Hope

An watercolor painting of the Chinese character hope - looking forward to a happy new year.

Friendship flowers

This is painted with Holbein watercolors (22x15) on Gemini paper. Chrysanthemums are considered the flower of friendship in Chinese paintings.

Chrysanthemum

The beautiful plant was a centerpiece for our July 4th, 2007 party. I planted in a large garden pot and it grew to 5 ft tall this past summer. Hurray, it finally bloomed this fall.

Bonsai Fall Colors

This is a small landscape of five maple trees in a bonsai pot and the fall colors are just gorgeous. The gingo plant is pretty too.

Peony

Gu-Zheng

Tidal Flats

This is a watercolor painting on BFK paper (11x15) using an old reference photo that I snapped from a disposable camera. As I did this painting I felt I have returned to the beach of Asilomar.

A fun project

I learned to knit from my mother. In this recent project, a little baby blanket, I used bright colors with added artistic design.

Sweet Maggie

In mid Sept we adopted a 4 yo golden retriever from a friend's relative. She is sweet, smiles all the time, and loves to play. Maggie brings us so much joy!

Angel Trio

This is an impressionistic painting of angel fish in watercolor (11x15).

Grapes

Abstract Flower with Dew

This small study of watercolor (11x7) was painted with Gouache for a velvety feel of the petals in a canna lily.

Wintry Charm

The nice thing about painting in acylics is being able to make changes. I like the color changes made to feel more winter-like.  However it need more details to be added in a finished painting.

I combined Eastern and Western styles when creating this artwork of mixed media (30x15). The pine, bamboo and plum blossoms are Chinese ink-brush paintings. The paper is collaged onto a canvas, textured and painted with acylics.

Michelia alba

The small, white, fragrant flowers "Bai Yu Lan" (White Jade Orchid - my mom's favorite) are considered good luck as they're worn on festive occasions in Asia. Our evergreen plant of the Magnolia family is in a pot and blossoms every summer.

Otto the Man

In Dec 2006 we adopted Otto, a handsome 7-yo yellow lab retriever. He loves car rides, walks, and treats. Earlier Otto was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease of the joints and was treated at the American River Animal Hospital. He has since recovered nicely but what an expensive dog.

Sunflowers

I started painting sunflowers one day and Ray said it looks like a dog - do you see the eyes? We adopted Otto from the California Laborador Rescue shortly after this incident. The watercolor painting (22x15) will not be finished as Ray likes it as is... lol.

A study of a bunch of sunflowers in watercolor (15x11).

Sunflower trio (22x15) - an impressionistic style of watercolor painting.

Message Home

My first attempt painting bamboo with acrylics on canvas (36x18 each) apparently worked well. The left canvas was submitted to a competition and received an award. According to Chinese legend when a bamboo is sent home it carried a message that "all is well".

Crowded Around Here

This is a fun watercolor painting (15x22) as it took a while to finish. I keep adding more fish using negative painting techniques. I showed it to my Art Monday painting group at Sorensen's Studio for comments and Susan said it's finished, yeh!

Ray's Barn

This beautiful barn is painted by my husband, Ray Steele. He paints his own vision of a barn, design and color, without a reference photo.

Majestic Rooster

Koi Koncert

Abundance

I decided to paint koi after I saw Lian Zhen's book on Amazon and found his website on the internet. Since 2003 I have taken several workshops from Lian learning different techniques in Chinese brush painting and watercolors. Here is a pic of Ray & I with my H2O - Koi at the Northern California Arts (NCA) membership show in SFAC.

Silk Scarf

The process in making this beautiful bamboo silk scarf was fun and rewarding. I learned many techniques in painting silk scarfs from Joan McMurray of SFAC.

Duo Dragonflies

This semi-abstract watercolor (15x22) was painted in one of my Friday painting sessions with Anne Bradley. It was sold in an exhibition of our art group in Sacramento.

Paeonia

Peony (Mu-dan) is the flower of "riches and honor" (Fu Gui Hwa) in Chinese Paintings. I enjoy painting watercolors that encompass both Eastern and Western styles to capture the beauty of nature.

Ancient Rocks

This painting was inspired from a photo I took when we visited the home of the Anasazi (ancient Pueblo people), Canyon de Chelly in the Navajo Reservation, Arizona. It became an abstract scenery of rocks (15x22) through the watercolor abstraction method taught by Dale Laitinen.

Watercolor Portrait

This is Ray, painted from a reference photo using the black/white techniques I learned from David Lobenberg's watercolor portrait workshops. It is fun using Payne's Grey to add values on the face and suddenly the likeliness pops.

Impressionist Oil

This is my first oil painting completed in Victoria Brooks' oil painting class at SFAC that uses an "Alla Prima" (all at once) approach. I used a reference photo of Ray and Andrea at Lake Berryessa, when the golden retriever was only a year old.

Bamboo

One of my favorite subjects to paint is bamboo. This is a watercolor painting (11x15) in which the brush strokes used are traditional Chinese brush-painting style, with the basic watercolor glazing technique for the background.

Abstract Painting

I painted this large abstract (40x40) using acrylics and mixed-media techniques I learned from Anne Bradley. I also paint with her on Fridays with a group of local artists. Anne is Sacramento's leading contemporary artist, well known for her rich colored and textured abstract art, which contained interesting metal pieces on canvas.

The Hang Dowg Look

This is a watercolor painting of our Daisy (1993-2006). She was a pure-bred yellow laborador retriever with certified pedigree name "Mischief makin' Daisy of OHK." She was a beautiful dog, best pal to our beloved Andrea, a golden retriever (1994-2006). We missed them very much. In 2005 I painted Daisy from a reference photo and won an award for her special look.

Ray's blob people

My husband loves art, all kinds, and he can spot great art work. Last year he did blob people as inspired by Robert Wade's book. This is a wonderful picture. We sent it to relatives and friends during Christmas.

Looking Forward

I decided to start posting my art journey when I set up the blog in Nov 2007. Somehow I procastinated until now. In this blog I plan to show my art work, tell about the wonders and happenings in my life, including friends and artists that have supported me in this amazing journey.

This is a watercolor painting of blue heron (15x11, 2007). I used 3 primary colors and the pouring/blowing techniques that I learned from Lian Zhen.