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.

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.

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.