Classic Velvets by Song Shen

Bay Park Buzzy suggested I move this from "and CLOSED! - Worldwide Online Tiki Art Show" to a new thread with the title "Totally great velvet paintings for sale", but I think I'd make the tiki gods angry with a thread title like that. :wink:

The Classic Velvets of Song Shen

One more ready soon:

Very nice old-style black velvet art, could be from an old Polynesian palace. What is the price range?

amazing nipple detail!

On 2009-05-04 23:55, bigbrotiki wrote:
Very nice old-style black velvet art, could be from an old Polynesian palace. What is the price range?

Yes....range??

Thanks
KK

Price range is $175 to $225. They're all a standard 16" x 20", unmounted and unframed. The velvet is untrimmed and larger than the 16" x 20" size so it can be mounted on a little larger custom frame if wanted. I highly recommend someone like Bamboo Ben to frame them for that perfect classic look. :)

That is pretty darn affordable! I have not come across any cheaper real velvet originals (we can't all be PTD :D ) If I only would have some wall space left...

so how do we purchase them? I'm interested

Just PM me about which one you're interested in and we'll talk.

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2009-05-06 19:24 ]

I can personally testify to the high quality of these velvets! Keith is doing us all a great service by working closely with the artist and making these available at an affordable price. I liked his first batch so much, I recommended them to the Mai-Kai since they are doing so many renovations lately.

Here is ours, high up on our wall with the frame I made for it. Sorry for the daylight photos, but you can see the details better that way. But under the low level lighting in the room after dark, the painting is magical...

[ Edited by: GatorRob 2009-05-07 10:13 ]

I feel that we are all in good hands with the “exotic” velvet paintings being done by Song Shen, Robb Hamel, Jason Sallin and others here at Tiki Central. While I have yet to purchase a Hamel or Sallin painting, I have been lucky enough to purchase two of Song Shen’s paintings through Keith Hayes when he originally posted, but unfortunately I have not had them framed yet. I was so impressed with the first paintings that I bought, that I commissioned two more. One of the commissioned paintings was of an old Sylvain picture that I found in an out-of-print book that I own entitled “Tahiti Sylvain”, published by Taschen. The second is a composite done of my wife. I am highly pleased with the work done and the ease of dealing with Keith. The prices are very reasonable and the work is outstanding.

Here are the first two paintings, which may have already been seen in other posts on Tiki Central.

The first commissioned painting is of one of my favorite Adolph Sylvain (The Photographer of the Tropics) pictures. Here is the picture:

And here is the painting:

The second commissioned painting is a composite done of my wife. She was not too keen on the idea of having a painting done of her, so I took my favorite photograph of her (a college graduation picture), seen here:

And another picture of a similar body-type (seen here):

And “voila”:

By the way, my wife was very pleased with the painting as well!!

Thanks Keith and Song Shen!

"Here are the first two paintings, which may have already been seen in other posts on Tiki Central."-

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=27160&forum=1

I was checking this one of this morning. Melon girl photo. Big fan of the work.

"By the way, my wife was very pleased with the painting as well!!"

Yeah it came out nice and you can finally stare at a velvet and not get in trouble

Hey Song Shen fans. My auctions aren’t moving. Is it the price? No framing? I could change that and add it to the sales. Got any advice? I’m no big time retail guy. I just like commissioning the paintings and keeping Song Shen working.

Hi Okolehao,

I'll put forth my opinion, with the understanding that it's mine alone, and may differ from other TC members. I hope others chime in as well.

The paintings are fantastic and capture all the vintage feel that I want. The price isn't the issue either - they're darn cheap for the quality and craftsmanship. In fact, I've been on the fence about buying one of these for over a week. Here's what's keeping me on the fence:

The four paintings currently offered seem just a little plainer in subject matter than the others I've seen on this thread. The four that Dano bought or had commissioned, for example, have that punch that makes me go, "ooooh" and want to own them. They depict the idealized, fantasy, exotic island girl with the perfect face and smile and body and the poses are appealing as well. The four currently offered are (in my mind) more representative of anthropological postcards of the 1800s, and while they're great, they're not quite what I'm looking for. I see Dano's paintings and the small pic of the Boy Blowing Conch Horn and I'm biding my time, waiting for another of those to come on the market.

The exception is the painting of the girl you posted on your last post. I've been thinking of buying her, but the other problem is that I want a large-format velvet for my tiki bar. A good velvet is a marquee painting and I want it to take up a good portion of the wall. The 16" x 20" is a little to small. I want it to be a focal point of my tiki bar, like an old Leeteg. I know the price would have to be considerably more for a larger painting, but I'd be willing to pay it.

That said, I've really excited about Song's work and am hoping to see much more of it.

Thanks,

Sabu

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2009-12-09 17:51 ]

I love the painting you did based on Adolph Sylvain painting. It is such a mood setter.

Love these velvets. Very true to the Leeteg style. Trust me!!!

Here's a shot of the Song Shen I picked up at the Bamboo Ben Nooner.
Love the painting and the frame that Ben made for the painting.
Actually this velvet is what drove the addition on to my Tiki Room so that it could be featured on its own wall.
Straight flash shot does not due this painting justice.
In the room with a small pin light highlighting the piece the painting appears to glow out of the velvet.

I thought the price with the custom frame was quite good but now with its own room I'm not so sure :D

P.S thanks Ben.

[ Edited by: Murph 2009-07-01 21:43 ]

Posting a link to the auctions here would probably increase the sales.

Link

http://www.auctiva.com/stores/viewstore2.aspx?id=630468&styleid=72

I'm looking for someone who will have a booth at Tiki Oasis and who is interested in displaying some of Song Shen's paintings. It would be on a no risk commission basis. If you're interested please P.M. me.

On 2009-05-05 00:29, Coco Joe wrote:
amazing nipple detail!

Joe, Joe what do you know!

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2009-12-09 17:53 ]

I have a few paintings left that need a good home. I've got the 'Make Offer' setting on on the eBay link below so try your luck for a good deal. More painting will be coming in a couple of months but I'd like to move these out so I can commission just a few more. Mahalo!

http://store.auctiva.com/khayes1995

Hello Okolehao,
I finally wanted to post a picture of my Song Shen in its framed state.
It took a long time, but here it is.

From the glare on the pic you can tell that I had it framed with glass.
And I know that velvets generally are not framed this way, but the reason behind it was the fact that I have too many animals and too much dust to stand much of a chance of keeping the picture clean. The frames offset the glass from the canvas so that the velvet will not be compacted and the glass itself is museum glass which means that with the exception of the flash it does not show a reflection, allowing the user to see the content without background obstruction. I chose a frame which has a very organic feeling, it is ribbed like a coconut, and the inner frame color aproximates the girl's satin skin. The inner frame was also necessary to offset the black background from the dark frame.
I am very happy that I managed to get this picture and I hope that Song Shen will continue to paint many more.
Maggie

Very nice, Maggie.

I purchased the Four Tikis painting a few weeks ago (shown in a post above) and I'm very pleased with it. I have not found a suitable frame for it yet, but I'm looking. I trust Goodwill will yield one for me in the future.

Song Shen paintings are very affordable and worth every penny. I hope to have a commission done very soon - it will be a youthful me as a Polynesian drummer. I'm still searching for images in which a composite image can be made from.

Thanks for sharing.

Song Shen has a wonderful new set of velvets that will be available in a few days- just in time for the holidays! Here are a few photos he’s sent me. The woman with Tikis is a fun break from the classic look. We’re trying some new things to see what the response would be. I’ll be putting up a few more photos in a day or two including a couple of very unique 11’ x 14’s that will be sold as a matched set. Mahalo

Hi Keith -

Beautiful! The second one looks like a composite of a man's head and woman's body...freaky!

Sent you a PM.

Dat boy can paint!

The poor girl. Not all women look like Kodak Hula Show dancers. :)

This is the newest set of Song Shen black velvet paintings. They are available now on eBay at http://store.auctiva.com/khayes1995 They will also be at the Nor-Cal Tikiyaki Show at Trader Vic's this Saturday night.

This is my fantasy lounge creation showing the beauty of these paintings when in their natural habitat. Special thanks to Hula's in Monterey(and Photoshop)for their help.

http://store.auctiva.com/khayes1995

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2010-01-29 22:53 ]

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2010-01-29 22:55 ]

The auctions on the paintings ends tomorrow. After that I'll only be selling them with the 'Buy It Now' feature. The reserve on them is very good so now is the time to get that velvet you've always wanted. :)

I have 3 paintings left that that I just put up on eBay(4/1/10). The are listed for 7 days with a Buy it Now of $125, which now includes framing.

Mahalo
http://store.auctiva.com/khayes1995

Classic Velvets
by Song Shen

[ Edited by: Okolehao 2010-04-01 15:39 ]

She is actually the one that truly looks Hawaiian. The rest look like mixed race girls. A lot of the girls have haole noses. No offense to the artist, they all look great but a grass skirt and a lei doesn't make a girl Hawaiian.

[ Edited by: Trailerpark Tiki 2010-04-01 23:48 ]

Well, the party's probably over for Song Shen velvets. There's been a 'falling out' between us and I don't think I'll be getting anymore paintings anytime soon. Really too bad. It's not on my part.

I have three paintings left that are up on eBay right now. They're very, very well priced orphans that never sold. You could get one of the last paintings by an artist who has paintings up in Forbidden Island, The Conga Room, Hula's - Monterey, and Frankie's Tiki Room.
I'm going to miss doing this project, but all things must end.
Mahalo

http://store.auctiva.com/khayes1995

Sad to hear. I'm glad I was able to get one of his velvets for the Waikiki Womb.
I really like his paint technique it really pops off the black velvet.

Sorry to read this Keith - you really did a fine job introducing his work to a larger American audience. I'm proud to say I own one of his tiki paintings and that it hangs in a prominent spot in my home.

If money wasn't so tight right now I'd buy up the remaining pieces off of you immediately.

Best of luck with finding homes for these. G

Because the eBay holding fees are killing me I've decided to put the last two paintings up for auction instead of Buy It Now. They're waay under valued and probably could be picked up for a song. I'd really love it if they could go to T.C. people. :)
Thanks -

http://store.auctiva.com/khayes1995

I really love the drinking from the Coconut at the top of the page and the nude girl with Koolie hat that was at the Bamboo Bens garage. Good Stuff.

Well . . . . We're back!
But not in the same way, for now.
Song Shen and I had some left over business agreements. Though we couldn't agree on new terms for dealing in velvets, paintings had already been commissioned. A compromise was made to have the same subjects done as oil paintings on canvas. This is how he was trained as an artist and it is what makes him feel most comfortable. I'm very, very pleased with the results. These photos where shot in low lighting and the effect is similar to that of a black velvet painting. Here are a couple of them:

I've put one of the paintings up on eBay. Thanks!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=270699879604#ht_2773wt_1139

Got a new oil painting up on eBay. Really nice cutie that some of you may recognize. Beautiful frame. As noted in the listing I take offers. Thanks -
http://store.auctiva.com/khayes1995

Just put another one up. This was painted from a black and white photo taken from an old Mai Kai calendar.

http://store.auctiva.com/khayes1995

Really classy artwork but the velvets have a mystical quality that the new ones just don't seem to share.

I guess its difficult to tell on a computer monitor...

Oko,

You still Velvateering??

I have someone interested in one.

Lemme know.