The big oil painting project!

 

"Nanyang" (2010)

Oil painting

If you have seen my previous post, I have talked about an oil painting project! And this is it!

My teacher assigned us each an art movement to do that we have studied to an oil painting, themed "Nanyang" (which is my school name). My art movement is POP ART!

I had very limited knowledge or exprerience with pop art and it made me quite excited to be able to work on this supposedly fun art movement.

Little did I know how tiring it is to paint so neat and exact lines and shapes with zero blending of colours, especially when you are using oil paint (which is like the perfect blending medium). You have no idea how frustrating it is to try to make sure no two colours mix at all and to make sure that the colours did not have any hint of tones. I had to paint and repaint and paint again. But I think my efforts have not gone down the dirty drain :D

I used mainly primary and secondary colours (Red, purple, blue, green, yellow, orange). I tried to manipulate contrasting colours to make the colours POP out like POP ART. However, it didn't work out well and I ended up concentrating cooler colours in the middle (the stationary) and warmer colours in the background (the polka dots). This way, the stationary actually POP out more, and though it was not what I had originally intended, I was quite happy with the outcome.

The stationary represents homework and marking and any tedious work that our school students and staff have to go through on a daily basis. I arranged different stationary into the chinese words for "Nanyang", similar to what is embroidered onto our uniform, obviously to show that I am trying to portray a part of "Nanyang".  For a rather stressed-out student at that point, I thought it was the best way to portray my life in Nanyang. However, now that I think about it, I could have added in more variety of different things, that could have not only showed the stressful side of life in Nanyang, but also the happy side when I am enjoying with my friends and classmates.

I made sure that only the outlines of the stationary were painted in and no details were added to simplify them and create the simple and unique POP ART feel.

The polka dots for the background was my way of emphasizing that the art movement I was working on is POP ART. Perfectly round and perfectly arranged polka dots can be seen in many POP ART paintings and is probably one of the most representative aspects. So I traced out the exact same circle from the rim of a chicken essence bottle in a regular pattern. Painting the background was probably the most tedious as painting circles neatly is definitely not something I was good at.

All in all, I am quite satisfied with my work, even though I could have added more substance (not just stationary) to make my painting seem more meaningful. Also, I think having a deeper artistic intention would be more meaningful.

P.S. Don't you think the background of the painting looks similar to the cheese plates I made for my coursework? I just thought of it!

P.S.S. I am quite happy to know that Zhiping wanted to bring my painting home!

Dipping flowers in oil paint

"Blue Flower" (2010)

7" x 9"

Oil paint

This assignment was the first time I used oil paint and I thought it was rather hard to handle while painting. I don't even know why know that I think about it! This was meant for us to practice using oil paint before embarking on our huge oil paint project.

However, as you can see, I didn't manage to do very well in terms of portraying tones and forms. The light and dark tones were not blended well and made the flower look a bit awkward.

But I would like to think that I have improve from this, even though until now, I still do not really enjoy painting (although I prefer oil paint to watercolour).

I don't have much to comment except that I think I will try painting more often at the end of the year, in hopes of not only improving my painting skills, but also bring my interest in art to a higher level.

My first actual artwork

"Cloth" (2010)

A4 size

Pencil

In Secondary 3, we were assigned to a different board on which a piece of white cloth was laid upon, with different patterns of folds and layers. A lamp was arranged near the board so that light shone on different parts of the cloth, providing dark and light. We were meant to sketch the cloth, taking note of tonal shading.

I think this was the first assignment in my whole secondary school life that I actually put in effort into my shading and drawing and it is probably the first piece of work I was rather proud of. I also think this assignment was kind of the turning point for me, in terms of drawing and shading skills. I think my drawings started to improve from this assignment onwards. Before that, I think I never actually drew anything well or recognizable...

Comments: Very gd blending of the tones.

The dark and light tones merge in a gradual + smooth manner.

Well done!

I even got an "EXCELLENT" stamp which made me very proud of myself :D I think this assignment had boost my confidence in my abilities and has allowed me to doubt myself less, thus having the motivation to put in effort into more of my works.

So this piece of work is rather important to me even though it might seem to be just a simple assignment. It might not even look nice as compared others'.

But to me, it is my confidence-booster! 

Colour pencil drawings for prep work

Drawing of a wolf as research drawings for the Big Bad Wolf

Research drawings of a toad for the Fairy Godmother

Research drawings on spiders for The Fairy Godmother

Research drawings on desserts (Sorry I couldn't rotate it!)

Sorry there are so little drawings. I forgot to take photos of my prep to put up D:

Above few are some photos of my colour pencil drawings for my coursework prep studies. I feel that my drawings have improved a lot since sec 1 if you have seen them before. Somehow, this year, I have put in more effort and interest into my drawings and I am happy to see myself progress in a way that I never thought I would.

I used to feel rather demoralised when I see my friends produce amazing pieces of drawings and paintings and I felt that I couldn't even do half of what they have done. I felt my drawing and painting skills were really bad and that kind of destroyed my interest in art, to the point where I didnt even want to doodle anymore.

However, I felt that this year, during the entire coursework period, I have put in more effort than I usually had in the past and I felt myself improve in terms of drawing, especially with colour pencil. Also, coursework and prep work has sort of let me regain my interest and enthusiasm for art and also trained my patience, until I could actually finish drawing something without giving up (that always happens in the last few years).

I regret not putting in efforts to actually do well in art for the past few years but I will work hard to improve in terms of drawing and painting, and even working with other mediums and trying out new things :D (all after eoys of course!)

I am proud of my coursework and what I have achieved this year :D