Just another rose

Just a short one here for now....

A note to all my students and all other beginners to the art of decorative painting. I did a very simple basic painting initially with my usual style of rose using the angular brush.... however... I was not happy with the outcome... at all!!! Mind you... I'm not a novice at painting roses... but somehow that must have been my off-day!!! Somehow it just didn't feel right.... so I chucked it aside but hey... have no fear!!! Ros Stallcup said that if ever you make a mistake... don't fret... all you have to do is repaint over it!!! That was exactly what I did... I didn't like my rose... so I repainted another over the first... used a different colour, made it slightly bigger than the initial one so as all of the mistake could be covered.... the outcome??? ...as you see it here... I like it hehehe... yup!yup!yup! .... my version of Annette's roses with the flat brush. Hmmm... think I'll also try Ginger Edward's roses... one fine day muahahaha....

It's a slow week *sigh*

I've been pretty slow in completing my paintings lately... not due to lack of time but more due to lack of oomph... no zest!!! I find it very difficult to focus on whatever it is at hand *sigh*... wonder why??? Could it be due to age huh ... now that I'm but just a few more months to a half century??? Imbalanced hormones ??? LOL ... very easy to blame on everything else except oneself yes?... muahahahaha la la la la

Anyway... managed to complete another UFO. All I needed was an extra bunch of flowers (down the left-hand corner) to complete ..... but of course... me being me, the true procrastinator... I procrastinated!!!! Yup!Yup!Yup! Kept it on the shelf for nearly 6 months for something that could be completed in just 35mins!!!! When will I ever learn??? Oh well... it's now with it's rightful owner... hahahaha

Last week I tried my hand at painting a different style of roses... more to the likes of Annette Stevenson. I normally paint roses with the angular brush... but this time I painted with the flat. Haha... it took me quite a while... adjusting in my mind's eye as to which angle to lay the brush down to stroke in the petals!!!! Hmm... this way??... oh oh..nope..the other way la...ya da ya da ya da .... I talked to myself whilst painting!!! Ahuh... not that easy at first when one is used to the angular brush to paint roses. Anyway... in the end ... I did it my way... and am rather satisfied with the outcome. Needless to say... it's at the moment another UFO. I still need to put it the shadows in the background to 'sit-in' the flowers. Yup! just a wee bit more.... but hey! the procrastinator MUST procrastinate... procrastinating is another hobby... muahahahaha

The last piece was done on a tray... a painting inspired by Shelley Reeves Smith. Enjoyed doing this one as I tried to make my acrylics look like watercolour.... first attempt to do a scenery in this manner. Don't know whether I'd succeeded... but hey again! ... it's my style muahahaha. You see... art is subjective... one can get away with murder with one's style of painting muahahaha ... a very good excuse for a failed attempt at a particular technique yup!yup!yup! Frankly... to me... if it looks good... then it's good la... who's to say otherwise huh??? I'd just completed this one prior to my writing this post... tomorrow I'll varnish it... and hand it over to Suharti. Hope she likes it :)

K... I'm done for now. Had already basecoated 4 more items earlier this week... will keep you posted on that later ya. For now... it's tata... I'm going facebooking before I hit the covers hehehe.... g'nite y'all... muah muah muah...

I love u all... my hartamas babies....

I've been lazy lately...(errr..come to think of it...when have I ever not been lazy huh???? muahahaha)... not that I'd not done any painting...I have but nothing's completed... touch and go here and there *sigh* no great accomplishment as yet...

It's difficult to really push and motivate myself to go further... but for now I hope it's just a temporary setback.... I have friends' and customers' orders to complete!!!! Hmmm... scary thought in this current condition.... *sigh*... hehe I guess, one can blame it on the hormones... again!!! muahahaha.... yup!yup!yup! Anyway... I'm actually taking a breather now... been varnishing all the "completed but unvarnished" projects since yesterday....

So what have I been doing??? Well... I've been surfing the net looking for ideas and inspirations... but most of the time... I was on Facebook reminiscing the past. I decided I'd go student -hunting...and see how many of these kids still remember me and would be willing to have me ... their school marm... in their friend list. I'm happy to say... I've so far been accepted by 31 students who are now my friends in Facebook....gorgeous thing, this Facebook thingy. Oh btw... if you are on FB...please do add me in ya... I'd love to be of acquaintance...

SM Sri Hartamas was my last post... and a most memorable one. It was a new school and I joined them in its second year. There were only 3 Form 2 and 4 Form 1 classes then. ..with maybe 300 in population, including the teachers!..way back in 1994 (I think hehehe...don't trust my memory!!!) Though I majored in biology, there were no upper forms yet...so I ended teaching BM, KH, Art and Sc to the lower forms. The F1 kids grew with me... as I got to teach almost everyone of them!!!!

Thus... for the past 2 weeks, as I started with Fino and Indah (who were already with me in FB earlier on) ... I went 'stalking' hahaha.... and found the rest... hehehe still stalking looking for more. It was actually a pleasant feeling. I remembered them as young kids... knew them when they were 12 or 13... but as I read their profiles... I see that they have all bloomed and matured to be beautiful responsible adults!!!.... yes... mind you...even the ones that got constantly hauled to the office due to some mischief or the other. ... hahaha.

I am so proud to see u guys... thank you for the beautiful memories. A teacher's life has been rewarded when the kids she helped nurture are now successful adults..... and hey.... some of them have made me a grandmother many times over!!!! muahahaaha.... I love u guys...

Yup! ...that's it for now... I'm going back to my studio... to try paint some more... good day y'all....

Happy New Year

Hello everybody.... had class this morning... but Zaharah and Zaleha decided to deviate from painting and do decoupage instead.... so decoupage with paper napkins was what we did today :)

It has been a long time since I last did decoupage. Didn't really find it fulfilling as standard patterns are used... and I hate the cutting part anyway hahaha... Felt that it doesn't really allow my creative juices to flow .... (errr that's assuming that I've a reservoir of juices la hahaha!!!) .... but again this is craft... and one needs to be crafty to create something pleasant.... right??? ...right....

So... have a look see at what were produced by them ya... actually turned out pretty good ;) ... don't you think so???