1st Place in Art in Miniature, FL

Title: Snow Leopard
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Illustration board

This miniature painting won the 1st place in "Art in Miniature" hosted by Art & Antique Studio Fine Art Gallery in Florida!
I entered three paintings: two new and this old one. I almost didn't enter this one because it is an old painting done in 2007. Now I'm glad that I did. :)

Another great news!!

Title: Angel Light
Size: 2.75 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia artboard

This miniature painting of our Cassie has won the 2nd place in Acrylic in the 36th Annual International Miniature Art Show hosted by MASF (Miniature Art Society of Florida). This is a very prestigious show for miniatures. I still can't believe it!

Newbie Award in Cider Painters of America

Title: King of Sumatra
Size: 3 x 3 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Illustration board

This week, I received a phone call from Cider Painters of America saying that this tiger miniature has won the Newbie Award, awarded to the best new miniature painter, in the 2011 Cider Painters of America national miniature art show, Dallas PA.

I am so honored to win such a prestigious award!!

Honorable Mention in MPSGS Juried Show

Title: Peaceful Afternoon
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic

Yay!! This miniature painting won Honorable Mention in MPSGS's (Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Gravers Society) annual juried show this year.

I started this painting about three years ago and left it unfinished all this time. Finally got around to finish it this summer. The models are Einstein (left) and his mom Kitty (right) who recently passed on at the age of 17 (or older).

My First Canvas Print

Yesterday, I have received my first canvas print from Easy Canvas Prints. It is my black panther eyes with a size of 8" (H) x 24" (L) x 3/4" (D), the same size as its original. As you can see, it looks fantastic (although this photo doesn't do it justice) and I also like the quality!!

I have painted eight different animal eyes just like this Panther on gallery wrap canvas sized 8" x 24". This is the perfect size for the space above doors. I have an original leopard eye painting above my office door. There seems to be several different sites offering canvas prints, but many (if not all) of them offer only the standard sizes, such as 8x10, 11x14, 12x16, ..., but Easy Canvas Prints also offers any custom size you want. Their prices are competitive and ordering process is very easy to go through, and shipping is lightening fast. All you need is your high-res image.

I am very satisifed with their products and services. Now, I'm considering offering my artworks in canvas prints.

Custom Canvas Prints

New Miniature Landscapes

Linda Mar Beach
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Art Board

Yosemite
Size: 3 x 4.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Art Board

I have been working on miniatures for the last month or so to create enough paintings to get into upcoming shows before I get busy again, which would be anytime now.

Landscapes are not my favorite subject, but I actually enjoyed working on these pieces. Hope to do more in the near future.

The support I used is Strathmore 400 Series Smooth Art Board, which is made up of two thick smooth paper mounted on both sides to reduce warping. I bought it a few years ago to do an 8"x10" painting and left the remaining part in my closet. I decided to use it again for these miniatures and really really liked it. So I went to Dickblick and several other big online art stores to order more, but couldn't find it anymore. Just can't fint it anywhere. Strathmore must have discontinued this art board. What a shame!

A Tiger Face

Size: 11 x 14 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Stretched canvas

About a year ago, I did an ACEO (2.5 x 3.5 inches) of a tiger face as a study, hoping to do a larger piece. And here it is!

Panther Eyes

Panther Eyes
Size: 8 x 24 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Stretched canvas

I originally painted this 6 years ago, but was never satisfied with the eyes. I finally got around to rework the eyes. I applied gesso to the entire eye balls to start over. This is the result. I like how they turned out this time.

Three 1st Places!

"Stars of Heaven"
8 x 10 inches, Acrylic
Domestic Animals

Orange
5 x 5 inches, Acrylic
Still life

First Grandchild
3.5 x 3 inches, Acrylic
Miniatures

I am pleased to announce that in this year's San Mateo Country Fair, these three paintings won 1st st place awards in domestic animals, still life, and miniature categories. In addition, two of my raven paintings were sold at the fair!

Sleeping Otters

Title: ?
Size: 3 x 3.75 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia artboard

I probably spent about 20 hours on this little piece. These otters belong to San Francisco Zoo. They are very playful and always swimming around in their pond, but I caught them sleeping together. They looked so cute and I just had to paint them!

Birds in Miniatures

Golden Eagle
Size: 2.5 x 4.25 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia artboard

Eurasian Eagle-Owl
Size: 3 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia artboard

Red-tailed Hawk
Size: 2.5 x 3 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia artboard

I had been working on these miniatures. Birds are not easy subjects for me, but I have tons of bird pictures from the San Francisco Zoo and my backyard, so decided to do some from them. I had to really concentrate, otherwise I lose track of those feathers.

Still Life Painting

Size: 5 x 5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia Artboard

This one will be exhibited at San Mateo Country Fair along with some other animal paintings. This is my third still life painting. I almost tossed it halfway through, but I'm glad that I didn't. It came out OK, I think. There is so much more to learn about still life paintings.

New Miniatures

Title: Angel Light
Size: 2.75" x 3.5"
Medium: Acrylic

Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic

Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches

Medium: Acrylic

Last week, I have finally finished my work that had been keeping me very busy for three months. As you can tell, I couldn't wait to paint. I really enjoyed painting these minis. The lions don't have titles yet. I am glad to hear if you have any suggestions.

I finally figured out with my Photoshop how to put these transparent pennies on the images so people can tell how small the paintings are.

Now I have to prepare to enter some of my paintings to the annual San Mateo county fair!

Front Cover on Best of Worldwide Book

Cover of the book
Artists (from top: Carol Andre, Akiko Watanabe, Linda Rossin, Szabolcs Kokay)

Early February, I was invited to submit some of my artworks for the upcoming publication "BEST OF WORLDWIDE Wildlife & Animal Artists Volume I." Last week, I found out that one of my artworks will be on the cover page along with three other artworks, two of which belong to the artists I admire so much - Linda Rossin and Carol Andre.

This book features 100 wildlife and animal artists. I am so honored to be in this book with the artists with such amazing talents. The book will be going to print soon. I can't wait to see the book in person.

Merit Award at Spanish Moss Miniature Art Show

Title: Cougar #12
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia Artboard

Today I received a package of my paintings returned from Spanish Moss Miniature Art Show in Alabama. As I was opening the package, a check fell out! It's a prize for my Merit Award!! This little cougar painting won this prize. What a nice surprise! I had no idea because I was unable to go see the show. This was my first entry to this show.

I painted this one back in 2009, hoping to enter some miniature shows, but I never did because I didn't think it was good enough. I'm glad that I did enter it to the Alabama show. :)

Another good news is that one of the miniature paintings I sent to Fredlund Gallery in Florida was sold and the rest remain in the gallery for now. Yay!

My Heart Goes out to Japan

Title: Jack
Size: 11" x 14"
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Stretched canvas

As you might all know, Japan was hit by a huge earthquake, followed by large Tsunami, resulting in a nuclear disaster. I have been following the news through live TV broadcasts from Japan and newspapers available through the Internet.

I am so fortunate that all my family is fine in Japan. One of my cousins live in Morioka, one of the areas hit hard by the earthquake and tsunami. According to him, he has not been able to contact 400 to 500 people who work with him. They are missing and most likely dead. My heart goes out to the people in Japan. I hope they will get through this as quickly as possible.

Since early February, I have been very busy with my work. No time to paint or even go out to take pictures. The above commission portrait of a sphynx cat was done right before I got busy. Hopefully, I will be able to go back to painting sometime in May.

Snow Leopard (miniature)

Size: 3 x 3 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia Artboard

I have not painted miniatures for a while, but worked on this little piece over the weekend. This will be one of the paintings to be shipped off to Fredlund Gallery in Florida that invited me to participate in their upcoming miniature art show.

Since the rule of a miniature is 1/6 scale or under, I really have to learn to paint on smaller supports and "breathe" while painting. lol

Blackie and Bubbles

Title: Bubbles
Size: 8 x 10 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Stretched canvas

I've been wanting to paint something like this for a long time and I finally did it. I used my airbrush for the bubbles. I think they give some surreal atmosphere to the painting and some colors to this very dark subject.

Commission Portrait

Title: Maverick
Size: 6 x 6 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Ampersand Gessobord

I just finished with the portrait of this beautiful doberman named Maverick. He was a very special dog as Deb (his owner) describes "he was such a wonderful ambassador for his breed and he never met a stranger that he didn't want to go home with." He passed on suddenly last year. I'm sure he is now with Phoebe who passed on earlier, and watching over his mom and his friends who were also rescued by their mom.

Cozy Friends

Size: 8 x 10 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Hardboard

This is my latest painting from a reference photo by my friend Karin in Switzerland. The models are beautiful Siamese cats named Kyra and Kalima. They are the models for most of my Siamese cat paintings. I have never met them in person, but can tell how sweet they are from Karin's photos.