a little sumfin' sumfin'

http://thoughtmagazine.wordpress.com/

my dear friend Adelene Lai has the most distinctive writing style ever. i could smell her pen ink from a mile away. and what's more she is an absolutely brilliant writer. i do wish she would blog more because her posts are so refreshingly witty and, more importantly, so frank and raw.

i always wanted to write with a style of my own. and i think Ade's writing has somewhat influenced my writing to try and win a niche of its own. i think it already has a style, if i'm not mistaken. and anyway, nothing CAN'T have a style, if we really think about it. right? any piece of writing that exists must certainly have a style, whether it be boring or interesting, most readable or most distasteful...

so yes. i hope i can start writing something substantial and word-worthy real soon. i received a recent email from Ade asking me to help spread the word about this new collection of short stories, articles and other random bits and bobs from the youths of KL (i hope i still qualify for this even though i now live in Adelaide) called Thought Magazine. you can go to the URL above and download the PDF; it won't take long.

to be honest, i skimmed past the first few stories and articles because, and i'm sorry for this but really, war-related matters really don't interest me much, especially the first one which i felt went a little overboard with the extravagantly descriptive sentences. is it just me? i don't know. perhaps i was all too eager to find Ade's article and read it. i did have a look at the artwork and some photos, though, being the visual person that i am.

words don't come easy to me. HONESTLY, they don't.

but i'm looking to improve this.

long time no blog

hello to anyone who reads my blog. as i recently found out, people actually do. HURRAH! thanks to Celine's PR-ing on her own blog, which looks much much cooler than mine :(

anyway, I AM UNDER CONSTANT CREATIVE PRESSURE. art deal not going too well at the mo, trying to find more artist influences that i haven't ALREADY used.... maybe i should go back to my beloved Cherry Hood.

i want to make that money WORTH IT, you know? i want to have earned it, and then lie back and pat my tummy and close my eyes and exhale deeply and say, "Good on you, HL!"

so ya. Ms Alford, my all time mentor, has advised me to pay Valentine Willie's Art Gallery in Bangsar Baru, because apparently it's got loads of influence i could benefit from. The name of the gallery itself puzzles me... sounds like Marcus (the short one, haha) may pop out at any moment and go "THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!!!"

Regarding Darcy Attempt #1

i feel like i should remove it.
it's staring me in the face and reminding me of my diminishing artistic prowess. especially in nailing the first sketch.
urgh.
but i'd be kind of dishonest. not really, but kind of.
it's like giving someone poison and not saying that they have to drink it, but not telling them that it's poison.
harsh example? sorry.

The Real Darcy.

Darcy.

First attempt at drawing Darcy.

Second attempt... Getting better!

Both in pencil. If i "had my druthers" i'd use charcoal... but i don't have a single stick of it in my house atm. i know. it's an absolute hanging offence.

My Fresh Adventure

i am finally able to create again!

thank you, 12th of June, for coming at last. thanks to your arrival, i can go back to my charcoal sticks and sketchbook. oh how i've missed my acrylic colours, my plasticky canvases and my artist research. Taking photographs (or stealing them from my friends :P) seemed so far away.

but NOT ANYMORE!

cZipLee's V.S. ArtFriend.

I'm sorry ZipLee, i really like your stuff but ArtFriend has won my heart with its student discount of 10% on every item!

my next trip to ArtFriend shall be EPIC! no stick of charcoal is safe from my eagle eyes; i shall claim it ALL!

and then i shall draw.

Draw what?

Draw Helena and Alice's beautiful sister, Darcy, thanks to Helena's wonderful photos which she has given me and which i have NOT stolen. Also, i'm going to try my hand (haha! comedy drumbeat) at drawing drapery. Clothes hanging on pegs, random curtains with folds, that sort of thing. WISH ME LUCK!

The Rowan Series #4

"Rich World, Poor World"

Piece 1: Luke's Hands 24" x 24"

Piece 2: Portrait of Luke 24" x 30"

Piece 3: Unfinished Portrait of Luke (after 5 hours)

Acrylic on store-bought primed canvases.
Textured surface created with surgical gauze and white emulsion paint.
Black streaks created with black acrylic paint applied with a house-painter's brush.
Pieces of painted wire gauze added on top for "poverty" effect.



NOTE: the colours of Piece 2 (finished portrait of Luke) are inaccurately displayed. The actual colours are richer, warmer and fuller. It's just the cacat quality of my camera-phone that's making them hazy and blunt. I'll try to get Mr Delmotte to taking a nicer one for me with his cool SLR. At the moment, the original painting is hanging outside Mr Mann's office. HA!

The Rowan Series #3

This is a photo to show the proportion of my Year 10 final piece compared to my sofa. I think my final piece is about 2 and 1/2 metres long X 1 and 1/2 metres wide.

such delicacies

Jodie Anne Candy
I have just realized that all my artist influences have names related to food!!











Jim Dine
















Francis Bacon























Cherry Hood

The Rowan Series #2

Here are a few Gabrielles.
Charcoal, poster paint.
The "Bleeding" Technique.
These are now pasted in my coursework portfolio.
I love saying "portfolio".

The Rowan Series #1

My mock exam piece #2 - set of 4.

They were all meant to be looking up at the main picture, which was the orange one.

All of them are watered-down acrylic paint on store-bought primed canvas.

EUW EUW still prefer to prime my own.

The Rowan Series

coming soon....

Yasmin Rowan
Gabrielle Rowan
Luke Rowan

... NO i am not obsessed with their family, thank you very much.

Much thought and Gabi

And finally I've been able to post up some of my artwork onto here.

The orange one was my mock exam Piece #1. String and emulsion for the textured background, acrylic paint for the face.

Notice the "eyeliner".

I felt that this was by far my weakest piece to date contrary to reviews from friends and teachers. The proportions do Gabi no justice and the colour scheme is... well... heaty.
And not to mention, rather glaring.



One of my favourite pieces of all time... CALENDARRR!!!
This was done during my 5 hour Year 10 exam. It's string and emulsion textured background and black and white acrylic paint for the face. Red and blue splodges (can't really see them here) are watered-down poster paints.

I remember coming into the exam not really knowing what was happening and what to actually paint. Ms Alford went absolutely mad. Her aussie accent grew increasingly curly. "Don't know what you're supposed doooo? You shouldn've ahhsked me waaayyy uuurlier!!!"

My initial idea was to paint a screaming Kristen face (some of my peers will remember that I was pursuing this idea for quite some time). However, I changed my mind last minute and painted this sorrowful Gabi face instead.

I don't know, it was the hurt of betrayal in her eyes that really compelled me. Stunning eyes, she's got!

The actual painting now belongs to Gabi. I hope she likes it!

P.S. Please click on the pics to view their full size and majesty :P