2nd panel of A2 triptych~Justin

15.5" x 22.25" on 300 gms cold press paper

Title: Justin with a KRABI flavor

© michellechoong_khoo

feeling adventurous to try watercolor with even more mixed medium>>>

1. using charcoal with oil pastels for the Thai Buddha

2. painting Justin with very light washes and strokes

3. trying out a dash of gold acrylic to make the embellishments on umbrellas /cushions stand out…..

mmmmm, I do love experimenting…..makes the art journey less boring!

one interesting question a classmate posed to me…..

Q: Why do you keep painting your sons?

A: why not? smile~

after all this is my personal art journey and if I am going to learn how to paint good portraits, why not take all the tons of photos that I already own for references ?

Plus on top of getting the painting techniques/the perspectives and the composition right I do happen to like the extra challenge of knowing that I have to at least get a good likeness for my sons/hubby to pass my paintings….

Thanks for all the encouragement.

Have a great weekend ahead~

to see all 3 panels together, link 2nd triptych

1st panel of 2nd triptych~ mixed medium

15.5" x 22.25" on 300gms cold press

Title : Jon at art gallery

© michellechoong_khoo

2nd triptych idea was to work on photos of sons aged around 10….

1st panel -Jon with a backdrop of Buddha at Penang's Butterfly farm art gallery

2nd panel - Julian with a backdrop of Khoo Kongsi's lionhead

3rd panel - Justin with a Thai Buddha at Krabi resort

And this time, I wanted to experiment with mixed medium….using oil pastels/charcoal which I thought gave me better shades for the stone statutes' shadings and also to try something new :)

Attempting bigger pieces meant buying bigger easels…..

These 2 easels are a dream to work on:

- one easel with adjustable slant angles is more conducive for watery washes

- the other with adjustable height is more comfortable for detail work and longer seated hours….

to see all 3 panels together, link 2nd triptych

trying to get the essence of painting underwater shots

Taking the first steps towards painting underwater shots…..

The photo of my waterbabies frolicking at grandma's condo pool with many reflections on the skin, pool floor and upper mirage too ~

I had to apply frisket because I was not confident of leaving the white areas intact~

Today I also decided to test painting vibrant colors, almost direct from the tube with very little dilution.

11.5" x 15.5" on 200 gms cold press

Title : waterbabies

© michellechoong_khoo

Eddie said that my painting did not feel like it was underwater, not enough reflections…I agree!

And I need to size down the subject so that the body of water was bigger….

Either that or I need to work on bigger paper size of A2.

But I think I captured the essence of the fun that my waterbabies were having at their moments posing for my first Sony PS10 with underwater housing~

However I felt that in applying the paints too strong, the result was a loss of the translucent feel of watercolors….mmmm, needs to be reworked~

Comments or suggestions on how I should rework this? :)

Analysing my above art piece , I suddenly got the urge to experiment and see how the translucency of watercolor will turn out of portraits done onto a background of charcoal or oil pastels~

And I have just the right photos to exactly do my next triptych of mixed medium!

Jon with a statue of Buddha at an art gallery

Julian with a lionhead at Khoo Kongsi

Justin with a background of the soldiers at the KL monument

So excited ~

Lesson 15: treescape and jungle canopy

Not my favourite project but it was an eye opener when I saw how Ms Shia interpretes her trees using unusual colors of blues/yellows/reds and the shades in between.

Wow, because I didnt know trees can be painted with such dreamy colors~

It was fun to realize that watercolors do not need to be realistic, we can paint illogical colors so long as we maintain a fluid "feel" , get the branches and shadows done well.

I rather liked how my treescape turned out ….

BUT I definitely dont like the outcome of my jungle canopy too much…it was a mess of dullness!

It started well until I muddied the colors up, forgetting to stay within complementary colors and painting transparent colors instead of opaque….

I might in future want to attempt more interpretations of bleak, possibly focus dramatically on a sea of tree trunks in a monochromatic color …..

This too marks the end of my posting on watercolor tuition ....

I will from now on do self experiment using as references the books ordered online from Amazon.com~ boy oh boy….I am so excited that all my 5 books have arrived!

I sure am going to enjoy thumbing through :

1. Nita Engle : How to Make a Watercolor Paint Itself, Experimental Techniques for Achieving Realistic Effects

2. Birgit O connor : Watercolor in Motion : How to Creat Powerful Paintings, Step By Step with DVD

3. Linda Kemp: Watercolor Painting Outside the Lines, Positive Approach to Negative Painting

my first landscape….

what a lovely way to spend a languid Friday morning….

painting and chatting with my 3rd sister at my "art space" , catching up and sharing family news…..the time flew by so swiftly that to my surprise I actually finished my first free hand landscape within one hour!

My sister said it was a mystical outcome….

Me, loved doing landscape….for once~

15.5" x 11.5" on 200 gms cold press

Titled: Flooded field

© michellechoong_khoo

final panel of sons' triptych portraiture ~ JUSTIN

when the mood to paint stirs, when an idea germinates….time stood still.

So it was for me this morning~

I woke up with this idea itching to paint Justin with a basketball or football….. since the previous panels were done of his bros; Julian holding a fish frisbee and Jon holding a sunglass , I too wanted Justin to hold something that identifies his persona~

I went up to his room to get some inspirations.

I saw all his book shelves filled to the brim with magazines , comics, albums, books…..hey hey hey….a Harry Porter hardback!

That's it, excitedly still clad in my pyjamas mind you….I set to work ~

the first draft was swiftly outlined~

It was with enthusiasm , playfulness and I find it engaging to add the private items, this time a book, the details on the carpet as well as the suggestion of a wall papery background…..

I loved the notion that each sons' panels were all done with different background textures and each carrying a unique personal item that characterize their identification~

Justin's portrait was done in one sitting of 3hours….

Either I am improving on my time management or in Eddie's words, getting better and better with more practise? Hahahaha>

Well, I do love the finish ….do let me have yr feedbacks, tell me what you think of it~

11.5" x 15.5" on 200 gms cold press

Title: Justin, 4 years old MR LIBRARIAN

© michellechoong_khoo

My next triptych will be of my boys, aged 10 in different poses in twos and threes on larger formats…..I also want to try some 3 dimensional experiments ~

oooooh, time to go shopping for large easels, larger drawing blocks and larger mounting boards….but I will take it slowly~

Erm, time to put in longer hours in the office to earn my salary….hee hee, Director of Operations already grumbling!

to see all 3 panels together, link 1st 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