powerful for leaving death and destruction until the very end, so that when it came it was sudden, violent and unforgettable.

3. George Bellows: Modern American Life, Royal Academy

^{Stag at Sharkey's, 1909, George Bellows Photo: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Hinman B. Hurlbut Collection}

British audiences at last had a chance to see the bravura painting technique and probing intelligence of an artist that one contemporary described as an adherent of the “wallop” school.

4. Ice Age Art, British Museum

^{Ivory: A sculpture of a female bison, found at Zaraysk, Russia; about 20,000 years old. Photo: The Zaraysk Kremlin Museum}

Have you ever read a gallery label that identified an object as the “oldest known portrait of a woman” or the “oldest known ceramic figure?” Most amazing was that art made 40,000 years ago could be so beautiful.

5. Turner and the Sea, National Maritime Museum

^{The Wreck of a Transport Ship (1810) by JMW Turner Photo: © Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Lisbon}

Faultless survey with most of the great man’s most important maritime paintings shown side by side with his sublime watercolours.

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And the worst art shows of 2013 ...

1. Art Under Attack, Tate Britain

^{Spectators in front of 'Piano Destruction' by Raphael Montanez Oritz, which is actually about a piano being destroyed, not art. Photo: Christopher Pledger}

Something’s wrong when half of the curatorial team may not know what the word “iconoclasm” is usually taken to mean and the other half believes that the destruction of works of art is ‘a creative process’.

2. Mexico: a Revolution in Art, 1910-1940, Royal Academy

^{National pride: 'Carnival in Huejotzingo' (1939) by José Chavez Morado}

Shoddy curating and poor research left visitors with little idea of the wealth of talent that existed in Mexico before or after the war. There were second-rate paintings by first-rate artists and other works by some artists who never lived in Mexico.

3. Australia, Royal Academy

Chosen without critical intelligence and with virtually no attempt made to discriminate between what was original and what was warmed-over imitations of European art, it failed on every level.

4. Grayson Perry’s Reith Lectures, Radio 4

^{Grayson Perry: 'his lectures were a triumph of style over content' Photo: BBC/Richard Ansett}

Nothing new, little of interest to say about what’s happening in art today, Perry’s four radio talks had the analytical subtlety of a comic book and the organisational logic of a pinball machine.

5. Witches and Wicked Bodies, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art

^{Bewitching: 'The Call of the Night' (1938) by Paul Delvaux}

Well-intentioned but still tedious.

Artist's Network: Luminous Landscape Paintings in Oils

I'm working on one of my oil painting now and I was stuck with creating a stunning light and beautiful clouds in the landscape painting. So I looked up landscape oil painting techniques on internet, and this video popped up. Even it was not a complete one, I could still steal some his techniques.

I have to separate my brushes into different color tones, at least into warm color and cold color. I used to paint with only two brushes and always ended up mixing the color to a really ugly hue. Using paper towel is not always working as I'm not unable to create a warm color after the brush has dark blue on. Adding light and dark tone can create distance btw.

Perspective line is so important in landscape painting. Making a draft and positioning the vanishing point can create a nice sense of reality.

I also used to focus on small stuffs and start with details. That's so inefficient and will messed up when I begin with another object. So always start with the big picture - perspective line or general outlines of elements in the landscape you are going to draw.

Those are experience and I hope you could get your take-away.

A Wonderful Trip to Hawaii, Part 3. Honolulu

After checked out in Maui, I am back to Honolulu, a city like New York with a lot foreign travelers, crowed streets and glamerous stores. I dream for New York but not a copycat. While, buying food and shopping are much earier then any other islands. Every city is pretty much like the same when nights come. I like watching the city running at night. I was lucky to get a room with quiet nice view. 

Waikiki area

Next morning, I went to the Diamond Head to see the the full view of Honolulu.

Diamond Head Crater

Since today was the day before Christmas, people was shopping around the city everywhere and I barely could find a restaurant where I had no need to make a reservation. I got to have a nice meal at Duke's Waikiki in the end. It turned out that ordering the pork ribs made me a Texan for sure!

The last day of my trip of Hawaii was so breezy for I had absolutely no schedules so I did exactly what I loved to do-- enjoying a great lunch and  watch the sunset afterwards!

Sorbet 

Tiki's Grill and Bar

Sunset at Waikiki Beach

There was an old lady sitting beside me while I was watching the sunset. We were both a alone but we weren't lonely. Due to the Christmas, most of the stores were closed and literally nowhere to stay indoors. But I enjoyed my last day so peacefully and contemplatively.

I always like to have some quality time with myself in stead of spending time with not-well-meaning friends. I was reading the $100 startup, by Chris Guillebeau, during my trip and starting my own business and living my life in Hawaii has become my motivation and new year resolution!

P.S. Honolulu Cookie is so damn good.

More pictures, please visit Yubin Wang Photography

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