nightlife-

this is my painting for sec 3 eoy practical :D i sort of forgot the theme but i think its nightlife.

the painting depicts a city at night, where the clubs are open and DJs start rocking and concerts and starting and children are avoiding bed time and reading. to the right of the painting, the sky starts to lighten and day comes and cars are seen streaming into the city as people go to school and work and start another day.

my concept for this picture is "the city that never sleeps". because night time is traditionally the time where people go to sleep and cease activity for the day, i hoped to show a sense of irony in this picture that although it is night time, no one is asleep. quite the contrary actually, people are just as active at night as in day, and the addition of day coming and cars coming in and out of the city adds to the effect that the life in a city is just as active at night as in the day.

and if you look close enough,

you'll see a city that never sleeps;;

where the process matters so much more;; part 2

continuation of my previous post ^^

out of the two branches of pottery, the branch of hand-building still appeals more to me. for throwing, all you do is bend over the wheel trying to steady your hands to shape the spinning clay. but the works are (usually) always just round, smooth and symmetrical. there is not much feeling in the process, its more of the work that perfectionists do. (to put it bluntly) although it is true that through throwing, people are able to create works that are of a more sophisticated, elegant and classy, i don't think that that is the main point of pottery.

as i have said in the previous post, the main point of attraction pottery holds for me is the process of creating a piece. it is the experience of molding and shaping the clay with your own hands to create a piece of art. i feel that throwing does not offer me the full experience of clay, but hand building does. in hand building, you are not restricted by the wobbling clay or the turns of a wheel. in hand building, you just have the lump of clay in front of you, and some tools and your two hands. to me, hand building offers so many more possibilities and opens up so much more potential in clay.

in hand building, you can physically shaped the clay, twist the clay and bend the clay however you like. and since it is "hand-made", there is little or no chance of replication, making each piece unique. and because of the high level of interaction between maker and clay, each piece is thus more personal and holds more sentimental value. there is also more opportunity for texture and designs in hand building, creating even more possibilities for the average lump of clay.

these are a few of my favourite hand-building works ;D the first two photos are different angles of a bull sculpture i made last year. it was made out of a picture in one of the books my teachers had lying around their studio and is one of the most realistic figurines i've ever made ;D just so you know it's made out of a single huge lump of clay that i shaped and carved out :D i emphasised more on the muscles and form of the bull as it crouches because i wanted to try and capture the power and strength the bull represents.

the next one is a basket i made by weaving clay coils together. the idea is simple but the effect is (in my opinion) really good, mostly because of the design and the colour combination. the glaze i used was so cool - brown when painted in less layers and blue in thicker layers. the effect with ultramarine was a lot more than i bargained for ^^

the last one is actually a candle holder. i posted it here not only because i liked it but because i thought it related to my coursework a lot :D there's a hole at the top of the owl's head where you put the candle in and there are rows of tiny holes in the belly for the light to shine out. owls are nocturnal creatures which always fascinated me because they live in a world that is mostly devoid of light. when i was young, i used to think that nocturnal animals had the ability to produce light or glow, which is how they live in such darkness. so i used that memory and made this candle holder - an owl that can glow :D

where the process matters so much more;; part 1

oh well in case you didn't know i've been taking pottery for about 7 years on and off but i only started throwing last year. here are a few pictures of my works ^^

for me, pottery has been a way to get away from the stress of everyday life. there is just something very therapeutic about sitting on a chair for hours on end watching a lump of clay shape itself into an artwork. in order to make pottery, you have to have the "work with whatever you've got" mindset, especially for throwing. Unless you're an experienced potter who can make exact replicas of vases or bowls, there is no way for you to predict what a little nudge will do to your work. neither is there a way to predict how the glaze will look, whether it will spread evenly, or it will flow down the sides. It is this level of unpredictability that I really like about pottery. That, and the fact that the process is always more important than the final.
For paintings, you look at the composition, the subject matter, the forms, the brushwork - in other words, you look at the final and how it looks, because that is the point of painting. but it is a different case for pottery. when you view a pottery piece, the main point is not the form, nor the colour. it is imagining how the potter made the work, how he made a sculpture like that, or how he made the vase curve that way. pottery is also a very personal thing, because only you know how the entire process from wedging to glazing goes about. only you can look at one of your works, and recall the memories of shaping and trimming, of colouring and polishing. it is this aspect of clay - that the process matters so much more - that holds the attraction for me.
these two bowls hold a special significance for me because they were the first ever pieces i made when i first started throwing. i especially like the one on the left, because of the colour combination i chose - stormy grey outside, and mother of pearl inside with shino beige for the rim. the grey flows down the side like rain and clouds, as though its really stormy grey and the whole feeling is just very subtley complementary C: you might guess from the pictures that i like to paint my pieces in glazes that flow, and you'd be right. i especially love the glaze mother of pearl - a runny glaze that appears transparent in less layers, and white in thicker ones. a good example of a use of this glaze would be the second picture. it's a pot painted in cobalt blue for the bottom half and liberal amounts of mother of pearl at the top. The result is that the mother of pearl flowed down the sides of the vase during firing, mixing attractively with the blue ^^ ever since then i have always liked the combination of white on dark blue. the third picture is a work that was more experimentative. i was actually inspired to try it when i saw one of my teacher's work - a slim vase with thin layers of colour running down on each other. so i decided to try it out by adding mother of pearl in between layers of colours to make them run and it worked! (sort of) :D the first picture is one of the few i have that doesn't have runny glazes. its the combination of a matt beige with a glossy clear brown. the effect is very simplistic and elegant in its simplicity c:

final. (FINALLY.)

finally! after one year, this is my final :D 4 trees, 4 candles, 4 choices. which is yours?

as far as all my trees go this has to be my favourite. its the spring tree, with new leaves just sprouting out, symbolising hope of new life, and hope for change, as the tree will not stop here but continue to grow leaves till it has a full crown. spring is a very hopeful season :) for farmers, it means the snow will melt and their plants will grow again, for people, it (usually) means a new year and new beginnings, for animals it means the coming of warmer weather. the birdhouse is the candle holder because spring is the time where birds return, after migrating before winter, symbolising the return of hope and life.

my comments: this tree was inspired by my spaghetti tree, except i blended the spaghetti together partially so that it looks a lot more realistic. the birdhouse was /supposed/ to be on the tree, but it fell off so i'm going to stick it back after everything is fired ^^ the red+grey oxide really came through when i was glazing the birdhouse. the brown that was created made the birdhouse look very woody and nice :D
summer. the hottest period of the year, but the favourite season of trees. in the summer, they are at their prime, with huge crowns of bright green leaves, soaking up the sun. the hot sun is the source of hope for the trees, as it promises food, light, warmth and life. also, for people seeking shade from the sweltering heat, the great crowns of the tree provide the perfect place to sit under and perhaps read a book, or swing from a branch.

my comments: don't look at it now, but the tree and all the rocks are actually not attached to each other. they (heh) sort of broke apart due to poor joining but its okay! it can be salvaged :D the thing i regret most about this sculpture is still not being able to shape the crown more realistically. (plus, i probably shouldn't have added so much oxide to it either ><)
autumn - the season of harvest. this is the season that farmers have been looking forward to all year, as it is finally the time they can reap the fruits of their harvest. not only do farmers hope for this season, trees do too. their fruits are finally grown and the seeds in them can be dispersed to grow into more trees. autumn is the season of hope of more food, harvest, and new life. so i thought it would be apt to let the object of all this hope - the fruit - be the main part of the sculpture, the place where the candle is placed. the apple symbolises fertility and new life. due to greek mythology, the apple is also associated with Aphrodite, and to throw an apple at someone was to symbolically declare one's love. not only so, the apple also plays a big part in the creation of life, as it was the forbidden fruit in the garden of eden.

my comments: the apple fell off again D:< but kay lah it was cause i hollowed the apple slantedly because the apple was going to lean on the tree so the "floor" that the candle is supposed to be on had to be parallel to the floor.. so as a result the c.g. went bazongkers and it couldn't stay on the tree >:
winter. the time of bitter cold and harsh snow. but even though times are bitter, hope is burning bright in everyone's hearts, providing them with the warmth and strength to survive the winter. a den is used as the place to hold the candle to emphasise on this point. animals like bears and foxes seek refuge from the cold in their warm dens, and hibernate throughout the winter, in hope of waking up to a warmer, greener place. by placing a candle in the den, i hoped to symbolise the hope that the animals and people hold in their hearts and minds, the hope that gives them the power and will to survive through winter.

my comments: haha i don't know why but this sculpture looked alot better when it wasn't painted >: but even though winter is supposed to be cold and harsh, its my favourite season (competing with autumn). there is just something so attractive about a scenery with the ground covered in sheets of white, and fluffy white flakes drifting down.. (kay fine i probably like winter because i'm been living in summer my whole life) but still ^^ I really like my den by the way. from behind it looks just like a big rock, which suits the natural feel of the sculpture ^^

tree try-outs! (real ones.)

this is my next trial after that failed one that broke. i realised that not only was that one too weak, it did not look realistic enough for my liking. so i tried using the spaghetti thing again and stuck them on layer by layer to slowly build the tree you see above :) its not very big.. probably just 15 cm at most.. but the tree looks //a lot// more realistic. but looking back, i realised that the knobbles in a tree aren't actually so prominent and... individually formed? its more of one shape made of different shapes. so i suppose i should have like took some slip and blended round the edges so the coils look more natural instead of.... a heap of spaghetti.
oh this is the crown of leaves for the summer tree! its hollow on the inside so a candle can go in and shine through the holes (: but i could have made the form more realistic i suppose but i forgot and left so it became dry and hard.. >:
this is the winter tree! see the big boulder-ey thing there its a cave where animals hibernate in the winter :) and its also where the candle goes ^^ i took this picture because i thought the tree looked really cute as though it was asking for a hug :D
this is the autumn tree! the apple is hollow (the hole's on the other side) to put the candle in. i'm so proud of the apple :D originally i just made the apple without the stalk or leaf and went around asking people what they though it was. all said it was an apple ^^ -happy- but the apple looked so nice i was quite sad to have to hollow it out >:

darkness is simply the absence of light;;

credits to xuedi for the title :D koped it off her blog~

anyway I made a mini version of my final sculpture! :D But it's not big.. Probably a few cm higher than a hand? It was basically just to let me get a feel of making trees out of clay and how I would make the trunk, the branches or the leaves. It was then that I decided on making the base out of rocks to add to the earthly naturalistic effect :) Through this sculpture I also intended to experiment with how I was going to integrate the candle holder into the tree. I tried my idea of putting it on the top of the tree here! I didn't know what to do with the branches so I just improvised with the spaghetti making tool.. sort of reminds me of avatar now.. The general effect was quite nice :D Like a nest built on a tree top ^^ very.... hopeful. Unfortunately.................
..................this happened. The coils for the trunk were too weak to support the candle holder and the spaghetti were unbelievably fragile (even more so after they dried). I suppose this could have been better thought out as to how the trunk should have been thicker, or how i should have hollowed more out of the candle holder to make it lighter, or how the candle holder could have been of a different shape to minimise clay usage and weight. But oh well~ it will be remembered~~ and plus it gave me new ideas as to the composition of the final sculptures ^^

oils!

oil painting assignment in sec 3! ^^ seeing this just reminds me of the europe trip since we were doing this before and after it :D we were asked to pick an art movement and use techniques from that movement to paint something related to nanyang. i chose post-impressionism, and was inspired by georges seurat's painting style of pointillism to complete this painting ^^

If you can tell, I painted a scene that you would see if you stood at the midpoint of the 2nd floor classroom block corridor, looking out past the flags, to the admin block. i think the thing that stood out the most for me was the presence of the flags. The combination of a school flag and a national flag is like a trigger that immediately tells you its a school. Also, the first thing that has always caught my eye about ny's appearance was the light red bricks that make it. Also, this is a view from the classroom block, a view that most students will see of nanyang. I wanted to show that this scene was from a student's point of view instead of just another glamourous shot to advertise nanyang or something. Another thing I added to reinforce this point was a girl sitting on the floor, sketching. Since sketching or observational drawing usually requires some form of peacefulness, I added her in to create a sense of tranquility in the picture, and to show how she feels right at home in nanyang, as it would not have been possible to be so peaceful in uncomfortable surroundings. A human presence also seems to make the picture seem more "real", as opposed to just a shot of a building. It humanises the picture and shows that nanyang is not just a building, it is a home with living breathing people inside it.

For me, this work is important because I have never really been confident in my artistic skills and this assignment showed me that if i put my mind to it, something like an oil on canvas painting is actually possible of me. Through this painting, I realised that i really like painting, or more precisely, the tranquil feeling you get just sitting there and dabbing blots of paint on a canvas. As far as this painting is concerned I feel that I could have done a lot better with regards to the painting technique. Pointillism was supposed to be dots of pure colour placed next to each other such that the eye blends them together from afar. But i sort of mushed up the colours together instead of neatly dotting them next to each other thus not really capturing the point of pointillism.

the metamorphosis of stone.

it's fired! hurrah~ see the difference between painted and unpainted ^^ the painted one seriously look like rocks - therefore i am HAPPY. :D i haven't really touched oxides at all since the box thing in sec 1, and before that i've never ever used oxides before so using them now felt like trying to rediscover old territory ehehe. I'm really proud of this picture ^^ though the significance is actually in the memories that it bring up~ Glazing my finals gave me a totally new look on oxides since my impression of them in sec 1 was just that they were really monotonous and didn't give me many colours to play with - which is probably true if you used them on smooth pieces with not much texture.. But the oxides really impressed me with the way they just neatly flowed into all the nooks and crannies of the clay, darkening some areas and lightening in others. it's ability to be sponged off also helped greatly in adding tonal value to my sculptures :D

Below is a picture of how i turn a white, fired, irregular lump of clay (bottom left) into a rock :D adding grey oxide first (top left) gets the glaze into all the little cracks and dents in the clay while it just slops thinly over smoother surfaces, and this effect works even better if you just slop the oxide on with the brush and let it kinda roll down the sides. oxide = tonal magic<3 i originally had all my rocks look like just step 2, but i decided to try and experiment on a rock and slop some diluted red+grey oxide (top right) and the effect was so good. red+grey somehow equals a really nice rustic brown that made the rocks look more organic and natural, as though the rock had been sitting in soil for years and the colour of the earth sort of diffused into it :D but then it became a bit too dark and there was not enough contrast between the lighter and darker parts for my liking so i sponged it, letting the sponge just clean away any part of the rock it could reach, getting a nice natural highlight for the final rock (bottom right) ^^ the lighter parts of the rock became a light red cause of the oxide but its fine. it adds to the rustic feel ^^

@hope_neverends

title inspired by my mortal's twitter dn c:

Anyway this post is about how i got inspired to have my central idea as hope owo

BIRDS. <3 i love birds :D so chirpy and chipper and full of life ^^ i love watching sparrows and mynahs hop around in my garden pecking around at the ground. the same way a scenic painting of grasslands and trees or a park is never complete without some birds in the background. they just add so much liveliness to everything :D they also aptly symbolise hope, a concept i have always loved due to the pure, positive nature of it ^^
the moment i got inspired by birds, i started thinking of how to integrate them in and the first thing i thought of was a bird house :D it's relatively easy to make and it can house a candle AND has holes for the light to shine through! (fine there's only one hole but i can carve more :D) my concept for the bird house is that since "home is where the heart always is", and birds symbolise hope, the home of birds would symbolise that "where there is hope, there will your heart be, also". (partially koped from harry potter ^^)
this is a snowdrop flower (: i stumbled upon it when researching on what flowers symbolise hope, and found this - a small pure white flower with three petals and a heart shaped center. i drew this out of a picture on google where it was night time and the whiteness of the snowdrop shone in the darkness like a bright light, similar to a candle in the darkness. at first i wanted to make a snowdrop shaped candle holder, but i scrapped the idea in the end :/
and now, *drumroll* the central (ish) object in my sculptures! the candle. i drew this from a picture from google and in the picture the candle was in complete darkness so the candle was the only source of light in the entire picture. candles generally symbolise hope. people light them in sky lanterns, people light them and set them to float on rivers, people light them to illuminate their surroundings, and people light them for warmth in the cold. And where in other places, fire is a dangerous, unstoppable, life-destroying force, when lighted on a candle, it transforms into a source of light, warmth, and hope.

TREES.

A tree of life :) I really liked how knobbly everything looked. it gave the feeling that this tree is very old, wise, and all-knowing~~ plus the apple is so cute :D Anyway, this work was more of helping me explore with the texture and form of a tree, the bumps and knobbles and twists and turns. Sketching (and shading) this tree helped me better understand the natural form of a tree, and thus helped me get closer to my goal of making a realistic looking tree. ^^
This tree was more of prep for my summer tree. Although the drawing looks rather simple, it was of great significance to me, as it was after i finished it and looked at it that i realised that the best way to capture the essence of summer was to make a tree with a thick crown full of leaves. Summer is the only time trees are at their prime of leaves and this thus led to the design of my summer tree, to make the candle holder out of the crown of leaves (it being the main representational point of summer) C:

this winter tree serves the same purpose as the summer tree above, providing me with inspiration for my winter tree. The whole image of a tree like that sprouting out of snow also got me imagining a forest of leafless trees, perched on fluffy white snow, and got me thinking - what else is there in winter?
this is a composition for a sculpture i originally planned to make before the seasons idea popped into my head. I was playing around with the idea of life without hope and faced a problem of how best to depict a dead tree. I could simply make the tree leafless, with its branches dry and devoid of life, but it seemed too similar to winter trees. So I decided on fallen logs.
oh this has to be one of my favourite and most successful sketches ever :D I used an eraser (heh.) for the hanging leaves (?) to try and mimic the glowing effect and it worked quite well ^^ It's the tree of souls from avatar, and I found it fitting for my coursework as the movie depicts it as the closest thing to a tree of life. But more than its use in my coursework, this drawing is significant to me because I have never really drawn something so realistic before. It gave me confidence and showed me that I can draw well if I set my mind to it ^^