It is my annual tradition where I do an oil painting to send holiday greetings to my friends. Here is this year's holiday painting - red berries and pine cones. I wish all my friends and visitors to my blog to have a wonderful holiday season and happiness through the new year! 
One sunny day in October I visited my dear friend, Maryam's ranch, located in Texas hill country outside of San Antonio. I did a plein air painting in her back yard. She loved it, but I had to take it back to rebrush it. Maryam and her husband Matt have lots of animals in their ranch. Here is a painting of their goats wondering behind the fence. Are these goats lucky or what to live in such a beautiful ranch? 
White daisies are my favorite flowers to paint. I took this painting along with several other paintings to my recent trip to visit my family in Taipei. I asked eveyone to vote for their favorite painting. This one was voted the number one. I like it too, so it is hung in my bedroom. I get to enjoy the beauty of serenity everyday.
Does she look like Scarlet in the movie "Gone With The Wind"? Her posture tells us she does not care what tomorrow brings and she would just seize the moment. Actually she is the famous opera singer, Rene Fleming. I love her emotional expression. I wonder what she is thinking?
The white sugar bowl and red flowers bring out a nice combination. My friend, Maryam, loves this painting. It will go to her beautiful home pretty soon.
Are you ready for a cup of tea? Here is a red daisy on a red cup - what a delightful thing to just sit down and relex for the day. 
Shark Harbor is located at the natural, west side of Catalina Island. It must have the most amazing sunset. I painted this one during the day, but we had to leave the beach and head east to the Avalon area before dark since there is nothing out here in Shark Harbor after dark. So I brushed it up to a sunset scene - hey, who said artist does not have creativity? I gave this piece to my brother, Fong-Qiao and his wife, MingHui.
When I was in Catalina Island in March 2010 for a plein air painting trip, Motoe and I stayed in a private property. Our land lady, Jennie, works for a Parasail company located on the Green Pier. She pointed out to me that the orange boat in the Avelon Bay is theirs. Here it is - I painted it. During my recent trip to visit my folks in Taiwan I brought about 8 paintings for my siblings to select and have it. My sister, JinYin, got this painting. 
A group of us went to the Antique Rose Emporium for a plein air painting in October 2010. This is a large and beautiful nusery, located at the NE part of San Antonio, TX. It was a bright sunny day. Nature presented to us the nice lights and shadow. I painted this one standing underneath a flower arch in the rose garden. I gave this piece to a relative, who lives at Kaoshong, Taiwan, during my family visit to their home.
Autumn is my favorite season. I love the vibrant colors and crisp air the nature presents to us. While in Taos we ran into this beautiful hidden path on the way to Taos' Ski Valley. The fall colors were in their peak and the long shadows covered part of the road. Wow... we hit a jackpot. This amazing view took my breath away.
We have fall colors too here in Texas. The leaves of cypress trees by San Antonio River turn into sandy red and orange colors in December. It was an overcasted December afternoon we were killing time and waiting for a Christmas Show to start. I saw this calm and somewhat unique scenery that was begging for a painting.
Can you believe this painting is a view of our back yard from the living room of the place we stayed in Taos, NM? It was a fabulous trip we (4 artists) took in October 2009. Taos is such a magical place for artists. It certainly left with me lots of nice and fun memories.
My friend, Shiang, sent me a photograph via e-mail that she took in Monet's Garden when she visited Paris. Here is the painting I did for this famous and beautiful garden. 
When my brother, John, and his friends visited us last year we spent one day to visit the charming San Antonio River Walk. We did a river cruise to enjoy the scenic view of the famous tour attraction. This painting is a view from our boat cruising around a quiet part of the river. All you see were trees, water, and a boat ahead of us. There were no restaurants and busy crowds as in other part of river. After lunch we then sat on the patio of the River Center Mall to enjoy the nice breeze and listen to some Latin music played by a group of musicians. It was a beautiful day. San Antonio River has made a great impression for my family and friends from Taiwan.
Cruising down the Li River in Guilin, China is one of the most serene experiences I ever had. The unique peak formation on both side of the river, the rice fields, the fishermen, the flowing water, and the mist setting in the valleys took my breath away. I did this painting for my dear friend, Chuli, to wish her a happy birthday (I won't tell you how young she is).
A lonely boat docked in a misty river under the willow tree. What a poetic scene! I did this painting for my dear friend, Edna Chiao, who wrote a poem (in Chinese as follows) on my green fan to reflect my current life as an artist. The English version is also shown below.
It was an early morning in Catalina Island with overcasted skies. The sunlights tried pricking out from the clouds. It was a peaceful scene and good for meditation and reflection. This painting has limited color range and presents a scene of the waking-up earth. I am a morning person and enjoy watching the amazing color changes on landscape during the sunrise.
Many restaurants in Europe like to set up some tables outside in the open air. We walked by this restaurant not far from our hotel. The bright and beautiful table colors under the full sun was a picture perfect for my painting. Don't you just want to sit down to have a nice meal there? 
Thanks to the abundant rain in the past winter. Nature has given us the most splendid wild flowers in the great land of Texas in the Spring of 2010. The miles and miles of fields were covered with bluebonnets, Indian paint brushes, white poppies, and many unnamed pink, yellow, and purple flowers. Of course the cactus were blooming as well. The lavender fields were in the best looking and fragrance in several years. I along with many of my artist friends did several outings for photos and plein air paintings. We had lots of fun this spring.
Isn't she lovely - catching the wave along with the seagulls? This cute little girl was playing at the Catalina beach while we were doing plein air painting. What an innocent picture!
My dear friend Joy Yu, my sister (Jin-Feng) and I were visiting Dan-Shui Harbor one afternoon during my visit to Taiwan. While on the beach we saw this amazing sunset. I took a variety of shots to capture the glimpse of nature's fine creation. I love the atmosphere of sunrise and sunset - its beauty takes my breath away. Dan-Shui is a lovely little harbor town in the northern Taiwan. It's only 30 minutes away from Taipei by taking the subway. We also enjoyed its "old town" which has many interesting stores. I especially like the one bakery that let us taste all sorts of sweets - yum... they were delicious. Of course the seafood was excellent over here too.
The famous Green Pier was our object to paint on the first day paint out with Ron Rencher in March 2010. I paint this one by standing by the shore line along the Cresent Street. People come and go and watch us painting. Once a while a few comments were made by people walking by. It was fun to paint these boats.
Shark Harbor is on the west side of Catalina away from the city noises of Avelon. The nature is in total control in this area. You don't find any city convenience. We did one day paint out in this area in a sunny day in March 2010. I painted this one on location with the sea breeze blowing and sea birds flying around. I know sunset would be fabulous, but we had to head back to civilization (Avelon) before dark since we had to drive through a long unpaved winding road.
Burano Island in Venice presents to the world travelers with its vibrant colors and romantic atmosphere. Each house is painted in a bright, happy color. It may not be acceptable in some of our neighborhoods, but it surely shows the unique character of this fishing village. We enjoyed working along the canals and checked out many little stores.
After abundance of rain last winter the great land of Texas is covered with beautiful bluebonnets and wildflowers. We spent 5 days doing plein air painting along the Bear Creek Trail. This is at the most awesome bluebonnet field we painted one day.
