All eight paintings I donated to the Patron’s Show 2026 were taken in the first round of the fundraiser. I had the privilege of sitting with two of my art collectors, who invited me to join them for the event, and I am very pleased that they both got their first choices from my donations. The works I donated this year were from my various series created as early as 2011 and as late as just two weeks before the event, January 2026. The Patron’s Show is an experience that’s part fundraiser, part block party, and totally fun. It’s The Art League’s biggest fundraising event of the year, providing seasoned art collectors and newcomers alike with the excellent opportunity to acquire high-quality, original fine art at a bargain price while supporting a great non-profit organization and our artist community. All proceeds benefit The Art League’s educational programs, exhibits, community outreach, and classroom relocation project.

Unbound (diptych) from my Spirits series was selected and chosen for the first-place Best-in-Show Award in the first open exhibit of the year at The Art League Gallery, juried by Xenia Gray. It was sold before the opening reception—a second pre-opening sale from this series in two months (see details on the previous event).

About the selected piece:

Unbound is the third piece from my new Spirits series, selected for The Art League Gallery’s open exhibits two months in a row (click here to read more). In Unbound, I experimented with the composition by splitting the painting into a diptych, thereby breaking its continuity to reflect the title—unbounding with the past and moving forward. The full narrative is left to the viewer’s interpretation, as I always invite the viewer to finish the story by delving into the ambiguity.

The “Spirits” series fuses figurative and landscape painting through a musical approach—a unique technique employing dense, filament-like lines (melody) and parallel striations (harmony), reminiscent of intaglio or etching. I hope to emphasize environmental awareness with this approach. The veiled figures, rendered in neutral tones, contrast with the warm landscape, symbolizing the ethereal emergence of nature’s guardians and stressing humanity’s inherent connection and responsibility to the Earth.

As a colorist artist trained by the founders and followers of the Washington Color School, my practice has evolved from abstract color field painting. I now employ a surreal approach, introducing elements of reality to explore the gap between the known (recognizable forms) and the unknown (abstract expression). This investigation centers on my “Spirits” series, in which innovative digital and mixed-media techniques fuse the human figure and landscape, emphasizing environmental connection.

Process:

I’ve used a hybrid, analog-digital-analog process in all these pieces, consisting of digitally merging and manipulating images of analog studies, printing on archival art watercolor paper mounted on a wood carded panel, and painting over with mixed media, including watercolor, pastel, ink, and acrylic, sealed with cold wax or spray varnish.

Craning the Net from my Figurative series was selected for the Chronicles: Storytelling Through Imagery exhibit at Annmarie Sculpture Garden & Arts Center by the juror Elizabeth Dale-Deines, Public Programs Manager at the National Air and Space Museum. 

The exhibition ran from October 10 through January 18, 2026. 

About Craning the Net:

A mixed media—spray paint, watercolor, acrylic, charcoal and collage on a 20×60” canvas in which I combined an abstract female form and the net (left and below), resulting from spray-painting over a fishing net and a more representational male figure and construction tools on the right (charcoal and collage). It depicts the constant human struggle to make ends meet. Meanwhile, a broader landscape appears on the horizon, symbolizing optimism.