oil study/sketch (Sold)

playing around with artificial light and jazz musicians

Lime Wedge (sold)

I haven't worked on my Bitty Bite series, where I investigate a solitary subject on a square canvas, in quite a while so today I chopped up a lime. Maybe this composition and cropping is awkward??? But I was really attracted to the tactile quality for this painting and had fun using just a palette knife.

8"x8" Oil

"Brambles"

I call this painting "Brambles" because I kept snagging my thumb on it's tiny torns while working on the arrangement for this piece. It seems to take me such a long time to create a set-up even though in my mind I see exactly what I want. But the objects don't always comply and flowers seem to move as they wilt and open. Once again I'm investigating chiaroscuro, creating the shapes from shadows and light, against a dark setting.

16"x20" Oil on Linen

www.hong-sammons.com

Something Shiny

Karen Phipps gorgeous still lifes on satin fabrics encourage me to try a little "shine" myself. And under the thought provoking tutelage of Michael Van Zely, the satin ribbon slowly went from being a drab piece of cloth to something more closely resembling it's true self.

16"x12" Oil on Linen

Waterway - City Colors Series

Painted on another typical wintery Chicago morning standing on a bridge looking down the river. It was nice and foggy when I started but that burned off so I elected to stop the painting at this point.

Milk Glass

On January 8, 09 I posted this value study which focused on whites and translucent objects. I recently went back and made another painting with similar shapes but used full color. The biggest challenge for me was showing the gentle colors in the vase as well as the subtle translucent milk glass. I thought the tulips would be the problem but that went surprisingly easy.

unfinished - oil sketch

I decided not to continue on this painting after spending an evening on it because I feel I lost the sensitivity to the concept, lost the soul to the piece. I like how everything, including the light, was arranged so I will definitely try to paint this again but on another canvas.
12"x16" oil

shoreline study

This was painted on a Saturday morning along lake Michigan in Chicago. There were piles of frozen snow and as well as sand. Texture and edges was what I was concentrating on with a palette knife this very windy February morning.

8"x10" oil study ($90.)

"Winter Brilliance"

Just left of yesterdays painting is a river and little waterfall. The waterfall was what I really wanted to paint with part rushing water and part frozen water. But I started too late in the morning and the bright sun washed out the scene so I used the dam as an abstracted element to hopefully keep your eye from falling out of the painting and lead you into the cool shadows cast by the trees on the far bank.

10"x8" Oil ($190.)

"Winter Passage"

I love to paint. So instead of playing on the computer and keeping my website and blogspot updated, I've been painting. Getting on the computer eats my painting time. Anyone else have this problem?

This painting was done right around the corner from my home. The long cool shadows and the warm brush caught my eye. But someday I'm going to return to paint this elegant corner building. Someone told me it was originally a bar about 100 years ago.

10"x8" Oil on Linen ($190.)

p.s. see Karen Phipps 2/11/09 painting. She's standing about 40 feet behind and down hill from me. I'm in her painting, painting this piece.

in-progress

Almost done with this painting. View post on 1/23/09 if you're interested in seeing the beginning stages.

Oil on Linen 30x40

"Jimmies"

more whimsy

12"x12"

Oil ($199.)

"Pink Icing"

Feeling a bit whimsical today.

12"x12"

Oil ($199.)

still life in-progress

Between temperatures dropping into the negatives and sick kids I haven't been able to plein air paint for a while so I decided to work on some of my new year "resolutions" in my studio. I'm painting on color charts, drawing the figure from life and casts, and working on this larger (large for me any ways) still life. These photos show my progression on my painting so far. There will be a third tulip which extends from the vassel and arches over the other tulips.

30x40 Oil on Linen

"Tea with Lemon"

It's been too cold for me to venture outside and paint. Yesterday it was -24 degrees. So I returned to my tea cup series which was inspired by my daughter. She told me that in colonial days, when a guest had enough, she'd turn her tea cup over and say, "I'll take no more tea today."
11"x14" Oil On Linen
www.hong-sammons.com

studying the human form

Recently, I spent a week studying drawing the human form in a workshop lead by Henry Yau, a master artist from China. It was one of the best classes I've ever had. This drawing is a sample from the workshop. My focus was to concentrate on accurate construction of the figure in charcoal. I worked on several different studies each day from 5 minute gesture drawings to 45 minute extended sketches. It was great to have Henry's expertise to critique my efforts. If I were to make a resolution for 2009, I would try to work several hours a week on just simple, clean, accurate figure drawings.

24"x18" vine charcoal on medium-tooth drawing paper

"January" (North Pond)

This is the same spot as the last post but looking more towards the right. Can you feel the cold? It was just getting ready to snow again so the light was a beautiful silvery gray. This made the colors really pop in an otherwise dreary gray winter scene.

8"x10"

Oil on Linen

($99. oil study)

The Path Not Taken (North Pond)

Painted this around 2 pm. The sky continued to get a darker gray but the day felt quite light-filled because of the new snow. It was hard to keep the values correct because I kept over-compensating. And yes, it was cold!

10"x8"

Oil on Linen

($99. alla prima oil study)

Milk Glass with Tulip (value study)

Value studies have dramatically helped me create better paintings. I'm using five values only with pure white being my lightest, pure raw umber as my darkest, and then three other values inbetween. I begin by painting all the darkest shadows first. I'm doing a lot of value studies because I'm trying to improve my ability to use chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro is the painting technique and philosophy of creating shapes from the shadow as oppose to delineating through contours, outlines.
9x12
oil on linen

January (North Pond)

The best way to shake away the winter blues is to plein air paint along a half frozen lake, just kidding - sort of. After spending so much time with wonderful family and friends, January 6 was rather depressing until I started painting again. Even though my toes froze and the wind bite my cheeks, I loved the colors you see on a cold, gray, winter day. The sky had these amazing warm tones however very subtle and the snow reflected the cool light of the day. fun fun fun

8x10

Oil on Linen