Do-It-Yourself Art

Title: Dance of the Spider Lily

2008-10-06T21:03:00.000-07:00

Camera shake marred this picture, but then I looked at it again, and loved the oranges and the greens, and soft yellows. So I blurred it some more using a photo editing program.

The result? Well, you can see for yourself.

Title: Doodle-a-me

2008-08-03T19:06:00.001-07:00

I have obviously not mastered the art of the doodle too well, but I thought I'd share this one anyway.

It's something I did when I went for a workshop, and they asked us to draw something which represents ourselves. Most people drew flowers, or items connected with their names. I started with a house with a circular door (I wanted something different), because right now I'm rather attached to home. And while the workshop was going on, I added a path to the house. The path and circular door later became a stick figure of a girl.

Title: Life and Destruction

2008-07-24T19:09:00.001-07:00

The pest-eaten holes give this picture its uniqueness. How fragile life is, yet how resilient. New leaves shoot up and buds shoot up even as the old ones are eaten.

Title: Fish-a-doodle

2008-06-29T16:49:00.000-07:00

I got the idea of using doodles from Artful Cards by Katherine Duncan Aimone (She actually has some interesting ideas in this book. I particularly like her projects which involve stitching). I thought it's perfect for me, for expressing myself, because I'm always making little doodles in my notebooks.

This particular doodle is based on fish. I was writing about Hongbao As Collectibles yesterday, so the motif was at the top of my mind. Not the best doodle ever, but I thought I'd put it here, since it's my first attempt at this kind of project. As usual, I made it into an Artist Trading Card-sized item.

Title: Playful

2008-06-11T01:00:00.000-07:00

I made this many years ago, using a very easy technique that children use in art class -- the paint blog technique.

Fold a paper in half, squeeze watercolour paint (you can use more than one colour) onto one side. Fold over, and blot with your fingers.

I used textured paper for a more interesting look, and worked with more than one layer (that is, let one layer dry before adding more paint, and blotting another layer) for a more sophisticated effect.

The beauty of this kind of work is in the colour combinations that you can achieve. And the sheer unpredictability, the "playfulness" of it all.

Collage from magazine pictures

2008-05-28T01:00:00.000-07:00

I made this many years ago, and it's still one of my favourites. Because I think what I chose for this particular collage reflects my taste, my eye for what's interesting.

Title: Glimmer of Light

2008-05-21T01:00:00.000-07:00

Another piece using the same conceptual starting point as 'Road to Nowhere' -- a path/light that cuts through surrounding darkness.

Title: Road to Nowhere

2008-05-14T01:00:00.000-07:00

This is a road between two mountains that just cuts. The road is bright and colourful, in contrast with the gloomy, rather frightening surroundings.

Title: Wall

2008-05-07T01:00:00.000-07:00

I love creating textures so much that I made another one. This one is created to look like a wall with posters papered all over it, torn down and papered again.

Title: Mountain

2008-05-04T20:04:00.001-07:00

Another experiement with creating texture using scrap paper and acrylic paints (like "Red", the greeting card).

The craggy texture and whitish peak suggests a mountain to me.

Title: Red

2008-05-04T19:43:00.001-07:00

I wanted to make a card that has a base colour of red to match a present I had bought a friend.

I decided to work using the Artist Trading Card format.

This one was created by pasting bits of scrap to create texture. Acrylic paint was then painted on, one colour at at a time. Each layer of paint was carefully blotted to create different areas of colours.

Title: ReCycle

2008-04-27T18:03:00.000-07:00

When I made 'Dreams' (see previous post), I actually pasted a few pieces of used toto lottery tickets on the flyer (card stock). I then painted all of them together, and cut out the part I needed for dreams.

The inspiration for this came from looking at what was left. I saw lots of red (because the background used in the flyer was red), and green (because that was my base colour for 'Dreams', which put in mind of a lush landscape.

However, I wanted the piece to have a touch of the modern to it as well, hence the abstract sharp-edged pieces used to create the palm tree. How the tree was constructed may also have something to do with the fact that I am drawn to triangular shapes, and circles.

Title: Dreams

2008-04-27T17:24:00.001-07:00

I've been thinking recently about why we spend the time queueing up to buy the Toto lottery even though the chances of winning are so slim. I think it all goes back to the a very human thing -- we have dreams. And for the price of a dollar or two, we get to dream big dreams, well, at least, until the results come out.

This piece represents the fragility of those dreams.

I wanted to create a more layered look, so I took a used toto lottery ticket, pasted it on a scrap from a flyer (card stock). I then painted a base using mostly green (because the colour is associated with money) with a bit blue and purple for texture. I then added small-sized lettering which formed the next "layer". The last "layer" is made up of large lettering accented by painting glitter (old nail polish) onto it.

Title: Urban Complex

2008-04-21T05:05:00.000-07:00

I created this from a promotional postcard from a megamall in Malaysia.

This one started from my wish to create something with a weave.

I started by colouring the entire card with acrylic paint, taking care to make sure that words/letters can still be seen.

I then studied the postcard, and thought that I could perhaps incorporate some of the text in it -- 'Work smart and play harder..." -- into my piece.

I decided then to try to represent the city, with the weave representing interconnecting, unimaginative units stacked on top of one another, like we see with many urban structures these days.

"Work smart and play harder..." fits in well with this theme. We can all identify with the fast-paced life in the city.

The last step - to cover the entire area with white glue, and when it's nearly dry, to create a distress effect, to represent the stress and fractures of urban life.

Title: Pre(occupations) Singapore

2008-04-21T04:52:00.001-07:00

I've been writing a lot about life in Singapore recently, and thought that I should represent that in a conceptual piece.

Again done in an Artist Trading Card format, I patched together the following material from newspapers:

* ad with Toto (a popular lottery in Singapore) results -- long, long queues on Mondays and Thursdays testify to the popularity of this particular lottery.

* a travel ad with the number $88, considered a lucky number in Singapore -- travel is something that Singaporeans aspire to. Not surprising since Singapore is just a small island state.

* listing of stocks on the Singapore exchange -- money and making money, always a preoccupation here.

* movie listings -- those less popular than in the 90s, this remains a favoured activity.

* part of an article about pork from Malaysia being allowed here again. I saw this and thought it was very apt, because it combines two things that makes for enthusiastic conversations - food and Singapore's nearest neighbour, Malaysia.

* part of the banner of a newspaper with the words "Straits Times", Singapore's most widely-read English Language newspaper, and the word "education", something that's at the forefront of most parents in Singapore.

To finish the work, I added two one-cent Singapore coins (from my coin jar), to represent how important economics and money is both to the Government and ordinary people in Singapore.

Title: Pick-up-sticks

2008-04-21T04:47:00.000-07:00

I rekindled my interest in stamps recently, and was at the post office when I saw a flyer for a set of Peranakan (Straits Chinese) stamps.

Somehow or other in my mind (which makes connections sometimes) I thought of a game I loved playing when I was a child. A game where you threw down a set of thin sticks, and then tried to pick them up each one without moving any of the others.

So, I cut strips from that flyer, and then overlapped them like the sticks from my childhood.

I roughly tore them to create a more rustic, traditional feel. The last touch was lime green acrylic paint to accent the piece.

Title: Unreason

2008-04-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

Do you have old nail polish lying round the house? In another work in the ATC format, I made use of a few nail polish colours I no longer use.

I was reading Sophie's World (fantastic primer on philosophy, btw) when I created this, and it was talking about Reason. And instinctively, I wanted to represented the other side -- Unreason -- the nebulous, the grey, the unformed.

Using the brushes attached to the nail polish bottles, I was able to create these circular, fuzzy strokes.

Title: Meaning of Life???

2008-04-19T18:05:00.000-07:00

I made this one using the Artist Trading Card (ATC) format.

By tearing a piece textured paper (used to be wrapping paper), a parchment-like piece was created.

I call this one "Meaning of Life???".

It's inspired by a friend who was having a crisis of purpose, wonder if that is all there is to life -- counting the days, and then the end (represented by ###). It's a question I myself am fascinated by, so I wanted to create a piece that will be a tangible reminder of this question.

Stamp Cube

2008-04-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

Over the years, I'd put away any stamps I found, a habit I developed in the years when I was an avid stamp collector. Which I continued even though I no longer pursue the hobby with a passion.

I took some of those stamps, and using a Rubik-cube like item I got as a corporate gift, I made this stamp cube. I made sure to cut out the parts with stamps -- adds interest to the stamp.

What's interesting about this is that by twisting the cube, I get a different combination of stamps. And I get a personal on-the-desk reminder of one of my youthful passions.