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.

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! :)

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.

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