Kick-off to Another Year of Painting!

Toy Tiger: Red, oil on canvas (fresh and very wet!!), 5"x5", 2012

My first painting of the year is this little piece, destined to be my contribution to the upcoming spring fundraiser for the local art center. It was a hoot to paint, of course, such "cute" subject on such mini scale. I used a painting knife for the whole thing. The cloth toy tiger is a souvenir from one of my home-going trips in China some years back. This type of folk art motif is vanishing from China's craft scene - the commercialization and globalization have no use for such homey, traditional charm.

After painting the red tiger yesterday, I decided to follow up with another one today:

Toy Tiger: Yellow, oil on board, 8"x11", 2012

Needless to say the yellow fella was a companion piece to the red one. Don't you love the whiskers? And how about that palm-tree tail? The artist (mostly likely an elderly lady living out in a village where you practically find buried antiques by kicking the dirt underfoot) used what was she found in her sewing basket, a scrap here, few pieces of yarn there. This kind of indigenous instinct for formal harmony amazes me, always.

I'm on a roll - with painting. And, always, with love to share.