Images Taken at the Food Court of J Mart, Flushing

It was the first time grocery shopping at Flushing since we were back from Florida. While my wife was shopping at the J Mart, I went downstairs and did some sketches. I haven't drawn for more than two months.

Farewell to SW Florida

My Dear Artist Friends:

For health reasons, we have to sell our Florida home and stop living like snowbirds. I feel sorry to leave this beautiful area and, in particular, my friends there. I want you to know that you are always on my mind. I will keep posting paintings I do in New York or somewhere else.

Keep painting, please.

Thank you.

Weimin

Sketches Made at the Central Park and Subway

Homeless at the Park and Others

Recent Drawings

These are the sketches I did yesterday and today. This afternoon, I went to the Ateaz Coffee Shop on Metropolitan Ave. with our Fair Weather Artists group to sketch the pedestrians.

En Plein Air: An Old House at the Forest Gardens (Oil, 9 x 12)

En Plein Air: Road Construction (Oil, 9 x 12)

It warmed up in the afternoon. Therefore, I pushed my painting kit down Glenfell St, not having decided what I was going to paint. As I was approaching the intersection of Glenfell and 80th Rd., I heard some noise and sniffed a smell of burned asphalt. In a moment, I saw some construction workers were resurfacing the bridge over the LIRR tracks on 80th Rd. Recently, I happened to have a craving for painting figures in the environment, so I simply went to the construction site and set up on the sidewalk nearby to paint.

En Plein Air: The Heavy Traffic on Metropolitan Ave. (Oil, 9 x 12)

I stationed myself on the corner of Metropolitan Ave. and Park Lane this morning. It happened to be the rush hours. 

En Plein Air: The Forest Park (Oil, 12 x 9)

Figure in the Environment: Roland (Oil, 12 x 9)

It was pure serendipity. I didn't go outside in the morning for fear of possible rain. In the afternoon I was told it felt good outside, so even though it was kind of late, I decided to go out to paint. When I got to the entrance of the Forest Park, I saw a handsome young man sitting on the stone wall that ran around the high mound. He was working on his cell phone. His posture reminded me of a painting by Kim English (see the picture below). I got a sudden impulse to paint him. Therefore, I turned around and walked back to ask him how long he would be sitting there. He said he was waiting for his friends and asked me why. I told him that if he could sit there for an hour I would paint him a picture. I quickly added that he didn't have to sit rigidly still. Instead, he could relax and do things he naturally would do. He agreed. I immediately got busy to get my easel set up. The sketch took not quite an hour. When he saw the picture, the young man said with a smile, "It's worth waiting." Maybe that is the best compliment to me. He is a ninth-grader. His name is Roland.

En Plein Air: A Cloudy Day on Queens Blvd. (Oil, 12 x 9)

En Plein Air Oil Sketch: Playing with the Cellphone

En Plein Air: The Highway Running Around the Park (Oil, 9 x 12)

Plein Air Oil Sketch: Waiting by the Basketball Field (8 x 12)

I didn't know why my coughing had been dragging for so long. I felt better in the daytime, but when I lay down in bed, it was difficult to fall asleep because of the non-stopping coughing. I got some nasal spray today, hoping it would help me sleep. 

Even though I didn't sleep well last night, I still felt like going out to paint. Physically I wasn't able to go too far. When I got inside the Forest Park, I noticed a teenage boy was sitting on a huge stump with a little girl. They were both drawing something on the paper. I asked him if he would let me paint him. He said yes. However, before I finished setting up, he came over and said he didn't want to be painted. So,  I put everything back into my shopping cart and pushed across the lawn.

Close to the edge of the lawn, a mother was playing with a baby on the grass in the shade. I set up again and began to paint them. Unfortunately, in about two minutes, the lady stood up from the grass and began to whip and fold the blanket. I knew that would be the end of it. So again I put things back into my shopping cart and pushed it to the paved trail by the basketball field cage. The trail circled around the cage and went uphill. From there I could look down over the concrete basketball field. I noticed a school girl was sitting on the ground leaning against the triangle wall, watching and waiting possibly for her boyfriend. I immediately took things out of the shopping cart and settled down to paint her. I was a quicky, completed only in 45 minutes.

Oil Sketch: The House at the Bend of the Street (9 x 12)

I knew I was still weak and coughing, but I was tired of simply sitting home doing nothing. Besides, while I was focused on painting, I might not cough that much. So I decided to go out and paint. Physically I was unable to walk far. It was a house in the Forest Gardens.

Sketches at the Park

For more than a week, I've been sick from the flu. The symptoms are pretty strong and I feel light-headed. It wasn't so bad yesterday afternoon, especially the sunshine was so tempting. Therefore, I walk across the street to the park and made a few sketches.

Oil, Sketch: The Afternoon on the Lawn (12 x 16)

I believe I caught the flu during the vacation on the west coast. Even before we got home, both my wife and I began to cough. I had been confined home for a few days when the symptoms got more and more severe. I lost my voice, got blood-shot eyes, stuffed nose, and sore throat. I kept coughing all the time believing time was the only cure when my wife noticed that I forgot to cough and was very quiet when I was painting a plant pot at home. Therefore, in spite of the fact that I still felt a little light-headed, I decided to go out to paint this afternoon.

I knew I could find people on the lawn inside the Forest Gardens near Ascan Ave. and it was not too far away. I put all my painting stuff in the shopping cart and pushed it along Burns St. Maybe it was too early and the school was not over yet. I saw only two girls sitting on the lawn. Without hesitating, I set up to paint them. Right when I finished laying down the image of the first girl, the other one lied down on the grass. So I simply painted her that way. For the sketch, I just lay blocks of color on the canvas. The whole thing took not quite an hour and a half.

The Starkins' House (Oil, 12 x 16)

Vacation

Hi, Dear Followers:

I'll be on vacation for a week or so. There won't be any posts on this blog during the period of time.

Thank you.

Weimin Mo

En Plein Air: The Soccer Players at the Forest Park (Oil, 9 x 16)

It was a sunshiny day today. I went to the park this afternoon, having in my mind the picnicking people on the lawn. Maybe I went there a little too late. By the time I set up, they were ready to leave. Therefore, I made a composite sketch of the soccer players.

En Plein Air: The Shadows on the Wall (Oil, 12 x 9)

It is an apartment building on Burns St in the Forest Gardens near Ascan. In fact, I decided to paint it yesterday when I was on my way home from a haircut at the barber's on Ascan. I noticed the shadows on the wall and felt like depicting its subtlety. I like the color contrast, too.

En Plein Air: Union Turnpike near the Forest Park (Oil, 12 x 9)

En Plein Air: Queens Blvd. by 78th Ave. (Oil, 9 x 12)

Actually, what you see in the painting is only half of the thoroughfare, the westbound traffic on the road. I stationed myself this morning at the intersection of 78th Ave. on a road divider which provided a safe island with an iron fence on one side. At intervals, the vehicles stopped abreast in front of me for the light to change.

En Plein Air: The Christian Science Church of the Gardens (Oil, 12 x 9)

It is not the first time that I painted the church. I still remember how surprised I was to see a church of the denomination located in the Forest Gardens. As a matter of fact, the church is not in practice anymore. The property of the church has been put for sale. Someone told me the church asks for a price of $700,000. It is another sign that indicates the decline in its membership in the past 30 years.

En Plein Air: Park Lane South (Oil, 12 x 9)

A week ago, on Saturday when I was sketching, I saw many people in all age groups come out to enjoy the beautiful weather. On the lawn of the Forest Park, they were doing all kinds of activities: chatting, sun bathing, picnicking, baseball playing, dog walking, kite flying, you name it. Besides, there were Muslims, Jews and other minorities who were dressed in colorful traditional costumes. I was excited and told myself that I would come to paint figures the next Saturday. Unfortunately, it was cloudy today and there were not many people on the lawn. I finally saw a man sitting on the bench. Believing he would sit there for a while, I rushed to set up. However, barely before I got everything ready, the man stood up and took off. Unwillingly, I put things back in the bag and began to go deep into the woods. The trail happened to be parallel to Park Lane South outside the park. Suddenly I realized that there was a spot on Park Lane South where I had painted a snowy landscape. So I went off the trail and got to the place. 

En Plein Air: The Congregational Church of the Gardens (Oil, 12 x 9)

I have seldom painted anything from a worm's eye view. I did this morning on the sidewalk outside the church.

En Plein Air: Dog-Walking in the Morning (Oil, 9 x 12)

Yesterday when I was painting at the Forest Park, there were not many mosquitoes, even in the woods. Therefore, I thought I could get away without preparing for them. It was 70 Degree Fahrenheit in the morning, so I left my jacket home. Besides, I didn't take bug spray with me. Right after I set up, the mosquitoes began to attack me. Over the process, I was fighting on two front lines. The good thing was I was pushed to paint fast. By the time I finished it, I got about a dozen of bites in my arms. 

En Plein Air: A Clearing in the Woods (Oil, 9 x 12)

It is a warm up. I went to the Forest Park and made this sketch.