Open Studio Tour

It seems like I spent 3 summers very slowly cleaning and tidying up my studio and an adjacent shed. The Open Studio Tour took place on 10/10 and we loved having everyone over. It was a beautiful day and we hope everyone had a wonderful time. Thank you all for being there. Please join us again next time.

Color Study and Figure Painting Summer Workshop 2026

I taught a 7-day Color Study and Figure Painting workshop at Studio Incamminati in Philadelphia last week.

I had a group of dedicated and talented artists in the workshop. Everyone came with different experience and expectations and everyone needed something slightly different. I was impressed by how everybody was willing to adapt to a slightly different way of working than them normally do in order to learn what the new process can teach them and the progress they made as a result of taking the leap over the period of a week.

Teaching a workshop like this is essentially putting a group of random strangers together in one classroom, give them the difficult task of painting the nude and have someone barking seemingly random and new instruction at them periodically. It sounds like a bad idea for a reality tv show. I don’t always know exactly how and if the workshop will progress and unfold the way I had planned. And I’m always amazed and deeply grateful when it’s a group of serious artists joining the workshop. Together they created a very unique experience for themselves and for me.

I was never in a band or orchestra. I wonder if a successful workshop experience is akin to the experience of a band or orchestra playing at a live concert. It’s a lot of work for everyone involved but quite magical to be part of when it goes right.

The Atelier Studio Program of Fine Arts in Minneapolis

In late March, I traveled to Minneapolis and taught a week-long figure painting (color study) workshop at the Atelier Studio Program of Fine Arts. Prior to this workshop, I only knew (whether accurately or not) two things about the school: many accomplished painters have come out of the school and their curriculum focuses on drawing and form modeling. So, when the school first approached me last June, through artist/instructor Andrew Sjordin, to teach a color workshop there, I was surprised and intrigued. I didn’t know if students would be interested, I wasn’t sure why they would request a color study figure painting workshop when the emphasis of their curriculum is on drawing/form modeling and how they will incorporate any information that I can give into their existing method of working.

Patterns

I arrived expecting to be met with skepticism and resistance from workshop participants and members of the community at large, as would be human and normal when ‘an outsider’ comes into one’s own community. But instead, I was met with an openness and determination in students to learn whatever I might have to offer.

It wasn’t that every encounter and exchange on the classroom floor went smoothly or without its normal human miscommunication of words and/or minds. Teaching and learning is difficult. But everyone (students, instructors, models, visitors to the evening demo….) stayed engaged mentally and physically. Everyone valued and supported one another in their own way and stayed engaged with one another and with me.

I am sure the school has its share of problems and interpersonal conflicts like all other schools of its size and if I stay long enough, I’m sure I’ll experience them all. But the culture I observed is fundamentally a nurturing and tolerant one. I suspect this culture/environment is cultivated quietly but intentionally by the Atelier’s co-director Cyd Wicker, her husband Dave Ginsberg (their 3 cats) and everyone within the community, past and present.

I marveled at what the Atelier has accomplished, its resilience through all the economic turmoils in the last three decades of its existence and the city’s more recent challenges. I speculate the mechanism in place to solve problems, either internally and/or externally, when they do arise, is probably just the culture they have collectively created. And that culture/community is really just an extension of the type of leader that Cyd is - wise, genuine, trusting and generous. She is not only an accomplished painter herself but has taken on the mantle of teaching the next generation of artists.

She made me realize that a leader can succeed in many ways but a truly inspiring one is someone who has the innate desire to be of service to others and leads by example.

Progression shots of my evening demo. Photos by artist Sawer.

Denver Boone

The impending snowstorm landed as we slept and we woke up to however many inches of snow we were promised. It delivered. This new snow that blanketed our yard will not bear Denver’s tracks. The thought occurred to me yesterday so I walked around the yard looking for his paw prints in the snow. It had snowed days before then melted then snowed again making clear impressions difficult to find. But I knew he had walked around the yard one last time before our ride to the vet so there must be one and I found it.

I don’t know how a decade goes by so quickly. I still remember my friend’s words as if she had uttered them yesterday when I told her the many reasons that I preferred fostering dogs for others to adopt over adopting one myself. I had even less financial stability back then. I didn’t have the time. And lastly, I told her that I was afraid to be stuck with a dog for 10 years or more. She said to me, “Dogs always leave us before we are ready.”

Paw

Last car ride

Denver came into my life in the heat of the summer. He left us in the dead of the winter. The asymmetry of his timeline didn’t make it easier to say goodbye.

He was always an easy dog, not fussy and stoic to the end. It was as if he knew he was once abandoned in a shelter and was trying to prove his worth by being good.

Our love for Denver is and was uncomplicated. He taught me many things, among them, the importance of remaining persistently hopeful and believing in our capacity for love. In a time with so much manmade chaos and suffering in the world and with my very human limitation for both, I will try to remember the wisdom he imparted. So long, my friend.

Never too old to make a new friend

Chilling on the carpet

Denver on his cross country trip.

Denver on one of his hikes

Happy with a stick

Denver photographed by the shelter when he was first surrendered in Kentucky

Ruth Asawa and Wilfredo Lam at MoMa

I met up with a friend in NYC on January 2nd and saw two fantastic shows at MoMa. I came home with so many questions and thoughts.

The first one is - slow walkers shouldn’t visit NYC during the holidays, especially in the winter. It’s too freaking cold. :) I am not kidding. I don’t make the rule and I also don’t live in NYC, so please don’t send me hate mail.

Some other thoughts… I don’t know if there is a best setting for artists to ‘exhibit’ their work. I don’t know if all artists dream of having a/the museum as the final resting place for their artwork. I don’t know (other than commissioned works) if artists ever think of where their works will be seen when they are making them.

Those are the questions/thoughts that surfaced as I walked through the sometimes very crowded (they come in waves during my visit) museum looking at Ruth’s work.

I love museums (and the fact that they exist) but I didn’t and don’t always love going to the museums. I obviously love the arts, looking at the arts, learning about the history, and making arts…. I can’t think of a better setting to see the magnitude and a complete body of work of an artist than a museum. But often when I visit the museum… while viewing the work (especially 3D works)… I can’t help but get the feeling that I got when I went to the zoo as a child seeing the lions pacing back and forth inside their confinement, however large…. You get the sense that they are not in their natural habitat.

Ruth Asawa’s works were beautifully curated. As I walked through the galleries, I wondered where these works ‘originally’ resided because they really transformed the space around them. I have seen her work online and in print before but had not seen any of them in person until this show. Her work really needs to be experienced in person…. This is probably true with all arts.

Below are some stunning works by Wilfredo Lam.

Portrait Painting Workshop in Alaska

This blog post is long overdue and inspired by my student who said to me, “I checked out your website and saw that you have a blog but the last entry was in 2020.”

It rained a lot on this trip. I don’t remember encountering any rain in my previous trips. It’s determined to make up for it this time.

Chilkat Inlet?

Someday I will write more about my trips to Alaska. The place and the people I met there. For now, I have these photos, that don’t really do the place justice, to share.

Lighthouse, Old Coast Guard Station

Yukon

Mama bear and baby bear. So cute! They looked like they just woke up from a nap, stumbling around with matted fur. I’m told that cubs stay with mama bear for 2 years, so this is the year when this baby will leave his/her mom.

Mt. Riley

In between the rains, before the workshop, I was able to sneak a few short hikes in. This is the view from the top of Mt. Riley. We were almost at the height of the clouds. I did this hike 6 years ago. I remember there being a lot of big rocks. Where did they go?

Canopy

A friend of mine took me on a hike in Moose Meadow where the wild flowers were blooming. The trail wove in and out of the wooded forest and meadow along the beach. The landscape felt like a dream. When we sat down to lunch and admire the setting we found ourselves in, I said to her, “It’s beautiful here when it’s cloudy and glorious when it’s sunny.” Our conversation picked up and trailed off with its own peculiar cadence and rhythm like the distant rain that threatens to drop at any moment. She said thoughtfully at one point, “It’s beautiful here but it’s also…. a little bit sad….” I thought for a second and asked her to clarify, “Do you mean here or Alaska in general?” I let the question lingered for a minute then asked, “Because of the weather? Or, by sad, you meant melancholy?” She said, “Hmm…..” but made no further attempt to elaborate. And we let the ambiguity of her response sit like an old friend between us on the wet forest floor.

Workshop closed grisaille demo of our model Tim for my students

Evening portrait demo of Tom

7-mile Trail (name?)

A student of mine took me on a hike on Saturday after the workshop ended. Smoke from the fire in Canada obscured our view.

Mt. Ripinsky

A few days later, I had the opportunity of going up the same mountain from a different side. The trail is longer but not as steep. We didn’t anticipate that this side of the mountain was still covered in snow.

Artwork by Donna Catotti

Salmon caught and canned by Brian O’riley

I brought home a lot of fond memories and experiences with my students, my hostess, new friends, and complete strangers. My multi-talented students gifted me some souvenirs to remember this trip by.

Almost midnight

I took this photo on my walk back to my hostess’ house close to midnight. Twilight in Alaska can make you almost believe that fairies exist.

Pebbles from Paradise Cove

Our stone troll oversees our pebbles from around the world

The Lightbulb and Me

It’s me in my garage studio. Through the concrete floor, I can feel the autumn coming. Just 2 weeks ago, when I started this self portrait, I had only the striped tank top on. This week, I had to put on two black shirts underneath to finish this self portrait.

Momentous

This painting was done in 2 sessions right around the time when the “shelter in place” order came. For numerous reasons, this painting will serve as a reminder for me of the unpredictable nature of life.

A Volcanic Acorn Onion

I did a quick small painting today to take myself away from a larger painting that I have been working on.

Among many things, I miss painting people. But until then, I have onions.

"That Side Up"

It’s difficult to take good photos with the lighting in my studio currently.

I started with the painting at the bottom but ended up with the painting down below. Planning is so over rated.

A New Beginning

I’m starting a new blog. It will primarily be about paintings but will also include other subjects, events and activities of interest to me. If you wish to see only my artwork, please follow me on Instagram @jafanglu

Below is a painting I recently completed. I had planned to work on it for a couple more days but realized that nothing I could do to it would drastically change it, so I stopped. I also tried to upload a couple of progression shots but Squarespace is acting up. I hope to iron out the glitches as I become more familiar with their blogging tools.