Water Street

I managed to finish this large painting today. It's fun to paint in large pieces than the small ones. But I need to paint some small ones later. For some topics, you need to use a small paper.

Size: 16" X 20"/40 X 50 cm, USD$300/SGD$450

Sunset - Fairyland 2

Normally I don't paint the same painting more than once, but this time I painted another sunset fairyland. I try to experiment the glow of the lights during night.

I like the previous one more.

Size: 16" X 20"/40 X 50 cm, USD$300/SGD$450

Sunset Fairyland

I finished this big piece of work faster than I thought. This is a painting that fits to a baby's room or a room of a little princess.

Size: 16" X 20"/40 X 50 cm, USD$300/SGD$450

Fan Shao Hua Art Exhibition

No finished painting today and will not have a painting post for the next few days. I started to tackle a large piece of landscape (40 x 50 cm) and I estimate that it will takes2 to 3 days to finish if I concentrate on it.

I also went to the art exhibition of my teacher Fan Shao Hua and met some new and old friends. In Singapore, the art circle is not big, you always get to see the same set of people on the art events that you managed to go.

It is not easy to sell art in Singapore. People rather spend $100 or $300 for a nice dinner than spending on an original painting. If you go to see paintingss listed in ebay, no one is bidding on them. I occasionally see one bidding, but it is on a Ikea poster. Only those very rich people are buying and for investment. They are buying foreign artists work, seldom local ones.

How to survive in such a market is something that each artist in Singapore needs to find out.

Sunflower

Once I started painting sunflowers, I cannot stop. Today another sunflower. When you look at the two sunflower paintings, you will know that there are many ways to paint sunflower.

Somehow, the image does not look nice here. The real one is much more beautiful.
Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$25, SGD$38

Sunflower

I love sunflower and roses, but never dare to paint them. It's very difficult to paint them differently from the others. But, I guess every artist will once in her life-time try to paint them.

Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$25, SGD$38

Golden Trees in a lake

This is a landscape in a bigger size than I paint usually. The golden tree is so beautiful during autumn time. But only very few people can find them and see them because they are located in the inner mountains.

Size: 11" x 15" / 28 x 38 cm, USD$100, SGD$150

Water Lily - Black and White

This is a black and white waterlily in Acrylic.

Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$20, SGD$30

Buddha

This is a match painting with Buddha's hand.

Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$50, SGD$75

Irisis

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I painted this in the very late night. The color is very warm under the warm lamp light.

The best thing about watercolor is that when you place certain colors to each other, some colors will glow magically. Also, there are many accidental happy strokes when colors flow and mix with each other. I fascinate about it very much and it is one of the reasons why I love to paint in watercolor most.

Buddha's Hand

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I like the statures of Buddha. They are so intricate in postures and facial expressions. You must also like the peace and grace the statue exhibits.

Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$40, SGD$58

Happiness

This is a home made from mud and weathered wood. The sign in the door are two Chinese character meaning Happiness. There are also some poem in the two sides. One side says it has beautiful scenery and the other side says it has longevity and many good news. It is such an unique and interesting home.

Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$25, SGD$38

Water Lily - Rainy Lily Pond

It's fun to make splash of those golden dots. The painting reminds me of the swan lake. The lily resembles the white swan. But the splash of the golden dot lightens up the whole picture.

If you like loosely treated watercolor paintings, you may like it.

Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$15, SGD$18

Water Lily - Reflection

A lovely water lily and its reflection. One more waterlily. I am going to paint some more. It's so fun to paint them. The actual painting is more lovely with more details. I don't know why my camera cannot capture the details well.

Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$25, SGD$38

Water Lily - Pink

I keep painting water lilies! I am so passionate about them. I feel I can paint so many of them.

Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$25, SGD$38

Water Lily - Blue

Today I brought my baby to have a routine checkup. I spent almost the whole day in the hospital and travelling. The good news is that my baby is in excellent health.

I managed to paint this blue water lily in late the night. The color glows even at night.

Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$25, SGD$38

Water Lily - Orange

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I was thinking to paint another african voilet but found that I didn't have the passion to do it today. I picked up the lotus flower instead.

It is not easy to create old faded leaves. They are not fresh green. You need to mix using earth colors such as raw umber. But it will give muddy green and loose freshness of the painting if it is not done properly. I painted two today and the other one is a bit muddy. This one was a bit under control and turned out to be ok.

African Violet Series 3 - Pink African Violet

This is the third African Violet, a pink one. I need to create many different types of green in this painting. Greens are not easy, the dark one is almost like black, but the sunny one has warm yellow.

It's fun to create the brick texture. I use salt to do it in some part.

size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$25, SGD$38

African Violet Series 2 - Blue Violet

I did another blue violet. I put more tonal contrast in this one but with less dreaming effect.

size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$25, SGD$38

Arts Singapore 2007

Today I went to the Arts Singapore 2007 which exhibits the collections from the galleries around Asia countries such as China, Vietnam, Taiwan and Singapore.

It is quite interesting and allows me to feel the pulse of what's going on in the art world around Asia. I am very impressed by some of the China's art pieces such as the migration workers. You can see how the hardship, naiveness and sincere are conveyed so vividly by the artist from the faces, postures of the workers and surroundings.
There are some pieces from Indonesia which are full of life such as the mother and child above. I also like Indian art very much. Their art are also full of their own identity that are very unique.

But some of other pieces give me some kind of funny feeling such as the ones below.

African Violet Series 2 - dreaming african voilet

I love to paint African violet. I try to create a series of it. This is a blue one. I used black color to create a grey background for the blue flower. It gives a dreamy result to the picture and also makes the blue flower glowing.

As a general rule, you should not mix color with black to avoid muddy color. But in this painting, I feel that the grey generated from the black helps the blue to shine. Sometime I love to use black when I need to get certain color to glow such as pink or dark red.

Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', USD$25, SGD$38

African Violet

How beautiful the humble African violet is when you look closely!

Size: 16x 23 cm / 6 x 9'', SGD$25, USD$38

Pink Turlip and Blue Jar

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I come back to my favorite: painting flowers. To create the bright effect and also make the flower standing out, I use different colors for the vase and also make the cups and bottles a bit fuzzy. I like to paint fuzzy but recognizable objects.

Autumn Fruits

This is a very simple painting. The attraction is the red fruits and the twigs. The ceramic bottles are cute. I exaggerated the brown one.

Size: 16 x 23 cm/6 x 9''

Yellow Flower

This painting is inspired by a photo of yellow flowers. I like the delicate color of the flowers.

Size: 23 x 26 cm / 9 x 10'', $USD$50, SGD$75