Club St. Shophouse

This is a scene from a little street in Chinatown called Club St.  I've been wanting to paint this little shophouse for almost a full year, but I just haven't gotten it right.  The colors on the house were just so much fun, and around dusk the light is changing quickly and casting amazing shadows.  Nevertheless, every time I tried to paint it, I had the perspective wrong, composition didn't work, colors didn't work.  I must have painted and re-painted it four times.  Finally, I just left it.  Today I saw the reference photos again, and I decided to try and tackle it again.  Success.  

Sentinel

This guy was standing alone in the middle of a field, just as the morning light was highlighting the leaves I was able to paint this scene.  There is so much humidity in the air, you can almost taste it!

IMM Field

I spent most of the day yesterday exploring nooks and crannies of Singapore, and I got some great shots.  I totally understand why most plein air painters usually work in Spring and Fall - it gets bloody hot here.  By 9am I am dripping sweat just casually walking around.  This little scene is from in front of the IMM building by the Jurong West MRT station.  There are some beautiful trees in a field that has somehow managed to avoid development thus far.  I am not holding my breath, as I am sure the government will find something to put there, but in the meantime I very much enjoy walking to the middle of the (very mushy) field and feeling like I have escaped from the city.

In other news, my cubic meter of art supplies finally arrived!  I bought all of the art supplies with the intent of resurrecting BS Art Studio.  I had so much fun with the encaustic stuff, but the more I got into it, the less time I had for school and oil painting, which is my final goal.  So, after much talk with the hubby, he proved himself amazing once again - I'm dropping the encaustic and working on oils full time.

Unfortunately, most of the supports that I ordered were Ampersand Claybord, which is decidedly NOT recommended for oil paint.  It is way too absorbent.  I have seen a few artists use it, but it definitely doesn't have the effect that I am looking for.  So, as you can see below, I have a lot of gessoing in front of me.  But - on the good side, I now have close to a years worth of supplies.  Woohoo!

Exploring Singapore

I love finding kind of hidden, forgotten places in a city that is so dense.  In a place that is so perfectly manicured and constantly has gardeners trimming everything, it is a gem to find something slightly overgrown, something not maintained perfectly.  Rather than looking at is as an eyesore, I really feel like it adds lots of visual interest.  This little scene was down by the Ministry of Defense.  The railroad itself seems to be well-maintained, but from all appearances, the track isn't used anymore.  In any case, it was part of my exploration today.  Enjoy!

Color Studies

I'm working on this little view of the street just down from where I live.  They are currently tearing up a good portion of the middle section, which had been just beautifully lined with trees.  This MRT construction has really kind of upset me because I chose this section of town to live in because of the trees.  I am not usually such an ardent tree-hugger, but I can already tell that it is 10 degrees hotter where they have cut them down now.  This was just a small color study, looking at the relationships.  This really helps me figure out if what I am planning will work color-wise in addition to composition wise.  Not a bad day today.

Weekly Roundup

This week was not even close to being as productive as I would have liked.  But then, I guess I should have known better.  Joe got back from the US this week, so I've had to catch up on the domestic agenda.  Bah.  And poor guy, I got into such a groove while he was gone that I have been cranky all week because I'm not used to having someone in the house.  Thankfully, he still loves me regardless.  So, next week is a new week, and I will start it fresh, with more discipline and gumption.  So it goes...

Out and About

I got outside again today.  Look out world!  After going out for one of Joe's co-worker's birthdays, I definitely wasn't getting up at 5am to work out, but I was up and out of the house by 7:30am.  The weather here in Singapore is tough, because the sun doesn't rise until close to 7am.  So you don't know if it looks like rain or sun until at least 7, and then you have a very short window to get outside before it is just too hot to function.  Plus, after about 10am the sun is too high overhead to get any kind of decent lighting.  So, the weather is really only bearable from 8-10 and 4pm (omg still totally hot) - 7pm.  The sun sets every day by 7:30 and because the city is built so high, everything is in complete shadow by 7:15.

In any case, I got out to the Botannical Gardens today.  I've been totally absorbed in all of the construction that has been going on in the city.  They are building an MRT (subway) line right in front of our apartment complex, so I've been watching all kinds of crazy equipment come and go.  This painting is one of the views of a pond at the Botanical Gardens.  I love the dichotomy between the lush greenery and the heavy duty earth moving equipment.  Really interesting.

Apple a Day

I continued the theme of apples again today, with varying success.  I was pretty happy with the second painting I did (shown above) because it involved my turpentine container, which is silver.  So it is very shiny, highly reflective, and just generally tough to paint.  I did my best to convey it, and I think I was pretty successful.  The colors got a little muddy, and I would like to do it again, but overall I am happy with it  I've included a picture of the still life setup below.

The first painting I did was of some apples in a bowl.  As per usual, the ellipse screwed me up a bit.  The apples are approaching the end of their useful lives, so it looks like I will be moving on to another type of fruit tomorrow.  I am really hoping to be able to get outside sometime soon again.  Since today was gray that probably means I can get out tomorrow.  One day on, one day off. 

Whew, a little worn out today actually got up at 5am to workout.  Monday and Tuesday I was kind of slack and didn't get around to it until later in the afternoon.  Bad Shelby. 

En Plein Air

Believe it or not, the weather held out today!   It was kind of gray, but it didn't rain, so I got outside today to do block studies.  I'm amazed the weather held.  Of course, being as we live on the equator, it was hot as all get out, but I actually got outside, so I was happy.  I was working on some of the methods that Lois Griffel laid out in her book, Painting the Impressionist Landscape.

She is a big advocate of the block studies, but honestly, I had a really hard time doing it the way that she instructed.  Her main technique involved scumbling colors over one another.  Scumbling is layering one layer over another so that the first layer still shows through and the two layers will optically mix for the viewer.  For example, if you put down a first layer of red, then scumble yellow over it, your eye will see orange, without losing any of the intensity of the two colors.  I just didn't really like her technique, and most of her work seems like it is overworked and oversaturated.  In other words, it was just too bright for me.  Ha, imagine that.  Too much color, who would have ever thought.

(This was my first block study)

So, on my second go round, I went back to the method I was using before, and I felt like I was capturing the color and atmosphere much better.  Part of my issue was as much that I have to learn to mix the colors in the first place before I can figure out how to mix them optically.

This afternoon I figured I should take the color studies back to the basics, so I spent the afternoon doing color wheels and mute charts.  Not the most exciting thing ever, but totally important.  It is like memorizing your multiplication tables, or memorizing scales before even practicing them.

In any case, 9.5 hours down! Two more paintings done, as well.

Hellow Down There

I bought some Gerberas from the store yesterday.  They are just such happy flowers.  I set this guy up behind the oranges, but he seemed to want to join in on the fun.  Of the other four flowers I bought, I had four sitting in the kitchen most of the day.  But I guess since there isn't any air-con in there, by the end of the day, they were totally sad and forlorn.  As a last resort I added some water and put them on my dining room table, which sits right under an air-con unit.  Within a couple of hours, they had perked right back up again.  Amazing.

On a side note, we're leaving for Sibu this weekend with our friends from Tulane.  I'll be back and posting on Wednesday!