how much did this commission cost?
thats beautiful

It was a full-size portrait, so it was quoted as $200. Money well spent, in my opinion.

It's bloody damn gorgeous is what it is

I'm practicing the 108 movement form. After so many years of fast and powerful, I find it difficult to relax, stretch and flow without the need to strike something at the end of the technique :P

The relaxing and flowing definitely takes getting used to! I still am trying to get myself to slow down even more. I'm currently on the 24 step form and will be starting the sword form soon. The longer forms will come later. :)

There are some Tai Chi families that have faster strikes. But of course there's a lot of technique behind it. I like how going slow forces you to pay attention to your body mechanics and form since you can't compensate by powering through it quickly. You have to do it just right otherwise you'll be straining yourself and have a hard time. It's really cool like that!

14 to 17 minutes to complete the 108 moves. I am used to 2 or 3 minutes to complete patterns of up 52 moves.. considerably faster of course.

I find the hardest part when i took Tai Chi (non martial art), was simply getting the dang breathing and focus right, My mind is simply to fast to process it.

Wow that is really amazing! Love the pose, the focus, the expression, and all of the detail!

Dominus tecum

Thanks! That's awesome that you teach it! :) I've been practicing it for over a year now. It definitely is my favorite style that I've trained in thus far (and is my first internal art). We just started sword form, which I'm absolutely loving. :)

Yep! His "level 2" curriculum introduces weapons, and only after we've mastered the Yang 24 form. We've covered the first four of the energies (peng, lu, ji, & un) and are now working on the next two: zie and lieh. We do qigong and wu chi exercises as part of our curriculum every class (and on our own). He also does teach silk reeling. We do that here and there in class. Unfortunately I didn't make it to his separate silk reeling class, but it will be covered in time, anyway. :)

I'm extremely fortunate to have found this class. He knows what he's doing. And in time, once I get better, he even starts introducing some Bagua and Xinyi into the mix. But that's not for a while, yet. :)

Certainly! It's always cool to see others on here who practice this as well. Even one who instructs! :) I plan on sticking with this for the long term. I really can't believe it's already been over a year. It feels much shorter. I'll most certainly be posting more about it in the future, as I progress!