Some recent stuff

Last Session with Lee Jia

A cool session, 30 min poses, enough time to quickly sketch, do some planning... wetting paper and brush... and of to the next. I like cropping, seems to make the whole thing a lot easier. It is actually... the less you do, odds are you will make less mistakes too. Lee Jia will leave to Australia, that was our last session with her, it's always sad to see a good model leaving... need to find a replacement.

The Boxer

Meet Dan Lin

Our life drawing on Monday has been cancelled due to spring break. So I decided to move the session to my new home studio... after all Saturday was a terrific experience and I wanted to do it again. With Jin(yes he's a lot around lately and I appreciate his presence) we occupied my small room, unfold our palettes and sunk into the realm of water and pigments. This time I used a Saunders HP paper, smooth as silk. I actually really liked it's flexibility. Drawing with lead, it's quite easy to erase without damaging the surface of the paper. I used the same colors as Saturday.

@ Home with Xu Hui

Me and Jin had Xu Hui for ourselves for a 3hours session. We did 3 poses of 1 hour each(more or less). It was very fun, and we'll surely reproduce the experience. I painted on 140lbs, 31x41cm with my new palette made of English Red, Raw Sienna, Phtalo Blue, with dash of Cadmium Red and Ultramarine Blue.

Daily WC with Jin

Yesterday It was the first of a series with my friend Jin. We are encouraging ourselves to do at least one watercolor per night after work, and mms it to each other. The taxi driver was yesterday's one. Today I made this one, after a failure. Not really a failure, but I wasn't satisfied, especially when I saw Jin's. A beautifull render of Bob Marley. I was jealous.... so I went back to my easel. I allowed myself to use reference, Sam Riley from Franklin. I didn't watch the whole movie yet. My palette is Ultramarine Blue, Phtalo Blue, English Red, Cadmium red and a very tiny hint of Cadmium yellow. Fabriano Paper 140lbs, 24x32cm.

Yielding power

I was on my way home few days ago and quickly sketched this old taxi driver. Depleted by an entire life of hard labor, yet holding the wheel with a firm grip. His arms, pure nerves, yield the Toyota Crown thru the busy streets of Singapore. Safely arriving home, i folded my pad with the firm intention, to constantly wield my brushes the same way, with confidence and intensity. Few days later, I took the sketch and applied watercolors to it. Phtalo Blue & English Red(schimcke). I use a hake brush for 3/4 of the job. I forgot how much I loved this brush. Size is 24x32 cm, on 140lbs Fabriano paper.

Sentosa

Sunday I went to Sentosa beach, the sun was all out, and the distance was very hazy. It was hard not to squint. The wind was blowing, and it was hard to keep my equipment at one place. Ants and flies came in helping me adding textures. None died in the process. The original size are 9.5 x 12.5 inches, my scanner is slightly smaller so they're a bit cropped. My palette was Phtalo Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt sienna, raw sienna, some yellow cadmium & very little cadmium red.