Final post here

 

I no longer post here since 2017! 

This blog is an archive. 

For most current updates:

IG:@samchen.art

Website: https://sites.google.com/view/samchen/

After some encouragement from a few artist friends (especially @chongenart!), I've decided to open an Instagram account.

Hope that it will make me a little more active, and to practice more. I feel like I am hitting another plateau in my progress. Being mostly self-taught, with few local painter friends here, can be very frustrating and discouraging at times, especially because I was so against the idea of being on social media. IG has connected me with some friends, both old and new. Feeling more inspired by all the great art from all around the world!

This is probably my last post here, but I will keep this blog as an archive, of this few years of struggle.

Head study (26.10.17)

Head study (26.10.17)

2017

Oil on linen

50 x 40 cm

Painted from life in 2 hours. The backlit effect isn't strong enough, and the mouth/cheek region is incomplete in terms of form description. Reading Solomon's book on painting, and noticed a few interesting pointers which I overlooked previously. There is actually a step, after painting the middle tones, that you paint the darkest shadows in order to secure the salient passages of the drawing and the higher lights (p.117). I had always thought to put that in at the beginning too, but I guess it makes sense to do it again anyway, as the middle tone lay in would probably have obliterated the initial brush drawing. I must also not be too stiff in sticking to the brush drawing.. although accuracy is sought for right from the start, I must learn to vary the edges in order to show solidity. Sculpt the form through edges!

Head study (12.10.17) with process

Portrait study (12.10.17)

2017

Oil on linen

50 x 40 cm

Close-up, and process shots below:

Painted from life at the Thursday night sessions, about 2 hours (7:30 - 9:30pm).

It's back to basics again. I decided to revisit carefully what Solomon J Solomon taught in his oil painting book, especially the seemingly simple process he demonstrated: 1) Brush drawing, 2) Mid-tones, 3) Shadows and lights painted into the wet mid-tone, 4) Finishing.

I'm still a little fragmentary in my tone, as you can see I have problems gradating the tone from the distinct jaw shadow, to the lower-cheek.. it's still quite choppy, even more apparent when photographed. 

Before I started the study, I wrote on my palette: Primacy of Drawing! Primacy of Tone. Gradate the lights. Also, at the starting stage, don't be lazy, use a fine brush to outline as many key points as possible- the mid-tone will be painted right into their borders. Then when painting the mid-tone, resist the temptation to variegate too early. The more simple the means of expression, the more powerful it is.

I cut down on the use of the painting medium. Too slippery/wet a surface makes it hard to scumble sensitively. But I still over-used the medium in the dark side of the face, making the adjustment of colour there difficult (there is this warm to cool transition I could observe, but somehow difficult to paint).

Figure study (05.10.17)

Figure study (05.10.17)

2017

Pencil on paper

60 x 40 cm

Drawn at the usual Thursday sessions, about 3 hours.

Sketch dump Sept 2017 Part 2

Sketchbook pages

2017

Pencil on paper

15 x 21 cm (spread)

I have been very busy with work, but an upside to this is that I am commuting more often for the past month, which means more time for sketching on the train. There are many more sketches done of course, but I've chosen this few which I consider to be better, and shows a change in my approach.

Over the past month, I have been practicing the Bargue "approach" all over again, and it is not so much an approach or method, as much as a way of understanding how relational lines should always be sought for. This is especially useful when drawing subjects that move. It also helps to preserve a certain "line of beauty", which is a kind of organic unity in all living things. Pardon my English, I'm not that good in expressing the idea.

The second thing is tones, or values. I am eliminating unnecessary half-tones. The question I ask myself all the time is, does the form read as Solid, even without the addition of half-tones? If no, it means the distinct shadow line or chiaroscuro isn't sought for carefully. Bad usage of half-tones (in order to enjoin light and shadow) results in "muddy" tones.. rather, the shadow line should be carefully worked so that it blends into the light, but not encroaching on it. If one has a harder pencil at this point, it is possible to do very sensitive rendering in the half-tones. But when sketching under pressure and with speed, it is not always possible to achieve that sort of delicacy, especially when using only 1 sketching type of pencil (usually a softer grade).

Sketch dump Sept 2017 Part 1

Sketchbook pages

2017

Pencil on paper

15 x 21 cm (spread)

I'll be writing some notes on what I learned in the past month of sketching in the next post.

Head study 280917

Head study (28.09.17)

2017

Oil on linen

50 x 40 cm

Painted in about 2 hours. Still struggling, thinking more about edges.. squint for edges too! And that drawing problem always creeps up.. it's that, and values, then edges, for me.

But for the last few weeks, I have the great honour to be painting behind a great local artist! Check out his instagram here @chongenart. The photos don't do justice to his work- watching him paint, and seeing the actual painting is really an inspiring experience!