Snow is hardly ever white

My first painting in two years! 

I was in Zürich for Christmas last year.  The Wildbach is a stream near the Zürichhorn area.  It means 'wild stream' in German.









Wildbach in December
50x70 cm, oil on stretched canvas

A landscape with snow provides wonderful contrasts for a painting.  The cool shadows vs. warm sunlight, light snow vs. dark trees.  It could be monochromatic and focus on values and shapes.  Or it could be a study on the various hues (shades of colours) which exist in the scene.  The colourless snow is never truly 'white'.  It reflects the subtle colours near it, which are further affected by the sunlight (or lack of it). 

Michal

Michal
8x10 inches, ink on paper

Pericles

Pericles

8x10 inches, ink on paper

See Siang

I did this sketch for my friend See Siang's 30th birthday.

Ink sketches are easier and quicker to do than oil paintings. Yet a well-done ink sketch can still effectively capture a person's mood and personality.

See Siang
8x10 inches, ink on paper

B&W

This was commissioned as a birthday gift for Dato' Faridah Merican. It was based on a photo of her and her husband Joe Hasham.

This was my first 'black & white' painting. In order to avoid making the figures appear too cold or ghostly (adding white 'cools' down the colors), I mixed extra yellow to the highlights.

Joe & Faridah

12x16 inches, oil on canvas board

Drawing the viewer in

Sometimes you would come across a painting and spend a long time in front of it, yet you're not quite sure why you're more attracted to that painting than the piece next to it. This is probably because the painting has a good composition that captures the viewer's attention.

When an artist starts a painting, he would create a composition that would guide the viewer into the painting and keeps his or her attention for as long as possible. In this painting of my friend Ed, the Western viewer usually starts looking from the left (like in reading). The viewer would start from Ed's right elbow, up his shoulder and to his face (the point of interest of any figurative painting). Next, the dark and strong-shaped shadow on the closet door takes the viewer to Ed's left hand, then down on to his left torso side, along the briefs to the right hand on his hip, then back again to the right elbow. The strong contrasts in color values and edges guide the viewer, without him realizing it. The journey in elliptical motion begins again, but during the second time around the viewer would notice other secondary features, such as Ed's reflection in the mirror.

In my opinion, the mark of a successful painting is that it manages to capture the viewers' attention for a long period of time.

Nothing to wear

16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas board

Cool vs. warm colors

The human skin is mostly warm red/yellow, but to avoid it from being too 'hot' you would usually put dabs of cool color, usually green in the shadow and facial hair areas, and veins. The background earth in this painting is also warm with some cool colors. Meanwhile, the background trees and foliage is mostly cool green, but with accents of warm brown, indicating tree trunks. So there is a little bit of green in the dominant red/yellow area, while there is a little bit of red in the dominant green/blue area. The two dominant areas complement each other and create unity in the overall painting. Also, the sky echoes the cool color of the towel.

Sergei
24 x 36 inches, oil on stretched canvas

I always enjoy painting a good old-fashioned portrait because there is something fascinating about the human face. Not only does it resemble a living person, but a portrait also captures his/her mood and emotion at that particular moment in time. It's easier to create an interesting painting from the human face than a bowl of apples.

In this painting, the static posture of the sitter is contrasted with the swirling movement in the background.

Green shirt
8 x 10 inches, oil on Masonite

Limited palette

I paint using only four colors: Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, Phthalo Blue and Titanium White. Basically red, yellow, blue and white. From these colors, you can create any shades you want from the color spectrum.

• Red, yellow and blue are the primary colors which you mix to create secondary colors: red+blue=violet, yellow+blue=green and so forth
• White is used to lighten the colors
• To create black, mix all three primary colors

Mixing colors from a limited palette will create harmony and unity in your paintings, as all the colors in your painting are derived from only these four colors. For example, the green that you mixed will always complement your yellow and blue. On the other hand, you could buy a tube of ready-mixed green but this green might not be the same green that you get if you mixed the yellow and blue from your palette.

Untitled
12 x 16 inches, oil on stretched canvas

Soft and hard edges

The human eye is naturally attracted to sharp angles and strong contrasts, such as light color next to really dark color. In paintings, these are called hard edges. Artists create hard edges to attract the viewer's attention to a certain section, usually the point of interest. In this portrait of my friend Miguel, the hard edges can be found on the outlines of his torso.

Then there are also the soft edges (or disappearing edges) that connects the main object to its background. (Hard edges all around will make the object look like a cutout.) Soft edges can be found on the right side of Miguel's hair, face and elbow. The right side of him has a cast shadow and seem to disappear into the dark hedge behind him.

Miguel

16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas board

Art Design 101

I came across this picture of two men in a wrestling pose, and I just had to paint it! It has the basic elements that they teach in any art design classes. Certain parts can be underlined by blue horizontal and vertical lines, which convey solidity and stability. The red diagonal lines convey movement and excitement. Too many horizontal or vertical elements can make your paintings static, while too many diagonals can make it chaotic. In addition, the outline of the two wrestlers create an upright triangle, as illustrated by the yellow outline. Composition utilizing geometric shapes were commonly used by Renaissance artists.

The wrestlers
16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas board

Masonite hardboard

Masonite hardboards have smooth surfaces, compared to canvas boards which are textured. I find it easier to use hardboards when I want to apply thick paint so that the brushstrokes are visible. This technique is called impasto and was made popular by the Impressionists. I use Masonite hardboards for my 8"x10" paintings.

Shy
8x10 inches, oil on Masonite hardboard

My niece

My niece Isabella (or Isla as her parents call her) is such a beautiful baby and already exudes a unique personality. I told my sister that Isla should be a baby model! They live in England. This painting is based on a picture of her when she was three months old. She is about six months old now.

Isla

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas board

Reflections

Painting a person and his/her mirror reflection is always a challenge. You want to make the reflection resemble the subject, without them being too identical that you end up with a painting of a pair of Siamese twins.

The common approach is to make the reflection darker, cooler or less defined than the main subject. If you were to take a picture of a person with his/her reflection, you can observe that these attributes do exist, albeit very subtly.

The mirror

16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas board

A brief lesson in oil painting

Here's my painting method, in a nutshell:

1. Draw the outline of the subject with pencil.
2. Paint the darkest areas of the image first. For example: the cast shadows*, hair and eyebrows.
3. Paint the mid-tones and fully cover the canvas. I try to apply the right colors and temperatures based on my observation. Generally, the human skin would be warm (lots of red and yellow), the cast shadows would be cool (usually dark green), form shadows* would be a darker hue of the warm skin, stubbles on the chin and sideburns on males would be cool too (bluish or greenish grey). A tiny area right before the skin disappears in the form shadows would be a brilliant hue of red/yellow.
4. I would wait a few days to let the paint dry. Then, I would make corrections as needed and finally apply the highlights (white mixed with a little yellow/red).

If I've been conscientious throughout the whole process, it would take me about four working days to complete a 16x20 painting!

*Cast shadow is caused by something blocking the light source. A form shadow is the side of an object that faces away from the light source.

Contemplating
16 x 20 inches, oil on canvas board