Singapore Art Show 2009 - Art In The Works

I was involved in a 2-day art workshop/demo event held in conjunction with the Singapore Art Show 2009, called Art In The Works at Raffles City Shopping Centre, in downtown Singapore, on 12 and 13 September

The objective was to promote various forms of art and to engage the public to appreciate and take part in visual art. There were chinese calligraphy, chinese seal carving, oil, acrylic, pencil & charcoal drawing, Indian sand art, glass art, and of course, watercolour (being represented by Singapore Watercolour Society).

On the first day, I did a 2-hour demo of a landscape painting, based on a plein air piece I did recently. Thereafter, my former teacher, mentor and good friend, Mr Loy Chye Chuan painted a close-up of an old staircase.

Here are some pics taken on the first day.

Javier came in the morning to help out with the setting-up

Daddy, where do I place this book?

Yours truly
Almost Done
Mr Loy Chye Chuan at his best!

The completed demo painting by Loy Chye Chuan

Kids having fun at the watercolour workshop

On the second day, I did another demo, painting the scene of Boat Quay along Singapore River, while Mr Seah Kam Chuan did a demo of window shutters of a peranakan styled shophouse. I will post the photos taken on the second day as soon as I get the photos from the photographer.

Plein Air - Lower Peirce Reservoir, Singapore

I went out for a plein air session with my artist friends from Singapore Watercolour Society last Sunday, and I'm glad I did as it's a fabulous day. Clear breezy sunny day always makes me happy, unless it gets too hot and humid.

We decided to paint at Lower Peirce Reservoir, which is one of the oldest reservoirs in Singapore and the surrounding trees around the areas could be more than hundred years old. Singapore is definitely more well-known for its concrete jungle of shopping malls and high-rise buildings. So, it is great that I could do a landscape plein air today.

Here are some pics of the reservoir and the surrounding forest.

An old pavilion at the reservoir

It's a lovely sunday morning

Here's the painting location

Yours truly with today's effort

The final product - Half Sheet of Fabriano Artistico (21" x 14")

Hope you like it. Comments and critiques are welcome as usual.

Painting Trip to Tanjung Pinang, Bintan

I visited Tanjung Pinang, located at the southwestern coast of Bintan Island together with 11 other members of Singapore Watercolour Society from 23rd to 25th July. Here are the day-to-day account of our little adventure. 

Day 1 (Thu 23 July 2009) - Singapore to Tanjung Pinang, Bintan 

Meet-up at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal at 10:30am for the ferry ride to our destination. Everyone arrived on time and soon we were issued with tickets and boarding passes, and thanks to the wonderful service by the ferry company, our Indonesian Immigration white cards were duly printed nicely. Safe us from the hassle of writing on a tiny card on the bumpy ferry ride later. We had a simple meal at the terminal cafe while waiting for the scheduled ride...

SWS members waiting for check-in time at the ferry terminal

(Note: The couple on the most right-hand side and the lady with her back facing camera, 2nd from left, are not with our group)

The two-hour ferry ride was uneventful. It was smoother than I had expected thanks to the perfect weather that day... 

Indonesian time is 1 hour behind Singapore's and to prevent us from confusing each other, we decided to keep following Singapore time. 

Upon reaching the ferry terminal at Tanjung Pinang, our hotel shuttle bus was nowhere to be seen. But as in most places, they are plenty of drivers touting their transport services. So, we hired two drivers with MPVs, large enough to fit in all of us (plus our extra baggages, artists tend to travel with more - boards, papers, brushes, paints, you name it, we got it ) and we were whisked away to our hotel called Hotel Laut Jaya, a mere 10 minutes ride away. Knowing before hand that it only cost us S$25 per night, I wasn't expecting any 5-star luxury. It was budget hotel standard in every sense. It's basic with a small reception counter and a tiny lounge, and it looked pretty old. After doing all the required registration and checking-in, I got a room at the third level, sharing it with a fellow artist. 

What do artists do when they got into their hotel room? Check out the view from the windows, of course! This is what we saw...

The room was OK...  but nothing fantastic. Let's just say that I've stayed in other budget hotel rooms that were in better condition than what we have here. After putting down our bags and freshening up, I quickly took out my sketch book and did a quick drawing of the fishing boats, done within 5 mins from the hotel window.

Soon, it's time to meet up at the lounge below to walk the street of Tanjung Pinang and probably do a sketch or two....

Below are some of the shots taken along the narrow streets of Tanjong Pinang. This place is definitely not on the usual tourist map. As far as I can see, we were the only non-locals for next 3 days...

Soon, we reached a seaside village littered with many houses built on stilts along the coast. The villagers were friendly but apparently curious why a bunch of city dwellers were so interested in their humble home and kept snapping pictures. Some of us also started sketching the scenes that caught our attention. 

Believe me, painterly subject matters were all over the place. On my left, is a beautiful zinc roofed hut with wooden walls. On my right, village kids were playing with each other, and when I look ahead, there were old fishing boats and the sea. Who cares about lousy hotel room when it's the nearest accommodation to this wonderful place!

Here are some of the quick sketches I did on the spot... Not the best of artworks I must say, but it helps with the composition and design when planning for a larger painting later.

I took more than 100 shots in and around this little fishing village for the two hours we spent there! By the time we return to our hotel, it was already past 6:00pm and we were greeted with beautiful golden sunset!

The benefit of using a modified camera tripod as my plein air easel is that I can still use it for photography purpose to shoot night scene with long exposure like above, killing two birds with one stone as the saying goes.

After dinner at the nearby cafe, we retired to our room and called it a day....That's the end of Day 1.

Day 2 - (Fri 24 July 2009) - Tanjung Pinang to Kawal Fishing Village, to Hilltop, back to Tanjung Pinang

Woke up early at 6:00am. Although it was still very dark, I could see there were plenty of dark clouds looming on the horizon.... Our scheduled painting trip to a fishing village is in danger of being cancelled if it rains! 3 more hours to spare, I quickly got out and had a nice morning walk with a few others along the narrow streets where the sidewalks had been converted to a temporary market. What an efficient use of limited space!

Soon, the heaven opened up and we had to run for cover! Just in time for our breakfast, so we ran to a nearby coffee shop and had a cuppa and roti prata with egg.

After half an hour or so, the heavy rain subsided to little drizzle and we rushed back to our hotel and got ourselves ready for our 9:00am transportation to Kawal Fishing Village... We waited at the lounge area but they didn't turn up!! Asked the hotel reception who booked the transportation on our behalf and he said they are coming in 10 minutes.... 20 minutes had gone and no vehicle was in sight. Fed up and angry, we told him to forget it, and our group leader went out to the street to look for another driver, and managed to find one driver with a minivan. So off we went, 12 grown men packed like sardines in a minivan meant for max. 8 passengers!

This was by far the funniest occasion of the trip as we chatted and joked all the way to our destination and back!

After 40 minutes with cramped butts and limbs, we arrived at the fishing village. But due to the heavy downpour earlier, the whole place was wet and the sky was still very cloudy and gloomy, and it was still drizzling on and off....Oh well, despite the not-so-desirable weather, there were plenty of subjects for painting so I went about scouting for good painting subject with decent shelter so that I won't get caught if it rained again... and found this.

Here's my plein air work - Half Sheet of Fabriano Artistico 14" x 21"
90% done on location, 10% touch up and highlight with white gouache back in hotel. 

Not my best work, but I'm happy I painted something given the poor weather condition and the effort taken to reach this place... I completed the above plein air in about three hours. Packed up and ordered a plate of instant fried noodles at a small canteen just nearby which became our meeting point for the day. Other artists were still busy painting while some others had done theirs and had gone to other areas of the village to do sketches and taking photographs. 

Still 2 hours to spare, so I walked around the areas and took some photos.
Here are some of them...

While waiting for the mini-van to pick us up to return to our hotel, some of us did quick sketches of the grocery store opposite the canteen where we had gathered. Here's my effort...

On the way back to our hotel, we detoured to a hilltop to have a bird's eye view of the whole town. Our initial plan was to do some sketches or even another watercolour painting if time permits but some folks were feeling tired. So we decided just to take photos and go back to hotel.

Here's the view from the hilltop...

... and we decided to pose for a group photo with our efforts of the day.

We reached the hotel after another 30 minutes of butts and limps cramping ride. Everyone has one hour to rest and freshen up before we meet again for dinner.... 

Well, since I didn't feel too tired... and it was still bright outside although almost nearing sunset time, I did a pencil drawing of the scene outside my hotel room window before having a shower and meeting the rest of the group downstairs....

This is drawn on half sheet of Fabriano Artistico. I'll probably paint it soon....

Day 3 (Sat 25 July 2009) - Tanjung Pinang back to Singapore

Our return ferry back to Singapore is scheduled at 2:30pm, so we still have half a day here. It's free and easy today, no pre-arranged activity, so to make use of the remaining time here, a few of us decided to wake up early at 6:00am and go back to the fishing village we visited on Day 1, to do a plein air painting.

By 6:30am, I was all set and when I stepped out of the hotel, this breathtaking scene greeted us... 

We ended up spending the next few minutes admiring this awesome sunrise. 
After getting our stomach filled with breads, local noodles and cups of coffee, we splitted and headed out on our own to find new inspirations to paint.

Along the way, I took some more photos of the seaside village...

Apart from the satellite dishes protruding on some of the rooftops and the motorbikes, who would have thought that these are pictures taken in the 21st century? It could have been 1950s or even earlier!

I walked around the village looking for a good spot and it didn't take long before I spotted this scene...

Just as I unpacked my bag and started drawing, a small crowd had gathered to watch what I was doing. A fellow artist who was taking photos nearby saw this and quickly took a snap.... 

Thumbs-up from a local

It took me about 3 hours from start to finish...
Here's the second plein air painting of the trip.

Half-sheet of Fabriano Artistico 14" x 21"

I finished the painting slightly before noon, just enough time to grab a quick lunch, head back to our hotel for a shower and checked out.

Our transport arrived on time (finally, they got something right) and drove us all to the ferry terminal for our scheduled ferry ride at 2:30pm back to Singapore. We arrived around 5:00pm and that concluded our fantastic and enjoyable trip to this little island. 

WIP - Balinese Ceremony

I have noticed that usually there were many street scenes, landscapes and florals in most of the art exhibitions that I have taken part in, while portraits and figure paintings were less frequently represented, so for the upcoming SWS Annual Exhibition this November, I've decided to paint a figure painting, not one, not two, not ten... but at least 30? I've lost count.

This is a religious ceremony in Bali called "Odalan" where devotees were kneeling down to offer prayers to celebrate the anniversary of the temple. This is going to be the most challenging painting I have ever attempted not because I've ventured outside my comfort zone (street scenes and landscape) as I've done portrait and figures before, but because there are sooo many of them!

I just hope I have the patience to deal with all of them...

OK, here's the very detailed drawing which I spent almost 3 hours to complete...

Full sheet of Fabriano Artistico Rough Watercolour Paper 300gsm, stretched and stapled to a 20" x 29" strectching frame.

In landscape painting, I'll often start from the sky and work downwards, but for this painting, I decided to focus on the main subjects, ie. the devotees in the foreground. The Balinese are usually tanned, so their skin tones are painted with mixture of burnt sienna, transluscent orange, burnt umber and a touch of cerulean blue. An assortment of colours which include permanent rose, cerulean blue, ultramarine violet, yellow orche, etc. are used for their clothings. 

Here's a close-up shot of the figures...

After that, I added more details to the figures, and gave each of them some hairs on their heads... Ha! Ha!

Next, I painted the various buildings and structures around the scene. This is where I'm back to my comfort zone so I did it pretty quickly. If you're wondering what are those things in yellow, there are yellow-coloured cloths which were draped around the temple to celebrate the event. 

Then, I painted the sky and trees in the background, which were done quickly and loosely.

Next, I painted the ground with mixture of burnt sienna + cerulean blue + whatever dirty colours left inside my water con


Finally, I finished it off by painting the details, touched up some of the figures and adjusted some of the minor mistakes I found... did you notice that earlier on, there was a brown coloured stain on the middle of the paper? Instead of removing it, I added a pair of sandals to cover it... then, I added the shadows and highlights with a touch of white gouache.

Here's the finished painting.

I hope you'd enjoy my step-by-step work-in-progress...  

Kampong Lorong Buangkok, Singapore

Here's a latest work I did last week, depicting the last kampong (means "village" in Malay) in Singapore. I fell in love with the rural and laid back lifestyle there when I first visited the place many years ago. I went back again in March this year and took several reference photos.... and I finally got down to paint it recently.

It's a studio work done over approximately five hours. Compared to my plein air works, I have more time to work on the details especially the plants and flowers in the garden, ie. the focal point of the painting. Usually, I would add a few figures in my landscapes and street scenes works to create more interest. But for this painting, I wanted to show the quiet and peaceful environment of this little village, so I left them out. The colourful flowers and various plants around the area are obvious suggestions that the place is still occupied by people who prefer to lead a simple life here.

Here's the painting. Half sheet of Fabriano Artistico (approx. 14" x 21")
I use Winsor & Newton, Rembrandt, Schmincke, Holbein and M.Graham Artist Grade watercolour paints.



... and here are some close-up shots of the painting





Hope you like it. Comments and critiques are welcome as usual.

Plein Air ~ Fishing Boats, Sarawak River

I'm now back in my hometown Kuching, Sarawak for a one-week break, and I brought along my plein air gear with me as usual. 

It was a cloudy morning today and I decided to try my luck and hope that the sky will clear up later on. I went to the Kuching Waterfront and immediately, I spotted this beautiful scene with two fishing boats anchored at the jetty with the majestic Mount Serapi at the backdrop partially covered with morning mist. I thought it would make an interesting painting subject. So, I wasted no time to unpack my stuff and got down to work.

It took me about three hours to complete the painting and at the same time, not forgetting to chit-chat with some passer-by including a couple of French tourists who asked for direction to the nearest photo lab - well, at least now I know that film isn't dead, yet.

This is me putting in the last touches.


Here's the final painting (Half-sheet of Fabriano Artistico Rough 14" x 21", painted with W&N, Rembrandt, Schmincke, Holbein).

Posing with the final painting...

Critiques and comments are welcome as usual.

Old Singapore River Scene

I received an inquiry recently to do a commissioned painting of old Singapore scene as a corporate gift for their clients. Although it's been three weeks and they have not come back with a definite answer, I did the unthinkable and proceed to paint a scene of Singapore River during the early 1980s. Well, I thought I have nothing to lose anyway. I've been wanting to paint such subject for some time but keep delaying it... so if the deal is on, I'll sell them the painting, if it's not, it will be part of my growing collection, perhaps for an exhibition in the future. :)

Here's the painting.
Painted on Fabriano Artistico Rough (quarter sheet 10" x 15"), with Rembrandt, Winsor & Newton and Schmincke Artist paints.

Hope you like it. Comments and critiques are welcome as usual.

Movie Slideshow of my paintings

I got myself a birthday gift recently - a new Macbook and has been playing with it and compiled a movie slideshow on some of my better paintings using the very user-friendly iMovie.

Here it is!

Hope you enjoyed it! :)

Anna Rais Longhouse, Sarawak

Hello!

As some of you have already read in my last post, I am teaching a watercolour class on Saturday afternoon. My son Javier is now at an age where he's always inquisitive and curious about everything, so it is quite impossible for me to paint at home without him insisting to squeeze out all my paint tubes or helping me with a wash or two.

So, the only time when I can sit down and paint something is during my class. I go there earlier to paint and sometimes in between class when the students are doing their own works. I can only paint a small section at a time and therefore this took me more than a month (6 Saturdays I think) to complete.

This is Anna Rais Longhouse located at the hill slope region outside of Kuching City, my hometown. It is about 2 hours drive from Kuching. This longhouse belongs to the Bidayuh tribe who are mainly farmers. They plant crops such as corn, rice, pepper and other vegetables. Longhouse as the same suggests, is a row of dwelling structure with many rooms to cater for the whole community where each family occupy one room and everyone would gather at the common area for their daily activities. The longhouse is made of wood and bamboo with a zinc roof, built near to a hill surrounded by beautiful tropical rainforest, away from the hustle and bustle of city life.

In this painting, the women folks are drying their rice crop in an open area under a hot afternoon sun as indicated by the strongly lit huts on the left hand side as contrast to the shaded areas on the right.I guess some purists would cringe at the sight of white gouache in a transaprent watercolour painting but I thought the result of using it sparringly for highlights and textures outweights following a rather ambiguous rule to the T.

Anyway, here's the painting. Full sheet of Fabriano Artistico stapled to a stretching fream (20" x 28"), painted in Rembrandt, Schmincke, Winsor & Newton Artist Watercolours.





and here are some close-up shots of the details:




This can be an abstract painting! ;)

Hope you like it... Comments and critiques are welcome as usual.

Anderson Bridge & Fullerton Hotel, Singapore

First of all, Happy Chinese New Year "恭喜发财，万事如意" to all my friends, collectors, fans and art lovers,

Here's my first painting for the year 2009. Actually, I started it in mid-December 2008 at my art class before the students arrive, but only completed it last week. YES! I am teaching watercolour painting now, every Saturday afternoon at the studio of Singapore Watercolour Society at Telok Kurau Studios. I currently teach four students, a new student will join in February, and that makes it five in total.

It's been a good start to the new year for me. I sold one of my plein air paintings at the Telok Kurau Studios annual exhibition just two weeks ago and am really enjoying teaching. Apart from that, it is busy busy busy attending to the two kids, especially Javier who is always actively and curiously looking for new things to do. This means I hardly have time to paint at home. So, I tried to go to my art class earlier to paint something before the students come in.

Here's the painting... Half sheet of Fabriano Artistico (approx 14" x 21"), painted in Rembrandt, Schmincke, Winsor & Newton Artist Watercolours.

Comments and critiques are welcome as usual. Have fun during this Chinese New Year! :)

Botanic Gardens Photoshoot

Happy New Year!

I went to Singapore Botanic Gardens for a New Year's eve photoshoot yesterday.
I haven't been putting my Pentax dslr to use as much as I'd like to, and when I do, it's mostly shooting my kids and paintings.

So, since I'm only required to work half-day on Dec 31st, I thought I'd visit the Botanic Gardens to shoot some nice landscapes and flowers there... who knows, I might get some good reference photos for my painting class too.

All pics taken with either the kit lens 18-55mm or FA50mm F1.4

Merry Christmas everyone!

To all my friends, fans, collectors, students & readers, have a Merry Christmas & wonderful new year. May 2009 brings you joy, good health and happiness.... always!

Here's a watercolour painting I did several years ago of Carolers singing outside a shopping mall in Portland, Oregon.

Joy to the World (14" x 21")

Enjoy the holidays! See you in 2009!

Telok Kurau Studios Annual Exhibition 2008

For the second continuous year, I will be representing Singapore Watercolour Society to participate in Telok Kurau Studios Annual Exhibition 2008 - Mountains as non-mountains.
(Don't ask me how they got the title for this exhibition or what does it mean, I have no idea as well :P)


Opening is on this Saturday 10:30am at TKS Gallery, Telok Kurau Studios. Please refer to the invitation cards below for more details:



This is the painting I'm exhibiting, a plein air work done earlier this year - House on Emerald Hill

Singapore Riverbank

Here's another painting of Singapore River, done about a week ago. Very similar to the plein air I did last year, but I decided to have a wider panaromic view of the riverbank.

As this is done at home where I had more time to plan and paint it, the "spaceship" lookalike building (the new Supreme Court to be exact) turned out much nicer and not as dominant as my earlier effort.

Here's the painting.

Half sheet of Fabriano Artistico Rough (approx 14" x 21"), painted using Artist grade watercolour paints, ie. W&N, Rembrandt, Holbein and Schmincke.

Thanks for looking. Comments and critiques are welcome and much appreciated.

I'm Going to Teach!

I've been asked many times if I teach watercolour painting. Usually, I'll just refer them to my former teacher or other artist friends who do. But now, I think I'm at a level where I'm more confident with my painting skills and am able to impart my knowledge in this fun and magical medium to anyone who's eager to learn. So, I'm planning to start my own watercolour painting class soon. The first class will most probably be in mid-December. For more details, please click HERE.

Anyone interested to learn from me?

Singapore Cityscape

I am currently involved in a project at work which follows a very tight schedule where we're required to work over weekends, which means at least no time for painting for more than 2 weeks. So, I decided to paint something before I'm too busy looking at profit centers, accounts, trading partners and numbers.

This is the main Central Business District of downtown Singapore. According to the owner of a local gallery, such paintings are sought after by tourists, businessmen, etc. and so... here it is my interpretation.

I'll probably paint a few popular touristy areas of Singapore and hopefully, sell them in the gallery on consignment basis.

Half sheet of Fabriano Artistico Rough (approx 14" x 21"), painted using Artist grade watercolour paints, ie. W&N, Rembrandt, Holbein, Schmincke and M.Graham.

Comments and critiques are welcome as usual.

Glorious 39 - A pictorial

Just wanna share with you some of the photos taken during Singapore Watercolour Society's 39th Annual Exhibition 2008 - Glorious 39 held two weeks ago from 26 to 29 September 2008.We had quite a good turnout, good crowd on the opening and over the weekend, the standard of watercolour works are getting better and better each year, and we also organized the 2nd Singapore National Junior Watercolour Competition for children aged between 10 and 18.


On 27 Sep, my former teacher and mentor Mr Loy Chye Chuan did a 1.5 hours watercolour demonstration showing the audience how to paint a sliced watermelon, a bananna, a tree, a crack on a concrete floor and ended the demo with a quick seaside scene painting.


The following day on 28 Sep, while the whole Singapore is witnessing the first Formula 1 night race, we're busy with another demo where Mr Seah Kam Chuan, did a 1.5 hours watercolour demonstration. He painted a rural riverside scene, showing how to retain the white of paper using masking fluid and creating texture using salt.

Here are some of the pics...

The exhibition venue at Ngee Ann Cultural Centre, Teochew Building

The crowds on the opening day

Guilding the VIPs while they view the artworks on display

Explaining my artwork to the Guest-of-honour, Dr Cheryl Baumann

Dr Baumann with the winners of the Junior Watercolour Competition

Paintings by winners and finalists of the Junior Watercolour Competition

Mr Loy Chye Chuan's demo

We used a video camera to shoot and show what he's doing onto a projection screen

Mr Loy answering queries from enthusiastic watercolour fans

Results from the 1.5 hours demo

Mr Seah Kam Chuan's demo

Using hair dryer to speed things up...

Notice how he used salt technique for the background trees and masking fluid to leave out the white paper for the poles, leaves, boat etc.

The finished demo painting in 1.5 hours...

This is the only photo I have taken with my painting as I was too busy attending to the guests on the opening day, and the next two days I was the assigned photographer for the 2 demos.... therefore only managed to snapped this one.

Pandan Shipyard & me

My other painting in the exhibition - Imperial Palace, Tokyo - the one on the right is Mr Loy's painting.

Thanks for looking.... hope you like the photos....

Another Painting on Imperial Palace, Tokyo

This is a long overdue post. I wasn't very satisfied with the first Imperial Palace painting so I actually painted another one about three weeks ago, a different building opposite the one below. This one showed the surrounding lake and a beautiful stonewall bridge, so I thought a portrait format would be better.



Based on a few photos I took last year while visiting Japan, I added the swans which were hiding behind the bridge while I took the photos.Here are 2 of my reference pics.






I spent quite a bit of time trying get the water reflections right, but I think I might have overworked it. Although satisfied with it, I felt that there are still much room for improvement. Anyway, I completed it just in time to be displayed in the Singapore Watercolour Society 39th Annual Exhibition, which I'll blog about after this entry.


Here's the finished painting. Painted on full sheet of Fabriano Artistico stapled onto a 20" x 29" stretching frame, using Artist grade watercolour paints which include W&N, Rembrandt, Schmincke, Holbein, and M.Graham.




Thanks for looking. Critiques and comments are most welcome.

Demo - Imperial Palace, Tokyo

Here's a demo I did recently.

This is the Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan (aka Kokyo), the residence of the Emperor of Japan, based on a photo I took while I was in Tokyo for a work-related business trip a year ago.

Full sheet of Fabriano Artistico Rough 300gsm stapled on stretching frame.

Let's start with the drawing...

First, a glaze of wash is done wet-on-wet on the background foliage with mixture of yellow ochre, sap green and turquoise blue. Next, the first wash of the rocks is painted ,also wet-on-wet with mixture of yellow ochre, burnt sienna, permanent rose, cerulean blue and turquoise blue. I also painted the gate with turquoise blue, prussian blue and yellow ochre. These will serve as the colour foundation of the overall painting.


Next, I moved on to the main building. The Imperial Palace is majestically built on top of a hill supported by the rocks and heavily guarded. The curved roof is especially fun to paint with minimal brush strokes to suggest the details. Then I painted the windows, roof tiles, beams, etc.

I also painted the shaded areas of the building and started to define the rocks with shades and cracks (this will be very tedious later on but fun to do nonetheless!) . I guess you can tell now that Yellow ochre and Turquoise blue are the colour theme of this painting.

Also, notice that I didn't use masking fluid to cover the lamp post and the guard houses. Instead, I chose to paint around these structures as I hate the very hard edges created by masking fluid. I only use it when really necessary.



I painted the rocks slowly and merticulously, very tedious task but someone still has to do it ... I didn't follow the forms and shapes of the rock exactly as in my ref photo (that would be insane), but a close interpretation would do, as long as they look like rocks.Also added more texture and layers to the background foliage but I kept it very light as I want to keep that area of the painting bright to contrast it with the rest of the painting.


Finally, I added more details and shades on the rock wall, painted the guard and lastly added more detailed branches and leaves on the background foliage.... happy that I've painted something for almost 2 months, but not really excited about it... may be because painting all those rocks in detail turned this into a tiring labour rather than a work of art? I don't know...

Anyway, here's the finished painting.


Here are some close-up shots:

Hope you like it... comments and critiques are welcome as usual.

Rainforest World Music Festival 2008

As a participating artist at the Folk Art Forum, I was invited to the launch of Rainforest World Music Festival 2008 at Sarawak Tourism Complex (The Old Court House) on the evening of 10th July. After the launching ceremony, we were treated to a buffet dinner and to add more flavour to the party, Fadomorse from Portugal performed for all the guests.



Too bad it rained very heavily at the start of the concert and I missed the performance of the first 3 bands, I think. Due to the downpour, the field in front of the main stage became very very soggy and muddy. However, this makes it even more exciting I guess for those who were eager to party regardless of the state of the ground they're dancing on. People started to throw mud at each other and they ended up having a mud bath!! haa!

Silly mud fights aside, the music was fantastic! I trully enjoyed them all although I don't know any of the bands. Sadly, I didn't go to the second and final nites but I heard the Japanese drummer was awesome... too bad, may be I'll go to next year's again :)

More photos in my facebook album

Folk Art Forum 2008

I was invited to take part in this inaugural art forum cum exhibition, held from July 10th to 13th 2008, in conjunction with the Rainforest World Music Festival.

At first, I find it a bit weird when I was introduced in the local press as a representative from Singapore when I am a Sarawakian but now residing in Singapore, probably an identity crisis of some sort eh? Anyway, I had a good time there, getting to know new friends and enjoying the art works and music on offer....

Although I think more works need to be done in terms of publicity and promoting this event, it is a good idea to incorporate an art exhibition at this popular music festival, so kudos to the Sarawak Tourism Board and Galleria, the organizer of Folk Art Forum.

Here are some photos taken during the event.

Then, we had the priviledge to listen to Tuyang Tan Ngam, the first Chinese sape player LIVE at the exhibition venue... he agreed on the spot to play for us despite not feeling well that day. Tuyang, thank you if you're reading this!


He switched effortlessly from traditional music to more upbeat raggae and rock style using his self-made sape, a traditional guitar-like instrument used by the Orang Ulu in Sarawak.

Obviously, I had a grand time! :)

More photos in my facebook album

Demo ~ Shopping at Gambier Street, Kuching

It's been ages since I did a proper demo. So I guess I should do one again.
As I mentioned in my previous post, I was invited to an exhibition this coming July in my hometown in Sarawak, Malaysia where the theme is "Our People, Our Culture". I did one portrait of a local native man recently, and was quite satisfied with it. Now, I'm going to paint a street scene. I wanted to show the community in its daily activities, so what's better than to paint shoppers in a busy market.

This is a scene based on a photo I took several years ago of a strecth of shophouses selling spices and groceries. I've painted the exact location at a slightly different angle about five years ago. I believe my painting skill and style have improved and changed since then. So, hopefully this one will be a lot better, crossing fingers and toes.

Here's the drawing, on full-sheet of Fabriano Artistico stretched on 20" x 28" stretching frame.

Then, I painted the first glaze of colours wet on wet, but pretty controlled using a no.8 round brush, which I reckon is a decent size to use for such detailed painting as it holds sufficient water and yet small enough to control where I want the wash to go to.

Before the wash is completely dried, I lift out some paints to get the highlights on the clothes and rice sacks.

This is a messy chaotic market so I need a lot of patience to paint all the different objects and yet not to turn the whole thing into mud.

Next, I built up the forms and structures of the various objects in this complicated scene. I made use of negative spaces, lines and glazes of darker colours to define shapes of the carton boxes, rice sacks etc. while at the same time I darkened the background. Also, the main figure is slowly built up with glazes and strokes to indicate shadows and creases on her cloths.

After that, I threw a variety of colours to the upper shelves to create more interest which would have to be darken in my next instalment in order to contrast the main figure against the shopfront. I also painted the canvases on top of the shop. I used mainly wet-on-wet technique on the blue canvas and while the paint was still fairly damp, I lift off some paint with a clean brush to create the soft highlight effect. In contrast, I used the dry brush technique on the green canvas just below to vary the textures and feel. However, I'm not sure if this is a good decision as both canvases are so near to one another and yet they are rendered so differently.

More details were painted, adding more darks as appropriate to the sacks, boxes, merchandise hung from the top shelves, then I darkened the background. At times, I have to paint carefully around the various objects as I hate using masking fluid which will always leave a trail of harsh lines so I try to avoid it.

Finally, I made some corrections to the left side of the blue/orange canvas, painted the ropes using white gouache, gave the background another cerulean blue + burnt sienna wash to darken it so as to create more contrast against the main subjects and lastly, finished it off with some darks here and there as I deemed fit.

..and last but not least, here are some close-up shots of the painting...

Glad it's done now... hope you like it. Comments and critiques are welcome as usual.

*EDIT: Change of title to "Shopping at Gambier Street, Kuching"

Iban Man

It has been a while since I'd painted a portrait (It must be more than 2 or 3 years ago?!!) I'm definitely more comfortable in street scenes, landscapes, boats, etc. I guess it's a personal preference, I find portrait difficult especially when I often can't get the likeness of a person.Having said that, a local gallery in my hometown (Kuching, Sarawak in Malaysia) got my business card from my mom and they e-mailed to invite me to take part in an exhibition. The exhibition is to be held in conjuction with the renowned Sarawak World Rainforest Music Festival this coming July and the theme of the exhibition is "Our People, Our Culture". So, I guess I have to paint a portrait or at least something to do with the people of Sarawak.So, I painted this... This old man is from the Iban ethnic group. The largest tribe in Sarawak. You can read all about them and their lifestyles here. Many of them are now living in modern facilities and lead better lives than thier ancestors who were once the infamous Borneo headhunters and pirates.


Full sheet of Fabriano Artistico, painted with W&N, Rembrandt, Schmincke, M.Graham, Holbein Artist Watercolour paints.Hope you like it. Comments and critiques welcome as usual. I will probably paint a few more paintings and choose a couple of better ones... stay tuned... :)

Outdoor Painting - Kinta Road, Singapore

I was out about painting en plein air again last Sunday with a group of artist friends. This is an old shophouse along Kinta Road, near Little India. Many people crowded around us to watch us paint. Some looked on quietly, some made a few comments amongst themselves in their own language, probably in Tamil which I do not understand... they could criticize, said it's a horrible, or bad mouth me all they want and I won't understand a word! haa!

After watching us for a while, an Indian woman came up to me and asked "Are you guys having a competition?" I was dumbfounded, unsure how to react to her question, so I just smiled and said "No, we're just painting for fun". Then came her next question "Are you an architect?" "no, no... we're just here to paint. It's our hobby".

She nodded and left us... this is just one of the many questions and funny incidents I've encountered over the years when painting en plein air... fun, isn't it?

Well, here's the painting...

Here are some close-up shots of the details...

Hope you like it. Comments and critiques are welcome!

Jalan Besar, Singapore

I painted this a few days ago at home. This stretch of road is called Jalan Besar, literally translated as Huge Road in Malay, probably because it was the widest road before Singapore's independence from British rule.

Here' s the painting, a quarter-sheet, painted in 2.5 hours.

Jalan Besar, Singapore (11" x 15")
If you would like to own this painting, click HERE

and here are some of the close-up shots of the painting

Hope you like it. Comments and critiques are welcome as usual.

Singapore Chinese Cultural Festival Grand Art Exhibition 2008

I was invited to participate in this group exhibition in conjunction with Singapore's Chinese Cultural Festival 2008. There are many different types of artworks in the show, ranging from traditional chinese brush, calligraphy to 'western' arts like watercolour, oil, sculpture, etc. There were even bonsai plants amongst the display. The exhibition was opened on 29 Feb 2008 and ended on 5 March 2008

Here are some photos taken on the opening day.

... and my boy decided to pay a visit over the weekend.

There was a huge drum outside the exhibition hall, and he definitely had a great fun hitting it.... I think he wants to be the new Kitaro.


Hope you enjoy the photos... :)

Trying my luck on eBay again!

Well, it's been more than 6 months since I sold my paintings on eBay. So, I guess it's about time I do it again. I painted this beach scene based on my recent trip to Bintan island. It's a quarter sheet painting, just the right size for easy packaging and sending by mail to buyers from anywhere in the world.

Bintan Lagoon Beach (11" x 15")

If you would like to own this painting, click HERE

Port Arthur Ruins - Tasmania, Australia (10" x 14")

If you would like to own this painting, click HERE

Yes, if you think this one looked familiar, it's because I've listed it before but since there was no taker, I'll list it again. Hopefully, my eBay sales will pick up again... it was quite encouraging the last time I ventured into eBay but went into hiatus probably due to work, family commitments and mainly because I have not been painting quarter sheets, therefore having no inventory for eBay sales. I figured there are still a demand for affordable small size original paintings judging from the e-mail inquiry I received from time to time. So, I'll try to at least paint one or two quarter sheet a week. Wish me luck!

Bintan Lagoon Resort - a Pictorial

I went to Bintan Lagoon Resort with the missus over the weekend to have a quick getaway from the busy work life we had in Singapore. It's only a short 2D1N stay but we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Here's some pics taken with my Pentax K10D dslr camrea...

Quite different from my usual watercolour posts... but nonetheless I tried to incorporate some knowledge of arts in terms of composition and colours into my photography as both painting and photography definitely compliments one another especially in these two aspects.

Enjoy!

Outdoor Painting - Pandan Shipyard, Singapore

Ever since I moved to Singapore in 1998, I have always lived in the Eastern part of the island and worked in offices located in the island's Central Business District and East for the past 10 years. My weekend plein air locations are usually around the city area and well-known landmarks like Chinatown, Little India, Singapore River etc. Hence, the Western part of Singapore is almost like a foreign country to me.

So, I was really glad to find out that my fellow artist friends have planned to paint a shipyard located at the very end of the West coast of Singapore.

Here I was last Sunday at Pandan Shipyard... it was like a breath of fresh air, definitely something different from the usual street scenes and shophouses that I've painted numerous times.Here's a picture of the location, we had to walk under a bridge to get to this spot.



It was a cloudy day and the surrouding under the bridge was quite dark and we had problems seeing our paintings clearly and it was definitely difficult to determine and judge the right colours and tonal values. A few artists decided it was too taxing on the eyes so they did some sketches but I presevered.

Here's the painting...I spent about 3 hours painting it on location and probably another half an hour doing final touch-up at home. Half sheet of Fabriano Artistico (14" x 21") painted using Rembradnt, Holbein, Schmincke and M. Graham professional watercolour paints.



I decided to change the colour of one of the boats from blue to red so as to have more varieties and make it more interesting but after I'm done, it seemed too dominant now. I could probably still tone it down a bit but might ruin the transparency I currently have.... I'll probably come back to it a few days later to see if it really needs a fix. What do you think?

... and here are some close-up shots of the painting.



Hope you like it. Comments and critiques are welcome as usual.

Outdoor painting - House on Emerald Hill

Last Sunday, I was back at Emerald Hill, a classy residential area just a stone throw away from Singapore's famous busy shopping district, Orchard Road. The houses here are all built during the pre second world war era with a mixture of European and Asian architecture.

I arrived around 9:30am and the sun is already out. I was here just a few weeks ago but this time I chose another house.

Here's the location pic

I spent around 3 hours to finish this.Half sheet of Fabriano Artistico (14" x 21") painted using Rembradnt, Holbein, Schmincke and M. Graham professional watercolour paints.

Hope you like it. Comments and critiques are welcome as usual.

Outdoor painting - Maude Road, Singapore

I have always started and finished an outdoor painting on the same day, in one sitting, and perhaps touch it up a little bit when I get home. But I have seen some of my artist friends patiently plan, compose and paint their outdoor pieces in two sittings or even three. They would pick a spot, ponder and plan the composition, draw the outline and then start painting. Half way through the painting, it's almost lunch time, so we all pack up and leave. They would then come back to the same spot, same time on another day and complete the painting.

So, that's exactly what I did for this piece. I realized sometimes I am too quick to rush and finish off a painting. So, for this painting, I decided to paint slower and have time to plan and think about my colour, composition and was able to paint more details than my usual outdoorworks..... and I think the result speaks for itself... I just love the rich colours and strong sunlight in this piece.

Here's the location where I'm seated. This is Maude Road, off Jalan Besar in Singapore.

The finished painting.... done over two Sundays... half sheet of Fabriano Artistico (14" x 21") using Rembradnt, Holbein, Schmincke and M. Graham professional watercolour paints.



... and here are some close-up detail shots





Hope you like it. Critiques and comments are welcome as usual.

Fishing Boats - Penang

How did you spend your Christmas? I hope you all had a grand time! Well, I went back to my hometown and spent quality time with my family. I guess that's what Christmas is really all about... being with your loved ones and having a meal or two together :clap: :thumbsup: ..... although most festive holidays are now being exploited for commercialism and profit-making and lost their true meaning :(

Anyway, I was bored one afternoon when Javier is having his afternoon nap, so I took out my painting gears and painted this scene in Penang, Malaysia based on a photo I took last year.

I spent about 2 hours on this piece. Painted on Fabriano Artistico using Rembrandt, Schmincke, M.Graham and Holbein Artist Grade watercolour paints.

Hope you like it. Critiques and comments are welcome as usual.

Wishing you a HAPPY & PROSPEROUS new year 2008!