grandpa

 

Get In Line

 These comics I made for a cover I did of a Ron Sexsmith song titled Get In Line. Yep. Nothing else to say about them except that I enjoyed making them. You can listen to my cover below. :)

dad

 

Ah Dee's Guts

 New, super short comics I did this morning. This is a continuation of my interest to document the people I meet in my neighbourhood. I started doing the series with acrylic paints and today I wanted to introduce "Ah Dee" to you with these comics. He is a butcher at the nearby wet market who loves singing Karaoke when taking breaks. He blasts the music from his lorry I think.....

be like water

 

happy fool

The aardvark got a new job. His friends think it isn't that cool a job. But he is happy. He would rather be a happy fool.

caterpillar day

lion girl cake

going on

 life goes on. I just have to to live it.

going up is always harder

going down is hard too. but not too bad when I just follow my heart

learning

 these kids are learning. attaching first, holding on, then letting go. the last one is always most difficult.

I made these in 2016.

he loves his dog and he loves life

I saw them ..

he stops to look at a sprouting plant, water colour on paper

he comforts his sick doggie, water colour on paper

he looks at the sprouting plant

 

he stops to look at the sprouting plant, Chinese painting colour on paper

zebra dove

 I saw a zebra dove today. I see them everyday. They are usually in a pair. They are beautiful. This one is on its own when I saw it.

Zebra Dove Looking, Chinese painting colour on paper

gray

 

happy sunflower seeds picker

 

I found a photo online of a sunflower seeds picker with a gorgeous jumper and a wonderful smile. It was for a floral water colour workshop that I conducted some time ago. Today I made this painting using it as a rough reference. I used some water colour washes first, then completed it with Marie's Chinese Painting Colour. It was the first time I used this paint and it is sort of like poster paint or gouache...but different. 

self portrait with ladder

I used a soft brush and it felt so much more natural. The colours I used are cadmium red deep, yellow ochre, black and titanium white. Oh, and a little viridian green for the blouse.

Self Portrait with Ladder, acrylic on paper

self portrait in poor lighting and feeling really lousy

Sometimes making self portraits is a way to confront personal issues which I find hard to deal with. The bad thing about it is that when I make something horrible it only makes me feel worse. LOL. By horrible I mean when I end up making everything bloody unnatural-looking. Today I went to buy  a pretty small mirror with lilac coloured frame and stand, and in poor lighting I painted what I saw in the mirror. This is what I saw. I like it. It is real.

Self Portrait In Poor Lighting and Feeling Really Lousy, acrylic on paper

self portrait with hairband

Self Portrait with Hairband, acrylic on paper

 

Tried a new combination of colours today. Yellow ochre, titanium white, permanent rose, coeruleum hue( a sky blue colour), portrait pink, and primary blue. I really wanted to use just 2 to 3 colours but I needed the white to lighten and a dark blue to get deeper colours. The portrait pink was not necessary at all. Anyway, it is always fun playing with new colour combinations.

it can be a little confronting making a self portrait. This one is less so to me.....I dunno why, maybe because of the "fun" colour combination, maybe because I was wearing a hairband. When I resized the photo on my computer I accidentally clicked on a "paint bucket" option and it gave my painting a look that I find interesting. it actually feels more me than my original painting, so I am putting both versions here.

self portrait

 

self portrait in striped tank top, 2021, acrylic on paper

It is a little confronting painting myself. 

The colours I used are yellow ochre, crimson, coeruleum hue, primary blue and titanium white.

below is a self portrait I made a few years ago, with gouache. how different.

self portrait with phone, 2018, gouache on paper

Soo Moey

 

Soo Moey, acrylic on paper

the colours I used are yellow ochre, crimson, coeruleum hue, primary blue and titanium white

i grow hair!

 an animation by my nephew Gylan. :)

clowning

2 portraits

Gray Flowers, acrylic on paper

 

Waiting, acrylic on paper

2 different portraits from the same reference. the colours, the sort of paint used, the paper and brushes may change how things end up looking, but it really is the way I approach a painting that makes the difference. every single painting is different. I see different and new things when I paint. there is much to see. I think the day I stop painting will be the day when I stop seeing. often it is easier not to see.