The Very First Oil Painting

I'm always drawn to faces. Maybe it's from the years of working on them...

Hence the very first oil painting was that of a face.

Carolyn, my art teacher was at first hesitant, saying that faces were the hardest to achieve, especially skin tone and expression. But I felt it could be done.

With sheer determination and eventually using a knife to get the textures, I think its pretty good for a first, #whatdayathink

Oil on Acrylic- Painting of a Fashion Pic.

I love going to art. It's so compulsory these days that I get withdrawal symptoms when I can't go. This piece was a lot of fun. 

Being told what to create most of the time at work, with art I still need some form of direction. It's so tough when you have a blank canvas and it's entirely up to you to decide what you want.

The choices are endless!

Carolyn, my art teacher stepped in and suggested I choose something from the editorial work that I've done through the years. And right there, on my screensaver, was a fave editorial pic I did with Mark Law and Jeremy Tan.

Phew! Thank god someone gave me some direction haha.

This was my first adventure with Acrylics and I LOVED IT. I love painting with watercolours and this felt familiar. The watery effect that I got out of acrylic, the different layers of a shadow I could create, denser, lighter, drips...it was such a trill.

Also it dried a lot faster, which made me paint faster and create a more abstract version of art.

I'd actually given the model features but decided it looked too busy. Thank goodness it was oil on acrylic and I had the features removed with some turpentine on a cotton pad, just like removing make up on a real face. 

Anyone can be an artist. The spectrum is wide and vast. But, it takes sheer determination and inspiration to complete a work and feel utterly satisfied with it. To know when to stop or when to keep going. When is a painting finished? 

http://www.arthaus.com.sg