The Studio

Twenty-third Post

One of   the best times that happened in my life is these days when I have the time and the freedom to be extraordinary and pursue my dreams!  


This is my world and I love it!

Twenty-second Post

God knows how much I loved you, but I have to accept that you can't love me the way I loved you. I have to go on and live my life the way I did before I met you.

I also need to be happy again. I deserve to be happy.

Goodbye.

Twenty-first Post

On the Art of Roses

One of the subjects that I'm currently focused on is the rose. I consider it as one of the most beautiful of flowers and the most challenging to draw and paint. It comes in varied forms, sizes, shapes, colors, texture, and style. Rendering a rose into an artistic form, you can imagine that you can use many shades of color by just drawing or painting a single blossom. It think it deserves special attention to by artists who work on interpreting and magnifying nature's details.

When it comes to painting roses, I'm still on the process of finding which techniques are effective per medium. With watercolor pencil, I start with making simple sketches of every layer of petal.

making a simple sketch and shading

For a simple sketch, I use three shades of the same color. First, using the darkest color, I shade and define the edges and shadows including the darker areas of the petals. After that, I emphasize the lighter areas of the rose using the same color with the lighter tone, at the same time, leaving a bit of white areas uncolored. The final step is to wet the shaded areas together in order to mingle the colors and thus achieve the final touches of the composition.

The intricate details and nuances of roses is an aspect that really challenges me to draw them. To be able to render them realistically while staying true to reinterpreting them in an honest artistic form requires practice, patience, discipline, a sense of consistency, emotional involvement and careful observation. I also take time to pass by flower shops and observe the details of the blossoms that I see. I also have my little rose garden in our home which gives me a lot of inspiration for my art. I feel a sense of wonder and happiness by just looking at them.


Sometimes, I get a bit disappointed when I don't get the desired effect for the details or the overall composition (disappointment do happen, it's just how we deal with them that matters) but as I go on through the process, I learn to accept my mistakes and discover more creative ways to correct them. It's either I leave them behind if I simply cannot find the solutions, or I go on and find ways to innovate and improve the aspects that need to be given consideration.

I find it a fulfilling and exciting to journey to embark on new works and start on subjects and mastering the medium as I go along the way. I am almost always delighted to see every work get finished knowing how much every pencil sketch and brush stroke meant to me as I worked from start to finish. it was a work that comes from the heart and the workings of the mind. Each form is both an analysis and expression; a meaningful whole.

I'm learning everyday and it is a bittersweet life that I live. Each step, each process is always an opportunity, an open door to make more meaningful art and to be a happy, content, and a better person.

Twentieth Post

"... Allah has forgiven what is past..." (Qur'an 5:95)

The one who has deep insight understands the nature of people and how things may change; he puts himself in the other person's shoes and understands situations both obvious and hidden.

The person who has deep insight understands realities, and knows that when he is faced with a problem or when things do not turn out the way he wanted, and that no one is totally content with his lot; a person may dislike something which is good for him or he may delight in something which is bad for him, and goodness is to be found in that which Allah, the Exalted decrees.

The person who has deep insight feels that he is a part of this great universe, and that he will have a share of pain and grief, but also of happiness. He does not get unaware by things,  nor does he feel that he is the only one who is suffering as does the one who has little insight, who thinks that he is the only one who is faced with this problem, or that people are out to get him, or that he always has bad luck. The one who has deep insight does not feel any such thing, rather, he understands the way life is, and he knows that he is a part of it, so he accepts it after doing his utmost to do what is best.

- An excerpt from the book, You Can Be The Happiest Woman In The World

Ninteenth Post

Finally, I already have linseed oil! I can now paint more easily and be able to mix oil colors well on canvass surface and I no longer need to rely on handpainting my works because I can use brushes now.

Here's the linseed oil that I bought yesterday. It's water mixable and therefore, more lasting and easier to use.

Linseed oil allows colors to blend well and therefore produce lovely effects. I can move the brush freely along the surface and there's no need to apply lots of hard paint.

Eighteenth Post

A box of chocolates from a very far place! :)

Seventeenth Post

Sixteenth Update

detail roses with flowers and cherries. (Watercolour on paper)

detail with fruits, chocolate, cake, and bouquet. (Watercolour on paper)

I enjoy the hustle and bustle of my life since these last few weeks. I keep myself busy with my everyday work at the shop, monitoring our sales, customers, drivers, and acquaintances and I also love to take dips with colors and pretty flowers and good food being my current watercolor subjects. I really can't explain fully how I feel with things, it's just that I feel content with having a simple life and being surrounded with real people. I love spending my quiet afternoons with just leaning my forehead towards my desk to take rest while hearing the sounds of daily work going around me.

God, thank you for giving me a simple and quiet life and sharing it with special people who matter the most.

.

Fifteenth 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?

Fourteenth Update

18 June 2011

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.