Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 30

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 30
6in x6in Oil on Panel
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This is another really fun shophouse in Chinatown.  It has been kind of funny, because as I paint them, my favorites are usually the ones that are the blues.  The reds are a bit tough for me.  But other people in the studio who are local, just love the reds.  There is such a huge cultural difference with colors, which I had heard about, but until I talk to people, you don't understand how significant it is.  One of the artists did  piece with the Singapore river in red.  To me, it looks violent and upsetting.  To him and the other locals, it means that it is the lifeblood.  It is a auspicious color of luck and success.  I just think of horrific violence or something.

We arrived in Florence on Friday, and have just been having a ball.  My husband met his new soul mate in a gentleman that makes leather jackets here, named Janni.  We were invited to his home Friday night for dinner, and I think after that wonderful experience, my husband will never eat my cooking again.  It was out of this world.  His wife made an Italian pasta, and the main course was a greek lamb and potato dish.  Just to die for.  It is such a beautiful experience to travel to new places and make new friends.  As Janni was telling us, friends are the lifeblood and energy that make life worthwhile.  So true!

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 27

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 27"
6in x 6in Oil on Panel
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This is my first night scene that I attempted.  It was actually really hard.  So many light sources bouncing around, and the different types of light!  In the end, I was really happy with the results, and I learned a lot from attempting this one.   

In other news, I had two pieces accepted into the 6" Squared Show at the Randy Higbee Gallery in Costa Mesa, CA.  And I know that it was actually juried, since two of my entered pieces were also rejected... I'm so excited!  

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 26

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 26"
6in x 6in Oil On Panel
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Here is another Little India shophouse.  I really liked the morning light and the pretty shadows it created. 

Here in Italy I've been getting tons and tons of reference photos.  Rome is amazing people watching territory.  My husband has started calling me a creeper though.  Because there are so many tourists, people don't pay attention to cameras, which is great.  I just kind of walk around, and take photos of everyone lounging and hanging out in the piazzas and cafes.  Totally fun.   I'm starting to get excited for the workshop this May. 

PS - The popemobile is pretttty cool.  

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 25

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 25"
6in x 6in Oil on Panel
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So we have arrived in Rome.  The food, amazing, the wine so inexpensive!  We have worked our way across the city and for the life of me I cannot find an apostrophe or an at symbol on the keyboard to save my life.  Ciao, time for more pasta!

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 24

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 24"
6in x 6in Oil on Panel
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Happy St. Patty's Day everyone!  This shophouse is not green, and it certainly isn't Irish, but I had a lot of fun doing it.  I spent my St. Patty's Day packing for our trip, and realized that after living in the tropics for 1.5 years that we own no cold weather clothes.  Whoops.  Well, we both own a jacket and 1 sweater, but that won't get us through 2.5 weeks.  And for a kid that's been living in the tropics for this long, highs in the 60s will be a bit chilly for me (looks like lows are in the 40s).  We're resourceful, and I'm sure we'll figure it out!

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 23 - DP No. 45

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 23"
6x6 Oil on Panel
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I've done a painting of part of this house before (No. 10), but it was cropped differently, and actually the top part of the house.  On this one I just loved the shadow that the sign created, and I really like the totally different colors together.

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 22 - SOLD

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 22"
6in x 6in Oil on Panel
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This shophouse is a wonderful bright red one found in Chinatown.  Wow.  Having my midterm finished has gotten a huge monkey off my back.  Between that and my husband's reminders that we have "four more sleeps" until we leave for Italy, my concentration on getting ready for my show has been a bit lagging.  I now have 42 paintings completed, and need another 25 (plus some slightly larger ones to flush it out).

Funny thing, is that I'm kind of starting to run out of shophouses.  Or not run out of them perse, but run out of them having good lighting and shadows.  This prospect has me a bit terrified, I'm not going to lie.  There are just all these cool nooks and corners that have shophouses in them, but a lot of the time the houses are shaded by trees or tall buildings.  Or, when I need to get pictures it is just a cloudy day, so the diffused lighting leaves almost no shadows.  Or, all the shutters are closed.  But I can artistically fix that one.  The bottom line is that I need some interesting shadows.  Otherwise it makes for a boring painting of some architecture.  I really think this two week break is going to help give me a fresh perspective for when I return.

But have no fear, I've been painting ahead, so I'll continue to post daily!

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 21 - DP No. 44

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 21"
6in x 6in Oil on Panel
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This was a really beautifully colored shophouse on a cloudy day.  It had the ceiling rafters painted a white, kind of similar to some of the homes in Charleston.  I'm just continually amazed at the different color combinations that have been used on these houses.  They use a lot of very interesting complimentary colors.  Take those windows above for example.  They used a muted green and a muted red for the shutters, and the house itself is a light aqua.  Sometimes the colors come out garish, but often it somehow works.  I try to stay pretty true to the color schemes of the homes, as I feel like that is an important part of what makes them what they are.  And sometimes I do edit the details a bit - the Rococo style homes are an absolute bear to try and render all of the detail correctly.  So some artistic license is used, but not too much. I like to think that if you ran across the home on your own, you would definitely recognize it.

Oh, and in other news, I finished my midterm for my Cityscape class.  The one that I mentioned was a doozy?  Well, here it is completed.  I really love the way it turned out, but the funny thing that I've noticed with my work - I don't do industrial and gritty.  Part of why I was attracted to this scene was how industrial it was - the heavy machinery, the movement, the containers.  But by the time I was finished with it, it had lost all grit.  I also liked the way the light hit the yard, which is what I wound up subconsciously emphasizing and making the focal point.

Well, this is how I think art tells a lot about an artist, even without them knowing it.  Every time I have a gritty, dirty scene, it winds up having a lot of light and hope.  I'm an optimistic person (mostly), so maybe this says a lot, and maybe I should just focus on the type of scenes that play well to my personality, like the shophouses and other cityscapes.  I think they wind up reading more true.  I've always been a believer in trying to strengthen your weaknesses, but I think this is more about playing to your strengths.  I was definitely surprised at the result.  Sometimes things have a way of painting themselves, pretty funny, isn't it?

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 20 - DP No. 43

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 20"
6in x 6in Oil on Panel
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I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  Mine was spent in the studio, painting away.  I'm almost finished with my midterm for class, it has been a doozy.  One thing is pretty certain, I think I'll be cured of my fascination of the container yards.  It is pretty much a perspective nightmare.  I'm literally counting down the days until we leave for Italy.  I have to be in the studio every day before then, even the day we fly out, but I think it will be totally worth it.  Only one more week!

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 19 - DP No. 42

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 19"
6"x6" Oil on Panel
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My husband really loves this shophouse.  I personally, had a really difficult time at first with all the detail.  For the life of me, I couldn't get the moulding on the top to "pop" enough so that you could tell how defined it was.  But then I resolved the issue and moved on.

Last night Norman (our small and un-mighty car) died.  At the gas pump.  We pulled into the gas station, where they always have attendants to pump.  You don't pump the gas, they do.  And they'll clean your windshield and such, which is nice.  So anyways, we turn off the car to pump the gas, then the hubby gets back in the car and tries to turn it on.  Nothing.  We call the rental company (company lease), wait about 20-30 minutes for the guy to come help us.  Not once in that 20-30 minutes did anyone come over and ask why we were loitering in the parking lot, why we hadn't moved, if we needed help with the car. It was kind of the twilight zone.  In the US there would be at least a person or two that would offer to stick their head under the hood and have a look, or give you a jump or something.  But here, nobody even knows how to change a tire (or to be honest, most don't know how to fill a tire), much less jump a battery or check the oil.  Even I know those things.  Thank goodness my parents made me drive a car that was slowly dying when I was a teenager.  I can't imagine knowing absolutely nothing about cars.  But I'm not going to even start in on what terrible drivers are over here. :)  It all turned out okay in the end, apparently Norman goes through batteries on a regular basis.  Nice.