Oil Painting
Some of the oil painting projects displayed in this page have been completed at East Los Angeles College in the courses taught by Professor Christina Frerichs.
For any questions, please send me an email ([email protected]).
The Heavenly Lake Holy Site of the Manchu Nation (Oil over Acrylic)
This laminated wood board, originally probably a table top, has been left outdoor for quite a long period of time. Exposed to weathers, its surface has been warped. I paid $30 to the owner and used a curve-cutting saw bought at Daiso to cut it into three pieces with curved edges for my oil and acrylic painting projects.
About the Heaven Lake ...
According to Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, "Heaven Lake (Korean: 천지, Ch'ŏnji or Cheonji; Chinese: 天池, Tiānchí; Manchu: Tamun omo or Tamun juce) is a crater lake on the border between China and North Korea. It lies within a caldera atop the volcanic Paektu Mountain, a part of the Baekdudaegan mountain range and the Changbai mountain range. It is located partly in Ryanggang Province, North Korea, at 42.006°N 128.057°E, and partly in Jilin Province, northeastern China."
According to a legend of the Manchu people, the Heaven Lake is the birth place of the ancestor of the Emperors of the Qing Dynasty in China. The Birth of the Manchu Nation Illustration describes this legend; and the story could be read in the pdf file below.
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In this oil painting project, realistic scene of the Heavenly Lake of the Changbai Mountain, symbol of the 5,000 year old Manchu civilization, has been seamlessly integrated with images of personified Lucky Cloud, smiling tiger, ginseng root and deer, symbolic of natural resources of the area.
California the Beautiful Series (Oil)
This is a set of four oil paintings, one on pine wood board with curved edge, and the others on stretched canvases, celebrating the beauty of California. In this series of paintings, landscapes are integrated with Dream Creatures created by hands or digitally with Maya 3D modeling program.
For details of the project, click the thumbnails below.
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"Fat over lean" and other principles ...According to Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, "Fat over lean refers to the principle in oil painting of applying paint with a higher oil to pigment ratio ('fat') over paint with a lower oil to pigment ratio ('lean') to ensure a stable paint film, since it is believed that the paint with the higher oil content remains more flexible. "
The Gamblin website discusses this principle more in details. The Windsor & Newton website lists "Three Oil Painting Rules," i.e., (1) fat over lean, (2) thick over thin, and (3) slow drying over fast drying. In practical terms, when I start applying paint on the canvas, I mix oil paint with turpentine to thin it and to create a color layout ("thin" or "lean"); after the first layer of paint is dried, I start to mix oil paint with gloss medium and to apply it onto the canvas (:fat"); alternatively, I apply oil paint straight from the tube with paint or palette knives. |
America the Beautiful: The Smiling Rocks of the Monument Valley
In this oil painting project, Images of the rocks have been personified.
America the Beautiful: The Vibrant Sea Life in the Channel Islands
The oil paintings below, i.e., The Vibrant Sea Life in the Channel Islands, The Walt Disney Concert Hall, and The Happy Mouse Peace Fighter in California, are among a series of projects celebrating America's beautiful landscapes and multi-cultural heritages, integrating impressionistic and expressive representation of mountains, rivers, ocean shores, national parks, with personified animals and plants, both real and imagined.
America the Beautiful: The Walt Disney Concert Hall
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About the Walt Disney Concert Hall ...
According to Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, "The Walt Disney Concert Hall at 111 South Grand Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, California, is the fourth hall of the Los Angeles Music Center and was designed by Frank Gehry. It opened on October 24, 2003. Bounded by Hope Street, Grand Avenue, and 1st and 2nd Streets, it seats 2,265 people and serves, among other purposes, as the home of the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale. [...] Lillian Disney made an initial gift of $50 million in 1987 to build a performance venue as a gift to the people of Los Angeles and a tribute to Walt Disney's devotion to the arts and to the city. The Frank Gehry–designed building opened on October 24, 2003. Both Gehry's architecture and the acoustics of the concert hall, designed by Minoru Nagata, the final completion supervised by Nagata's assistant and protege Yasuhisa Toyota, have been praised, in contrast to its predecessor, the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion."
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For details on this painting, please click on the thumbnails of the gallery below.
The Happy Mouse Peace Fighter in California
In this oil painting project made of three stretched canvases, two imaginary animals symbolize people with good heart who promote social and cultural harmony and peace among all social and ethnic groups of people in California. The heart-shaped eyes and peace sign in the head and body of the Happy Mouse Peace Fighter symbolize loving-kindness and the spirit of peace, and the three eyes on the head of the dragon symbolize the ability to analyze the organic relationships among different social and ethnic groups (from wealthy, to middle-class and low-income, or from Caucasian, to African, Latino or Asian), from diverse perspectives, which is critical for the construction of a truly democratic and mutually tolerant society.
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The Heroes of the Manchu Nation
This oil painting project celebrates two among the great heroes of the Manchu Nation, i.e., Nurhaci and Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang, with a collage of images of the hero and the heroine, of a gyrfalcon, a burning heart of loving-kindness, plant leaves forming a peace sign, lotus, sunflower and peony blossom symbolic of faith, loyalty and prosperity respectively in Asian culture.
About Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang ...
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Please click on the thumbnails in the gallery below for detail.
About Nurhaci ...
Nurhaci was the founding father of the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic China under the Great Qing Empire. He founded the Eight Banner Manchu tribal armies that eventually unified five separate political entities into a multi-cultural Chinese nation-state with over 60 diverse ethnic groups, and create the Manchu written language. During his reign, liberal and enlightened social reforms have been promoted in Manchuria for the benefits of the people at the grass-root level. Nurhaci lived in an important period in the history of the Manchu peoples, in their transition from primitive to a socially-stratified class system, and successfully integrated the positive values from both systems that characterize the Manchu Nation.
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Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang of Mongolian origin was the greatest female political leader in the history of Imperial China for her charitable and humanitarian endeavors to provide relief to victims of wars and natural disasters, and her political wisdom in maintaining peace and harmony in a vast empire with diverse cultural patterns and complicated social relationships. Empress Dowager Xiaozhuang was also remembered for her frugal lifestyle, refusing to hold any birthday celebrations as she felt that it would be costly, despite her status as the de factor ruler of the vast Manchu Empire of China for several decades.
The Self-Portrait of Character Still-Life
In this oil painting assignment, a self-portrait of character of the artist is to be made out of different creatures or artifacts that represent the artist's spiritual and career worlds. My spiritual and cultural world is filled with the ideals of peace and universal brotherhood and sisterhood, which are represented by the respective symbols on the body of the Happy Mouse on the left; the Happy Mouse, a 3D digital image that I have previously created in 3ds MAX, as shown in Figure OP-8A, represents my graphic design practice based on digital art skills; the model of space ship in the middle represents my kills in product design using engineering 3D modeling and drafting programs; the flowers, vegetables, and stuffed animal represent my interest in creating traditional fine art works.
Taiwan the Beautiful Place: The Spirit of the Aboriginals and the Ali Mountain
This oil painting celebrates the natural beauty of the Ali Mountain in Taiwan (under the sovereignty of the People's Republic of China), and the great contributions of the Aboriginal tribal peoples of Taiwan to the social-economic development of the area, and to the great causes of democracy, human rights, social justice, and social progress, especially in the recent 500 years of heroic struggle against a series of genocidal, blood-thirsty, oppressive and exploitative regimes. The Aboriginal peoples of Taiwan actively participated in the February 28, 1947 Revolution of the Taiwanese People against the ultra-right-wing totalitarian regime of the Chinese Nationalist Party and its "White Terror" rule during the 60 years of "Martial Law." Many Aboriginals lost their life during the struggle of the Taiwanese people against discrimination, oppression, exploitation and forced assimilation. It was not until August 1, 2016, that the Taiwan's local authorities recognized the rights of the Aboriginals of Taiwan as distinguished cultural groups different from the Han-Chinese mainstream majority group. Taiwan' authorities is over 65 years behind the Government of the People's Republic of China in terms of recognition of the equal rights of ethnic minorities in China (back in 1947, with the establishment of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, the predecessor of the current Chinese Government has recognized the rights of the ethnic minorities in China to govern themselves in their own regions). The personified sunflower, strawberry, lily, and lotus blossom symbolize the progressive and democratic campaigns of the Taiwanese peoples of all ethnic groups to end the "White Terror" of 60 years of ultra-right-wing totalitarian rule of the Chinese Nationalist Party and to build up a New Taiwan as a democratic, progressive, harmonious and peaceful society.
For details on this painting, please click on the thumbnails of the gallery below.
Taiwan the Beautiful Place: The Multi-colored Clouds over the Colorful Ali Mountain
This oil painting celebrates the natural beauty of Taiwan as Taiwanese of all ethnic and social groups are moving gradually but irreversibly towards democratic freedom and social progress, eliminating all traces of over 60 years of ultra-right-wing totalitarian regime of the Chinese Nationalist Party; the multi-colored clouds symbolize Taiwanese of all political or ideological persuasions including the enlightened members of the Chinese Nationalist Party in Taiwan, and the colorful Ali Mountain peaks in the foreground symbolize the New Taiwan as a multi-cultural society where the East is integrated with the West. The peacock feather, glued to the surface of the painting with gloss medium, is a symbol of good luck and beauty in Chinese culture.
Taiwan the Beautiful Place: The Heroic Soul of Taiwan the Beautiful
This oil painting commemorates the heroic souls of the freedom fighters of Taiwan who have made great sacrifice for the democratic rights of the Taiwanese people of all ethnic and social groups to regional self-government and to social justice in the past 60 years. It features the Ali Mountain, the February 28 Peace Memorial Monument in Taibei, and the image of Xie Xuehong, one of the most important leaders of the February 28, 1947 Taiwanese People's Armed Insurrection against the right-wing totalitarian regime of Chinese Nationalist Party.
About Rong-zan Huang ...
According to Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, Huang Rong-can (Chinese: 黃榮燦,1920 – 1952) is the artist who created the print The Horrifying Inspection (恐怖的檢查) in the aftermath of the 228 Incident in Taiwan. He was wrongly executed by the totalitarian regime of the Chinese Nationalist Party in 1952 and restored to honors in 2006. "Huang's work can be found in the collections of the Australian National Museum, British Museum, Kanagawa Museum of Modern Art, Taiwan Museum of Fine Arts and the American Museum of Colgate University in Hamilton."
About Xie Xuehong ...
Xie Xuehong was among the most important leaders of the February 28, 1947 Revolution of the Taiwanese People against the totalitarian regime of the Chinese Nationalist Party. She believed that "Taiwan must be ruled by Taiwanese." After the failure of the February 28 Revolution, she fled to China. She was wrongly persecuted in China during the 1957 Anti-Rightist Campaign and during the Cultural Revolution (1966-1969), and restored to honors posthumously in 1986. A lot of Taiwanese regards Xie Xuehong as "Taiwanese People's Great Obasan" (a Japanese word meaning mother or aunt). More information about Xie Xuehong could be found in Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia.
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About the February 28, 1947 Revolution in Taiwan and Xie Xuehong ...
According to Wikipedia The Free Encyclopedia, "The February 28 Incident or the February 28 Massacre, also known as the 2.28 Incident (from Chinese: 二二八事件; pinyin: Èr’èrbā shìjiàn), was an anti-government uprising in Taiwan that was violently suppressed by the Kuomintang-led 'Republic of China' government, which killed thousands of civilians beginning on 28 February 1947. The number of Taiwanese deaths from the massacre was estimated to be between 18,000 to 28,000. The massacre marked the beginning of the White Terror in which tens of thousands of other Taiwanese went missing, died or were imprisoned. " After Japanese Empire surrendered to the Allies at the end of World War Two, Taiwan was returned to China. At the beginning, the Taiwanese people welcome the Chinese Nationalist Party as their liberator from Japanese colonial rule; however, after the start of the civil war with the Chinese Communist Party, the brutal and corrupted regime of Chinese Nationalist Party confiscated large amount of rice and other food staff from Taiwan and shipped them to China's Mainland to feed the troupes, and exerted totalitarian control of Taiwan's economy with state monopoly of economy including the selling of cigarette in a way similar to the practice of the former Soviet Union, causing inflation and starvation in Taiwan and widespread indignation among Taiwanese of all social classes, which led to the insurrection and bloodshed.
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Still Life Exercises
Shown below are my first still-life oil painting exercises.
Portrait Painting Exercise
Encaustic Painting Techniques
In encaustic painting, wax with different colors are used. Ready made wax blocks are available from art supply stores such as Blick's. Alternatively, transparent wax could used heat melted in metal container and oil paint be be then mix with it. The wax paint are first applied with brushes on paper and wooden board; heat gun is then used to create free-flowing patterns.
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Textbooks:
Reference Books
History and Styles of Oil Painting
Encaustic Painting Skills
Special Oil Painting Materials
- Betsy Hosegood, Paint Still Life, ISBN 2-88046-477-3 (Edward Locke's Note: This book could be used as the textbook for a college-level introduction to painting course, which covers watercolors, acrylics, oils, mixed media, and pastels).
- Bill Creevy, The Oil Painting Book: Materials and Techniques for Today's Artists, ISBN 0-8230-3273-6, PPL Call Number 751.45 CRE, LACC Call Number 751.45 C861o (Edward Locke's Note: This book could be used as the principal textbook for a college-level beginning and intermediate oil painting courses).
- Daniella Woolf, The Encaustic Studio A Wax Workshop in Mixed-media Art, ISBN 978-1-59668-390-7, PPPL Call Number 751.46 WOO (Edward Locke's Note: This book could be used as a supplementary textbook for a college-level advanced oil painting course, for learning encaustic painting techniques).
- DK Penguin Random House, Artist's Painting Techniques Explore Watercolors, Acrylics and Oils, ISBN 978-1-4654-5095-1, PPL Call Number 751-4 ART (Edward Locke's Note: This book could be used as the textbook for a college-level introduction to painting course, which covers watercolors, acrylics and oils).
- Patricia Baldwin Seggebrush, Encaustic Painting Techniques The Whole Ball of Wax, ISBN 978-1-4403-3194-7, PPL Call Number 751.46 SEG (Edward Locke's Note: This book could be used as a supplementary textbook for a college-level advanced oil painting course, for learning encaustic painting techniques).
- S. Allyn Schaefer and John Shaw, The Big Book of Painting Nature in Oil, ISBN 0-8230-0503-8, PPL Call Number 751.54536 SCH (Edward Locke's Note: This book could be used as a supplemental textbook for a college-level beginning oil painting courses, for painting landscapes).
Reference Books
History and Styles of Oil Painting
- Emmanuel Breon, Tamara de Lempicka: The Artist, The Woman, The Legend, ISBN 978-2-080-30549-7, ELAC Call Number ND 955 .P63 L459 2006 (Edward Locke's Note: This book features portrait paintings in oil based on clearly-defined geometric volumes).
- George T. M. Shackelford and Fronia E. Wissman, Impressions of Light: The French Landscape from Corot to Money, ISBN 0-87846-647-0, PCC Call Number 758.1 M1 (Edward Locke's Note: This is a wonderful book for studying French impressionist oil painting style).
- James Gurney, Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter, 978-0-7407-9771-2 (Edward Locke's Note: This is a good reference book for oil painters).
- John Rewald, Seurat, ISBN 0-8109-3814-6, PCC Call Number 759.4 S7-6 (Edward Locke's Note: This is a wonderful book for studying Seurat's pointillist style).
- Lesley Harrison, Painting Animals That Touch the Heart, ISBN 1-58180-131-9, Monrovia Public Library Call No. 741.2 HAR 2002 (Edward Locke's Note: This is a wonderful book for studying realistic oil painting skills for animals)
- Louis K. Meisel and Linda Chase, Photorealism at the Millennium, ISBN 0-8109-3483-3, PCC Call Number 759.1309 M1-2 (Edward Locke's Note: This is a wonderful book for studying contemporary photorealist painting style),
- Marcia Baldwin, James Sulkowski, Lorraine Gray, Jim McConlogue, Glenda Brown, Varvara Harmon, Jason Morgan, & 1 more, The Art of Basic Oil Painting: Master techniques for painting stunning works of art in oil-step by step, ISBN 978-1600583629.
- Louis K. Meisel, Photorealism Since 1980, ISBN 0-8109-3720-4, PCC Call Number 759.1309 M1 (Edward Locke's Note: This is a wonderful book for studying contemporary photorealist painting style).
- Marcia Baldwin, James Sulkowski , et al.
- Nancy Mowll Mathews, Cassatt: A Retrospective, ISBN 0-88363-256-X, PCC Call Number 759.13 C5-8 (Edward Locke's Note: This is a wonderful book for studying American impressionist oil painting master Mary Cassatt's unique style).
Encaustic Painting Skills
- Jennifer Margell, Encaustic Art (Art of Century), ISBN 978-1-78160-239-3
- Joanne Mattera, The Art of Encaustic Painting Contemporary Expression in the Ancient Medium of Pigmented Wax, ISBN 0-8230-0283-7, PPL Call Number 751.46 MAT (Edward Locke's Note: This book could be used as a good reference book for a college-level advanced oil painting course, for studying the history of encaustic painting).
- Annette Kowalski, The Best of The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross: America's Favorite Art Instructor, ISBN 0-688-09246-2, ELAC Call Number ND 1342 .R58 1989 (Edward Locke's Note: This book offers step by step instructions for painting landscapes in oils).
- Bernard Dunstan, Painting Methods of the Impressionists, ISBN 0-8230-3712-6
- Burne Hogarth, Dynamic Light and Shade, ISBN 978-0-8230-1581-8
- Elizabeth Tate, The North Light Illustrated Book of Painting Techniques, ISBN 0-89134-148-X, LACC Call Number 751.4 T187n c.2
- Geoff Kersey, How to Paint Skies, ISBN 978-1-78221-420-5
- James Gurney, Color and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter (James Gurney Art), ISBN 978-0-7407-9771-2
- Juliette Aristides, Lessons in Classical Painting: Essential Techniques from Inside the Atelier, ISBN 978-1-6077-4789-5
- Kalon Baughan and Brook McClintic Baughan, Painting the Faces of Wild Life Step-by-Step, ISBN 0-89134-962-6, ELAC Call Number ND 1380 .B38 2000 (Edward Locke's Note: This is a wonderful textbook for painting wild life animals' faces in oil and acrylic).
- Margaret Kessler, Painting Better Landscapes: Specific Ways to Improve Your Oils, ISBN 0-8230-3576-X, ELAC Call Number ND 1342 .K47 1992 (Edward Locke's Note: This book offers inspiration for improving landscape painting in oils).
- Mia Tavonatti, 101 Textures in Oil & Acrylic: Practical Techniques for Rendering a Variety of Surfaces, ISBN 978-1-60058299-8
- Michael Friel, Still Life Painting Atelier: An Introduction to Oil Painting, ISBN 978-0-8230-3408-6
- Rod Lawrence, Painting Wild Life Textures Step-by-Step, ISBN 0-89134-669-4, ELAC Call Number ND 1380 .L38 1997 (Edward Locke's Note: This is a wonderful textbook for painting wild life animals' furs in oil, acrylic and watercolor).
- Rolina Van Vliet, Abstracts: Techniques and Textures, ISBN 978-1-84448-955-8
- Susan Rayfield, Marine Painting: Techniques of Modern Masters, ISBN 978-0823030064
- Susan Rayfield, More Wildlife Painting: Techniques of Modern Masters, ISBN 978-0823057474
- Susan Rayfield, Painting Birds, ISBN 0-8230-3561-1
- Susan Rayfield, Wildlife Painting: Techniques of Modern Masters, ISBN 978-0823057481
- William F. Powell, 1,500 Color Mixing Recipes for Oil, Acrylic & Watercolor: Achieve Precise Color When Painting Landscapes, Portraits, Still Lifes, and More, ISBN 978-1-60058-283-7
Special Oil Painting Materials
- Priscilla Hauser, The Complete Guide to Painting on Porcelain and Ceramics, ISBN 978-1402739880, PCC Call Number 738.15 H1 (Edward Locke's Note: This book could be used by studio artist as an instructional manual on the techniques of enamel painting on glass and ceramic surfaces).
- Sean Dye, Painting with Water Soluble Oils, ISBN 1-58180-033-9, ELAC Call Number ND 1533 .D97 2001 (Edward Locke's Note: This is a wonderful book for learning how to use Artisan Water Mixable Oil Colors to create an alternative type of oil painting).
Recommended YouTube Videos:
Bob Ross Oil Painting Tutorials
Impressionist Masterpieces
Romanticist Masterpieces
Realist Masterpieces
Classical and Modern Styles
Edward Locke's SuniSea Studio
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