So far

It's been a pretty long time since I posted hmm, I've been busy at camps! Uni's starting tomorrow and July has been a busy month with all the orientation camps and stuff like that! I tend to do really quick drawings but hmm I'm working hard to do more concrete drawings that require longer composition time and better finishes. I'm hoping to develop a clearer style, cause I obviously seriously lack it now and get my work into prints! I don't know if anyone reads my art blog, but if you do, do support when it happens!

So, things that I have done so far.

1. Peiqi's birthday deco

2. Tack's birthday deco

3. Working with Fictive Fingers

Helped in the assisting of Fictive Fingers with the first ever SIM team bonding day 2014 where I worked at the tshirt designing booths which consisted of Sharpie markers designing as well as block printing (carving on a Japanese rubber block and printing them on the shirt with fabric inks). We had to decorate our own white shirts with the fixed design provided by Fictive Fingers (but carved ourselves) as our working wear.

Here's how my shirt looks! I'm really glad how it turned out, that the printing was rather compacted so it looks like a bought shirt instead of a hand-printed one! Will definitely continue to wear it out in the future :)

I'm still working on a few drawings, so I will only get them posted when they are done! Hopefully I will get them done soon because I have just moved into hall (today) and I left them back at home ><  I'm hoping to draw once a day again cause there's really much more to be done with my inadequate drawing abilities :( Yay I'm gonna strive hard man. 

Affordable Art Fair Fred Loves Furniture

I decided to dedicate a post to my journey participating in the Affordable Art Fair Fred Loves Furniture Art Exhibition. Being able to be part of an exhibition like this was really exciting (and surprising of course!)

The flow of events:
Application and proposal of design was submitted, received a phone call from AAF, a pink chair was delivered to my place, worked upon and sent back for exhibition.

Work in progress

FRONT

BACK

 Title of Work: The Act of Seating

Statement: The Act of Seating celebrates moments of conscious awareness. This work is inspired by the occasional bouts of joy I’ve felt when I was aware that I’m well and alive, there and then. Blind contour drawings were done of someone seating down- front and back- as means to force one to examine what we tend to overlook, in this case, the very act of seating.

I was inspired by the drawing attempt I did a while back (check archives: post header- 365) titled, "WE ARE ALL ALIVE TOGETHER". In that drawing, I was trying to showcase the awareness I had of myself, my thoughts, my actions, my presence at that particular moment. Through blind contour drawing, I was trying to illustrate the intangible, what that you can not see but can be felt- in the process of drawing, in the process of mark making, in the process of creating something of finality. On an afterthought, this also showcased the similar aspects of being aware as well as drawing oneself, where one generally focuses his attention all to a single focal point. One being aware (in my opinion) triggers this subtle connection of one with space, of which I refer to only that of his surroundings then and there as well as his actions, then and there. Similarly, blind contours conforms the artist to be able to draw only what is then and there since it does not rely on false judgments of the mind when one looks at his drawing, triggering the same connection of one with space, of which now I refer to the positive and negative space of the object one is drawing. One no longer sees it as a person, but rather lines and shapes. I guess for this chair design, I was really intrigued by the idea of seeing what you can't normally see- yourself at that moment, in this case, sitting (seating) on the chair. It's more of being unable to rather than being unwilling to. That's why the blind contour drawing of my back view sitting on the chair is extremely awkward, and to be honest that illustration was also done in an awkward position. My neck was seriously strained thereafter haha (since I don't have eyes behind my back- something I realized only when I was trying to position myself to do blind contour of my back view, and so I had to make do with this slanting position). 

Oh, afterthought number two: my chair design can't be viewed simultaneously, it's either front or back. I guess that's pretty similar to the focus part mentioned above too. 

Okay so finally, at the fair.

A big thank you goes out to Affordable Art Fair and Fred Lives Here for giving me this lovely opportunity, Hwa Chong Institution/ AEP Department for the support and encouragement as well as my friends and family who gave me much advice, help and love <3

Post for today

Here's the post for today:

Looking back at the blog, I haven't managed to keep to my 365 day project/ ashamed.
I've just been back from Thailand, and hopefully I will get back on track now!
Visited BACC (Bangkok Art and Cultural Center) and Chualongkorn University's Art Center!
Hahah it was really nice seeing art in a different country, especially when this wasn't a school trip. But July's gonna be a tough month. With all the orientation camps and stuff..
I hope to come back with a happy post.

I realised images of the PEACH booklet's not up yet!

I will try to get images of the (really nice, imo) designs inside the booklet soon!

Liyi and I worked really hard for this booklet and it was really heartening to see that the booklet was a success. We had a lot of fun dealing with nature and just testing out whatever ideas we had in mind. It was fun working together since we never did things like that before. Having pretty similar tastes and outlook to how we wanted the booklet to be like really helped a lot in the process of its creation.

Apart from lazing around for this whole June hol, I worked on a painting back in school. Hmm it's not yet completed (far from completing actually) as well as the NYGH Little Booklet open call.

Here's how my Little Booklet look like

Yet Another Talking Book 

Ink, graphite, colour pencil, watercolour, thread, tape

Have fun digesting this (no sarcasm intended), I hope my mind speaks to you.

As usual, a compilation of my thoughts and feelings transcribed into words and mark/shape-marking. My never-materialised A level coursework idea of including the dialogues that come to mind when drawing images are actualised here. Each flimsy note attached by a thread is tied to a specific drawing.

I may dedicate a post about my Little Booklet after the showcase of the Little Booklet exhibition!
Till then..

Photo Credits: Little Booklet webpage

Check out the Little Booklet webpage for more info: http://nyghartelectiveprogramme.weebly.com/individual-little-booklets.html

Long overdue

This was typed for posting on 31st May but it took a month long to get it posted:

Hmm so, i'm gonna post a brief summary of all that i've been doing so far. It's been so long.

Yday was my last day of teaching the kids, and i went to the airport to send them to New York off last night. Hmm, i guess the feeling of missing them hasn't kicked in yet but I'm really thankful to have ended my 5 months of work (my first job ever) on a good note. Reading the notes the kids wrote to me was heartening and at times reassuring. I can't be sure if I was a good teacher, but I tried my best. I really am thankful to have met such lovely kids and worked with such wonderful colleagues (hc art dept).

For farewell gifts, I made stamps for them!

I'll try to find images of the stamps I made for the teachers and have them uploaded soon!

---

"I closed my eyes and pictured what my life could be. A tiny apartment walking distance from the school, late nights drinking tea and poring over art history texts, a huge studio to paint in. Instead of exercising in the dark little gym in my apartment complex, I could jog out to the beach at Carkeek park. Maybe I'd even learn to kayak."
- Why can't I be her, Alina Larkin

How i wish i could get my own studio apartment to do art too. This scene just seems so wonderful, really. 

All in all,

Haven't been uploading these days but I've been trying to do art everyday as promised.

But my work seems to be degrading somehow it's frighteningly sad. I am not too sure how these two words can come together but yeah.

Spoke to zhenming previously about illustration and his perception towards it. And I started to question myself about what exactly is the fine line between illustration and art? Are they at all the same thing? And does my work qualify as a good illustration? I've never been confident about my works and I wonder if I will ever be. But yeah what makes a good illustration and how can I strive towards a good creation? Perhaps I should really sit down one day and set goals for my art making. Or maybe start working experimentally, exploring different things and make new discoveries. 

--------------------

I've been working on a lot of things these days but I haven't found the time(or motivation) to post them up here.

1. I worked on nat's 21st birthday card. It's been a while since I've spent so long on making cards for people. I guess I never could find time to make these in the midst of study/training/homework.

(I will post this up once I get the image from nat haha)

2. Tried out lino cutting to make stamps for zhenming's "farewell/graduation" gift.
I forgot to take an image of the actual product but this is how it looks after it's stamped

3. Helped san design her wattpad novel book cover

The idea of trade came with the use of the term "bargain" so i decided to depict the image of a handshake which conveys the mutual agreement among both parties.

The division of red and white is supposed to indicate the two factions/parties. I wanted to do a vertical division with the dissecting line in the middle initially but the overall aesthetic outlook doesn't look as appealing as this one so yep.

Support san's book by reading it on wattpad!

4. I'm working on ko's 21st card as well

(I have no idea why I have so many friends who are 21 this year :/
I still have a 21st party to attend this coming Friday)

5. I participated in the Affordable Art Fair Fred Lives Here furniture design competition and I got selected! So the pink furniture got delivered to my place today, I'm supposed to work on it till 21 May for delivery to the fair venue. My chair design will be exhibited at the AAF! Please support by heading there. The fair's on from 23-25 May 2014.

Here's how the pink DSW chair looks like (image taken from the affordable art fair web)

Wood

Day 9

I'm working on this baby tonight, am trying to create an organic abstract shape. But it might take a while, hopefully I will get it done by next week. My carving knives are so blunt, it's taxing on the fingers.

"UNTITLED"

Day 7

I was (am still) very interested in the overlaps and joints, somehow hmm.

Day 8

I hesitated whether I should upload unfinished works but I think this would be a good practice for me, to force myself to do my best for every piece I work on. I wonder if I'm lazy or just afraid to embark on longer projects for fear that I will end up disliking them/ not completing them well. So this time instead of working on my usual quick illustrations, I decided to try out something that might take a bit more time. Am gonna continue working on this tomz, wish me luck!

Green, browns and blue.

"THEY"

Really wanted to meet up with the boys, but we are all busy :(

Day 6

I've been working on a birthday card for a childhood friend, 

that will be up after it's done/ passed to her, haha.

It's a weird saturday. Hmm I get moody easily on saturdays, and idk why.

Picture's here!

365

It's been a long while since I've been here. wow haha, time flies.

I'm revamping this blog. Oh yeah. I got some old sketches scanned tadah/ am so proud of myself

Currently I'm working on this 365 project now, 

so I will be doing art everyday and hopefully keeping this blog up-to-date as well.

"WE ARE ALL ALIVE TOGETHER"

Liyi told me about this quote she really loved, and I thought about how I felt fortunate being aware of the different moments I should feel thankful for, even if they appeared to be mundane things/ lifestyle 

Day 1

"everyone's gold, and i hope you know"

Day 2

A drawing I did based on the kids I had class today with; 

they did a standing sculpture each based on certain restrictions I had for them and it was just fascinating to see how everyone's mind works differently (interestingly).

Day 3

Trying out typography for the first time!

Day 4

Typography sketch done!

A quote I came up with; was feeling blessed 

"THREE LINES AND THREE COLOURS"

"MOUNTAINS AND SUNS"

"MOUNTAINS AND SUNS II"

 "DIRTY SKY AND CLOUDS"

"OF COCONUTS AND PALM TREES"

I wanted to replace the usual green trees with a green sky

Day 5

A productive day

On side note, the scanning makes the work look so different. It looks so bad and I feel so sad.