While on vacation in Lake Tahoe Angie walked by this lovely home in a village. With a big pile of snow sitting by the front door I would definitely stay in to enjoy a cup of hot chocolate. Architure has been one of the favorite subjects on my canvas. Here is another one to share with you.
Bear Creek is a hidden treasure in Texas hill country. It has limestone river band and is surrounded by layers of hills and trees. I've painted on this location many times. This painting shows a part of the Bear Creek outside of New Braunfels. It is a lovely place to paint and hang out with artist friends. 
My cousin, Ping, and his family moved to a nice new home in the suburb of Houston. I wanted to give them some of my oil paintings for their house warming. His wife, Guojin, loves my "Daisies Delight" painting, so I painted another one with a little different composition as you see it here. The lost and found edges give you a poetic feeling. The color harmony may inspire you into deep thoughts and meditation. I want to visit their home again after they complete the decoration. What a joy to see them doing well and enjoy the American dream.
I am a southern person but love the serene snow scene especially the mighty pine trees. This one is painted from a photo taken by Angie in Lake Tahoe. The winter in early 2011 has been a long and cold season. We here in Texas had a week long of below freezing temperatures. Painting a snow scene was just appropriate to remember the cold season. This painting would be great for a Christmas card. I will think about it.
It was a late afternoon in Catalina Island. The warm lights refleted beautifully on the Yacht Club. This painting was shown in the New Braunfels Art Gallery in January 2011. The judge gave high remarks on this painting. The trip to Catalina was fun and memoriable. 
We stayed in this adobe home during a painting workshop with Lili Pell in Rouidoso, New Mexico a couple summers ago. This compoud has 6 rooms, kitchen, dining, and a big living room. We painted there for 5 days in Ruidoso and visited the Iris Farm and the town called Lincoln. It was a fun trip to learn art skills from Lili and mingle with artists. This painting is the front door of the adobe home. What you see is the lights coming out from the court yard. The warm lights give us a feeling of coming home. 
Taroko Gorge is one of the most beautiful places on earth. The mountain shapes are tall and straight up with streams in between. You often see mountain mist in the morning as shown in my other painting of "sea of clouds". This mountain range is also a place producing beautiful stones, such as jade, marble, and granite. My family and I visited there in Spring of 2009. I've visited Taroko national park many years ago during my early years in Taiwan. I was as impressed and enjoyed as before for this returning trip. 
I had fun to paint the second one of the same view from the mountain top in the Taroko National Park in Taiwan. The first painting was given to the Cheng-Kung University in Taiwan during my recent visit to the college for our class reunion. The painting shown here is currently shown in the "Artist of the Year" show in New Braunfels Art Gallery in Texas.
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.
