Author: Je

I have found much joy in painting small portraits. It all happened very gradually, but it all started when I visited and saw works by Thomas Dewing, especially of small female figures that he painted on small canvases.

My figure studies have expanded to accommodate smaller figures, too. When I am traveling and seeing people, I try to capture the entire figure into my small sketchbook.

Sketching small portraits with oil color has become my favorite and preferred way of drawing recently. Using limited palette, I can draw, paint, and refine my painting as much as I need to.

Winslow Homer is another American Painter that executed small figures, who told incredible stories on small canvases. The Veteran in a New Field is a good example of such works.

November has been a good painting m0nth, and I am getting closer to acquiring much of the technical skills I need to begin my own projects.

It’s hard to believe December is just a few days away. As we are trying to close out this year with positive news, we were hit with yet another COVID variant worries and updated travel restrictions. We can’t worry about what we don’t have control over, though.

If you have been following me on Instagram, you know that I have been drawing and painting 100 portraits–I gave it a new hashtag #100humanchallenge.

There were many reasons to do these portraits, but besides improving the way I see and execute portraits, another reason was to get familiar with Social Media platforms to better find and engage my selective audience as I become a better painter.

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Painting and drawing these portraits has been great. Many of the faces are of my colleagues and friends; some are new models and friends that I have meet via zoom or in-person.

It has been super nice to be painting from life, btw…

I will likely be sad to finish all 100 portraits. These works have created a venue for me to constantly produce portraits and figures, helping me to find my painting process.

As I am wrapping up these #100humanchallege, I will be starting a whole new line of projects so stay tuned!

Thanks for reading. I try to keep these posts short and sweet.

Cheers!

There is so much freedom and happy accidents when painting fast using oil colors. It can be 1000 times more exciting when you have a live model in front you, and you only give yourself one sitting to finish the portrait in that given amount of time. I have done many of these in my days, and here is a little secret that I found when engaged in such dangerous activity:

Time moves differently.

So Maybe that’s just it. Is that why I am hooked on painting people? The adrenaline rush really hits you when you got all your paints out, paint brush strokes flying on and off the canvas, and you see the portrait real itself to you one stroke at a time. It is a movie–or a battle–that nobody can really see but you. I suppose such painting fight is similar to a gladiator in a colosseum–killing or getting killed. Okay. Okay. Maybe not that dramatic, but you get the idea.

Anyways, after the rush of painting fast fades, I really enjoy slow pace of a long pose that goes on day after day, marching to the last day of painting like all of us marching to the end of our days.

Happy Sunday!

PS: I made this silly reel for my Instagram Post earlier this week.

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There is much unauthentic information floating around the internet, making it difficult to separate right from wrong. The same is true for human portraits. Sophisticated media tools are now used to change pictures and videos.

There is undeniable truth, however, when painting from a live model where the artist draws and paints. While I don’t think there is anything terribly wrong with using technical aids, the experience of producing work of art–as well as the final product–is very different. For many generations, very simplified versions of art has dominated the market. And, while the same might be expected for unforeseeable future, more people are seeking to learn the better way of drawing and painting, because we can.

I fundamentally believe that human are in the midst of great awakening, an outcome from the flood of information that is available to us today. while we are fed so much information and images that have been obscured, we are beginning to differentiate good art from the bad; authentic art from fake. This is a natural progress of humankind.

Here is the final product from one of my latest projects. I had posted ‘work-in-progress’ photo of this work on Instagram and in my earlier post, so if you are looking for the final version, this is it.

What happened while working on this portrait?

Squid Game: So much has happened since beginning to paint this portrait. Probably the most relevant update is that the entire planet has gone nuts watching “Squid Game“. Full disclosure: I haven’t seen the series just yet.

Covid-19: Seriously speaking, all has gone okay here in New York City since reopening businesses and schools. According to New York Times Covid Tracker, in the last 7 days–ending 15 October 2021–there has been 1,316 Covid Cases and 12 deaths in New York City. When looking at the entire U.S. data, though, one can see that we are still not out of the woods, showing 98,560K cases and 1,587 deaths in the same period. So in many ways, perhaps, things are not so good, but both case and death counts are trending down.

Economy: Global supply chain is under stress. What does that even mean? Basically prices of many things that we purchase at supermarkets and items that we need have gone up.

So these are some selected stories behind this portrait. Things are returning to normal, but it’s going to take some time to be really normal.

There are many reasons to start painting—or drawing. I can tell you thousand reasons.

I love to see the world with my naked eyes, and painting gets me there faster than any other way.

Making art is an art itself. And, there are many reasons and ways to do it.

Seeing is believing, but one can’t see if you don’t believe.

What do you see?

It has been a pleasure to reunite with one of my favorite models from NYC. As you many recall, my painting of him, Daedalus and His Wings, was completed in early 2020, just before NYC shutdown businesses due to COVID-19.

Do you know the story of the Daedalus? If you are not familiar with the Greek Mythology, you can read about it from Wikipedia-Daedalus.

I plan to name this new painting, “The Great Escape from the Labyrinth”.

Following are photos of my color study for this particular project.

After a few pencil sketches, I was ready to start painting. I enjoy drawing with pencils and all, but I would rather be painting. This entire oil sketch is done with 2 colors: Burnt Umber and White.

While painting today, I kept thinking about the time when I went to see Michelangelo’s drawings at the MET Museum some years ago. There were so many impressive drawings by him, but the one that caught my attention was his hand-drawn grocery list for his guests. The list is owned by the Casa Buonarroti museum, Florence, Italy. Sometimes, when I am executing an oil sketch–and as hunger strikes–I think about that grocery list.

In the same spirit of sharing grocery lists, here is one of my simple meal to go when I am painting elsewhere: homemade bread, sardines in olive oil.

Je’s Sourdough Bread Recipe

• 280 grams of sourdough starter
• 200 grams of water
• 5 to 10 grams of salt
• 360 grams of unbleached flour

Instruction: Mix all the ingredients together & knead for 10 minutes or so–keep in mind that this is very wet and sticky dough. Put the dough into a proofing basket, let it rise for 2 – 3 hours in the room temperature (or leave it overnight inside your refrigerator), and then thrown the dough in the oven for 40 minutes at 500 degrees F.

This is my simplified version of the traditional sourdough bread making process. I encourage you to search the internet for detail versions.

Making sourdough bread requires a similar patience required when painting with oil colors–one must plan ahead, and execute flawlessly when the time comes.