faculty of wonder

A place for when I'm feeling particularly desperate, eloquent, both or neither.

[zebtchi]

WIP! Somewhere in India I was dreading painting the foreground rocks on the left, so I started today on the bottom right but somehow gravitated to the left anyway 🧐 But I'm pleasantly surprised (seems to be a theme these days lol) by the greys that appeared. Still needs definition/better contrast but I'm moving on to the rest of the canvas for now Palette was prussian blue, alizarin crimson, lemon yellow, yellow ochre, burnt umber and titanium white. . #painting #oilpainting #landscapeart #landscapepainting #landscape #foreverWIP #paintingprogress #canvaspainting (at Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/CDgOMlblUf6/?igshid=1dwrdas9bki6

[zebtchi]

Sketches from a couple weeks back. I intend to cut the third one into lino when my joints feel up for it Actually I really want to try lithography for these landscapes - I suspect it would be a really good fit for what I'm looking for. And as I typed this caption I googled "can I do lithography at home" and apparently it's possible with aluminium foil and cola!?!? Hmmm!!! . . . #landscape #sketch #pencil #pencilsketch #notmyphoto https://www.instagram.com/p/CDT4pijF4df/?igshid=iddf6k6qdmuo

[zebtchi]

Oh ya, I never shared the finished (?) painting from January LOL. I think I kinda finished it in Feb/Mar but made a few edits when I came back to studio last week. Overall spent wayyyy too long on it and I feel the result is v lacking in character (esp compared to how it started), but it was a helpful jump back into painting I miss the lovely peach underpainting, just a few peeks of it in the sky/clouds . Oil paint on canvas, 50x40cm Reference image from when Louis went climbing in India . . . #landscapeart #landscape #mountain #painting #oilpainting #oils #landscapepainting (at Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/CCTVeFeF01Q/?igshid=ockjun73b562

[zebtchi]

A Pear, acrylic on loose canvas. . Haha, see what I did there? My sis found a nice pear with leaf still attached, so I took it to paint. I haven’t painted from life for a while, and I must say that I could feel my brain getting stretched. Good exercise. My circular-table-horizon somehow always messes up!! And I have started signing/dating paintings to remind myself to stop messing with them. . Swipe for each of them right-side up, sketches, and palette. Colours used: titanium white, raw umber, burnt sienna, sap green, cerulean. (at Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/CAH6ZCxFDWv/?igshid=48o12o8d31yk

[zebtchi]

I got around to literally tying up the loose ends of (most) of my bead crochet tubes, and been testing out new shapes and experimenting with bead size! Trying to make what I can out of the range of materials I have - not as extensive as I’d like but enough to play with 😊 Pretty trinkets are kinda useless nowadays (pjs all day every day) but it’s still nice to look at, play with, enjoy, make them 💝 (at Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_R5y2IlCs0/?igshid=1c9qt2mupdgty

[zebtchi]

Another one, pre-CB. Part way working through this I started to wonder whether it was a mistake to fiddle with it, but I managed to persevere while having a few episodes of Portrait Artist of the Year as company and I’m pleased with what emerged 😊 Still happy with it after 2 weeks ✌ (at Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/B-9fLt2FBca/?igshid=bjpv02hvo5u7

[zebtchi]

Back to acrylics tonight because washing oil brushes is the worst!! But even on these small canvases acrylics are SO STRESSFUL 😨 it didn’t help that I was lazy to get water before starting ️🙃 This is somewhere in India again, I think. More layers to come. . . . #art #acrylic #acrylicpainting #painting #landscape #landscapepainting #landscapeart #mountains #sketch #foreverWIP (at Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9g1JTTlkew/?igshid=mnineb7mdzky

[zebtchi]

Oops, it’s already March! Also, it’s only March and I’m already a painting behind 😂 Laid down some strokes on this piece I just started yesterday. I notice that I tend to start a bit wild (as I want it to be!) but it usually ends up rather tame 😐 Perhaps that applies to my life as well...!?!?!? Good news though, I just caught and flushed a child cockroach ✌ . . . #landscapeart #landscape #painting #oilpainting #oils #artistsoninstagram #instaart #foreverWIP (at Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9O5hDWFkZb/?igshid=8e5nk4klzjs2

[zebtchi]

The last 2 months of 2019 went by very quickly for me, despite my good intention to wind down (what’s new). Now that CNY is over, it’s truly the new year. Better post this before I forget I did it 😂 Something different from my usual: I got the chance to do some digital paintings for the @standrewscathedral Bicentennial magazine last year. It just so happened that I had been making portraits earlier on and I had just scaled down at work, so I decided to give it a shot. Starting out, I was uncertain I could deliver what I promised within the time I agreed to. 10 minutes into the first painting (can you guess which I started with?) and I realised that I had not done any proper/finished digital paintings in a decade... But I decided to ignore that fact and pushed through anyway, and hey! They look fairly like who they were supposed to look like. Reviewing them after 2.5 months, I realise that you can really tell the quality of the reference based on the end result 😂 And also I have a lot to learn re: using textures and different brushes. I might post the portraits individually next time - for now it’s easier to just lump them in one post so I don’t have to write 6 different captions. #portraits #painting #digitalart #digitalillustration #digitalpainting #photoshop (at St Andrew's Cathedral, Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/B78ixBQJA3R/?igshid=1nrjttk9f2bb6

[zebtchi]

A bit late to the whole happy new year thing, but uh... Happy New Year! I hope to develop more discipline as an artist this year, which to me means dedicating time and space to making (+ realistic and challenging output goals) and also being intentional, protective and UNASHAMED for good rest and play, which I believe serves as a foundation for meaningful, purposeful, personal art. I’ll figure out how that plays out practically, in due time. Also, note that I’m actually using the word ’artist’?? I’m always stumped when I have to fill out my occupation on immigration forms but perhaps I’m getting to a point when I would fill it out without it being an existential moment???? Check back in a few months or a year to see how that develops I guess. Anyway! Hoping to finish at least a painting each month this year (Van Gogh churned out like average 1 per 1.5 days so this should be very achievable) and here’s the start of one. Quite liking the contrast of real brush and fake brush. This post is alr very long so I’ll talk about painting with oils again (since like 2009) another time. Comment 🐭 if you got to this point. Have a good 2020 ✨ . . . #landscapeart #landscape #painting #oilpainting #oils #artistsoninstagram #instaart #foreverWIP (at Ichinen Sekai) https://www.instagram.com/p/B67Ycynp2f1/?igshid=xgufzosk01ow

[zebtchi]

Monday rest day in Fang spent enjoying the gardens at Doi Ang Khang. Still very amused at the photoceptions 😂 I’m so encouraged to have visited @victoriousaccountant again, see you home in May! (or maybe tmr night in CM 😆) 📸: PG, Sam, Beli, LG? (at Doi Ang Khang 安康山 ดอยอ่างขาง) https://www.instagram.com/p/B6PdrXclB7j/?igshid=1wmdyzgh415l1

[zebtchi]

pencil and gouache on cardboard, on classifieds . . . #painting #gouache #gouachepainting #landscape #landscapeart #cardboard #cardboardart #drawing #sketch (at Singapore) https://www.instagram.com/p/B5SlRF1FTSo/?igshid=1sqwkv94rnheo

[zebtchi]

Low expectation, after work sketching. I can sleep peacefully tonight because I. DREW. SOMETHING. TODAY. . . . #landscape #pencildrawing #pencilsketch #landscapeart #palominoblackwing #sketch #drawing #pencil #pencilart #artistsoninstagram #artistanxiety (at Ichinen Sekai) https://www.instagram.com/p/B4clmMBFwD7/?igshid=2dm6l7j1igs5

[zebtchi]

dots for days

I realised that when I work on them my view is at like 1000% so I forget that they're actually really small. I even forgot to save it in its original size; I saved only a 500% copy to upload to instagram.

But it's quite amusing to look at in its original size, isn't it? It's the kind of thing that makes you go, "hee hee" even if you are a mean person (I can only imagine). 

Certain aspects of pixel art seem to suit me quite well. Or perhaps it is more accurate to say, a certain aspect of pixel art suits me quite well. Haha. I really love small things.  I'm just starting out with the medium and a challenge I've recognised is my impatience. It's strange because there are times when I can be extremely anal and detail-conscious (particularly when dealing with numbers or formatting) but somehow when it comes to making an image, I'm often much looser. I can't tell if it's impatience or restlessness or...-gasp-style!? (I’m pretty sure it’s impatience at this stage ;)) I think I'm relying too much on the eyedropper tool and letting the program (I use Aseprite) find the colours from the reference image. I'll let myself do that for now, but as I continue practising I hope to learn how to make a good palette and to create the image from that. I think that will be quite key in making a coherent series of sprites or images that could be used for who-knows-what. For near future there might be a lot of practice images of mushrooms, corals and onions. Possibly a slab of butter. And some portraits of the Gnome Overlord.

[zebtchi]

We put no obstacle in anyone's way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love; by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; through honor and dishonor, through slander and praise. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.     We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians; our heart is wide open. You are not restricted by us, but you are restricted in your own affections. In return (I speak as to children) widen your hearts also.

6:1-13 Corinthians 

[zebtchi]

reflections on being scalded by prawn mee soup

On the way home I started to ponder, "why did it happen?". I knew it wasn't the right question to ask, but I asked it anyway.  I tried to recall my reactions to the incident. I can't remember much, so I'd better write down what I can: My first reaction was one of shock, which transitioned to a realization that the soup was really hot, expressed in an exclaimation, "Freeeeak, that's really hot." Then I started thinking I didn't want to smell like prawn mee soup in a lecture hall later.  During my reaction I noticed the old man who had spilled the soup - he seemed to be alone and a little gong, he said a few "sorry "s with a smile and bumbled off. What I remember from a peak at his bowl was that he still had a respectable amount of soup in his bowl (my sister's main concern when I recounted the incident to her later in the night).  Another thing I noticed was that the woman sitting at the other end of the table had an amusing expression of shock and fear.  Thankfully my friend had some tissue to soak up the soup from my sleeve before I went to wash up a bit and run my arm/shoulder under running water.  I am thankful that I did not act out of anger, or make a very big reaction (I think). It was painful, but it was a small thing.  I don't know if the fact that I love prawn mee helped me to be more sympathetic to the man who lost some prawn mee soup to a cotton sleeve.  But I must confess that I don't think my reaction conveyed much love.  It was so easy for me to be focused on the pain and inconvenience caused, rather than honestly telling the old man that it was okay.

[zebtchi]

will you let me

Someone on my Facebook newsfeed posted a short digitally-written note about wanting to paint and appreciate her friends. It brought to mind a short song I wrote shortly before I left London - ​ Will you let me paint a portrait of you? It will be from an image so you don't have to sit still I'll spend much, much, much, much more time (with it) than we will It doesn't have a fixed tune yet, but I've been singing it on the way home for a couple of days. I want it to be flowy and organic; the "much, much, much" part is often extended, and the song can pretty much be in an infinite loop. It's funny because when I wrote it I had not done portraits for a couple of years, but I remembered what I used portrait-making for in my first year in London: extending time spent with precious people.  Maybe I'll talk more about portrait-making another day...I realised there's so much about it which I love and many ways in which it helps me navigate my relationships.