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~

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~

silhouettes~michellechoongkhoo's "A Painting A Day"

I have always failed to do silhouettes….and today was no different, I really had to struggle!

In the end, I decided on this final one which is in my opinion, passable only after I cropped out the largest image of the rider plus make the foreground much shorter!

"Riding into the sunset" was referenced from today's Star, 

based on a Reuter photo of horseback riders at Gaza City….

which caught my eye because it heartens me to know in that troubled land~ 

good people could still snatched moments of joy ….

so I wanted to capture its essence

I had to tear up a few sketches :
- first my main horse kept turning out looking like a donkey :(
- second the angles/proportions were problematic because I have never tried drawing horses?
- and the overall photo just had too many elements , making it difficult for me to focus….
the final decision to keep it to 2 small riders ended up working better!
- I must alway keep things simple so that there's fluidity, I think I must learn to be more decisive  which elements to retain and which to discard!

Definitely have not nailed the exercise yet….more work needed on my drawing board…..
If I could do what Samantha Hahn has done for her silhouettes…..that's when I will say I have nailed it!

Ahhhh but is ok…..after all I still learnt some things , so all in , I wont say it was a wasted morning's work of art ?

which reminds me……now I've got to find time to go back to horseriding in 2011~

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

Blossom into prosperity, day 8 "Project 2011(renamed) A Painting a Day"

hahahaha, at the rate I am experimenting…..my 2011 project has runaway to become more than a sketch a day~ so I shall rename it "A Painting A Day" LOL~

It all started with a G/F, bless her heart presenting me with some Papua New Guinea coffee beans and their local Nescafe (she says seriously its not the same as KL's taste, really? ) mmmmm so am sitting  and enjoying the aroma of my Starbucks xmas blend ,  thinking  ~ awww the packaging is so charming , almost a shame to open it up ~that I shall try niugini blend tomorrow!

Then reading the mainstream newspapers,  obviously with thoughts all about coffee…of coz my eyes was inadvertently drawn to the ads of Nescafe girl…. in red….and following that flow of thought, onto Metrojaya's beautiful china doll also in a profusion of red ~ it was eureka for the day!

Forget about linking up my iPad, syncing my photos, getting the FX photos of Tiger, printing out the tonal values in B/W, monochromatic and adjusting the strokes , cropping…….aaaaaah, it can wait for another day!

Today, my Nescafe Girl was just the right stimuli for this morning's art exercise and mmmmm, with that inspiration , it got me gobbling my Portuguese tart so quickly that I almost forgot to savor its deliciousness~ so that I could immediately set up the easel! Ah, the price one pays for ART, heh2.

As I wanted to mesh the 2 ads together and planned the background of a profusion of blossoms …….just as well I paint the outline direct, remembering what I read about always starting with the darkest tonal value…..

Chinese New Year Mood is already in the air here in KL…..

I am pretty sure I will soooon be inspired by great photos of beautiful ladies in their gorgeous qipaos ❤