Qiang Huang Workshop

I attended a painting workshop at The Coppini Academy in San Antonio last weekend. Qiang Huang, an artist whose work I admire greatly, was the instructor. It turns out that Qi was a physicist before changing careers in mid life. So he has analyzed the painting process as a scientist would and narrowed it down to five basic steps: Placement, Value, Color, Modeling and Consolidation.

I learned a lot from him, mostly by watching him handle the paint and from his spot-on critiques of my work. He is a great teacher, which is not always the case with great artists. Just because you can paint, doesn't mean you can talk about it. He did a great job with both and while he was there he met with the owner of the Greenhouse Gallery and was invited to show his work there. I was very happy for this humble and unassuming artist.

This is the painting I did on Day 1 and I will share the others in upcoming blog posts and talk a little bit about the things I learned and why I think they are valuable. Everyone set up their own still life with things they brought from home or objects the school had on hand and it was fun as well as challenging.

I used 9"x 12"Centurion linen panels and a LOT of liquin (a drying medium), hoping my paintings would dry enough not to get smeared when I packed them for the ride home.

Grapes with Clay Pitcher
9"x 12"oil on linen

Jim's Third Sitting

Yesterday I worked primarily on his face. I added the cards at home after asking him to hold them and taking a photo. Now I am thinking about adding a casino background. It just seems a bit blah with him sitting there holding the cards. I think it might be cool to have someone standing behind him- maybe his wife-- who is also posing for us. Their last pose is this week so I need to make this decision. I think some bright lights behind him would add quite a bit to the overall feel. I really;y like the expression on his face though. He seems to be worried- not a really great poker player maybe. I've included a photo of Jim here to explain what I mentioned in an earlier post about how photographs can be dull and unappealing compared to the excitement of a painting, especially a life size painting like this one. Faithfully copying a photograph to produce a painting will invariable yield a dull result.