Quietly "Waiting"

“Waiting” depicts an inconspicuous piano bar located in a large barn, when nothing is taking place and the instruments, along with odd furnishing and decorations, quietly waits for things to happen. A wide wall painted in muted green provides a delicate contrast and wonderful harmony to the shining black instruments. There is a gentle and slightly melancholic atmosphere in this sparse and old-fashioned space which is simultaneously inviting and impenetrable.

Waiting
22” x 28”
Oil on Canvas
Completed in 2021

Originally posted on matthewfelixsun.com 

Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:
- Fuzzy “Memories of Childhood”
- Fantastic "Edge"
- Arid Urban Life – "Crossing"
- Domain ⁠— Familiarity, Sameness, and Subtle Variations
- A Glimpse of Relief ⁠—"Narrow Confinement"
- Uncertain "Prospect" - an oil painting
- Touching Landscape Painting - "Still Water"
- Enigmatic "Seclusion"

Domain ⁠— Familiarity, Sameness, and Subtle Variations

Domain was another painting completed during the height of the COVID pandemic, when my daily sphere shrank to my humble dwelling. Besieged by the sameness of familiar settings, I found some distractions from my bright kitchen, from the geometric patterns composed by a few household objects, to the contrast between the hard edges of those objects and the morphic shapes of their shadows, cast by the ever-changing, captivating lights. I recorded this solace with this painting, a study of familiarity, sameness, and subtle variations.

Domain
Oil on Canvas
28” x 22”
Completed in 2021

Originally posted on matthewfelixsun.com 

Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:  
- A Glimpse of Relief ⁠—”Narrow Confinement”
- Uncertain "Prospect" - an oil painting
- Touching Landscape Painting - "Still Water"
- Enigmatic “Seclusion”
- Oil Painting “College Town”
- Allegorical "Surveying"
- Crisp and Somber "Drifting"
- Disquieting Code - Oil Painting "Postscript

A Glimpse of Relief ⁠—”Narrow Confinement”

In the last couple of years, like many people, I was largely home-bound, and some reliable distractions and relief came through the courtesy of some windows facing the outside world, where some birds and squirrels rambled undisturbed by the upheavals in the human sphere. 

When those carefree creatures failed to meet their appointments, I would ramble to a hallway window with a view to the house next door, whose bold and rich coat of deep blue, orange, and marron would jolt me into sharp alert. It was endlessly fascinating to notice how the colors shifted with the weather and to observe how those rich hues seeped into the hallway and tinted the plain off-white walls and ceiling colorful and alluring. Gradually, these shades moved and shimmered, like quivering butterfly wings, tantalizing and comforting yet somewhat overwhelming and alarming. This sight formed the foundation of my metaphorical painting, Narrow Confinement, which recorded the narrow sliver of the comfort allowed me during the trying time and was much appreciated.

Narrow Confinement
28” x 22”, Oil on Canvas
Completed in 2021

 

Originally posted on matthewfelixsun.com 

Other Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst:  
- Uncertain "Prospect" - an oil painting
- Touching Landscape Painting - "Still Water"
- Enigmatic “Seclusion”
- Oil Painting “College Town”
- Allegorical "Surveying"
- Crisp and Somber "Drifting"
- Disquieting Code - Oil Painting "Postscript"
- Featured Oil Painting - Crisp

Paintings of Interiors

Self-portrait is a portal to peek into a creative mind and inspect a revealed soul, or a veiled soul. A self-portrait is the inner being, which is always mysterious.

Of course, that was only a metaphor. Inner space in its literal sense can be as intense and mysterious.

In past years, I have made several paintings with interior scenes and the probing f those domestic niceties, grandiose magnificence or forbidding mysteries gave me endless intelligence stimulation and even sensual pleasure. Below is a collage of such effort on video:



The paintings in the video are:

Awakening
Swing
Stairwell
Lamp and Firefly
Room with a Lamp
Domesticity
Cave
Limelight
Museum Interior

For more interior paintings, please visit my Flickr site: Interior

>> Video presentations of paintings and drawings, Part XI: 2011 Calendars Ready for Downloading
<< Video presentations of paintings and drawings, Part IX: My Self-Portraits

List of Video Presentation of My Artworks

The Progress of a New Painting

Finally, the "new work" I previously described is finished. Below is the progression:

March 21, 2009:

















































June 7, 2009:

















June 12, 2009:

















July 26, 2009:

My Painting - Museum Interior in Warren Building

I just agreed to loan my Museum Interior to the Warren Building on UC Berkeley campus.

It's a fitting picture to be on Campus since the Museum in the painting is that of UC Berkeley Museum.

A New Work

The dream that gave me the orange motif to the "Girl with a Doll" painting, also made me start a new one. Below is the very beginning of the process. All three photos were taken on 21 March 2009.

In My Cocoon (continued)

Following up my post of "In My Cocoon" on 19 March 2009, I started to play with light and shadow and tried to add complexity to the painting - at the moment, I am calling it Girl with a Doll.

The picture below was taken on 24 March 2009:
















I didn't like the gesture of her right hand (18 March 2009) and adjusted it a bit. Her left foot was different from that on the picture taken on 19 March 2009. Now I have a second thought about that and might revert it back or place her left leg in between the position of now and then.

In My Cocoon

Yesterday I had a conversation with a writer regarding our working processes. Such conversation -- almost a follow-up to my post Literature Inspired Paintings (March 17, 2009) -- helped me to articulate how I work. I said: "Sometimes, I feel I am encapsulated in a soft-walled cocoon, and move little by little to find my way. In darkness, I move up, down, left and right, pushing here, pushing there, trying to find my way out of the shell, desperately struggling for air and light. Through such trial and error, I, if successful, will be able to poke open the resilient membrane, and slowly creep out of the confinement."

These pictures below demonstrate how I have been feeling my way around recently.
















"Picture taken 031909"

















"Picture taken 031809"

I've posted this painting on March 9, 2009 - My Work in Progress. Ten days later, it moved into a direction I did not foresee then. The orange branch was suggested by a flower-patterned corridor I dreamed of last night. This serendipitous direction gives me shivers, and delight.