FayeZpainting

Swan Lake #3, 2017
Dimension: 48ins. x 32ins.

About My Paintings

After being a visual artist for over 20 years, I have come to realize that the painting as a medium works better for me to express myself. When painting, I enjoy its spontaneity and its expressiveness. And, after being an artist for years, I have come to know what kind of aesthetic value I want to achieve in my paintings and, it is the simplicity. With this thought in mind, the colors I used in my paintings are reduced to three, the black, the white and the gold. The richness of black and white I find in the Chinese painting and calligraphy, as well as in black and white photography. The color of gold reminds me the ultimate light source from the sun. In my paintings, the nature is the inspiration as well as the subject. When painting, I tend to focus on a simple scene, leaving space for imagination. As to the surface of a painting, I like it to be smooth, so to serve the purpose of calmness in the nature and in my mind. But, sometimes, I do add texture, when it is necessary.

REGARDING THE COLOR OF GREY:

Between the colors of black and white, there is a huge range of grey, which provides endless possibilities. The color of grey dominates in my paintings. When painting, I enjoy blending the black and white into different hues of grey, enjoy seeing many tones of grey. Sometimes the lighter grey overcasts the darker one, other times the grey is sharply contrasted with each other. But, most times, the greys are melted with each other into one harmonic scene.
The color of grey reminds me a raining day, a day I would like to sit by the window, sipping a cup of tea or coffee, watching the rain floating outside. Sometimes after dark, I see myself in a dream of grey field, everything around blurred, softened. Often, the color of grey directs me to look up to the sky, letting my eyes wandering the clouds...
The color of grey calms me, my mind, my soul.

Through my paintings, I wish to bring some calmness to a busy world.

Inspiration

Working Process

Before starting to paint, I usually have a specific idea in mind. For example, “ Lilies in Gold” series. Lilies have been an on-going topic for me to work on. I would imagine an image of lilies in a different season or in a particular environment, such as in a running water or under a storm, etc.. Then, I would work on the background scene with black and white oil colors. While taking time to exam an overall composition and contrast, I enjoy blending colors into many shades, paying attention to the details in an imagery. Usually, I would work on 2-4 pieces in variation on a specific idea. Unlike most oil painters, I use flat bristle brushes to paint and I find those worked very well for me. After about a week or two, letting the surface dry to touch, I then work on the front image by drawing the circles with acrylic liquid gold, using round brushes which used in Chinese painting and calligraphy. After about 3-5 months drying period, I then apply the vanish to the surface of a painting to keep the image with a fresh appearance and to protect the surface of a painting.

Notes on Drawing Circles

The image of circles is one of the critical elements in my painting. Why circles? Here are some of the notes I recorded during my practice of drawing circles:

01/21/17 *** is a circle a symbol of unity, a desire of perfection, a mark of a life, a sign of completion?

09/16/16 *** a circle is a unit combined with the elements to form a life, from the invisible cells to the unreachable universe.

01/26/16 *** no matter how small, how tiny a circle is, no matter how imperfect, how rugged a circle shaped, when both ends meet, it reaches its destination.

07/19/15 *** no circle ends exact the same shape, just like any living beings in the world, they are all individually shaped and that's the beauty of it!

07/09/15 *** to draw a circle, a different way to start, to progress, to turn, to finish, all effects the shape, the lines and the final image of a circle.

05/06/15 *** when drawing a circle, one needs to be in a state of calmness, holding a brush firmly but in a relaxed way, without rushing to move the brush.

Artist' Biographic Info

Education:

1998-2001, Master of Fine Arts, from San Francisco State University

1979-1983, Bachelor of Law, from East China University of Political Science & Law

Award & Honors:

2004 Recipient of Silver Award, by “The 3^rd From Lausanne To Beijing International Fiber Art Biennial”

2001 Recipient of Visual Arts Award, by Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation

2000 Recipient of Merit Award of Textile Art, by the Conference of Norther California Handweavers

2000 Recipient of Fine Arts Scholarship, by Leo D. Stillwell Scholarship of San Francisco State University

1999 Recipient of Jack K. & Gertrude Murphy Fine Arts Fellowship, by San Francisco Foundation

Work Collected by:

2007 Superior Court of California in Santa Cruz county, California

2002 Honolulu Academy of Art, Honolulu, Hawaii

2002 DisneySea MiraCosta Hotel, Tokyo, Japan

And, by the individuals

Publication & Review:

2005 & 2002 Letter Arts Review, Vol.17, No.3 & Vol.20, No.3, USA

2004 Contemporary International Fiber Art, Catalogue of “The 3^rd International Fiber Art Biennale- From Lausanne To Beijing”, China

2004 “Exhibition Finds Beauty In Words” by Joanne Silver, Boston Herald, Dec.27, USA

2003 “Making & Decorating Stylish Screens”, by Larkbooks, Altamont Press Inc., USA

2002 Weaving New Rhythms, by Rubicon Publishing Inc., Canada

2002 Surface Design, spring issue, USA

2002 American Craft, February /March issue, USA

2001 Fiber Arts, “Evolution of a Language”, by Victoria Alba, May /June issue, USA

1995 Shuttle, Spindle & Dyepot, Fall issue, USA

FayeZpainting

Lilies in Gold

Meditating

Reflection & Illusion

Friday, July 14, 2017

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