“Dreamscapes - In Nature” are about telling stories in my paintings of certain sceneries mostly inspired by the natural environments. Each piece is inspired by a park or scenery that I visited or have seen. I wanted to paint a story of a certain place or scenery that is real but also presented as dream like. I feel that life is like a dream, what I see with my eyes is real but also a dream world for me. I am like an ambassador of nature. Nature is like my stage. The sounds, colors, smell, forms, shapes and movement is telling me their stories. I am using my skill sets and painting techniques to tell their stories and raise awareness of the importance to preserve nature.
The connection with nature and being part of nature has been in me since childhood. My early years were spent on a farm surrounded by nature with fruit trees, flowers, vegetables, wildlife and the seasonal changes. I was enchanted by it and with all the living things that inspired me to draw since then. It’s a big reason why I became an artist and urban farmer. With my love of nature and urban farming continuing to grow within me wherever I go. From sowing seeds to the harvest or teaching the community how to grow their own food. I love watching the native bees going from flowers to flower pollinating the plants. All of it has an effect that connects me. Everything is connected!
I found that being an artist in this chaotic world that we live in now is hard. I constantly need to find peace in me and quiet place to battle my depression. By visiting natural places and appreciating every single simple living thing I see in nature really helps me to stay sane. Even a little weed trying to grow out of a crack in the sidewalk, I feel the power of nature and recognize its resiliency but yet it can be so peaceful. I took my observations and expressed them in all my work and really want to share it with my audiences. I hope through my paintings it can help them in some way to deal with what everyday life throws at us. By introducing places/parks/natural spaces to my audience through my paintings they can be inspired to visit these places in person and experience their healing properties.
In Dreamscapes, I expressed the emotion of the places or scenery through my use of colors, inks, water and brush strokes on paper. Combined with the washing of water color effect and drips and splashes method upon layers after layers to create the overall dreamscapes. I get a feeling of satisfaction, especially with the drips and splashes that give me the freedom to express the emotion in the look of the scene. It wasn’t easy to achieve what i want at the beginning using this medium but through many experiments and mistakes, I learned and achieved the desired result. The final touches at the end of the process are the most fun part of creating this series which is adding in small simple drawings in the zoom-in world of each piece. I usually have no idea what I am going to add in but drawing on the spot for what comes out from my mind makes it original and satisfying. I enjoyed every second of it while creating this series. My paintings have so many textures and forms in them, best to see them in-person and up close. Typically, photos won’t be able to show the depth.
“Avalon Waves” piece is inspired by the scenery of the Avalon beach in New Jersey during a family vacation. When I laid on the beach relaxing, i saw the beach, waves of the sea and the sky with the sun as one big picture. The waves when i was there were strong and tall with thunderous crashes onto the sand and I wanted to include the symphony of it in this piece. The drips and splashes method really helps me to express that movement of waves and how it connected with the beaches, sun and sky.
The original art piece is available upon request. Artwork size with frame: 30" x 40" inches. Medium: Acrylic painting and ink drawing on thick paper.
My dear friend once brought me to Lehigh Gorge state park to see Fall leaves and bike along a historical train track. During my visit, I was blown away with mountain upon mountain of beautiful fall colors that I couldn’t get enough of it. The scenery inspired me so much that I did a couple of paintings. It was windy and chilly that day for our biking adventure. A lot of fall leaves came down with the wind in a leaf blizzard. So there were the oranges, reds and yellows of the blowing fall leaves contrasting with solid greens of the mountain-side pines and the slate blue of the flowing river, all so beautiful and amazing!!!
The original art piece is available upon request. Artwork size with frame: 30" x 40" inches. Medium: Acrylic painting and ink drawing on thick paper.
“Ginkgo Street”. I love taking long walks in the parks or on the street, it doesn’t matter where I walk because I use it all as a meditation. When I take my regular walk in the city, I try to block off all the street noise made by the vehicles, construction etc. and focus on the birds singing, street trees and plants. I don’t put on earphones on my walk. One Falls day, I happened to walked into this street that had a line of Gingko trees growing on each tree pit. Their leaves turning bright yellow and golden. It was were so beautiful when I looked up with the clear blue sky! The scene brought a smile to my face, it was like a dream!
SOLD!!! The original art piece is SOLD! Artwork size with frame: 30" x 40" inches. Medium: Acrylic painting and ink drawing on thick paper.
“Under water” I can’t swim but I am fascinated by the underwater sea world. I love watching documentary films about nature in all aspect of environments. The ones about coral reefs that are dying out because of the warmer water of climate change. It not only affects the corral but also the whole marine eco system and even up on the land. While the situation is still dire scientists and environmentalists came together to propagate and replant corals that can thrive with warmer water. It gave me some hope! I decided to paint a scene about undersea world with creatures and things to celebrate life in the water. I was hoping this piece will inspire people to appreciate our marine environment and how precious and fragile it is and that we need to take action to prevent it from dying.
SOLD!!! The original art piece is SOLD! Artwork size with frame: 30" x 40" inches. Medium: Acrylic painting and ink drawing on thick paper.
I have visited Mt Cuba and Jenkins Arboretum/Garden recently. Both parks focus on planting a lot of native trees and plants, all beautiful and with their own charms. Both arboretums have beautiful ponds filled with lotus plants and flowers that attracted a lot of pollinators and insects. I noticed that even though they both places have similar designs and purpose, they are very different in terms of atmosphere and surrounding environment. I wanted to capture the different feelings of each setting. One seems more peaceful and calm, the other seems more playful.
The original art piece is available upon request. Artwork size with frame: 30" x 40" inches. Medium: Acrylic painting and ink drawing on thick paper.
I have visited Mt Cuba and Jenkins Arboretum/Garden recently. Both parks focus on planting a lot of native trees and plants, all beautiful and with their own charms. Both arboretums have beautiful ponds filled with lotus plants and flowers that attracted a lot of pollinators and insects. I noticed that even though they both places have similar designs and purpose, they are very different in terms of atmosphere and surrounding environment. I wanted to capture the different feelings of each setting. One seems more peaceful and calm, the other seems more playful.
The original art piece is available upon request. Artwork size with frame: 30" x 40" inches. Medium: Acrylic painting and ink drawing on thick paper.
My first piece in this series. Inspired by a visit to Brandywine Creek State Park. I wanted to capture the beautiful creek with lot of greenery and insects. Splashing a lot of white and blue paints to create the dreamy like water effect.
SOLD!!! The original art piece is SOLD! Artwork size with frame: 30" x 40" inches. Medium: Acrylic painting and ink drawing on thick paper.
A simple scenery I saw in the fall but meant a lot to me. Evan common things in nature boost my mood. Sometimes I don’t have to go far to get my inspiration, like just looking out my studio window. All seasons, I’ve seen many different kind of birds and animals that visit the large elm tree in front of our house. Robins, woodpeckers, warblers, hawks, cardinals, falcons, bees, butterflies squirrels etc, all can be seen in an urban environment if I look. I really appreciate simple things and I’m content with it. Like the robins in the fall canopy-why not!
The original art piece is available upon request. Artwork size with frame: 30" x 40" inches. Medium: Acrylic painting and ink drawing on thick paper.