Winter in Maine

It's winter in the US now.
It's been a while since I last painted a landscape so I thought I'd paint one. Guess what is the canvas? I was running out of canvas and canvases here are too expensive, therefore, I used a piece of plank wood ($2) in IKEA as my canvas. Of course it required a coat of background color and the paint dried like twice as fast, but it turned out well. I guess after I finish all my canvases this will be my new source of material.
This is where I want to be now, in Maine, where the snow covers the whole world. I also played around with the technique commonly used by Monet in his landscapes painting. Of course I will need to go a long way in order to reach his level. But this is a start.
So, enjoy "Winter in Maine"


Click on the pic to see the larger version with all the stroke details and water reflection, etc.

Seasons of Love

This is my latest painting, my second attempt at painting without model or references, painting that is semi-abstract.
Since the new year is coming and 2008 will be all about LOVE (read my resolution entry in the other blog and you'll understand), I decided to paint something mushy and lovely. This is a clock, made out of a pavement of stones. The middle is a puddle of water, reflecting the colors of the sky, my forever love subject in paintings. The clock is split into 4 quarters of 4 seasons. For each season there is a heartshape pattern that fills it. For spring it's the sakura petals all over. Summer is filled with cherries. Fall is of course covered by falling leaves. Winter is represented by Snowflakes. Zoom in by clicking on the pic, if you cant see these details


My room is starting to be filled with paintings. Anyone wants to buy some???

New Paintings

Eye of Nature
My first attempt at "Abstract" painting. It's called the eye of the nature. I used the eye as the central element marked out by the streets. Then I use the 5 elements of nature: earth, trees, metal, fire and water through the bomb hole, dying forest, construction site, forest fire and flood. I'm always fascinated with the idea of the blood-tear so I added in a little road-kill. Hope you like it :)


Hikaru (Light)
Another self-portrait. I just wanted to paint this as a contrast to the old "Darkness" portrait of mine. This is to mark a point where I'm happy and I want, need and deserve to be happy. So there it is, hikaru, shining light.


377A
This was painted a few months back while I was still doing the media law project. You know in Singapore there is a law that ban gay sex called 377A (I kid you not, read the law a the government website here. It's under Unnatural Offenses. They say "sexual choice is not a right. Therefore gay right is not right." in the Strait times, official news media of the country. Whether it is a choice a lot of people still argue, but to me, to be able to live with your choice is a right of people. I was at the smoking corridor of Arts in NUS where there is a No smoking sign, and I thought a sign like this would be interesting. Why did I paint this? As my classmate has beautifully put it "I'm not pro-gay. I'm just anti-injustice".

Rising (Sculpture Design)
Weijia called me during lunch seeking for help conceptualize a design for a sculpture that they need to do for their faculty. So these are my 2 ideas based on their concept and description. One of these days when you stop by NUS and see an ugly piece of rock next to other ugly pieces of rock, it might have been my idea, which has about 1% of my input to it.
Till we have faces (Masks design for Hall Play)
These are the actual result of the design I had a few months back. They are painted directly on the surface of the masks using oil paint. Pretty?

Une rose bleue

I finished my HYP presentationtoday. So I thought I'd paint something nice. Since another one o my favorite gales is aging soon, I decided to paint something for her. She always love blue roses (and promised to plant some on my grave when I die). So I painted one for her. I named it in French, une rose bleue. Seems like I associate all my favorite gales (except for Cat) with flowers. Trang for red rose, Q for her name, Weijia for sunflower, Kell for Lilly, and this gal for blue rose. Muahaha. Is any other flower aging soon too???

So here it is, presenting to you, Une rose bleue