Here is the radish painting mounted. If you look closely you can see the air bubble underneath the backing paper. The bubble will be gone when the painting is totally dry. The pigments bled a little bit into the rice paper, but that will fade when it has dried. The process of mounting take lots of practice and this is one of the reasons that watercolor is easier than sumi painting. A lot can go wrong in the mounting procedure.

Keep on keepin' on....

Today's effort: more red and green - this painting is not yet mounted, and so you will notice that the paper is buckled. It will flatten out once it is mounted and matted.

Winter sunset

This is a subject I have painted in the past and will attempt again. Usually I put evergreen trees into the paintings, changing the trees in this view to balance the composition. The paintings are not nearly as dramatic as the real thing, that would look trite, as it happens.

Painting by painting

This is one for the Gallery browser-rack, and so it will be only matted and not framed. Slowly the show is coming together. This primrose sumi painting is typical of my older style which never really goes away. I love red and green together, radishes, flowers, whatever...

The Chinese new year will last until February 14, 2010. Here are more paintings of the ox, or is it a water buffalo? I painted from memory/imagination; I do not like to paint from a photograph because the camera lies and also, the painting will lack chi, spirit. One of these three sumi paintings will be chosen for the Puget Sound Sumi Artists' roster of 2009.

Happy New Year to you!

Today starts the Chinese new year of the OX.

Here is my ox painting again to mark the day. The ox stands for patience, tenacity and loyalty. Ox people make good friends. If you were born in 1961 or twelve years before or after, then you are an ox according to the Chinese astrological chart. I am a tiger - brave and unpredictable.

Non-traditional sumi paintings

Traditional sumi painting includes a white background of the bare paper. The blank spaces are important to the composition. Here I have added color to the background from both the top and underside of the paintings. This adds a depth more common in oil paintings. The show in April will be a mix of both techniques because I appreciate the rich dark colors as much as the ink.