Christmas Painting 2008

Every Christmas I would complete a painting to dedicate to a person or an event which were important to me. This year’s painting of a Chinese Garden was for my grandfather whom I knew very little. He was a well respected artist and scholar back in China, the first one from his village to graduated from a major university but he passed away before I was born. Due to the war none of his paintings and writings survived however I inhered his artistic genes because none of my siblings or cousins are artistic. At a trip to China a few years ago while in this garden I felt a strong connection to him
Watercolour on paper 26”x27”.

It is good to be poor

It is good to be poor!
No worry about the price at the pump
No worry about the cost of a house.
My credit is better than yours

It is good to be poor!
With no car
Not even a bike
I am healthier than you all!

It is good to be poor!
No stocks?
No bonds?
No fear of a market crash.

It is good to be poor!
She lost millions
He lost billions
But I lost not even a dime!

It is good to be poor!
No worry for what to wear
No fancy parties to attend
No need to dress to impress.

It is good to be poor!
No need for more stuff
No need for fancy goods
I can make them with no cost!

It is good to be poor!
No worry about a mortgage
No worry about the interest rate
No need to be caged!

It is good to be poor!
No need for a cell
No need for an iPod
My mind is crystal clear.

It is good to be poor!
No need for a $5 latte
No need for a $100 steak
My waistline is smaller than yours!


It is good to be poor!
No need for your social climbers
No need for your internet scammers
My true friends last forever!

It is good to be poor!
No need for Gucci
No need for Tiffany
I can still wear cloth from my twenties.

It is good to be poor!
No need for cigarettes
No need for alcohol
My body is younger than yours!

It is good to be poor!
No rush for time
No flood of mind
I can stop to smell the flowers when I like.

It is good to be poor!
No need to slave at a job
No need to plan for retirement
I will die doing what I love
It is good to be poor!

More on art auction

A couple of weekends ago, I was one of the over five hundred artists at the annual Toronto outdoor art exhibition (TOAE).as soon as the show over, I been hit with emails come on by many wanted to make money from us. There are the usual some unknown internet galleries offer to promote me if I paid. There are the costly art shows with little promotion all looking for artists to enter (paid) their shows.
One nervy person even emailed me and requested me to donate not one but a couple of my paintings to a silent art auction for a charity I had not heard of!

As an artist, I often had been ask to donated art for different charities art auction, I had donated my share in the past to charities I support until recently.
Many artists do not make much of living by selling their art. Some of my work it take anywhere from days to months to produce, most of the ones I donated were my best. Not only had I paid for the framing with my own expense I often have to pay for my ticket to attend those gala. Some might think it is a good way for the artists to get the exposure and attracts the well-heeled patrons with their donated art.

However, with all my years of donation I had not had one person ever contact me after one of those art auctions. At many of those occasions they publicly thanked the person who brought the art and give out a tax receipt for the buyer.

Artists seldom been publicly acknowledged and with no tax receipt. And the worst of all, most of the art sold were often below their truth value normally sold at the gallery showing. I attended many of those auctions often seen other artists’ work sold for a faction of the truth value. Many of the experience art buyers would only purchase at those auctions in order to pick up some under-price art.
This way for artists donated to art auction not only are not helping their career in fact it damaged their reputation as an artist!

my booth at the TOAE

Toronto outdoor art exhibition experience

Last week I was at the Toronto outdoor art exhibition to show and sell my paintings. One of the things of doing the Toronto outdoor art exhibition was you never know who you will meet, I had met people I haven’t seen in years and some whom I don’t wish to see, All weekend I was so busy with people interested in my paintings many stopped to talk to me and sold many paintings. However, there also some interesting encountered with the public because the show also attached lots of artists, some came to check out the competitions so to speak. One woman spent great deal of my time, telling me her terrible life how without of these events which somehow all happened to her, she could be an artist. Lucky for me, I had become her captured audience. Many amateur watercolour artists all tried to get tips on watercolour from me. I always tell them there are no secret and the best is learning from yourself because the more you paint and more you can improve on. There were no secret to it.
One poor soul even armed with his portfolio and insisted I look at it! The sad part was his work was so bad not because he doesn’t have the skill. He paints all his oil paintings with so much detail: a garden painting there was same amount of attention to detail to the background as the foreground, every leaf and flower looks all too perfect. The result was the painting looks like an over-worked fantasy illustration; it was just to busy to look at. When I suggested to him maybe he needed to toned down his detail in the background he became very defensive. At the end I finally realized he was not came to seek advice but to confirm to himself how great an artist he is. I got a feeling he must has apply and got rejected from the show .Later I checked on the internet to see his other work, there were many of his prints of the same type of paintings he showed me for sale most of them selling for less than $4.

twin hearts by Jim Dine

looking for love at "Now Public"?

Sometimes news comes to you without even need to leave your own home. Since last week after I posted the article on “dinner in the sky” at “Now Public” a Internet news site. I had received two rather strange messages from women wanted to “know” me! It is pretty strange on Now Public since it is not like other site like face book. When I checked on their profiles but there were nothing on them at all. Both of the messages are similar, they wanted my personal email address and asked to contact them. The last one even claimed she is young and beautiful and promised to send me her beautiful picture more about her and her love. Too bad, if she also famous and rich, I might consider to contact her. I always think Now Public members are news loving people interest to share on the latest news. When is now public become some kind of dating service, offer their love to a total stranger? I think this must be some porn sites’ latest come on offer