Gadek Hot Springs

During my trip to Malacca, my family and friends drove about 30 kms out of Malacca town to these hot springs in Alor Gajah and everyone had a good time soaking in the hot baths. I had a good time taking photos and doing this sketch while waiting for people to get changed after their dip in the pools of hot spring water.

Passion flower (Passiflora Palmata)

Leftover paints again. I love leftover paints because they give me the freedom to paint with abandon. The objective is to finish up the paints because paints are expensive and it pains me to see so much on the palette after I am done with a painting. So, the subject I choose need not be a study of anything, just something from the top of my imagination. I managed to use up most of the paints on the palette to come up with an impression of the Passiflora Palmata.

Travel Art

I was contemplating whether to pack acrylic paints for a short getaway with family and friends. In the end, I dumped the paints because it did not make sense to lug around a heavy bag for a few days spent at a beach resort. Yet, I did not want to be caught unprepared when the mood to paint struck. So, I took my chinese brushes, bottle of ink and two sketchpads. I even brought along watercolour paints. In the end, I only made use of the ink.

Coconut trees in front of the beach.Small coconuts make interesting subjects on the dining table.
A cat hung around during meal times and we fed it with whatever extra food we had. My first attempt to paint this cat was disastrous because it looked like a giant rat.This is a improved version of the earlier painting because the rat features were less pronounced.

Preparing dinner at the dining table.

Washing up - we need more young volunteers.

The rain came in the afternoon leaving behind wet and coolness.

The kitchen from the bar counter.

More of the cat...

My usual practice of Chinese words with the chinese brush led to a spontaneous illustration of this excerpt from Jimmy Liao's novel 'Turn Left, turn Right. It is a far cry from the original drawing but this is only my humble interpretation.

After that, I just let myself go, so it was one flower after another painted fast and from imagination without referring to any photos or pictures from books.

Sunflower

Glory Lily

Crinum Asiatica

Hydrangea

Singapore Botanic Gardens - Canon 400D with 55-250mm tele lens

What I like about these photos:

The softness of the pine trees filled me with wonder about how fortunate we are to see these highland trees at our level.

I cannot decide between the two which is better. They both tell you something about the situation at those precise moments when I pressed the camera shutter button.

I like the blurred background, always have.

I like people who have nothing much to say than those who say too much.

My favourite shot.

Experimenting with big and small aperture settings.

A flower I never grow tired of looking at.

A specie of ginger plant.

Landscaped centre piece outside the Orchid Garden that blends well with the surroundings.

Chopin's morning serenade amongst the palm trees.

Protective gear of the rattan plant.

Snapped on impulse but I like the colours.

Going home. It was a great day despite the haze.

Sunflower for HOT

A sunflower from my heart and my brush to brighten up my friend's birthday. Sunflowers hold the power to bring cheer to anyone looking at it. For me it symbolises friendship. I have drawn and painted sunflowers before. This time I experimented with Chinese brush painting, doing a quick sketch on rice paper and filling up the details with a mix of water colours and white acrylic paints. Again I have chosen to use the western oil painting technique because my first love is still painting with oil and acrylic. Chinese brushes hasten my painting process by allowing me to outline my ideas quickly and smoothly and for me this blend of east and west approach works best because I am an impatient person and yet I like details.

The original painting.

Cannonball Tree flowers

There are two ways to look at this painting. One is 'Yuks, what kind of colours are those? Cannonball tree flowers don't look anything like these!" The other way to look at it is to say that if I have to create something that looks exactly or close to the real flowers, then I might as well just post a photo of the flowers and forget about painting. Actually, I am not sure if these colours came about because I just could not replicate the original or because in the process of painting and trying to imitate nature, I decided to paint the colours I wanted to see instead. Anyway, it was a good painting exercise and more to come!
Now to relax and play around with the Canon 400D.

Crown flowers - labour in painting

This is only a small painting that is slightly bigger than a postcard. I was trying out the Artist acrylic paints that I bought over the weekend using colours that I did not have before. Layering the paints from dark to light and trying to play around with different strokes and colour application to get a result that I could be satisfied with, I went from acceptable to overdoing the white highlights. So of the whole series documenting this particular exercise, I like the second last painting best.