The Book Box

Completed the box over the night and had it varnished this morning ready to be given as a wedding gift tonight. It was a hurried job ... due to lack of time (got the dates mixed up... trust me memory haha!!!!) ... and upon completion, I knew I could have done a better job. Oh well ... *sigh*

Painted a simple scenery on the cover .. a Ros Stallcup original....had always wanted to paint it for myself... but I guess it's not meant to be. It's always like this... I bought the book for a particular design that I liked... but somehow, I never get to own it after painting ... the story of my life hahahaha

Baby Bear for baby Ilm

Just completed this piece for Baby Ilm...special order by Yati ... took me the whole of Friday to complete it ... at the expense of my Friday lunch :(

Just need to show it off before I go to bed... exhausted and brain-dead hahaha.... went through many books for ideas to create the design. The final result is a compilation of bits and pieces of this and that from at least 5 books!!! I sure hope Yati likes it...and mama Ilm appreciates her baby hamper ... oh btw... it's not varnished yet hehe

G'nite y'all ... the mind ain't functioning no more muahahahahaha

'Tis a season for hydrangeas :)

I started with my bouquet of hydrangeas on the book stand... and suddenly I found that I'd been commissioned with hydrangeas here there everywhere hahaha. Anyway shown below are products of my work on various decorative household items....

Let's start with Coreen's black box. It was actually a small chest with Chinese characters written all over it and is beautifully lined with velvet on the inside. So Coreen had it painted black ...and passed it to me to have her favourite flowers painted on it. I had hydrangeas drawn, falling over the 3 sides of the box from the top lid.

Then... there's Munah's large lazy susan ... also with hydrangeas all round the edge. Finished these two items on the same day ... since I was using the same colour combinations on both haha . It's actually interesting to note the effects of the same colour combinations on a contrasting background.

Finally .... hydrangeas on a 3-door hutch cabinet. That was quite a feat as I had to turn my head and body to adjust to the angles when putting in the strokes of the florets in the blooms. You see ... being a circular flower... I'd normally just turn the painting surface as I paint to complete the bloom ... but on a HUGE cabinet ???? Yup! At the end of the day... I had a terrible neck and shoulder ache :( but it was worth it .... customer happy... I'm happy :)

A bouquet for you?

One fine day ... out of sheer boredom and a need to produce something ... I came out with these three bouquets in a day. The book stands were all pre-basecoated... waiting to be painted on... but they remained empty for a mighty long time until they became an eyesore and I just had to put something on them.... need a fast job... still life would take too long ... and so flowers were the lazy-man's choice hahaha *sigh*

A bouquet of hydrangeas with Queen Anne's Lace and Daisies in a basket. I just love the combination ... it's not varnished yet but is booked by Kak Masnah :)

Hydrangeas in a glass vase ... had fun doing this ... just love the combination of colours. Also not varnished but is already booked by Sawiah :)

Lilacs in a basket ... no takers for this yet ... perhaps I'd just keep it for myself :) ... again, yet to varnish ... how to solve this problem of procrastinating huh??? Anybody? Help?

Anyway .... have a great weekend ya.... off to my studio now.... I think... hehe

Father-daughter team :)

I am blessed to have met this unique couple from Penang... father-daughter sharing the same interest, each encouraging the other as they go along ... it's a bond not many is blessed with :) Ira and her father, Ishak shares a zest for decorative painting.

Ira found me through my blog and has been in contact since a month ago via emails. She bought my book and has been practicing my roses ever since. Her desire to perfect her roses lead her to me ... and daddy tagged along ... so last Wednesday (24 Feb 2010) they made their way down to KL to spend a day with me ... how much more honoured can I be huh?

Anyway... since Ira has been practicing... her roses were good after just 2 hours!!! Daddy needs a little bit more practice though (after all MY teacher told me to practice 500 roses before it would look any good!!!) I am actually amazed at her ability to grasp the techniques ... so now who's to say you can't learn from the books huh??? Zie did the same... she practiced from the books, came to me from Dharan to refine her techniques... and now she's already painting to sell! So dear people out there ... if you have the love for decorative painting... never ever be discouraged ... just put your heart to it ...and paint!!!! Ira ... Zie ... and many others can testify to that ... believe you me....