13th Update

Finally, I was able to finish my third oil painting. I added the last details last Sunday and the piece is waiting to dry before I spray-paint it with lacquer. Here's how it partly looks like.  

I'll probably wait for three weeks before the paint is completely dry so I can paint the last coat of lacquer and have it framed (if I have enough money on the pocket). As of this time, I am very excited to start the fourth painting and I wonder what will be the subject like. I'll be needing new canvass cloth or maybe recycle the old cloth that I used before. i am very excited. :D

By the way, my little young brother said that the painting is ugly. What do you think?

12th Update

Art is a rather expensive pursuit, but I consider it as an important everyday activity. It allows me to express though drawings and paintings the things I’d rather not express verbally and it makes me happy and in touch with my yearnings to see peace, beauty, color, and order in the world I live in. I am as well, very drawn and specific in seeing details in everything, so when I observe another work of art, or do something which is mine, I pay very special attention to the details.

As of this time, I am finishing my third oil painting but still I haven’t had an idea on how to put the final details on the composition. In addition, I also need a bottle of linseed oil because the oil pigments that I’m using are highly concentrated and linseed oil will make the pigments stick well to the surface and is also important for all the colors to blend together and easy to manage. I’ve been rummaging for weeks on an art store trying to find the cheaper brand of linseed oil that I’m using, but as of now, there are still no stocks available, while the other store has another more expensive brand which I can’t afford. I managed to simply hand-paint the grass, leaves, and stone pathways which occupied the center-space of the composition, and although they are well painted in terms of surface area, they looked a bit dull and two-dimensional. I have to work on improving techniques, especially in using brushes with oil pigments, color mixing and efficiency, proper perspective rendering, shadows and lighting, and the overall skill of painting itself. I believe that oil painting is very pricey and it needs a lot of focus, practice and time—but the results are very rewarding, seeing a finished beautiful work of art that reminds me of a work done with lots of passion and full of personal meanings.

While on the other hand, I’m enjoying the watercolor medium as well and compared to using oils, watercolors allow me to give extra emphasis on the finer details of drawing and painting. I have greater control and flexibility because the watercolor pencils that I’m using have pointed tips which allow me to compose well-detailed drawings, and I can also blend colors well by brushing the colored surfaces with water using a fine tipped brush. Just like oil, watercolor paintings also need to be done with proper focus and care so that the finished pieces will be beautiful. Aside from watercolor and oil, I also have a gouache color set which I used on one particular piece. Gouache is also much like watercolor, but compared to the latter, gouache is more opaque and it cannot be blended by color glazing, unlike watercolor. Gouache produce very lively and vivid colors depending on the amount of water mixed. I also like it because it is more affordable since it only requires water as its mixing agent. I only used it once, so I also have to work on improving painting on this medium. 

- Maica

11 June 2011

I’m starting to be confident with my techniques even though I believe that I still have a lot to learn and a long way to go in this process.

11th Update

It was a bright and sunny day and as soon as we opened the shop, I headed straight to Angeles Electric Corporation to pay our shop’s electric bills. The streets are busy with people walking to and fro and vehicles rushing past another.

As I walked my way, observing sights,  I was shocked and delighted to see large blooms of roses being sold! It was a really a dream come true, and I rushed to ask the lady selling them, how much does each plant cost, and she told me that each cost seventy-five pesos. And so, after paying the electric bills, I hurriedly went back to the rose shop and asked for a red rose plant with healthy growth. As I chose from one plant to another, I noticed that all of them grow from a healthy mother plant. I first chose a red rose, which was combined with a white rose, so it was actually two plants in one pot. After that, I chose a pink rose with buds waiting to bloom. I paid for three plants for the price of two. God willing, I’ll come back this Friday to buy another pair with those salmon colored and white tinged ones! I’m so excited! Rainy days are coming by and the weather will be good for my new roses!

10th Update

Hello blog! I took a stroll at the mall and I decided to try out this coffee shop, and here's what I tasted, a frapuccino green tea topped with cream and a slice of banana cake. It was slightly expensive, but worth it. :)

9th Update

Roses under the sun!

This Sunday lunchtime, I spotted my potted roses with their leaves and blooms reflecting the sunlight. I was washing my clothes and cooking and I thought of taking a snapshot of two blooms and they looked very cute, much like a couple indeed!.

8th Update

Here are some of the works that I had been doing these past few days. Some of them are still works on progress, while others are waiting to be mounted on glass frames. The transformers watercolor illustration is an item that I initially planned to submit on Mike Shinoda's transformers artwork contest.