Blossoming across the street

The tree is in full bloom across the street in the late afternoon sunshine.

Brandon Downtown

I could feel the heat of summer on my back while painting this view on 8th street in Downtown Brandon  at 11 this morning.

Ping's flower bed

It was dark and muggy  with ominous clouds looming large in the sky and muffled roar of thunder in the distance, I set up my easel doing a quick oil sketch of Ping's flower bed with constant distraction from mosquitoes.

Pots of geranium on our patio

Pots of geranium steeped in the late afternoon sunshine from our patio.

Dan's canopy over his deck

The last light of the day fell on Dan's canopy on his deck in the receding sunlight of the day.

Over the hedges

Already so green now! A glimpse over the hedges towards the evening.

From Kin Park of Brandon Sunday afternoon

A bit cloudy today when I got to this site to paint this view of a grove of aspens on Kin Park there. Lots of mosquito already which did not hold me back from painting this delightful view of aspens stretching their limbs with  their  budding green .

From Treesblood Spring Festival Saturday afternoon

With big tent and teepees up and music on, you could sense the presence of summer spirit around in the jolly steps of children running on the ground , and even in the dashing legs of Dave's pair of lovely black dogs. Painted this view on site yesterday to mark the occasion. The very last time I painted this location was 9 years ago when Dave Barnes inaugurated  his first spring festival on this site.

Brandon University campus Saturday morning

Warm spring sunshine from our backyard

Spring green in the back alley late in the afternoon

Sunny and warm

wet and cold

Raining outside in the morning

Woke up to the pitter-patter  of the rain on the roof top , the welcoming sound of spring, this morning and did this quick oil sketch looking out of the window after breakfast.

Watching movie on tablet on patio in the late afternoon sun

Fengping has moved all  her pots of plant from indoor to the patio and spent the rest of the afternoon watching movie on her tablet on our patio.

A view of Brandon University painted this morning with memory from the past

Pretty soon it will be my 23rd anniversary of coming to Brandon, Canada from China. It was 23 years ago in the middle of June 1991 when I first arrived directly from China. It was a very emotional experience for me  torn between almost agony and ecstasy: extremely sad to leave your loved ones behind not knowing when you would meet them again, and extremely happy that  I had finally got away from China in those post-Tienanmen massacre years of repression and depression  finding myself in Canada with a bright  future with a palpitating sense of freedom and opportunity. Just a few days after I arrived, I signed up the summer course at Brandon University  and one day when the course started  I found myself walking towards this building with a timid heart. Just wonder if anyone have had experience of always associating pieces of music or songs with a certain location you find yourself in simply because those music or songs touched you so deeply while listening to it in that particular place in a special moment of your life even the music by itself bears no association  to that place. However, years gone by all of a sudden  the music would stream  back bringing tears to our eyes with all those memories when one day you find yourself at that particular location again. This morning when I came to the quiet campus of Brandon University to set up my easel painting this view all of a sudden the memory came back ever more fresh and ever more sharpened and sweetened by the melodies of Chopin's first piano concerto , and the  second movement of
Saint Saents' 3rd violin concerto.

The old downtown fire station of Brandon

Window view early in the morning

The house on 13th Street and Lorne Ave

On my way back home after an errand to Downtown, I stopped here to do a quick oil sketch towards noon today. This house on the corner of Lorne Ave and 13th street always brings back my earliest memory of Brandon 23 years ago.

The house next door on Balmoral Bay in the morning sunshine

Ode to Spring

As I was standing on my patio painting this view this afternoon, I could finally feel the presence of spring in the air !

Standing in the last glow of the day - a 15 minute oil sketch from AGSM studio window as a painting demo

At the end of the day

Looking across Maureen's front yard where there used to be lots of trees standing

Raining outside on Mother's Day

Watching movie on tablet on Mother's Day

On Mohter's Day 2014 a quick oil sketch to mark the occasion

Looking over the hedges

Feeling the rhapsody of early spring in the early morning sunlight

A view from our window early in the morning , a joy  in light and colour of early spring.

Our home in the evening sunset

Turning my easel around after I finished the first painting, I started to work on the second one when the sunset moment was so inspiring!

A view across the bay late in the afternoon

The first real warm day of the year! Painted this view across our street when the sun started to go down and the moon was getting visible in the sky.

A view of Downtown Brandon from AGSM studio window on a rainy evening

Painted this view from AGSM studio window as a painting demonstration for my landscape painting class yesterday evening when the rain stopped and a glimpse of sunlight started to break out of the clouds.

Street light on a rainy spring evening

It has been drizzling for a whole day and I have not been in a mood to paint. Then, all of a sudden when  I looked out of the bedroom window at 9 p.m , the urge to paint came back to me , and I grabbed my easel and set up by the window and painted this view in darkness.

A glimpse of spring coming to our backyard on Sunday morning

Fengping raking grass in the backyard

A quick oil sketch of Fengping raking grass in our backyard in the afternoon.

Hamiota Art Centre buidling in bright morning sunshine