Caroline Chao
Welcome to My Website
 |
Welcome to my website! I hope you enjoy looking at my art. I would love to hear your comments so feel free to "Email Me" by clicking on the link on the left sidebar. |
Blog
|
May 2012 The grass is greener on the other side of the ...easel. |
|
Apr 2012 I've just finished a commissioned painting. My client had a photo that she wanted reproduced as a painting. She gave me lots of leeway, allowing me to change the composition and tweak the colour. She absolutely trusted me which was great. I think the painting turned out nicely. |
|
Mar 2012 My painting chant: It's OK; keep going; don't worry about it; you can always redo it if it's not quite right. I have to remind myself too that it takes many layers of paint to make a painting. In the early stages, the painting looks down right ugly. It's only in the final stage that it starts to look decent. |
|
Feb 2012 I recently completed "Two Sentinels", a landscape painting featuring two worn old trees on the side of the Juniper Trail in Kootenay National Park. One tree is a Douglas Fir. The other, I'm not as sure about but I think it is a Lodgepole Pine that has been infested by Mountain Pine Beetle and drilled through by woodpeckers. I love the lichen dripping down from the branches. It reminds me of a veil falling gently over a bride's face. |
|
Jan 2012 On the morning of Sun., Feb. 26, some of my paintings will be exhibited at North Shore Alliance Church The exhibit "All Things Bright and Beautiful" will run from 10 am - 1:00 pm (following the 9:00 and 11:00 services). It will provide a glimpse into how my faith and art are interrelated. Everyone is welcome.
|
|
Dec 2011 Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! As an artist, what do i want to accomplish this coming year? Should I strive to produce x number of paintings? Maybe I should try my hand at a portrait? Maybe I should have some FUN and mimic different styles of painting? Try to complete a painting in one sitting? Or a painting-a-day for a month? I have so many ideas. Maybe I shouldn't think and just paint. |
|
Nov 2011 What is your favourite colour? As a child, my favourite colour was green - lush grass lawns, stately conifers, rustling leaves, swaying trees. In my early adulthood, red became my favourite. Joyful, exuberant, alive. As a painter, one is introduced to an array of paint pigments. Other than white, the colour I use most often is Payne's Grey. My favourite pigment is currently Burnt Sienna, a warm brown. |
|
Sep 2011 I listen to a variety of music: hip-hop, rap, pop, rock, jazz, and classical. Hip-hop and rap - because my kids listen to it. Pop and rock - because that's what I grew up with. Jazz is mellow. Classical is rich and layered. If I were to classify my art in terms of music genres, I would call it classical. |
|
Jun 2011 My painting output has slowed recently. I've been focused on our basement renovation. Having lots of flexibility timewise as a painter can be both a pro and a con. |
|
May 2011 For a school project, my son took the photo of me in the garden. Didn't he do a splendid job! |
|
Apr 16, 2011 Painting can be a lonely pursuit - especially if you spend a lot of time painting by yourself in your studio. For this (and other reasons) I look forward to the comaraderie of my weekly studio class. On the other end of the spectrum, sometimes the socializing gets in the way of the painting but it makes painting more fun. |
|
Mar 18, 2011 I know a number of fellow artists who, like myself, paint realistically, yet try to paint more loosely or "painterly", but fail time and time again. We inevitably end up painting realistically. Perhaps it is because we are attracted to what we are not (impressionistic and loose) that we try to paint that way - something like why we choose a mate with complementary character traits. Maybe we should simply embrace what we do naturally (paint realistically) and stop trying to fight it. One thing though, I would like to paint faster. |
|
Feb 15, 2011 I like artist Ross Penhall's statement: Passion, Persistence and Patience. There are days when I don't feel like painting (perhaps I'm having difficulty with a particular bit of my painting) but I put on the apron, sit down in front of the easel, squeeze out the paint and eventually it clicks. Painting teaches perseverance (or persistence). Painting is a slow process. Contrast it to photography. Especially with a large canvas, it's easy to lose heart when one sees how much there is left to be done. Painting teaches patience. Painting is not easy but the passion for something beautiful to materialize from bits of paint and canvas drives me. |
|
Jan 11 - Feb 6, 2011 My painting "Peugeot 202" will be at the Seymour Art Gallery for DisCOVEry 2011: a juried exhibition. The theme is "reinvent". www.seymourartgallery.com/next_show.php |
|
Dec 2010 My husband asked "Would a painting of a gloomy scene appeal to anyone?" Well, it appeals to me; otherwise I wouldn't have painted it. Is there not hope in the midst of sadness, beauty in the midst of gloom. (From Isaiah 61:3, "oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair"). In music, whether it be classical, jazz or modern, there's a great deal of melancholy music. The perfect pairing for this painting is Marjan Mozetich's "Postcards from the Sky". |