Another feral cat at Rockaway Beach

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

This is Izzy. He is a beautiful gray cat, blind in one eye. In this painting, he is looking straight at us with a beautiful sunset sky behind him. The caretaker told me that Izzy and Reece are the only cats still living at the beach. Finding a forever home would be a great Christmas gift for them.

Back from Japan

I'm back from Japan. Autumn leaves were beautiful there. These are some of the pictures I took in my hometown:

Feral Cats at Rockaway Beach in Pacifica

Earlier this year, I found out that my city (Pacifica) issued littering citations to a lady who has been feeding and taking care of the feral cats in her neighborhood (Rockaway beach). She actually helped reduce the feral cat population from 150 to eight. The city was calling her compassionate acts "littering." Needless to say, I was very upset about the city wasting our precious tax dollar in this harsh economic times for going after a good sommaritan instead of catching "real" criminals.
At the court hearing held in September, the judge found her not guilty! "Feeding cats is not littering." Hooray!

Stripes and Reese are two of the cats at Rockaway. Today, I found out that Stripes is at least 13 years old and lived at the Rockaway beach all her life, but about 4 months ago, she found a forever home! This news made my day. :)

I am planning on doing one or two more paintings of Rockaway cats, then show a collection of my cat paintings perhaps at our local library, if everything goes well.

Stripes
Size: 8 x 8 inches
Support: Hardboard

Reese
Size: 8 x 8 inches
Support: Birch wood panel

Great News!!

Today, I received a letter and a check from The Miniature Painters, Sculptors, & Gravers Society of Washington, D.C. (MPSGS) saying that my "Lynx" won Third Place in Birds & Animals category. Yay!! This was my first entry to the show. It made my day! :)

Title: Lynx
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia Artboard
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Fuchsia and Hummingbird

Title: Fuchsia and Hummingbird
Size: 8 x 10 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Hardboard

I have been spending a lot of time in the backyard sitting in front of our fuchsia plants, trying to take pictures of the hummingbirds that show up there. I must have taken hundreds of pictures, but only a handful of them turned out to be good reference for painting.

When you take a look at the hummingbirds closely, they are so beautiful and amazing. I will definitely do more paintings of them.

My Mom

My mom passed away on September 23rd. She was 86. Because I live so far away from Japan, I was unable to attend her funeral which was held on 25th, but I will be going back for her 49th day memorial (which is a Japanese tradition).

She was such a loving and kind person who appreciated everything she had and came across in her life. None of my family has ever seen her quarrel with anyone or even in a bad mood. She was truly a special person and I'm honored to be her daughter.

She is now united again with my dad, her father and mother, and all of her brothers, two of whom died in the war at a young age. I know that she is watching over me now and can visit us and our cats at any time she wants. Mom, thank you for always being there for me.

Commission Portrait

Title: Buddy
Size: 12 x 12 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Stretched canvas
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About a couple of months ago, I received a commission request to paint a very cute black pug named Buddy. I didn't post the image until now because it is supported to be a birthday present. I think it came good. My client liked it!

Happy Birthday, Kim! I hope you like this painting of your Buddy.

Baby Barn Owl

Size: 8 x 8 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Canvas panel
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I found a picture of an adorable baby barn owl on Wetcanvas and just had to paint it. Barn owls have such an adorable face. I have to say they are my favorite among all the owls, although I have never seen them in person.

I am getting pretty busy with my work. Probably won't have any time to paint until the middle of September. :(

Have a great summer, everyone!

Serval

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

I painted this Serval from a reference photo by a wildlife painter David Stribbling. He is an amazing artist. One day, I hope to be able to paint like him.

Another miniature

Title: Stillness
Size: 3 x 4 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia artboard

When I visited my family in Japan, we went to several temples. This is one of them. It was such a peaceful place and a raven was resting on top of the statue. The actual background is not like this, but I think it goes well with the statue.

Gorilla ACEO

Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches (ACEO)
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia artboard

I have several pictures of Gorillas from San Francisco Zoo. They always look so serious.

Miniature Portrait

Title: The First Grandson
Size: 3 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia Artboard

This is my brother-in-law with his first grand child. I was going through my pictures and found a delightful picture of my brother-in-law that was taken during a family trip about three years ago. I just had to paint from this picture and like how it came out. I haven't shown it to him yet, but am sure he would enjoy it.

Miniature Paintings

Title: Clouded Leopard #3
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Support: Multimedia artboard mounted on card stock

I have been working on a couple of small paintints for the upcoming miniature shows. This is one of them. I think it has turned out ok. A 1/6-scale is difficult for me to achieve, so I try to pick a large subject. lol

The next one will be a human potrait. Needless to say, it will be a HUGE challenge for me, and then followed by a gorilla. Wish me luck.

Needle Felting

I have been very curious about needle felting for about a year. A few weeks ago, I finally picked up a book at the local library and ordered some materials. These are my first three little creatures I created.

It took me a long time to create each one, but was fun. I feel I can get addicted to needle felting.

Sheep: 4" (L) x 2" (W) x 3.5" (H)



Lion: 4.5" (L (including tail) x 2" (W) x 2.5" (H)



Tuxedo Cat: 7" (L (including tail) x 2" (W) x 5" (H)

Still Life Painting

Size: 5 x 5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Drafting film (mounted on watercolor paper)
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Inspired by Karen and Deb, I decided to use a drafting film to do this still life painting. The drafting film provides a smooth surface which is great for realism painting. I enjoyed this support very much although it required several layers of paint to get a solid background. I think it has great potential in achieving many more interesting textures than my usual support (multimedia artboard and canvas). Will definitely experiment more with this support!

I will post some of the pictures of my trip as soon as I finish processing hundreds of photos that I took in Japan. Hopefully there are some good ones to share with you. :-)

Pacifica Pier

Title: Dusk at Pacifica Pier
Size: 12 x 12 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Stretched canvas

This is a pier in Pacifica, a city on the coast about 10 miles south of San Francisco. People gather here for many different reasons, such as fishing, dog walking, picnic, watching big waves and sunset. It's just a beautiful place to be at anytime of the year. I often go there to take pictures of crows.

I did this painting for the upcoming county fair. This is my second seascape printings. It was a big challenge for me as I expected. The difficult part was getting the right colors. I was staring at my reference photos for days. lol Well, I think it turned out okay.

My next project is a still life painting. Hopefully I will be able to finish it after I come back from Japan. Yes, I will be visiting my family next week. :)

More ACEOs

Title: Tiger #13
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia Artboard

Title: Lion #6
Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia Artboard
Reference photo by David Stribbling

These are my latest ACEOs. The tiger ACEO was my study for a larger piece (11 x 14 inches) and the lion for a smaller piece (miniature art).

I like how the tiger turned out, so probably will be doing the larger piece next. Lions are always hard to paint because they do not have any special markings. This lion ACEO needs more improvements, but I don't want to spend more time on this piece, so will have to try another one that is a bit smaller.

New ACEOs

Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Multimedia Artboard

I just had to paint this cute face last night.

Size: 2.5 x 3.5 inches
Medium: Mixed media (colored pencil and acrylic)
Support: Stonehenge paper

Once in a while, I get an urge to use my colored pencil. This white tiger is the result of my recent attempt. As I spend more time with this medium, the image gets blurrier, maybe because I am too lazy about sharpening the pencils frequently enough. As a result, I end up using acrylic for the final touch-up, including whiskers.

Sunitha

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

This is Sunitha. Isn't she beautiful? She has strikingly beautiful eyes. This is also from a photograph by Nicolaas Marckmann. Thanks Nicolaas for letting me use your beautiful photos!

Painting of a Sphynx Cat

Size: 9 x 12 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Stretched Canvas

This is a beautiful Sphynx cat named Electra. Sphynx is also known as hairless cats. I have never seen this breed of cats in person, but fell in love with them when I saw their pictures.

This one is from a photo by Nicolaas Marckmann, who kindly gave me permissions to paint from his photos of gorgeous Sphynx cats.

Commission Portrait

Size: 8 x 10 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Stretched Canvas
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This is a commission portrait of a beautiful Siamese cat named Murphy. A few weeks ago, I received an email with several pictures requesting a portrait of a cat. This lady was also telling me that she was the person who purchased the miniature painting titled "Mountain Lion"at the MASF (Miniature Art Society of Florida) show.

Needless to say, I was delighted to hear that because I had no idea that my first-time entry for the show was sold! Unfortunately, I was unable to go to the show. I wish the show were closer to where I live.

Another Frog Prince

Title: Waiting for the Kiss
Size: 5 x 7 inches
Medium: Acrylic
Support: Ampersand Gessobord
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This is my first painting of the year 2010. My friend Gabe sent me several new pictures of this adorable frog that lives in her pool. He is so cute that I just had to do another frog prince. :) THANKS Gabe!

I've been busy again with my work since December. Sorry if I can't visit your blogs as often as I want.

Wish you all a wonderful year of the tiger!