Father and Kids

"Father and Kids", Soft Pastels

Thoughts About Fathers

My father taught me the value of "independence" and "self-reliance"  early on

As a young schoolboy, overwhelmed by a seemingly difficult school task

I came up to him and  asked him to do  my assignment

He gently  uttered, "Do it yourself first and  I will check once you are done."

A father is  his  children's first hero

He walks with his  offsprings and guides them through life

Hoping that they will turn out better than himself,

Able to deal with what life throws at them.

Work In Progress No.1 - Untitled - Update

           I went to an artists' group meet yesterday and was fortunate enough to come in time for a painting demonstration by a seasoned pastel artist. It is fun and very educational to see and observe from a distance  how other artists paint.  The members of the group are lovely and welcoming with new members, so that makes things  easy too. Over hot coffee and sweets during the break, I got to chat with some lovely people I already knew from past workshops. And oh, by the way, did I mention about the raffle ticket  I bought? The price at stake is a beautiful painting by Trevor Newman. Gee, I hope I win!

           Going back to the painting, I spent some more time working on this  and now it is almost 90% complete! Still have to work on the dog, especially. At the moment, it is just a blob  of white pastel shaped like a dog! The sea in the background works just fine. The reflection in the sand looks alright, but probably needs a little more work cleaning it up. The little girl is all done up  and am happy with the result. Really, all this painting need is a bit more  fine tuning. 

          Overall, I like this painting style, it gives the painting a distinctive  dream-like character. Although, not much attention is given to details, the richness of colour lends a different quality to it. The vibrant colours seem to jump out of the page and into the viewer's eyes. Maybe, the bright colours just give it more intensity.

Work in Progress No.1 - Untitled

Adelaide winter has just officially began. The past few days have been rainy and cold and it feels good to  stay home and enjoy  a steaming cup of tea while reading a good book. Unwittingly, I think I have developed a mild case of  addiction  to Nutella over the last few days as a result of  not having a lot to do besides eating (darn!). In between spoonfuls of Nutella,  I managed to sit down and spend a few moments working on this painting. Actually, am enjoying this one because this is typically not how I would do a painting ( I like the more detailed look ). Thus, I find this one a  bit  of a challenge. Typically, I  apply colours thickly and quickly and rub/blend often to get a more softer look. With this one however, I tend to apply colours lightly, sparingly and in layers  and without a lot of blending or rubbing. That is why one can still see a lot of the texture of the base paper.  Personally, I find this method/approach a lot  slower and more disciplined. Anyway, still some more painting sessions left  on this before it's finished! Let's see how it goes!  Happy weekend everyone!