Happy New Year 2011~michellechoongkhoo

Wishing everyone a Happy, Prosperous and Loving Year ahead

❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤

                                        
                                            A3 x 200 gsm watercolor paper
                                                    starring Jon & Carrie 

colored chicks~michellechoongkhoo

I wonder if they still sell these colored chicks anymore at the markets?

I remembered we bought 6 for Jon at the wet market for RM10 (equiv USD 3) and we left them free roaming in the garden in the daytime. We kept them under a food cover at night.

It was fine for a few days and then we discovered the chicks missing one a day….

mummy, there's 2 less today!

A4x220gsm acid free paper

(This painting was based on photo of Jon feeling so sad that he had 2 less chicks!)

In the end we solved the mystery ! The horrible stray cat was the murderer~ we found him stalking the 3rd chick and scurrying off with the blue feathers in its mouth before we could saved the poor little chick!

Eventually the 3 chicks grew up, lost their colors and became normal colored hens!
Apparently the farmers inject some kind of dye into the eggs while they were incubating and as far as I remember, the colored chicks were always sold out!

I shall keep an eye out for such chicks next time I visit the wet market, smile

posterizing watercolor paintings ~ michellechoongkhoo

I really adore bighugelab's apps , I enjoy making different effects with their cool stuff~

here's a few that I did with their motivator app turning some of my watercolors into posters!
                                          

FUN FUN FUN isnt it? 

a daddy moment~michellechoongkhoo

great happiness are made up of such moments ~

trying to capture it in various styles before deciding on the blue outlined format~

using iPad to improve watercoloring tonal values ~ michellechoongkhoo's "A Painting A Day"

excepts from Aletta de Wal's article on www.empty easel.com


"Let’s start by debunking the cliché, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.”
The implication is that we lose the capacity learn anything new as we age, but that’s just not true. Recent brain research confirms that you can learn throughout your lifetime if you are willing to put in the effort.
The actual kernel of truth in this cliché is that you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, if that dog does not want to learn. On the other hand, if the dog has enough incentive (like food) it can learn to do a lot.
So how does this cliché relate to artists?
When I tell artists that they need to embrace modern technology, some of them balk. They’ve bought into the myth that age gets in the way of learning “new tricks.” Unless they can get past this false belief and learn some of the new tricks of the digital age, they’ll remain at a severe disadvantage in today’s art market.
Artists who don’t buy into this myth about age and learning have a huge advantage. They believe that they can do anything they want to do (given enough time or assistance) so they seek out teachers and courses and learn from others’ experiences.
These artists have accepted that technology is as vital to their art marketing as the tools they use to create their art. Their attitude is “can do” and that attitude drives them to acquire the knowledge and skills they need to just “do!”

For me, it was so absolutely true….the part about teaching an old dog new tricks….hahahaha.

I think my iPad definitely tremendously assisted in improving my profiling and tonal values….

Especially comparing how much time I wasted yesterday trying to do sketching some horseriders  silhouette from newspaper print versus how much ease it was sketching from a zoomed zagg image …..I'd say, any art teacher worth her salt should encourage all their students to turn towards technology to jumpstart their art experiences!

This Saturday morning, I am a happy happy girl with this watercolor of Jon at Phuket Riding Club last CNY  heeeeee hahhhhh! I love lurve my iPad alot…..

if I have said so  a few times in previous postings, hope you will forgive me….personally I wld credit that gitzmo for a great art renewal in 2011 after nearly 4 months of self imposed hiatus~

Am pretty sure Jon will favourite this painting too when I post it onto his FB wall later, smile~

picking seashells~ michellechoongkhoo's "Project 2011 A Painting A Day"

Here's my rendition of more beach nostalgia at Port Dickson….Jon being fascinated by the tiny seashells pinpointed by his uncle Sean :)

Happy memories always perk me up, even without any caffeine involved , hahaha

I cant believe I am still painting and sketching Day 10 into the project…..and its all thanks to apple's iPad technology which makes the photos (even those scanned from old archives) with colors so vivid for referencing!

Aaaaaaah, the marvel of new age tools~ 

aren't we just so lucky nowadays and don't you just love it?

a day at the beach~michellechoongkhoo

we are booked for Club Med Bintan for cny~ cant wait !

It is our favourite holiday destination every since Jon was 2 years old…..
And this indulgent painting is based on our then holiday at Club Med Cherating probably 1988….cant help wondering if the beach is still as pristine clear today ~
we havent been back for a long long while as our last visit it was so awfully run down that we had to escape to other club meds…..
mmmmm maybe we really should consider getting back there some day soon especially since it has been refurbished beautifully.

isnt it nice that in art…..there is no hard and fast rule that one must stick to facts?

heh heh, here I can imagine I was as tall and as slim as I wanna be, even with 

blond hair ;P

And when hubby complains that I seem to have even hijacked the dry kitchen space for my drawings, hahaha…..I told him he will be rewarded with a painting soooooon of him with abs that will render a young man jealous, hahahaha….

Life is wonderful, with technology, time, space to rediscover my paintings and an indulgent spouse…

what more could a girl possibly wish for in 2011?

sketching outline~michellechoongkhoo "Project 2011 A Painting A Day"

I see a sweet muse sitting by the pool……. do u share my vision?

do tell me what it looks like to you :P

nostalgia of Port Dickson~Day 7 "Project 2011 A Sketch A Day"

I wanted to try watercoloring direct with just some broad outlines~ this is in preparation of my trying monochromatic portraiture of Tiger (as visualized by bighugelabs FX ) next few days!

Today, I had great joy looking at old archive photos~ 

and equal joy painting this very ancient 1987 photo taken at Port Dickson…..

Wow, brought back such wonderful memories of those gleeful days, so many happy weekends spent with Jon, Carrie, Ean and Sean ! 

What a great sunday it is today! And I am most happy that from the pile of Port Dickson photos, is a huge treasure trove of materials to keep me busy busy busy sketching and smiling for a long while~

my firstborn, the light, the joy of my life~michellechoongkhoo

no wonder I'm having insomnia since all kinds of ideas are popping all over my head at any odd hours ….especially at night!
This is on account of the book which I bought recently: "200 Projects to strengthen yr art skills" by Valerie Colston!

The opening page says >>>"welcome to an art school in a book"…..now tell me who wouldnt buy the book in an instant? And it is so wonderfully motivating… insomnia notwithstanding, hahahaha

Anyway, here's my own output for "2011-a sketch a day 2"…..subject is always my muse, my Jon.

oil portraiture of sons, part one~Jon

not quite there yet but at least I think I'm getting the hang of the blending monochromatic underpainting.

As I compare the photo reference, I know that I totally misjudged the angle of Jon's tilt and I dont know how to paint the teeth yet~ but Im gonna proceed to complete Julian's and Justin's head shots and the background and then come back to perform the dentistry for Jon….hahahah

Life is great, Life is a gift

and I give thanks for life's gift of the joy that my sons bring~

My 2nd triptych~

My first triptych~

Painting Jon, Mr Charmer…4 yrs old

continuing with the 2nd part of triptych of sons …..link to portrait of Julian and link to portrait of Justin

Finishing first draft of Jon below was easy enough~

It was when trying to paint Jon's minute facial expressions, I got sooooo frustrated !

Indeed I was stuck in a conundrum for 3 days, editing and reediting….. to the extent

I almost trashed my work into the dustbin. No matter what I did, yet it just didnt look quite kosher!

But I remembered mum's pantang of ever throwing away any photos of loved ones and I sayang all the hours already spent on the art piece .

So I thought I would give it another try after researching on line to see if there were anything that maybe would light up an eureka bell in my head!

Problem 1:

The proportions/position of Jon's eyes was totally not right….showing him last night, he said I made him look like a Korean boy….well, I dont know what nationality but it wasnt a kiddo I recognized either !

Problem 2:

The skin tone was off…..one thing I have learnt, it is so much easier to paint a suntanned skin because the pigment of burnt sienna almost always get Asian skin perfect!. For fairer Jon I tried to add a tinge of crimson, a tinge of red , yellow ochre…. no, not the right shade~ then adding just a dash of burnt sienna and still he didnt look healthy , OMG…..

I decided to leave the eyes /skin tone aside, go on to finish the shadings on the teeshirt/hair and the textures of the foliage background instead.

Rather than repeat another even wash background which I, ehem had perfected :P, hahaha…..I wanted to try something else…..and started to attempt a subtle image of garden with suggestions of grass and vague images of trees..

Along the way, it struck me that the composition would turn out much better if the foliage/grass was painted in detail rather than blurry color nuances of trees .

Just because I had not learnt it yet in class does not mean I should not experiment right? If there is a better way to do this….I'm sure to find out in class next week , hah I can still correct my work ~

Meanwhile today was a masochistic trial as I ended up almost painting every blade of grass/leaf inch by inch….oui.

Notwithstanding my clumsy effort, hey I rather like what I did ….. my garden background looked more refreshing and perked up !

The detailed background did not subtract from the main focus….

Overall I felt it added some depth to Jon and made my painting more dimensional , which should be good, hmmmm?

Yes :)))))

I definitely want to do more such detailed backgrounds for future portraits~

And yeah ….How did I get around to overcome my 2 initial problems ?

Addressing problem 1:

Well I redid Jon's eyes using what Craig Nelson taught in his DVD lesson~ the technique of getting proportions/gestures relatively correct thru using plum lines and checking for angles via simple alignment of 2 landmarks using his pencil!

Jon's left eye just needed to be reduced a tad smaller and his right eye needed to be brought down lower so as to be inline at a correct slanting angle with the left eye.

WoW…..so simple, so common sense and bingo!!!

Luckily I had no problems to wash off my original 2B pencil mark with its earlier wrong proportions/positions in spite of the many layers of watercolors ….

Thats what I love about watercolors….it is so versatile!!

Repainting my fresh lines, I quickly experienced an AHA moment because with those tiny adjustments, wow…..I could definitely see some semblance and recognize my sweet boy looking right back at me as I remember him, aged 4 yrs….aaah, brings back great memories of those happy days~~

This is the link to Craig Nelson's Youtube video: How to draw a realistically porportionate figure

Enjoy and happy learning everyone!

Addressing problem 2 :

After waiting for the skin colors to dry , I then added an overall very diluted wash of vermillion over the skin areas ……viola, now Jon looks ala naturale .

Well….readers, my friends, my sons…...What do you think ?

11.5" x15.5" on 200 gms cold press

Title: Jon, 4 yrs MR FASHIONABLE

© michellechoong_khoo

Presenting Jon above in watercolor…..

My darling, the kiddo ~ a polished Mr Charmer…. complete with an added sunglass in his little chubby hand~~

On hindsight, I should have drawn the Louis Vuitton designer shades that he showed me on his 3G iphone yesterday…..oh , I shall do that when I paint the future triptych sons' series, aged 10yrs!

Asking Eddie as he came home from golf awhile ago : "Well, is this better, did I nail it?"

Hahahaha, I am happy like a sotong (octopus) with his verdict : "Boleh tahan la"……

Even if it was out of the goodness of his heart being in a great mood on Happy Father's Day or if he did indeed literally meant "can stand"…..hohoho, I am singing like a lark in the shower !

After which, woo hoooooo…..time to go onto working at completing the 3rd panel , which is of Justin, aged 4 yrs ❤❤❤

to see all 3 panels together, link 1st triptych