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! :)

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! :)

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"

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.

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.

Another plein air - Emerald Hill, Singapore

Together with an artist friend, we went to paint plein air again last Sunday

This is another location that I've painted many times. The most recent one which i did more than half a year ago was a quarter sheet plein air and it was snapped up at the first listing on eBay.

The weather was perfect today and the strong sunshine is casting fabulous shadows all over the place, although it may not be visible from the location pic I took using my camera phone below.



Here's the finished painting... half sheet of Fabriano Artistico, painted with W&N, Rembrandt, Schmincke, M.Graham and Holbein Artist Grade watercolour paints.



The foreground is my own use of "artistic license" as I felt the road is too empty, so I added the foliage... not sure if it works well but anyway... guess what?!! A guy who came over to watch us paint, decided to buy both our paintings. This place is beginning to turn into my favourite hunting ground now.... or so I thought...

You see, he was so interested in our paintings but didn't have enough cash with him, so he told us to deliver them to him the next day, and he will have the money to pay us, so we gave him our namecards and left with our paintings. However, he sent me an e-mail the next day...

"Marvin,

I've decided against buying the paintings.

Thanks anyway."

Just like that, our hopes are gone! Looking at his address, he's staying on the top floor (penthouse?) of a posh condominium in town... So, I think financially, he should be very well-off and able to afford the paintings... but who knows? may be the wife said no..... oh well... better luck next time.

Anyway, critiques and comments on the painting are welcome as usual.

Outdoor Painting - Mohamed Sultan Road, Singapore

I went out for plein air painting this morning with a few artist friends. It's been months since I joined them as I've been busy with work and family commitments so it was great to be able to paint en plein air today.

The subject of today's painting is the old shophouses along Mohamed Sultan Road. The area is now famous of its bustling clubbing scene where many of these shophouses are renovated and converted to pubs and nightclubs.

Here's the building I'm painting...


There are renovation workers currently working on dismantling the interiors of the run-down building covered with greens and bushes... one of the workers actually came over to watch us paint, and told me they'll knock down the whole interior of the building but will keep the front facade as this area is marked for heritage preservation. Hopefully, they'll do a good job in keeping this beautiful building.

Mohamed Sultan Road, Singapore (11" x 15")
SOLD

Well, I don't really like this painting as I think I rushed to finish it. There were too many messy lines and I'm to blame for poor planning of colours and execution of paint... especially the shaded areas where it has started to get muddy.... may be the only two things I liked about it is the roofs and the building on the extreme left as it's not in focus and I painted very very loosely.

Oh well, now you've seen a bad painting from me...

Anyway, here are some close-up shots.




Comments and critiques are most welcomed. :-)

Outdoor Painting - Pahang Street, Singapore

It's a bright sunny Sunday and I went out to paint with my artist friends again. This is another street scene along Pahang Street, off Jalan Sultan in Singapore.

Here's a photo of the location.



So, here's my first painting of Year 2007...
It's a quarter sheet of Fabriano Artistico, painted with W&N, Rembrandt, Schmincke, M.Graham Artist Watercolour Paints.
I think I spent about 2.5 hours on this painting.

Pahang Street, Singapore (11" x 15")
SOLD

Below are some close-up shots of the painting:




The sky was clear and bright when I started and then it turned cloudy and drizzled for about 5 minutes. Luckily, the sun came out again ... it was a challenge to paint under such changing weather.

Although, the painting turned out fine, I think I didn't portray the sunny day well enough and should have left more white areas untouched to represent the pillars and walls that are brightly-lit by the sun... oh well... I must remember this next time.

Oh... and I nearly dated the painting 2006, instead of 2007... fortunately, I corrected it just in time! LOL :D

Critiques and comments are welcome as usual.

Outdoor Painting - Kuching Waterfront

I went back to Kuching during the Christmas-New Year holidays hoping to paint as many plein aires as I can... and guess how many I managed to paint? 10? 5? No, just ONE! :D

Hey, don't blame me! It's the monsoon season and it practically rained every single day when I was there. But fortunately, I managed to paint this one on 28 Dec. So, this is my last piece of painting for the just concluded Year 2006.

The locale is the Kuching Waterfront along the bank of Sarawak River. I arrived slightly after 9.00am and proceeded to find a shaded spot to paint this scene.

Here's the location pic. Some of you may remember this place as it has been featured in my past paintings but at different spot and angle.



...and this is the finished painting.

Kuching Waterfront (11" x 15")
SOLD

It's a quarter sheet painted in 2.5 hours with Winsor & Newton, M.Graham, Rembrandt, Schmincke and Old Holland Artists Watercolour paints.

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

Outdoor Painting - Plumer Road, Singapore

Javier is 4.5 months old now and he likes to put his hands into his mouth... a natural habit of babies but with the saliva and heat, rashes have developed around his cheeks and mouth since Sunday :(

I haven't done any outdoor/plein air painting for about 3 weeks as I have been busy with work where our whole department was required to work over 2 weekends for our company's annual reorganisation project.

Now that it's over, I went out for plein air painting last Sunday with a group of watercolourist friends. We chose this old shophouse at the corner of Plumer Road in Singapore, just a stone throw away from Little India.

I painted this building about a year ago but at a different angle. So, I thought I'd choose another angle to paint this time.... and I think the composition is much more interesting.

This is where I'm seated.

I chose to paint a tighter composition to fill the buliding into 3/4 of the paper,
to give a more intimate closeness between the viewers and the painting.

... and here's the finished painting where I took 3 hours to paint most of it on location, and finished off the detailed bits and pieces at home.

It's half sheet of Fabriano Artistico (14" x 21"),painted with Winsor & Newton,
Rembrandt and M.Graham Artists Watercolour Paints

Here are some close-up shots of the painting.

Hope you like it... comments and critiques welcome as usual. :)

Durian Season Is Here Again!

Javier is almost 3-month old!! and he can roll over sideways and hold his head up already!!! :-)

I had initially planned to paint around Chinatown with a few artist friends but just as I was about to board the train, my friend (who lives at the western part of Singapore) called and said it has started to rain and called off the plein aire session.

I live at the eastern part and the sky was already covered with dark clouds but still holding on....and since I'm already at the train station, rain or no rain, I decided to paint anyway, but chose another location nearer to the East, hoping that it wouldn't rain in this part of Singapore.

I alighted at Aljunied Station, and walked towards Sims Avenue when I spotted a couple of trucks and workers unloading tons of durians, the king of fruits. ** Durian is a seasonal tropical fruit with torn-like spikes on its shell and the contents are milky, creamy in colour. It smells like vintage wine to those who love it, or rotten eggs to those who hate it. **

Me? I don't hate it (used to hate it when I was a kid), but I don't worship it like some people either... ;-)

Well, looking at the photo below, I guess it's in season now...

The scene - truck loads of DURIANS!!

This is where I'm seated with the almost finished painting.

The painting and my tools

Here's the final result... For some reasons, I wasn't too pleased with this painting. I couldn't pin-point what wasn't right though... it just doesn't feel right....perhaps I'm not used to painting vehicles.

It's half-sheet of Fabriano Artistico (14" x 21"), painted using W&N, Rembrandt and M.Graham Artists Paint. Comments and critique welcome as usual.