Black and White and shades of both

For a change, I made use of the black and white setting of my camera just for fun and then realised as I looked at each picture snapped that I was actually looking at pictures of the same subjects in a totally different way.

First I noticed the patterns.

The shades...

The lines...

The contrast between light and dark, the texture...

The uniqueness of what I see...

Black and white is just another way of looking at the world to appreciate that there are other ways that we should not lose sight of.

Upper Peirce Reservoir

My daughter said to me while she was doing a painting of undersea creatures, "It's not important how the picture turns out, what matters is that you enjoyed the painting process."

I never really completed this painting. After two on-site painting sessions, I never went back to finish the painting. I was happy to leave it as it is to remind me that I was for those hours just totally connected with nature enjoying every moment.

Painting mood

A clean slate waiting to be filled.
A struggle and then scraping away mistakes. Waiting for another flood of inspiration to resume, maybe never, maybe soon.

A morning in paradise

It has been ages since I last visited a library. We have fantastic libraries in Singapore where you can find expensive books that ordinary people like us would not think of buying on a regular basis. At the Jurong East Regional library I chanced upon a big and heavy book in the Photography section. It was a book titled 'Desert Eves: an indian paradise' and it documented the work of Hans Silvester in the Thar Desert in the state of Rajasthan in India. His photographs were just overwhelmingly beautiful. So beautiful that I could not help but want to take it home to look at the photos at leisure. The photos of the women in colourful costumes living out their lives in poverty amidst the harshness of the desert filled my senses so much so that I had to do something with them.

Hat and Peonies

I would have preferred painting to drawing this hat and the fake peonies on my wall. Painting is like meditation. It is all consuming of energy, time and attention. My ideal painting endeavour is that day and night should be seamless with time being moved only by thoughts and ideas associated only with producing an outcome on canvas that I am happy with. Ideally, I should have the time and the solitude to paint. Ideally!

I would have preferred painting to drawing this brown straw hat and the fake purple peonies that have been in that position on my wall for months.

Tokyo characters at a Rock Concert

I happened to be sitting in a cafe with a glass window that gave me a clear view of the corridor outside where teens gathered to show off their anime impressionisms before the start of a rock concert in Tokyo a few years ago.

It was a sight to experience - these kids not just dressed the part but also adopted the mannerisms and the expressions of the characters they dress up as.

There were scary-looking characters, witches, characters that looked like they were there to make a kill with lots of blood spattered on the floor and hopefully not on the glass pane in front of me. I only had a small pocket-sized notebook and did my best to capture the imaginative costures while pretending to be busy planning the next day's itinerary.

I wish I had more time so that I could have enjoyed the drawing experience rather than just being focussed on capturing the costume designs before the kids stream into the concert hall.

Coffee-Break

My latest drawing while sitting in the open at a corner MacDonald outlet. So many interesting characters appeared before me - some going about their business, some stopping to get some fast food and some took their seats around me.

Young couples, mothers with babies, an elderly couple next to me who unwittingly shared their some of their business dealings with me, and a man with a cowboy hat looking for a seat. I thought he would make an interesting subject to draw but since he sat facing me directly at another table I decided that it would not be wise to draw him.

Then his girl-friend joined him sitting with her back to me. I was attracted by her long, silky hair and her blouse with the wide neckline and puffed sleeves that enhanced the way the hair fell around her shoulders. I also got interested in the chair she was sitting on that was made of rattan wound round a metal frame.