An Invitation to First Friday Art Exhibition in Downtown Phoenix by Li Hua Mahalik

Hi Friends,

You are cordially invited to come to my solo First Friday art exhibition on July 5, 2013, from 6PM to 8PM in the Cityscape Phoenix downtown development.  

My art is in a beautifully designed new restaurant called Squid Ink Sushi Bar, located right at the SE corner of Jefferson St and Central Avenue. The address is 2 East Jefferson St., Ste. 108, Phoenix, 85004.

There are several large pieces, as well as smaller pieces of Abstract Expressionism art which I dabbed "DreamScape Series". Please come and visit.

Warm Regards,

Li Hua Mahalik

dreamcobbler@cox.net
480 947 4741

Roses and Bicycle IV - A tribute to time

Mixed Media with acrylic, ink and crayon on hardbord, 9x12

The greying sky,

Like the remnant of a fire,

Lingers on.

The space is empty 

Of your presence,

 

And soon will be filled with the drizzling rain,
Like tears of laughter.

Roses and Bicycle ll

Mixed Media with Acrylic, Ink and Oil, 9x12

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If you would like to purchase my paintings, please

email me or go to Paypal through my web site.

Please also check out

 Qiang Huang's workshop in 2013 on the right.

Leave a comment if you can. Have a great week!

Roses and Bicycle

Mixed Media with Ink and Acrylic on Telati board, 9x12

All of a sudden I feel like it's time to take a break from traditional painting and do some abstracts. The figurative's been on my mind, and a bicycle seemed like fun because of its various geometric shapes and my fun memories of it in my childhood. A bicycle to me implies freedom, youth, movement in nature, balancing and innocence. What does it mean to you? 

If you would like to purchase my paintings, please

email me or go to Paypal through my web site.

"Untitled T1"

Oil on wrapped Canvas, 24x24

Recently, I was led to an amazing and interesting online tutoring website, www.kahnacademy.org. In it, it has all kinds of subject matters that you've probably known or have take in high school or college. I wanted to see how much of the Calculus I remembered. Subsequently, it led me to the creation of a triptych, and this is the first of the three.

Cy Twombly is one of my favorite abstractionists. I love his scribbles. Looking at his work, it inspired me. I forgot how to talk gibberish, mathematic equations as scribbles seem natural, that is, if you don’t think too much.

More to come, later,

Li Hua 

Email, Website

Time moves on

Qiang Huang, Artist

A busy week. My Austin, Texas friend and teacher Qiang Huang (pronounced Chong Wong) came to town to show his work in the Legacy Gallery. Qiang was part of the Richard Schmid's Putney Painters of Vermont exhibit. The art exhibits and workshops were all filled with new ideas. Please visit Qiang's website and read his daily blog. Qiang always has an interesting view on life.

Now I'm off to an abstract workshop that uses tissue wrapping paper as an element of surprise. Wish me luck.

"Red IV"

Oil on Canvas, 20"X20"  Sold

This painting grew from an idea of doing a painting in red.

I started by putting down alizarine straight from the tube as the darkest dark to anchor the painting. Next was to do the red by adding white, cadmium red light, or yellow to the alizarine and brushed over most of the canvas while leaving some parts untouched. At this stage, knowing when to stop and to evaluate is  the most important part of the work. From here, one can let the imagination go to work.

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To see my other work, please visit my web site

Thank you for viewing !

A Land to Love

Oil on Ampersand Gessoed Panel, 18x24  Sold

It's been a while since I posted here. So far this year, I've taken three workshops, one from Kim English, another from Camille Przewodek and, lastly, from Marc Hanson two weeks ago. The quick pace of the workshops was the best way to learn what I didn't know. The part that I've learned is now being digested at home by painting, and painting. But along the way, husband Mark sent an excerpt of an article by George Inness about art. In it it says:

"...Art aims is not to instruct, not to edify, but to awaken an emotion of love, pity, veneration, of hate, of pleasure, of pain, but it must be a single emotion if the work has unity, as every such work should have...."

All of a sudden I realized that years of taking up workshops and classes to brush up my skill have made me forget the joy that I used to have when i picked up the brush to paint, when everything then was purely acts of love and passion. Now I'm going to combine the two, the skill and love. I'm in a fog right now, and I know that only by painting a lot will it reveal where it's going to take me.

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Please come visit my new web site here.
Thank you for visiting!

Cafe Sunday

On the seventh day

The coffee house is seen again

Over an easy egg or two

Flowers on the adobe wall

The white table cloth 

The neatly placed silverware

And the feel of Mediterranean-  

Arizona's sun

It matters not how

Water flees to the south

Along the banks of concrete

Not blue and big fish

Life is as good 

As a friend

Or two; two cups of coffee


©Li Mahalik

I painted this from a picture I took of flowers on the adobe wall at a breakfast place where my husband, father and brother-in-laws and I went in downtown Scottsdale. The place had a feel of romance and the food was nice. I remember it was in April when the sun was gentle. 

"Just Passing By"

I just finished this painting. The title I gave inspired me to write a poem. Here it is:

Living

A world of colors, looking in

Wading through. Perhaps

With the first slit of sunlight, or amongst the busy rain

Slumbering still between

Two worlds, a crack

Will appear in the mesh

And you slip and glide through

That heavy story you create

What nonsense and opportunity! Now!

Oh, for heaven's sake

I'm just passing by

       

© Li Mahalik

I hope you like it. I'm sure it can be better and I'll work on it more.

Please visit my website for more art work.
Large commissioned work on abstract oil welcomed. Please email me for quotes.

"From My Heart" By Li Mahalik

Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas, 20"x16"

I painted this a week ago and let it sit in my studio while pondering about it. It had a lot more red then and had no dark value, and it seemed too sweet. So, I revised it a bit today. Even though it's an abstract, a focal point or area still helps tying everything up. I would have loved all my abstracts to look good no matter how you placet it. Not this one, though. It wants to look like a bunch of flowers, from my heart.

Please contact me if you have any comments, questions or have something in mind for a painting. Or visit my website, and my other blog. Hope you have a wonderful week!

An update of my 4'x4' commissioned abstract painting: I'm painting it in my mind, no kidding!

"Forget-me-not" by Li Mahalik

"Forget-me-not"
Oil on Gessoed Masonite
6"x6"

A month ago, I did a painting called In the Blue, of some penstemen flowers by the road superimposed on the blue shadow of a tree. Sometimes, when I do the house chores, I would think about the etherial image, about how best to show the feeling. Today, I put it down after a few tries, going a full circle and came back to my original imagination. I think the name "Forget-me-not" is fitting. Don't you think?

"Untitled IV"

Oil on Gessoed Masonite, 6"x6", $125

To me, Abstract is more difficult to paint than representational painting because the process tends to go through different kinds of preparation, research and techniques. But in the end, it will have to meet the criterias of what makes a good painting: composition, values, color harmony, proportion, depth, eye movement, etc. There are so many ways an abstract can turn out: a little darker here and more color there; warmer here and less busy there. So, here it is, an exit way appeared and I called it a day. 

Please come visit my other blog to see more recent paintings, or my website to see other paintings. If you have any suggestions, comments or interest to purchase, please feel free to contact me via my email. 

"Omnipresent"

Oil on Gallery Wrapped Canvas, 16x20

It was fun and different going back to a bigger canvas. A dear friend came to paint with me today. In between the conversations, I had room to ease my fixation and made this expedition a joyful one. Please come visit my blog to see more recent paintings, or mywebsite to see other paintings. If you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to contact me via my email. 

"A Day In November"

Oil on Gessoed Masonite
6"x6"

This piece evolved from a presentational to a non-presentational. I found that it is easier to "switch" from one to the other, rather than to start an abstract from nowhere, which I do sometimes, because quite often I end up losing the freshness and the momentum. The images in the mind are hard to hold, and the paint, once on the canvas, solidifies the image; one has no choice but to keep going, innovate and know how and when to quit.

Please come visit my website,  another blog which I'm a member of,  my store or email me if you would like.

Thank you so much for viewing.

My Recent Small Paintings

Route 66, 6x6
Oil on Gessoed Masonite

"Red Friday", 6x6
Oil on Gessoed Masonite


I painted these two paintings one after the other.

I'm loving the small panels because I can paint quite quickly and spontaneously with lots of paints. Modifying and doing over are quite easy. They can also provide me a feel of what bigger paintings with the same theme can look like.

Today, for the record, I set up an ebay store to sell my small paintings. I don't know how it'll go, so I'm a little nervous. I don't really know what my paintings are worth and what the market is like. There are tons of paintings out there, some are originals, some are copies. But I know that if I keep on painting and get better everyday, some people might appreciate my work. I have everything to gain, especially, by doing it, as an incentive to keep painting. Wish me luck! I will soon put these up to my ebay store when I sum up courage. Please come visit!

Please contact me, or visit my web site to see more paintings. Thank you so much for visiting!

"The Merchant", 6x6

Oil on Gessoed Masonite

The fun thing about painting Abstract is "walking" without knowing where you're going. "Walking in Beauty", as a very dear friend of mine used to say, is the journey we all embark upon. There's no one path that isn't worthy of traveling. At the end, then, like this painting, it is how we make it better by changing, eliminating, and choosing a view.

Warm Regards,

dreamcobbler@cox.net

www.dailypaintersofarizona.blogspot.com

www.limahalikart.com