Artist Inspiration - Lee Kow Fong

I first knew who Lee Kow Fong (Taiwanese) was after visiting his exhibition at the Singapore Arts House. The exhibition is titled "The Colour of Silence", or 《静声》, by artist Lee Kow Fong. The main message that he presented to the audience is in the form of a question, which is "If silence were a color, what color would it be?"

Examples of his works

Why he inspires me

1. Lee Kow Fong uses watercolour most often in his works.

I love how watercolour gives such a light and fresh feeling compared to acrylic and oils, which give a very thick and rich texture. Watercolour gives everything a very beautiful finish, and I think the watercolour paints work very well with his designs. Watercolour is also very hard to control, because of its watery texture that tends to bleed. Layering watercolour paints on top of each other is very challenging too, as the colour you applied before that may mix with the next color because of the large amount of water present. Thus I admire Lee Kow Fong a lot for daring to work with watercolor in so many of his works.

2. He is very creative

The combination of the subject matters are so unexpected and interesting. How can a girl have tree branches that resemble reindeer horns growing out of her head? How can birds perch on top of each other on a girl's head, while she makes a phone call in the midst of a cornfield, where the plants are taller than her? I love how unique Lee Kow Fong is, and how he manages to pull everything together with his unique and special arrangement of subject matter.

3. He dares to work with cartoons

Nowadays, no one dares to work with cartoons. Many think that this is of lower class and not as outstanding as painting realistically. In the cartoon industry, one either makes it or breaks it. If one makes it, he becomes famous like Walt Disney or Doctor Seuss, but there are many other artists who paint in a cartoon-like style and stay unknown. Thus no one dares to draw cartoons, as they are scared that they may fail. I think that Lee Kow Fong having most of his works done in a cartoon-style is very brave of him. Furthermore, the exhibition I attended was his first solo exhibition containing his first few works, which shows how he dared to take the first step to paint in a cartoon-like manner.


How he inspires me

After viewing his exhibition, I became less afraid to do watercolour works. Personally, I love watercolour and do much better in it than oils or acrylic. However, for practical assignments, almost everyone uses acrylic and oils, and this leaves me feeling very insecure, as I'm afraid to use watercolour when everyone is doing something different. After seeing how he uses watercolour for almost all of his works, I decided that I should not be shy or insecure about using watercolour, and I have been using watercolour much more often since viewing his exhibition.

I do not really know many artists who work with cartoons. When I saw his works, I got very excited, as I have always been drawing cartoons since young. I really want to work with cartoons, but with all my classmates around me painting in realistic styles, I did not dare to work with cartoons, as I was afraid my teachers would mark me down. However, seeing one artist produce so many pieces of work that are filled with cartoons inspired me to start trying to work with cartoons for school assignments. In the end, I ended up having children as my target audience for my coursework, and every single one of my animal containers are done in a cartoon style. It is thanks to Lee Kow Fong that I got the courage to work with cartoons.


Lee Kow Fong has become one of my favourite artists, and has also given me inspiration for my coursework. His watercolour works are so beautiful that I feel inspired to paint with watercolour as often as possible. The recent anime and cartoons I draw in my own free time are all painted with watercolour, as I love the finish that watercolour gives. If not for Lee Kow Fong, I would not bother painting my drawings. I am very glad I visited Lee Kow Fong's exhibition.

3 comments on classmates' blogs

Comment on Joey's blog:
http://thatjoey.blogspot.sg/2013/09/conte-crayons-chinatown.html

Comment on Hui Ting's blog:
http://officialhuiting.blogspot.sg/2013/09/three-owls-on-tree-house.html

Comment on Chu Qiao's blog:
http://happypencilowls.blogspot.sg/2013/06/mini-book-necklace.html

Why Art Matters to Me

Why does Art Matter to me?

1. Art creates a more vibrant, interesting and creative world to live in
Many people think that art is only a form of entertainment. However, I feel that art makes the world a more interesting place to live in. Without art, there will not be design and designers, and we will be living in a very boring and mundane world. There will not be much difference in the products we buy, as everything will look the same. Even our homes will look the same without interior designers. To me, art is important in its way of being able to quirk things up, to make the ordinary look unique. It is thanks to art that we have such a vibrant world to live in, with so many different designs and packaging of different food and toy products, and a whole array of clothes. Thus art is very important to me, as it helps us to brighten up our lives, and I cannot even imagine living in a place without art.

2. Through art, I can entertain others
Entertainment is not the only reason why art exists, but it is a reason why there is art. I don't usually create artworks for the sole purpose of entertaining someone (unless its a birthday present). I usually make artworks out of pure interest, but I like using my works to perk someone up. I always feel happy when I brighten up my family and friends' faces after showing them my artworks. I feel glad that I can bring them joy through art.

3. Art helps me to express my emotions
A picture paints a thousand words. Whenever I am feeling very sad or angry, and no one close to me can understand why, I turn to art. I don't draw or paint dramatically to release my bottled up emotions. Instead, I like to draw something that I like, such as animals (or Pokemon), and through drawing these, I find myself relaxing. The time that I take to draw the creatures also allows me to think through my negative emotions. To me, art is the most effective way of expressing my emotions and calming down.

4. Art helps me to discover and understand myself better
I feel that art requires a tremendous lot of patience and effort. On a normal basis, I always think that I have patience. But whenever I am drawing or painting or creating art of any kind, my patience is put to the test. Usually, when I am creating an artwork, I get pretty fed-up and flustered. Time and time again, I find out that I lack patience. I also have a lot of quiet time for self-reflection whenever I am working on an art piece. This allows me to think through my life, and find out my weaknesses and strengths.

5. Art is therapeutic, and helps me to relieve stress
Lastly, art helps me to relieve stress. I find that drawing is very therapeutic, and sometimes, i get so involved in drawing that i do not realise how fast time flies. I love drawing animals, and when I am doing so, I tend to think more about the animal I am drawing, and this always helps me to relax my mind. Playing calming music softly in the background helps too. I will feel very calm, and I always enjoy these moments. Thus, I like to make it a habit to draw frequently, so that I can have regular sessions of de-stressing with art therapy.

Art means a lot to me, and plays a big role in my life. I can't imagine what I'll do if I don't get my regular sessions of de-stressing with my self-conducted art therapy, or how I can cheer others up without using art (I'm not very good with words). I know I will not be able to survive well in a world without colourful, interesting and vibrant art surrounding us.

Visit to Calligraphy and Chinese Brush painting exhibition at Singapore Polytechnic

Recently, I went to a Calligraphy and Chinese Brush painting exhibition at Singapore Polytechnic held by The Society of Chinese Artists. I wanted to go for this exhibition as I took lessons in Chinese Brush painting when I was around 10. My painting teacher, Mr Alan, had his works exhibited there too.

All of the works exhibited were by Singaporeans, so this exhibition gave me many insights into how Singaporean artists view Calligraphy and Chinese Brush painting. To my surprise, there were some paintings that were painted with oil paints. However, most paintings had the traditional Chinese brush painting method, which is painted with Chinese paints, which are very much like watercolour, and are painted with Chinese painting techniques. Before coming to this exhibition, I have never deeply thought about why artists would like to paint in a range of styles and expressions. After visiting this exhibition, and seeing the number of works that are painting in Western styles, I became very intrigued, and thought about this. Here are some of my thoughts.

I feel that since we live in a very globalized world today, it is impossible to totally stick to your roots. We are being influenced everyday with art from all over the world, from the newspapers, blogs, websites, etc. Also, I feel that learning only one form of art would disadvantage the Chinese brush painters, since it is good to have a wide variety and exposure to different forms of art. Thus, maybe the Chinese brush painters had paintings in both Western and Chinese art, with Western art to show how capable they are in the skills segment, and with Chinese art as a main interest and passion. Learning Western art would also expose the Chinese painters to different types of painting and color handling techniques. Thus, they will have a deeper overall understanding of art, which will help them greatly in their work.

Here is an example of a painting that is painted with oil.

Here are examples of paintings that have both Chinese and Western art painting styles.

Here are some examples of paintings painted with traditional Chinese brush painting methods and Chinese watercolour paint.

Chinese brush paintings usually have animals, plants and sceneries as subject matters. In the exhibition, many artists also had animals and landscapes as the subject matter. There were very few paintings of people. This is unlike European art, where the subject matter of people are favoured. I think this is probably because European artists like to focus on the portrayal of human feelings, while Chinese artists prefer to portray sentimental and philosophical feelings.

Here are some examples on the usual subject matter in Chinese art, which was very prominent in the exhibition.

Westerners criticized Chinese art for its lack of perspective and shading, saying it looked "dead" and had "no life at all." The Chinese criticized back by saying Western oil painting was too lifelike and lacked expression. Over expressions of technical skill were considered vulgar to the Chinese. The Chinese focused on capturing 'qi', the life force of the subject matters.

Here are some pieces that I feel are excellent in portraying the 'qi' of the subject matters.

Overall, I am very happy to have the chance to attend this exhibition. I finally managed to have a connection with Chinese brush painting over these years. Also, if one insists on sticking to only one type of art, without any prior exposure to other types of art, I feel that he will forever be a 'frog in the well'. Thus, I learnt how important it is to expose yourself to the different art styles and painting techniques.

Artist Inspiration - Mary O'Malley

Mary O'Malley has been a great help to my coursework. Miss Xie, one of my AEP teachers, helped me to discover the works of Mary O'Malley in the midst of my coursework. I have a deep respect of Mary O'Malley, as she is so patient and dedicated to her ceramic works. Whenever I look at her works, I instantly feel energy sweeping through me that makes me want to create better works. I feel inspired by her.


Examples of her work

Link to more of Mary O'Malley's works: http://www.maryomalleyceramics.com/bottom-feeders.html

Why she inspires me

1. She is so patient and dedicated
The texture of her works are extremely challenging. Such as the holes in the tentacles, and the bumps surrounding the holes. The barnacles with the small pipes sticking out also look very difficult, as the pipes looks so delicate, as if they may break if too much pressure is applied. To achieve such beautiful yet realistic work is so tough, and yet she has done it. The process of making the clay and combing it with the ceramics must require a lot of patience, and I needed a lot of patience in my works and coursework, so I am inspired.

2. She has coolest and most interesting ideas ever
Who thinks of combining clay and ceramics in such a way? As if the sea creatures are creeping across the cups, saucers and teapots. And who thinks of such a combination of sea creatures? Mixing starfish with barnacles and tentacles is very unique and may be seen as weird by those who have not seen her works. But after looking at Mary O'Malley's works, I have been transfixed by the way the sea creatures come alive together, silently creeping across the ceramics and waving their tentacles.

3. She is very skilled in her work
Her works are of such high quality, and are so realistic. Her high level of skills make me feel like working harder to improve my own skills in clay making. If she can do it, I can do it too. Of course not as good as her, since I lack training and am not especially talented in this area. But at least I feel the energy to put in my best effort by looking at her works.


How she has inspired me

In my coursework, I am working with clay, and my theme is also sea creatures, just like her. However, my target audience is for children, unlike hers, which is most probably adults. While I transform animals into containers, Mary O'Malley has combined animals and containers. I worked with other animals though. We have a lot of similarities in the above, and I feel this is how she has inspired me.


All in all, I really like Mary O'Malley's clay and ceramics works, as I feel that she has put in her own unique touch to the clay, which has made them 'come alive' on the ceramics. I feel inspired and empowered by her to put in the best effort I can.

Coursework

I have always had a sweet tooth. When I was young, I ate my sweets and desserts out of normal bowls, and have always wished that these bowls were cuter and more appealing. Thus, for my coursework, I have created 3 different containers specially designed for storing desserts. They are animals transformed into containers, which I hope children will receive well.

First up, I had to use aluminium foil to get the structure of my animals. The aluminium foil is compacted and crushed together.

Process of making the octopus

Experimenting with pens to see if the legs are sturdy enough to hold the chocolate sticks

Next, I had to wrap and plaster paper clay all over the containers. It was tough as when the paper clay dried, cracks appeared, and I had to smooth them over with paper clay slip.

Lastly, I spray painted the animals. The octopus is done with different shades of white, yellow, orange and red, giving a blended effect of a yellow-orange octopus. The whale is done with blue, and dark blue for receded areas. White and silver spray paint is drizzled over the whole whale to give a polka-dot effect. The turtle’s body is done in a marble effect, with excess light green, green and dark green paint sprayed together. The paint mixes and gives a natural marble effect. The shell is done in similar way to the octopus, and the polka-dots are done in the same way as the whale.

Prep board attached to give a summary of the final work in different positions

Close up of turtle and octopus

The octopus stores chocolate sticks

The turtle stores jelly

Close up of whale

The whale stores a slice of cake or one whole muffin

I have only worked with clay in curriculum time, which means that I have only done 2 clay works before. My first clay work was very basic, it was done when I was 13. It was a dog, and consisted of a pinch pot for the body, another smaller pinch pot for the head, and 4 rectangular blocks for the legs. That was my first real experience with clay. My next clay work was a little more complicated. I did it when I was 15. It was a cat with its body serving as a bowl. The theme was containers. My work consisted of half a pinch pot for the body as a bowl, a pinch pot for the head, and four smaller rectangular blocks for the legs. I also included a carved out pumpkin with clay as an accessory. It was a pinch pot, but I cut off a little of the top to make it empty. Then I carved out the eyes and mouth of the pumpkin.

I have always been intrigued by clay, thus I decided to work on clay for my coursework. I liked the container idea we explored last year, so I decided to build on it this year. My cat was not good, as the container (its body) was very ordinary and boring. I wracked my brains for more creative ideas for my coursework, and I think I have succeeded in this aspect. I also wanted more vibrant and creative colours, instead of the usual block painting I did for both my previous clay works. I think I have also succeeded in this aspect, by experimenting with spray paints, different styles of spraying, and many different colours in each clay piece. All in all, I feel that this coursework has wrapped up my journey with clay in AEP nicely.

Scrapbooking

I started scrapbooking after I saw beautiful scrapbooking supplies at a store called Made with Love at Plaza Singapura, and I got very inspired to create my own scrapbooks. These scrapbooks are done in my own free time. I made scrapbooks (in reality, its one piece of paper, not a whole book) for my friends on their birthdays, and also for the animes which I enjoyed watching a lot. It is very relaxing and enjoyable to plan the design and layout of the materials, before sticking them on. The materials include stickers, buttons, ribbons, photographs, printed papers, etc. Everything is designed by myself, nothing was bought pre-made.

Here is a scrapbook I did for my friend last year in June. Its her birthday card. Size is the the square of an A3 drawing block.

Here is a scrapbook I did for one of my favourite animes. This was done last year in December. Size is the square of an A3 drawing block. I like to document my favourite animes in scrapbook format, as I think it gives the anime a fun twist. The designs and stickers I use are determined by the feelings I get from the anime.

Close up of blue and purple gems. I had to design them and paste them in this order myself, as they came in rows.

Close up of the space dedicated to Takuto, a character in the anime.

Close up of the space dedicated to Mitsuki, a character in the anime.

Close up of right corner. The peach coloured balls are crushed paper resembling flowers (effect can be seen from far)

In the past, I never bothered much with design and arrangement. After I started scrapbooking, I realised how important layout, planning and design is. I learnt some skills from scrapbooking that I applied to AEP. For example, I plan out my paintings now, and make sure that it is balanced. In the past, I never bothered about being balanced. Thus I feel that picking up this hobby has helped me in this area.