Thursday, December 30, 2021 at 10:48AM For nearly 3 months I worked on this piece on and off, going through several concept and design changes. In the earlier stage, I was over thinking and trying to pile up too many ideas in this piece. Finally I came to the end result that was much simpler and leaner. I am pretty happy with what I ended up with.
Wednesday, December 1, 2021 at 01:19PM I have been working on this drawing since October with many interruptions. I am hoping I can finish this before the end of the year. So far I am happy with what I got. I was initially thinking about a texture filled background, but now I am thinking a simpler background might work better for this...
Sunday, July 18, 2021 at 10:11PM I am working on this drawing: Vanitas 29. I have to finish it and ship it to Arcadia Contemporary before the mid August delivery deadline.
Recently I switched pencils from Staedtler to Mitsubishi Hi-Uni. Boy, am I glad I did! I was amazed to find out how smooth MItsubishi pencils are. They are superior to Staedtler. Now I feel that I can have much wider range of values under control when rendering. The calibration is different from Staedtler, but Mitsubishi has a range as wide as 10H to 10B! I haven't used all of them yet, but I really enjoyed the ones I used so far for being very smooth on the paper and not gritty at all. it is much easier to control the values from very dark to very light. I don't think I would ever go back to Staedtler!
Sunday, July 11, 2021 at 01:52PM I haven't posted work in progress shots for a while (except on Instagram) but Vanitas 28 has been finished. This is the last piece of the puzzle: a Nautilus shell rendered in colored pencil. This drawing along with 2 other pieces will be shown in the Arcadia Contemporary booth at the Art On Paper fair in NYC in September. I will be sharing the booth with many of my art idols, I still can't believe it!
Tuesday, May 25, 2021 at 11:58PM Today I met a wonderful couple who visited my studio and looked at my drawings. At the end they decided to take home Vanitas 3 and 4. I am so glad these two drawings ended up staying together since they are a diptych. The new owners of these pieces posted the drawings on their dining room wall on social media. I was pleasantly surprised that it looked like they were truly meant to be there! It is always a pleasure when I learn my art has found a good permanent home. This was one of those moments.
