Rest In Peace, Connie King

A couple years back, I did a series of acrylic paintings representing the departed spirits of the Chinese that lived in a tiny all-chinese town on the California delta. The town's name is Locke. It's still there in a beautiful, decrepit state often visited by bikers, tourists, and artists (google Locke, Calif.) One of the few chinese left living there from it's glory days was a woman who befriended me and told me many a story about the town, Her name was Connie King, a feisty lady who managed to get the county to replace the town's aged sewer system so that it could continue to survive as a testament to the Chinese who immigrated there and of course to "Gold Mountain" (California). She is shown here holding a painting of her and her memorial chinese toilet garden with the toilets that many of the departed chinese immigrants sat on before the new sewer system was installed. She was also instrumental in getting the state to restore some of the town's buildings as historical monuments and also getting the state to fundl a monument on the town green commemorating the Chinese who called Locke, California, and the United States of America their home. Connie peacefully died in her sleep a few months ago. It was my honor to know her.

It's crude and it's rude

This here cow girl was started last Saturday. I painted her as she modeled at another art studio here in Sacramento. It is acrylic on non- stretched canvas. Her face was mostly painted in a dark color value. I am now layering the brighter color values on top. Still funky lookin, but I'll eventually get er done pard!

Sun up to Sun down

Both acrylics on stretched canvas. The sun up one is untitled. The sun down is titled "Chianlinked Sun down".

My Holiday Acrylic Workshop

I found a winter snow scene photo posted on Flickr and could not resist doing an acrylic interpretation of it. I took away the aspens and added Sierra pines and a sunset sky. The first session of my two-session workshop starts this Saturday. We will practice painting the trees, snow, sky, water reflections and do a small study. Then on Dec. 5, we'll paint a full 14"X18" painting. Compare this acrylic with the same scene I posted a few weeks ago that I painted in watercolor. Which one do you like best?

Schizoid

Late last month, I did a portrait workshop in water color AND acrylic... simultaneously. The attendees were both watercolorists and acrylic (and oil) painters. So here's how it worked: I would start laying down the basic light and middle skin tones in water color while painting on a flat table with an overhead mirror above so that my watercolorists could see what I was doing. While the washes were drying, I went to my stool and easel to start the skin tones (on the same female subject) in acrylic and on a stretched canvas. Whilst the acrylic paint was drying, back to the h2o table to continue on the next stage of the water color portrait (on 140lb cold press). Then... back and to the easel... then back to water color table... back to the easel... back to the water color table ... you get the idea. This crazed and schizoid activity went from portrait start to portrait finish, and everyone went home happy!! I couldn't believe it! Would I do this again? Show me the money and don't be cheap!