White, Brown, and Blue Color Scheme

Archways at the City Palace in Jaipur, India

   The ocean, blue skies, clean, white spaces, it's all very summery to me and with Summer coming, I feel inspired by these Summer colors. It's been amazing editing my photo collection and finding those photos that are limited to these two colors. It's like travelling to these places all over again. I can relive those experiences and look through my journals for more information about those experiences.

Jaipur Bloom, watercolor on paper, copyright Nina Leung, 2017

  The little painting above was inspired by the City Palace arches. It's a loose interpretation, like all my other pieces. I like taking little shapes and pieces and colors from each photo. More after the jump......

Colorful Color Scheme

  So I've decided to be very regimented in how I find inspiration for my work. I'm still working with the idea of microbes and growth and the idea of strange bacteria secretly growing in caves, but, I need further inspiration for shapes and colors. I decided to get those from my large photo archive. We've traveled to so many places over the years and I still haven't developed any serious work from it. Now feels like the time to finally do that.

  I am limiting the types of photos I can use. It's all by color scheme. Every week I've been choosing a different color scheme. For this week, it's colorful. Whatever colors I want. Last week was only yellow, green and blue. Limiting the colors forces me to concentrate on shape and helps me explore those particular colors.

  Above is a work I created for the #100dayproject, an instagram hashtag to get artists creating again. I've been doing it since it started in April and it's been a great kick in the pants. I used the photo below as a guide for shape and color. It's a very very loose interpretation, I just get basic shapes.

Hong Kong Island Street Car

Buildings in the La Boca neighborhood of Buenos Aires

   I took some of the color blocking from the photo above, in La Boca. It's been more fun combining elements from different pictures as well.

  The painting above is also from the #100dayproject and it was inspired by the photo below of Venice, hence the boat shape.

Venice Canals

Indian Crescent, watercolor on handmade paper, copyright Nina Leung, 2017

   The painting above was influenced by the ghats of Varanasi. The umbrellas make such a great shape. I kept the crescent shape from the Western China paintings. The crescent is fun to work with.

Ghats of Varanasi, India

Indian Colors, watercolor on paper, copyright Nina Leung, 2017

   After looking at a few photos and working with a few different shapes, they all begin to meld and I repeat the shapes and ideas over again. As long as I restrict my palette and loosely use the shapes given to me, I can explore and be more creative.

Ghats at Varanasi, India

Color Compartments, watercolor on paper, copyright Nina Leung, 2017

   With these I went back to the crystal idea. I am still very into the crystal shape and concept. The idea of microbes being trapped in the crystal is forever inspiring.

Crystal Traps, watercolor on paper, copyright Nina Leung, 2017

Indian Crystals, watercolor on paper, copyright Nina Leung, 2017

Umbrellas of Varanasi, watercolor on paper, copyright Nina Leung, 2017

Hairy Color Crystals, watercolor on paper, copyright Nina Leung, 2017

Balloon Crystals, watercolor on paper, copyright Nina Leung, 2017

The Shapes of Western China

Crescent Lake #1, watercolor on paper, copyright Nina Leung 2017

  I've begun working in a bit of a different way. Since looking through all of our old photos, I'm finally discovering that I can take something from all the travels I've done in the past. I wasn't able to do it at the time of travel, but I'm finally feeling it now. It's been a revelation. I'm still interested and pursuing the idea of microbes and growth and strange crystal cave creatures, but I now have a place to find inspiration for shapes and colors. They're coming directly from these old travel photos.

Crescent Lake #2, watercolor on paper, copyright Nina Leung, 2017 

 I begin with a color scheme and then look for photos that meet that theme. After choosing them, I look for shapes I like within the photo and use them in my paintings of microbes. It's been great! I'm forever inspired and excited and intrigued. The weekly color scheme change keeps it interesting and I have an excuse to look at all my old pictures.

  The paintings above are inspired by our trip to Xinjiang province which has this amazing Central Asian culture. It's as if we were travelling in the Stans. The people are beautiful and kind and the food is so good. We loved it there so much.