Start taking portrait class from Sherry Camhy at Art Students League in May, 2021

In the mid of ongoing covid-19 pandemic, I was lost in the constant bad news from all over the world. I was so depressed that I couldn’t event find the energy to paint.

In May 2021, I decided to do something about it. I started looking for online art classes and by coincident, I bumped into Ms. Camhy’s class at Art Students League in NYC. Thanks to the pandemic, ASL had started offering online classes.

I had never been serious with portrait or figure paintings before, one reason is I’m more interested in landscape and still life, the other reason being that painting people in watercolor is so hard. I told myself just try it and see what happens.

It turned out to be the best decision I have made in my painter’s life.

Sherry is a renowned artist in US and she has been teaching art for many years in NYC and has students all over the country. Her portraits and figure drawings and paintings are so elegantly produced. They not only capture the likeness of the subject, they also bring out the spirit of the subject, which is what I want to learn the most.

The journey of learning portrait painting has been a painful struggle. I am used to not be accurate in my landscapes, everything is approximate. But with portraits and figures, I have to learn to be accurate or even precise. I am getting better at it but the road is long. I hope one day I can paint as well as my teacher, but in watercolor.