HSIN-YAO TSENG
After the San Francisco earthquake and fire of 1906, the
Californian city of Carmel welcomed a host of uprooted
artists and writers with the promise of pay-what-you-can
rents. More than a century on, the small coastal enclave
continues to attract painters and photographers drawn to
the quaint architecture and gorgeous Pacific sunsets.
Oil painter Hsin-Yao Tseng was suitably impressed on a
recent visit with his girlfriend, Serena. “I was fascinated by
the beauty of nature and the beautiful orange-pink nightfall
colour in the sky,” he says. “At that moment, I knew I would
do a painting under this mood.”
Despite featuring Serena prominently, Hsin-Yao insists
that he had other ambitions in mind for the resulting
painting, Summer Sunset in Carmel: “I was focusing on
the sunset colour and the back-lit lighting, and also playing
with the positive and negative space in order to create
interesting value patterns.”
He took several photos on location but relied upon
memories of the scene to develop the painting back in his
studio. “Getting the proper value is more important than
trying to get the correct colour of the subject,” he says.ABOVE Hsin-Yao
Tseng, Summer
Sunset in Carmel,
oil on linen,
35x45cm“As long as you have a wide range of values within your
painting you have flexibility in your colour choice.”
The glowing red halo is one such example. “I pushed the
colour to make it look like the orange sunset light hitting
the face. I worked on the head and the background at the
same time, using the alla prima method and finishing one
part of the piece before I moved on to the next.”
Born in Taiwan in 1986, Hsin-Yao moved to California at
the age of 18, studying for both a BFA and MFA in painting
at the Academy of Art University (AAU) in San Francisco.
Following in the classically-trained footsteps of John Singer
Sargent, Anders Zorn and Richard Schmid, the young artist
has already developed a rich portfolio thanks to his superb
skill and strong work ethic. “Every time you make a mistake
it is an improvement in the next painting,” he notes.
Perhaps the most important lesson learned during his
studies was not a practical one, however. “Love what you
do and paint what your heart draws upon,” he says. “Alex
Kanevsky made a guest lecture at AAU and he said, ‘If you
are not excited about what you paint, then your painting
won’t excite the viewer either’. I find great truth in this.”
http://www.hsinyaotseng.comfresh paint
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