My S(e)oul Inspiration

I am back painting again. After soooo long. I was so uninspired for the last 6 months until recently after coming back from a trip. I went to a few art galleries and was in awe of their creativity.

So here I am again, one fine morning, picked one colour to start the on blank canvas and I just let the colour flow. Then another. And another. The result is My S(e)oul Inspiration.

Mane

I did this quite a while ago. I used oil and no brushes, only my fingers as I want it to flow freely without the struggle to manipulate the brush. The result is as above...flowy and entangled at the same time...with traceable textures....

This painting is now hanging on the wall of my living room.

Ms. Thick Lips

I did this this morning. I was inspired by a book of feminine drawings and sketches that Bins brought to my house last night. I bought the book right off her that very night...hehehe

It has been a long time since I painted. Since I came back from Perth in fact. I have been very busy with my other "love" since then...hehehe....

Peak 1

Acrylic on canvas

I call this Peak 1. Somewhere I am currently residing. The imagery of this painting should give you and idea of how this place is. Though notoriously famous for its past, I do love the quietness. It has been awhile since I last used acrylic cream with knives. So this is it.

Kadinsky

Wassily Kadinsky, the so-called 'father of abstraction' once famously declared:

"There is no must in art because art is free."



This is one of his works that I particularly like:

Squares with concentric circles

Mama Fish

Acrylic Ink

I was getting restless last couple of days. After the trip with my girlfriends, I was itching to reach for my brushes again. I was inspired with all the paintings at Kuningan Suites where we stayed. Lots of naive and abstract paintings hung on the walls at the lobby and along the room corridors. The moment I got home I already knew what I wanted to paint and set to work the very next day. I came up with this. A naive painting of a fish. Now, this gives me an idea to make this into my sister's 38th bday present. I will scribble at the back "Happy Birthday Mama Fish Fina!" I hope she will get the message..hehe. Ok. Going back to bed. This fever I'm having is so not fun :(

Yellow Painting

Mixed media on canvas board

This started as a test board. I had too much fun trying different techniques that I almost completed it as a whole painting until, I spilled half a bottle of yellow ink in the excitement of doing this. Sheeshh! Half a bottle of pricey ink gone! That's when I started to scoop up the paint and used it on the test board. It came out as above. Of course I added few other colours and did print transfer to give it depth and focus. Oh, I added texture to it too. I think it came out quite alright. I call it the Yellow Painting :)

Lotus Pond

Acrylic ink on canvas.

Weekend is always high risk days for me. The tendency for me to just get ready, start the car and drive to the nearest mall is very high. Shopping is my fave past time next to painting. So, today, before I have the itch to spend money unnecessarily, I quickly donned my painting uniform (shorts & tee) and started working on a canvas. The result - Lotus Pond! I just love ink. Tricky but fun. Well...who knows, instead of spending money, I will make money out of this...hehe.

Test board with acrylic ink

I recently bought a set of inks. Experimenting was fun! I did this on a small canvas board. The flow of the ink was so smooth and vibrant akin to watercolour except this was a mixed media as I sprinkled a bit of white sand texture gel.

GREEN

I am enchanted by the colour green. Apple green, mossy green, lime green, sap green, all shades of green! I've just noticed that on my study table, most of the things here are green in colour. My vase, my photo frame, my ashtray, my Harrods tin... I noticed that, when it comes to house decor be it my sofa or my feature wall, they are green. I don't like to wear green though. It's 1.28 am and I know I'm rambling now. Sleepiness is setting in...g'nite. New project starts tomorrow! :D

Work in Progress

Mixed media on canvas boards

This is my current project. I plan to make three of these and frame in together. So far I have done 2. One more to go. This is inspired by the works of Carla van den Berg. Instead of using the conventional texture paste, I used glue and household putty filler instead. I must say the outcome is more fluid than using the texture paste though the process is more tedious. Right now I'm thinking on the 3rd one. When it's done, I shall update this post and name this project.

My ride...

Some bimbo hit my sexy Scarlett's bootie and now she's in a garage getting repaired. Was told that it could take at least a month to get her back in shape! I was upset! I drew this when I visited her at Glenmarie a couple of days ago. I sat by the walkway, took out my sketch book and just drew. I'm going to miss you partner :(

This Earth

Mixed Media on canvas.

This is a very big canvas hanging on a wall in my living room now. I love the presentation of this one as the colour choices are minimal and there's texture to it. This painting is an abstraction of our dying earth. The torn ozone, the polluted air and the natural disasters. The earth, in short is wounded. Badly. I'm not sure why I am drawn to paint morbid, unhappy or bleak scenarios. It just happened. Maybe I need to have a more cheerful approach to painting but then again, I paint what I feel. I need to be happy to paint happy pictures, right? I'm not saying I'm unhappy right now. I think I'm just lethargic. I need a long vacation!!!

Two Nude Women

Oil on canvas

Two nude women. One is facing the heat/fire like element, the other turning her back on it. The message is, two vulnerable (naked) women have made their choices in life. While one is succumbing to the bad but highly tempting life choices, the other simply had the good sense to turn around and leave. Which one are you?

Colour Play

No, it's not what you think it is! :p

This is what it is. A fun play of colours on rounded shapes.

I recently painted this. I was inspired by Kadinsky's work. He used a lot of vibrant colours. I toned down the colours a bit in this painting by washing it with very diluted gold and a glaze of rose madder on top to finish it off. The result - not so garish but iridiscent and floaty. Like there's a soft transparent veil draped over it. I like the effect. It brightens my wall in my room now :)

In my elements...

That's me, painstakingly applying masking fluid on a dragonfly drawing. In the end, I decided to paint over it and the result became something else...hehe. Paintings always ended up not exactly how you have visualised it to be, especially abstracts!

Finally, I get to sort out my painting stuff. They used to be under my bed, on the bookshelf, in a box, in a big plastic tub, everywhere! It took me one whole hour to organise things back in place. Sorting out the brushes, throwing away hardened paint tubes, separating the acrylics and the oils etc..etc.. I placed them neatly in shallow cardboard boxes I salvaged from the Giant hypermart nearby.

The Pier

Oil on canvas 24" x 27 1/2"

The Pier was done in oil. I like the blue/green/purple tones I used on the top half of the painting. I think it goes well with the burnt umber/sienna/white combo on the bottom half. As usual, lazy me was too lazy to take out my SLR and snapped this painting using a camera phone instead. So, I think you will like it better if you could see it in person. This painting was inspired by the pier I went to in Bali. If I am not mistaken it is somewhere near Candidasa.

Line drawing

This is what I do when I'm bored. I doodle. I always have my newly acquired Moleskin (Peace Edition, my bday pressie from Bina), a pencil, a water proof ink pen and assortment of other drawing tools with me in my bag all the time. So you can imagine the size of the bag that I lug around! I have my compact camera too just in case I need to capture something that intrigues me. Of these 3 doodles, I love the top most, most. I think the lines are strong and the composition is interesting. I hope to transfer this onto a canvas one day. I doodle with lines a lot. The second doodle, I purposely smeared water on it to explore the effect.

Child In My Dream

Acrylic on canvas

I had a dream before I painted this. There was a child in it. As with dreams, you can't recall much once you are awake. So, I painted this. A child in a gown. This painting was done with lots of colour glazing effects. The top layer lets the bottom layer shines through. The repeated process resulted in multi coloured layers of paints. Each a thin veil. This painting now resides in Beverly Heights.

Woman in Kimono

Ink and acrylic on paper

I was having fun with diluted acrylic on paper. The effect is astounding. Just like what you get by using water colour. It looks easy but I can tell you that acrylic wash/water colour can be so unforgiving. It is hard to cover up mistakes. Basically what you paint either becomes a happy accident or a disastrous one. This was done in my sketch book.

Old Shophouse in Malacca

Ink and Acrylic on paper

This is done on a whim after a trip to the historical Malacca. Another inspiring place to visit. I was dabbling with ink and finishing it off with a wash of very diluted acrylic. Done in my sketch book.

p/s the house looks a bit lopsided though...LOL

Three Bali Dancers

Acrylic on canvas

Another inspiration I had after returning from one of my Bali trips. This is what typically they call naive painting. Three Balinese in their regular "kemban" attire. This painting is still in my possession :)

Lilly pod

Acrylic on canvas

Personally, I feel this is not one of my best productions. However it has its own fan and now resides in Shah Alam. I don't like painting flowers, so whenever I do that, I tend to twist it a bit. In this case, I don't make it life like. The presentation is more focused on the colours and layerings. It is striking though.

Tempayan

Oil on canvas

I did this to test how patient I am with 1. Oil 2. painting objects. To tell you the truth, it takes a lot of focus and observation to replicate these tempayans onto canvas. The shades, the light etc. I am not sure if it is successful but to me the process is the learning part in itself. I abandoned the painting 80% to completion. Maybe one fine day I will pick up the brush again and continue finishing it. The wooden table top and the mug still need a lot of working on.

Bubbly

Acrylic on canvas 24' x 27 1/2"

This is still in my possession. I love it for its simplicity. This piece was inspired by the song Bubbly by Colbie Caillat. The happy tune coupled with an imaginary glass of bubbly drink just completes the scene of lurrve between two lovers ;-)

The Autumn II

Mixed media on canvas

Sheeshh! Another picture taken with camera phone. This is a mixed media piece using acrylic and textured paper. Too bad you can't see the texture here. This painting now also resides in Beverly Heights.

Perching Bird

Mixed Media on canvas

If I could steal this painting back from the owner I would but alas she has paid for it...hehe. This was done using acrylic and paper layers. Very tedious but with satisfying result. I layered thin papers, I scraped, I painted and I layered again and repeated the process. The colours used are iridiscent colours with hint of gold and copper. It now resides in Beverly Heights.

The Storm

Acrylic on canvas.

This is another unrestrained acrylic painting I have done. What I like about this painting is the contrasting colours and the chaos it depicts. The earth of molten lava, the landslides, the storm wreaking havoc, the trees, the fire all rolled into one. I love it and so does a few people with their comments below:

• bravooo...is this for sale?? I would like to buy this masterpiece.. - Kamal Ishak
• got storm outside there... - Darlene Abdullah
• Baru ada sinar dan cahaya....orang kata ada "Soul"Bagaikan lava yang mengalir ke dasar laut."Tandus hati kegersangan pasti lenyap bila dipupuk dengan kasih yang mengalir". - Alfie Lensa
• this is lovely elita!! i didnt know u painted.....and yes is it for sale? - Marina Hussain

This painting is sold. It resides somewhere in an office in Cyberjaya.

A Boy & A Man

Practising to sketch people on my sketch book. Not my forte at all but practises are required to train the hands and vision. If you think abstract painting does not require drawing, you are perhaps 0nly 50% right. You still need to train yourself with drawing lines and this helps you to observe your abstract painting in terms of perspective, definition and composition. I think. I am self taught after all :)

The Autumn

Oil on canvas (can't recall the size)

I wished I had taken this picture with an SLR instead of camera phone as it will show the details of the texture and the colour mix better. Unfortunately I can't do that now as it is no longer in my possession. I gave it away as a birthday pressie to a friend. The colours used are orange, red, yellow, brown with a bit of blue, colours of autumn. Since it was done in oil, getting the colours to be in harmony and not end up muddy was quite a challenge. I think it turned out brilliantly.

Dancing With Grace

Acrylic on canvas 24" x 36" (framed)

One of my favourites. This is a freestyling acrylic painting I did in 2008. I am still holding on to it despite offers and pleas. I like it for its movement. It looks like a graceful storm sweeping over.

Rempit!

Oil on canvas 24" x 27 1/2"

I know this painting is a bit off putting to some. It depicts a rempit who has just kissed the tar road...hehe. I personally loath them as they are a menace to road users. I myself had a bad experience with them. The visual is simplified by use of squares and rectangles however, I find this painting to be tedious as the process involved had to do with a lot of texturizing and colour layering. This now resides in Damansara Perdana.

Bali Dancer - Carved Statue

One of the most inspiring places to go to if you are into art and culture is Bali. I have been there 5 times and never got tired of it. There's always something to see and to experience. I made this pastel drawing of a statue of a Bali dancer in my sketch book.

Atok Jah

I went back to my grandma's a couple of years back. She's old and looking at her then, I was wondering how much longer she will be around considering she was frail and not in the best of health. I decided to sketch her. I am not good at drawing people but I think I managed to capture what I saw. It turned out to be a bit of a "naive" unfinished sketch which I actually like. Love you Atok...

Leaves

This is something I did reminiscing the time when I used to do impressions of cut out potatoes in the shapes of stars and hearts way back in primary school. I used leaves that I plucked from my front yard and abstracted it a bit. Don't be fooled though...it was not done on canvas but a thick postcard paper. I used acrylic. This postcard was given to a friend who took a fancy to it when she saw it.