Caligraphy

Calligraphy art amazes me in all sorts of ways. It needs patience to learn how to make the brush strokes look graceful in the painting. Some parts needs to be darker and some other parts needs to be lighter to bring out the tone and contrast. When it is mastered correctly, it will look like a normal painting, but with a bit of traditional Chinese painting.

Most of the time, we have always thought that painting is just another form of art. But when you think about it, painting is not only art, but it expresses emotions and feelings into each one of them. It tells a story behind each painting, and some of this stories are very touching or very sad, and this type of stories always teaches us about life at the very end.

 
Calligraphy by Phoon Wai Chee is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Singapore License.

Buttefly or Eagle?

This picture was taken outside of my house.Why a picture of a butterfly? If you look closely, you are able to see that there are 2 eagles' head on the wings of the butterfly. It amazed me how a butterfly has wings that look like an eagle's head. This is an ambiguous art. From what I've learnt in 2D's class, ambiguous art is where you can see two different kind of pictures formed into one. This picture can also relate to us in a way that we took advantage of everything that we tend to overlooked on the nature side of the world. The forest, insects,animals etc. If only we take a little time away from our electronics or work and spend some time in the nature, that is where we are able to catch the most beautiful scenery that we often ignored.

Butterfly or Eagle by Nurul Haqidah Isham is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

Seasons in the Sun

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

I was inspired to do the above art work based on this experience and these emotions of mine.
When I was a little girl during my summers I used to go visit my grandparents. They used to live in the state of Gujarat. They had a swing outside their house, that’s where I spent most of my time. That was the best feeling in the world. No matter how hot it was I would not feel a thing because I was simply enjoying the wind in my face.

Also this time that I spent on those swings is when I would get to interact with my older cousin brother.  This was when we would talk and get to know each other and soon he become one of my favorite cousins. We used to love spending all our time on those swings. Not only then but at times the whole family would gather around there especially during the nights and we would all have long talks.

Apart from all these sweet memories that I shared with my family I all together love swings. The experience gives me joy. The feeling of touching the sky, the feeling of the wind in my face, the feeling of just not caring about anything in the world and most of all the feeling of freedom is what I enjoy the most. 

The song Seasons In The Sun by Westlife explains beautifully my emotion. 


seasons in the sun

Photography is the Past

Photography is the Past by Kelly Chua is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Singapore License.

This photo was taken 2 years back in Hong Kong, when I went there with my cousin. It was our first time there, and we spent most of our time in Tsim Sha Tsui because I really love the food and girls being girls, I think it is a shopping paradise there.

I really love this street in Tsim Sha Tsui so I just took a photo of it. I feel that photography allows me to capture the moment of life or rather how I feel at the moment; just by pressing the button of the camera. To say that what we see in photographs is gone is just stating the obvious. Looking at photograph is just looking at the past. Once the particular moment is gone, it’s never coming back, just like any other moments.

The fact that something is gone makes photographs so poignant and it is what makes photographs memories. This again, is obvious because memories concern the past.

Textures

This art piece was done during a drawing fundamentals module. We were supposed to go around our school compound to get as many textures as we can. We had rice papers and crayons provided by our lecturer. We were asked to draw any object and use our collected textures to paste on it. I find this lesson quite interesting as an object usually has one or two textures. But, we were not restricted to just a few textures. We were encouraged to paste as many textures as we can on our object. In this case, I drew a car. It was quite a sight as there isn’t a car that is made up of so many different textures on the outside. I thought it might look weird but it turned out not too bad after I had filled up all the white spaces. I feel that art should not be limited in its imagination. Instead, it should have no limits, where we can draw anything, even if it doesn’t exist in the world.

Textures by Jessica Koh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Singapore License.

still life painting

observational painting by ANGELENE HO is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

This is a still life painting i did two weeks ago, initially we had to place the 'objects' right infront of our drawing space and we had to observe how it is and paint it accordingly. however as the time went by the capsicums spoiled and i had to rely on a photo i took of it to paint. It was quite challenging as i had to mix the colours till it was just right and also the painting must be of proportion. As soon as i completed this painting i felt a sense of achievement as it requires patience and all along i lose my patience easily.

Three point perspective drawing

Three point perspective drawing by Alphonsine Koh is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Singapore License.

This is a Three point perspective drawing of a building. This is a worm-eye view of the building where the viewer looks up to where the object is. Three point perspective includes a horizon and three vanishing points. Perspective drawing is very technical and is different when compared to observational drawing. Most of the time, the drawing does not turn out like the picture taken or the place observe and therefore it may confuse beginners. However, with a little practice you will soon be able to get a hold of it! It is advisable to learn One and Two point perspective first though as it is the basics of perspective drawing. If you are interested in self-learning perspective drawing, you can also look up the internet and these step-by-step lessons are just a click away! You can even purchase this book if you would like It has really informative and interesting lessons on perspective drawings, even with cartoons. I hope this sparked your interest in perspective drawings!

2D work

This is a 2D work that my group mates and I had done for our first group project this semester. The theme for our work was Architecture. As shown, we chose to work on the Universal Studios Singapore but with certain juxtapositions in the architectural form. To begin with, we thought that our composition was relatively complicating because of the architectural form. However, our idea was to have the Castle as the main focus while the two Mummies act as the guards to protect the castle, then we also have the Roller-coasters on the Sunset background, coming on the foreground through a window. So to make it a success, we just believed in what we did and perservere through despite the hectic days. Our work was intentionally made semi-abstract to show visual elements.

2D Work by Nurul Farhanah is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Singapore License.

Mood board and audio composing.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

This is my self-composed audio and mood board that I did last year.
This was done as one of my final assignments in my audio composing module that I
took previously in another school. I was told to come up with 9 sentences that will make up
a story or an experience. After much thought, I've decided to go with the experience of taking a
roller coaster. Other than coming up with the sentences, I was also expected to do up the mood board frames. There was no restriction/expectation in the sort of medium we can use so I went with gouache and acrylic paint. However, I had a lot of problems trying to come up with frames as they have to be abstract and at the same time, editable with After Effects software. Even though it wasn't a pleasant process, the outcome of the mood board is still rather satisfying to me.

After completing the mood board, I had to compose an audio mix for each frame. To compose an audio that is able to depict/bring out the sentences behind the frames was extremely difficult for me. I spent hours looking for suitable audios and then editing everything together. In total, I used a total of 70 raw audio tracks before coming up with the audio mix of my 9 frames.

Through the process of coming up with this work, I've learnt the importance of patience as well as passion. Without the patience to sit in front of a computer to edit for long hours, it is impossible to complete. Looking for suitable audio tracks took an even longer time. Without passion, there is no drive for you to search for more ideas or even continue to complete your work when you are at the hardest point of the project.
Art is perceived differently by everyone. It is very subjective To some, an art work may look like the gem that they want to own. To others, it might have just looked like one of the many art works in the world. In order to come up with an art work that is able to demand the same sort of positive feedback and critique is difficult.

Blue Man Group

This mask was painted by my team mates and I as part of our collaterals for presentation. We were told by our Communication Skills lecturer to organise an art related event so my team has planned to invite the group Blue Man Group. Its a group that basically creates music using percussion instruments,  theatre- acting and comedy. This group consist of three long time friends coming together and formed a musical group. So what`s interesting about them is that during the performance,  their faces are all painted blue in colour and they communicate through body language to one another as well as to their audience.

I myself personally enjoys the music that they make especially one of their performance where they made a cover of Lady Gaga`s song Bad Romance just by using pipes and two wooden spoons. Their performance was totally awesome. I think this group is cool and interesting, along with their funny gestures and the way that they`re call Blue Man Group and their face painted blue in colour, it makes people curious about who they are and of course that includes myself.

Blue Man Group by Huey Wen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at twitter.com.

Charcoal Drawing

This is my tonal value work for Drawing Fundamentals. This work is done with just charcoal. There are different sizes of charcoal. For this work, i used the medium-sized charcoal mainly because it was the most suitable to draw the eye. I started using and experimenting charcoal when i entered NAFA and it soon became my favourite medium. Along the way, i learnt that you can blend the charcoal using blending paper stumps, cotton pads and tissue. However, i am more comfortable with using my fingers to blend because it is easier to control the charcoal as compared to using blending paper stumps, cotton pads or tissue. I learned how to use charcoal by watching this video that gives us tips on charcoal drawing. I love using charcoal because it is easy to handle and it shows a really beautiful outcome when your work is done. I prefer using charcoal than normal pencil because pencil takes up a lot of time as compared to charcoal and the effect is amazing. This work that i have done was inspired by art-related videos that i watched on Youtube. Even though charcoal is a beautiful medium, the bad part about using it is, your hands will get dirty and you have to spray fixative over your work when you are done so that your work won't smudge everywhere. 

 
Charcoal Drawing by Afiqah is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Mixed Media

This craft work is under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

This is a craft work that I did in 2012. The title is ' Asleep ' and it is one of my proudest mixed media work. This craft work is done with a few mediums : Marker, Charcoal, Batik Paint, Pencil and Pastel. This work shows a woman having two different personalities when she is awake and asleep. The clock on the top left hand corner is to show that her personalities changes with time. To show the different personalities and the different time, I used charcoal and black pastel to do a contrasting effect on the body and on the face of the clock. I also used symbols in tattoo form to represent the bad side of her personality on her body. It took me 6 months to complete this work. I prefer mixed media works than just focusing on a particular medium because I love exploring different types of mediums. This is also a good way to practice a whole range of mediums at one time and discovering the possibilities of each medium on our own. 

Still Life Painting

Still life painting of fruits is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License.

This is a still life painting of a capsicum, apple and avocado under strong spotlight. The painting is done in acrylic using warm colours only. I chose these 3 fruits because of its shape (capsicum have interesting shape) and texture (avocado have interesting texture). Apple will be a good choice to start with / for beginner because it has fairly much simpler shape and texture. Still life painting is a good way to practice tonal value as well as mixing correct shades. It is advisable to mix the shades of colours before starting to apply on the paper so that mistake can be minimise and also prevent building up too many layers of paint. I like painting still life objects because it is easier to capture the realism of the painting like a picture as well as it serves as a very good painting practice for me. Still life painting can be painting of any still objects need not be fruits. In this link, How to paint still life it is a good website to read up more about painting still life and how to get started. Still life painting need not to be boring you can paint interesting shaped objects or paint interesting textures to add fun to still life painting. Get your brushes and paints ready!

National Museum

This photo was taken in the National Museum. It's been a long time since I went to the museum and I got to go around May this year because of school. This is one part of the museum and I was in awe when I went in. It was a based on a 60's themed cinema and there were movie posters everywhere. The retro feel and music made me felt as if I was really in that era. These posters were designed exactly like how it's supposed to be during those days and I personally really like the retro genre because of the colours used. Everything's so colourful and perfect.

Even the tickets were from the 60's! It's my first time seeing how movie tickets used to look like and I think it's so much prettier than what we have right now. The whole vintage feel of the ticket is just so perfect. The atmosphere at the exhibition also made me felt like I was in a cinema. They were flashing some old movies in the museum too, the sound and colour of the movie simply made me felt like I travelled on a time machine back to the 60's.

Overall, I enjoyed my trip to National Museum and would love to visit it again if they still have such retro themed exhibition.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

Seal Mitted Ragdoll

<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/sg/deed.en_US"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/sg/88x31.png" /></a><br /><span xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/StillImage" property="dct:title" rel="dct:type">Seal Mitted Ragdoll</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/sg/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Singapore License</a>.<br />Based on a work at <a xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" href="<a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/sg/deed.en_US"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/sg/88x31.png" /></a><br /><span xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/StillImage" property="dct:title" rel="dct:type">Russian Blue</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/sg/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Singapore License</a>.<br />Based on a work at <a xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJzSTnQ06AxPOEgdSO8Zx6mQ7uZZPA33cwiUJWRY6-8-egPhFqJICb-AkfpQkxeWYU7XWUGjEDTHXPhUiGlDE6p_wUu_4apRLdXB1qRjeTWQB6sa6jmTFQiF8Jrom5biAAlPaVjfSlOA/s1600/04.jpg" rel="dct:source">https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJzSTnQ06AxPOEgdSO8Zx6mQ7uZZPA33cwiUJWRY6-8-egPhFqJICb-AkfpQkxeWYU7XWUGjEDTHXPhUiGlDE6p_wUu_4apRLdXB1qRjeTWQB6sa6jmTFQiF8Jrom5biAAlPaVjfSlOA/s1600/04.jpg</a>." rel="dct:source"><a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/sg/deed.en_US"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/sg/88x31.png" /></a><br /><span xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" href="http://purl.org/dc/dcmitype/StillImage" property="dct:title" rel="dct:type">Russian Blue</span> is licensed under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/sg/deed.en_US">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Singapore License</a>.<br />Based on a work at <a xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJzSTnQ06AxPOEgdSO8Zx6mQ7uZZPA33cwiUJWRY6-8-egPhFqJICb-AkfpQkxeWYU7XWUGjEDTHXPhUiGlDE6p_wUu_4apRLdXB1qRjeTWQB6sa6jmTFQiF8Jrom5biAAlPaVjfSlOA/s1600/04.jpg" rel="dct:source">https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinJzSTnQ06AxPOEgdSO8Zx6mQ7uZZPA33cwiUJWRY6-8-egPhFqJICb-AkfpQkxeWYU7XWUGjEDTHXPhUiGlDE6p_wUu_4apRLdXB1qRjeTWQB6sa6jmTFQiF8Jrom5biAAlPaVjfSlOA/s1600/04.jpg</a>.
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This cat is of the same breed and color as my cat. Ragdoll is a recent cat breed, color patterns of Ragdoll cats are classified into: Seal, Chocolate, Lilac, Cream, Tortie, Mink and Solid. 

Seal Mitted Ragdolls have distinctive features from Siamese, Himalayan and Burman. Siamese (sharp face, short fur), Himalayan & Burman (flat face, long fur) mixed to give Ragdolls sharp faces and semi long fur.

Shining Horse on Sparkly Carousel

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Shining Horse on Sparkly Carousel by Lua Yue Min is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.

My proudest work I took in Japan.

I went to Hokkaido, Japan thinking it is another country-side as it well-known for its milk. Little did I know that it is city-like, excluding the rush.

Entering a music box shop was the highlight of the trip, according to me. As the walk there was surprisingly pleasant. Small breeze, no ice on the ground and pretty little buildings in that area. I even passed by a Hello Kitty themed shop! Too bad I did not get to enter due to too much time at this petite music box shop.

It felt like time had stopped when I entered the music box shop. It was like I am in an actual music box! It had antique decorations, areas filled with mostly music boxes. Photography was not prohibited hence it was heaven to me as I wanted to share this place badly. Other than music boxes, miniatures were everywhere as well! My other favourite.

This Carousel was a mixture of both. I was elated when I found out this part of the shop! Miniature music boxes everywhere. Surprisingly, the angle and lighting for this picture was perfect! I did not do much to get this photo, so I am guessing it was the whole atmosphere of the shop that allowed such accomplishment. I was delighted when I saw such perfection on my camera's screen. It took me a while to believe that this was taken by yours truly.

I love how the horses are shining and the carousel sparkly, without looking clashing or blinding. It was like a princess' dream, even though we would rather ride on a white horse behind a prince's back. However this is the next closest thing a girl can ever treasure! It is extremely pretty, sparkly and shiny; what most girls adore.

Too bad my Mom did not understand how this toy(Yes. She sees it as a toy.) could make me feel like a princess, hence I could not buy this or any other pretty things in the shop. I am still glad I got to enter this warm and fuzzy music box (shop).

Lua Yue Min F13AM0050