This acrylic painting (14 x 14 x 2 in) is an Ode to Liang, a contemporary Chinese artist I found on the internet when researching for a class. It popped out from all the painterly watercolor pieces. Not just the color but also the bold, graphic lines, contrast, and clean detail. I simplified the composition, taking out a boy and house, along with all the reflections, so that it would be easier to paint.

I always test my paintings for the 3-hour time limit, the length of time for a 2 to 3 hour class. Not really sure what I was thinking. Only 30 minutes in, I realized this was not a piece for the time constraint.

Years later, a couple of moves, and several thoughts of throwing the unfinished piece into the bin, I finally sat down and finished the painting.

I kept with the simplified composition but meticulously painted the fine-lined branches and each of the orange blossoms of the trees. Even when I wanted to give up, I continued—looking at this as an exercise in discipline.

There was some satisfaction by finishing with the a signature that was a cross between the Latin/Roman alphabet and the Hanzi, or logographic, morphemes of the Chinese “alphabet”. But mostly, I felt relief. I do have stacks of unfinished teaching pieces that I hope to get through, one-by-one. My thought is: you wouldn’t be a very good teacher if you finished the piece, in real-time. Red Sunset isn’t something I would compose and paint, but I love the way it turned out.