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.

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.

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... :)

Old Gems

I was looking through a stack of my old paintings to pick out a few better ones to show a
potential customer last week when I spotted two quarter sheets that I have painted a couple of years ago. I thought they were just ordinary, nothing outstanding when I finished painting them, so I just kept them with my other paintings then. But when I saw them again last week after two long years, they seemed to offer a different aesthetic values than I remembered last time.

Now, I can appreciate the foggy effect on the background of Misty River and the lost and found edges on the boats and distant houses; I also liked the economy of strokes in Sarawak Longhouse and the bold spontaneous brushstrokes that suggested the trees and foliages.

Misty River (10" x 14")
SOLD

Sarawak Longhouse (10" x 14")
SOLD

I guess it is same with life sometimes. We do not seem to put much importance on what we already have; we hardly have time to ponder and cherish what we have in front of us. When we looked back, we tend to remember the good old days when we were still kids, or when we were still in school, or when we were still enjoying life as care-free college students or young adults. Perhaps things aren't the same anymore, but do cherish what we have at this very moment as things do not stand still.... time waits no one so be grateful and enjoy the good times and learn from the bad ones.

Sampans on Sarawak River

I decided to take a break from the mural painting and painted this scene based on several photographs I took from the bank of Sarawak River, depicting the sampans,which was the only mode of transport to reach the other side of the river in the olden days. Some locals still use it to cross the river daily, but they are more well-known now for tourists to cruise along the river.

Anyway, here's the painting. I've listed it on eBay to try my luck again. Sales have been pretty good for the past couple of months before Chinese New Year, but I have been too busy with work to paint, so I hope my eBay sales will pick up from here again.... wish me luck! :D

Sampans on Sarawak River (11" x 15")

SOLD