Go faster KOKO~ michellechoongkhoo

Quote: Alyson B Stanfield  from her posting Listen, read, act repeat :

"….DO THIS————~> Listen, read, act, and repeat. Or read, listen, act, and repeat. Don’t let the four most dangerous words–”I already know that”–stand in your way. Keep gathering knowledge in any format you come across, and pretty soon you’ll be proficient in your area of interest."

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And I Totally agree…..

It never hurts to repeat doing the same exercise over and over again. I love drawing my kids and I adore doing it over and over everyday~

Painting this today brought wide smiles…..the days of power rangers and when we actually encourage the kids to speed>>>>>>>hahahahaha

                                              

                                           Julian on his birthday gift, tricyle

                                                       "Go Faster KOKO"

                                                  A3 x 200 gsm watercolor paper

hugging baby Jules~michellechoongkhoo

I was so mesmerized by Christine Rosamond's whimsical, ethereal heavenly pieces that I had to try some painting some negative spaces myself~ 

oooooh hugging my babies, smelling their sweet breath…..thats what I love being a mum most of all~

I think I shall like to do more of such exercises….

I already have so many pieces in mind~ traa lala la laaaaa 

Julian conquered the Railey@Krabi~michellechoongkhoo

yes, I remembered this was one of the highlights of our family holiday at Krabi 2001~

Driving with a convoy of 14 cars 4x4 wheelers all the way from Penang to Hadyai, Songkla and then Krabi and back…..we were told a visit to Krabi's famed Railey Bay and Solo jumps overhanging the sea is a once in a lifetime adventure….none of the other 13 families were interested, but that didnt deterred the khoos!

Nice memories indeed~

                              Julian on the way down after conquering the Railey ~

Am very happy I have progressed to the point in my watercolor to be confident to draw my outlines with light watercolor strokes without any need for pencils….now I know that even if I make a mistake , it is as simple as overlaying it with fresh coat of pigments!

heh2 practise makes perfect ( so I am slowly but surely getting there day by day….soon I hope to be able to begin rendering some underwater landscapes and critters) :)

enjoying the waterfall at Chin Farm~michellechoongkhoo

I wish some places never change, that the beauty of nature and landscapes do not get obliterated by development….

Chin Farm, waterfall @ Penang was one such place….

Painting Julian on a tree branch overlooking the clear stream with the waterfall behind him at level 2

what a pity this beautiful place is no longer there~
But at least my sons got to view and experience some of the beautiful places that brought me much happiness while growing up~

obsessing over Jules rocking horse poster~michellechoongkhoo

I just wanted to redo yesterday's exercise, keeping it simple and sweet~

Yup I think this is so much better~ hee hee and so much easier to execute without all the fuss over masking fluid and salts…
This I shall frame up too ✭

Jules and his rocking horse ~michellechoongkhoo

this is the finished effect after adding salt ~

after looking at the photographs…..I think I should have actually stopped painting at the step below…….for memories of childhood should come across as simple and sweet~

I want to redo this once more tomorrow~

Julian~ my sunshine , the bringer of laughter

hee3, this empty nester mum who only quite recently self declared herself no longer a helicopter anxious parent, nevertheless cant help but still  always think in threes when it comes to her kids , artwise included :)
  (and yup the realization that hoho hoho no matter their ages,  they'll always be that….my kids!)


Going into day 3 of my "2011 a sketch a day"…..its no brainer that naturally I have to complete yet another of my sons' triptych sketches…..

Here's a sketch from a favourite photo taken of Julian standing at Gurney Drive last year, drinking in the renewed beauty of the place….we were giddy with the beauty of the evening!
Gurney Drive, with new mangroves planted, with thousands of eco mud balls augmented by good bacteria to rid the awful ping during low tides….in early 2010 , it was becoming pleasant to walk on its boulevard again ~

And I had to bring my babe to experience what was my favourite haunting ground in my teens.

And I think this pose befittingly reflected that Gurney will once again become our favourite place to revisit and fall all over in love tenderly!

Did I already mention too that I so love Julian's Korean pop star pose?
 ❥❥

My 2nd triptych~

My first triptych~

3rd panel - Julian at Khoo Kongsi

It was a great Sunday~

nice weather & a super great aromatherapy massage puts me in the mood for rest and relax .

As the lovely hands of the excellent masseause worked her magic on my muscles, I gave silent thanks for many little blessings and I have much to be grateful for in this blessed life.

The luxury of time to devote to painting is one such blessing.

4 months into starting art lessons I have come to realize that portrait painting is much more than just copying religiously every aspect of a photo.

Art is very much about using adhoc modifications:

-Here I used an image of Khoo Kongsi's lionhead from one very old photo taken in 1994 .

-I superimposed an image of Julian from a family group shot that we snapped in front of Sydney's Opera House in 2000.

-The CNY lanterns was added last minute from imaginations because I realize that my original composition looked so drab and moody!

The bright red globes added just the right splashes ~

-I also felt that the lionhead was different from the buddha statues because it had so much tiny details that the charcoals and oil pastels couldnt bring it to life until I added the silver/black acrylic dabs…..

I think I manage to make the whole painting work~ at any rate, I like it alot.

I finished painting Julian just slightly after 10pm~ 5 hours of work!!

I hope he will like it too…..

11.5" x 22.25" on 300 gms cold press

Title : Julian and the lionhead

© michellechoong_khoo

to see all the panels together, 2nd triptych link

portraiture of the love of my life~ SONS

My first project of family watercolor portraiture will be a triptych of Jon, Julian, Justin when they were all individually 3-4 yrs old.

The initial drafts and first layers of backgrounds have been laid last night …

Today I chose to finish Julian first because his pose was in bare skin , thus I thought easier for me to complete.

I get so nostalgic just looking at the baby photos of my darlings….they were so photogenic and adorable , now looking back I realized that even then their characteristics were so apparent in the way that they posed.

Jon, my Mr Charmer,

Julian, my Sportman ,

Justin, my Mr StrongMan

Anyway, I had thought to put the first drafts aside to slowly work at them over the weekend but today I was in an artistic mood.

Even in class, I stayed back to finish my art piece till 3pm …

End June, it will be 4 months since I started art classes at MIA centre….how time flies.

I have very quickly learnt that in art, when the mood to create comes along….to go with the flow and let the feelings guide me along.

And so it was that I actually finished Julian's portrait in one sitting…..WOW, from someone who tends to overcook my watercolors, I have become very efficient indeed!

In the old ways , it would take me an estimated 3 - 4 days but I have learnt to curb my propensity to edit and over correct the shades.

Nowadays, I just give in to the spontaneity and I guess it helps that I quickly got Julian's skin color right from the first dab . There's hope for me to become an artist? Hahaha.

Painting Julian radiates such warm pleasure and joy ….

11.5" x 15.5" on 200 gms cold press

Title: JULIAN, 4 yr old MR SPORTY

© michellechoong_khoo

I think I managed to capture his essense, his little confident muscular pose and I like enlarging Julian's eyes just a wee bit to better reflect his sparkling cheekiness~

I cant wait to complete my portraits of little Jon and little Justin next~~~~

to see all 3 panels together, link 1st triptych