After a hiatus from travel oil art, I came back to one of my favourite nature subject, Iceland.
I wanted to paint clouds and the fascinating ever-changing skies from my 2012 trip immediately came to mind. There was material a-plenty from my memories and photographs of the land of fire and ice, which is an abstract art unto itself..
So this little paintings series was born, painted impasto as I got re-acquainted with my favourite oil medium, happy and relaxed as can be :)
Finally when I've done enough pieces that I am satisfied with, it dawned that put together, they form an inspirational whole that brightens up my room. And day :) With this, the name of each piece was born. May the paintings bring peace and good tidings to all beholders of this tribute to Icelandic nature.
Titles: Icelandic 1 to 9 ~ Infinite, Hope, Awe, Unbending, Flow, Haven, Oneness, Awakening, Serene (O132-O140)
Description: Icelandic series depicting the beautiful elements of nature, clouds, mountains, waterfalls, surreal earth, and homes, in harmonious blend in the land of fire and ice. 2016.
Medium: Oil on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 14" x 10" each.
Purchase at: yen.artfire.com
"Icelandic 7 ~ Oneness", "Icelandic 9 ~ Serene" are Sold.
One major highlight of Jeju that see hordes of tourists milling the UNESCO World Heritage site everyday, is the 182-metre high Seongsan Ilchulbong, popularly known as ‘Sunrise Peak’. For me, however, the eastern part of Jeju is much more than that.
It took me more than an hour on a local bus that spouts many many little bus-stops in Korean, English, sometimes Chinese, before I arrived at Seongsan, or rather an obscure stop on a lonesome highway that I almost missed and then luckily got 'rescued' by the hotel owner who came to pick me up.
That was the start of my falling in love with this hospitable part of Jeju, which also marks the Jeju Olle Trail No. 1, the first of some 21 hiking routes encircling the island. And the most classic one. Unlike the other Olle Trails which feature the fantastical coastline of Jeju with almighty waves a-pounding, this route starts serenely inland with a little oreum (mountain in Jeju dialect) climb to a breathtaking view of the mountains, large fields and ocean. I love the walk through the forest, the beautiful trees and flora, even a bright green little snake that slithered across my path at one point. And the comradeship with fellow hikers at a delightful, and delicious, noodle shop just when I emerged from the hills, before going past bountiful farms with all kinds of vegetables and delectable produce, and arriving at the familiar coast once more. This trail had it all. Never mind the dramatic finish at Sunrise Peak. I just enjoyed the quiet, the peace, the simplicity, the smells, the sounds, and the innate beauty of the countryside. And that is what this simple painting is about.
Title: Seongsan 城山 (O96)
Description: Tree overlooking Seongsan's farmland with Sunrise Peak in the distance, a simple painting epitomising the simple joys of hill walking and enjoyment of countryside landscape, inspired by a hike on the Jeju Olle Trail No. 1. Jeju Notes 2014.
Medium: Oil on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 76 x 76cm.
Purchase at: yen.artfire.com
One cannot miss the sound of waves in Jeju, ever constant, as you wander around the island.. Ever rhythmic, ever present, ever relentless, strong with the whistling winds.. sometimes pounding in all its fiercest majestic glory, evoking exhilaration and even fear at nature's power.. at other times quiet and contemplative.. yet still always unyielding and meditative.
At the end of my stay in Jeju, I went to Udo Island and there, on Seobinbaeksa Beach with its white sands and turquoise waters and dramatic volcanic backdrop from the mainland, the surreality reaches an unusually calm beauty, eliciting much joy and happiness to the bystanders.
And which inspired this nostalgic piece, of the simple joys of marvelling at the beauty of nature, of the whimsical fun of waves, of the child in us who was once able to appreciate things instinctively.
Title: Wave Watch 看浪 (O93)
Description: A whimsical little painting of a couple on a beach before larger-than-life waves and an imposing conical mountain yonder, inspired by the whimsical nostalgic joy of wave watching at Udo Island. Jeju Notes 2013.
Medium: Oil on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 61 x 61cm.
Purchase at: yen.artfire.com
Reykjavik - it took me a long time to learn how to spell the most northernmost capital of the world ;p But the landscapes of the Icelandic terrain are definitely unforgettable.
This was a distant view of the city from Perlan hill where the wintry shrubs gave a perfect frame to the unique Icelandic architecture, spires and all, with the faraway mountains and sea bay completing the composition that reminded me of an impressionist painting.
This was the scene I most wanted to paint from the trip and it was with great joy that I finally put paint to canvas, meddling with the colours and shapes until I think I got it right.. enjoy!
Title: Reykjavik (A40)
Description: Colorful landscape painting of the Iceland capital, with the city view from Perlan hill. Icelandic Series 2013.
Medium: Acrylic on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 30 x 30cm.
SOLD.
After a hiatus, I am finally back to painting with a change of scenery, literally :) And lotsa inspiration from the surreal place called Iceland from my latest travels..
Where the elements strike stunningly close, where mother nature is omnipresent in its immense powers, and most of all, the fascinating Icelandic sun.. ever so close to earth, ever so bright, as if tempting one to touch its unseeable whiteness in the cold wintry air.
So it is that I started with painting the unforgettable Iceland sun. Which is strange as I rarely paint sunsets, a rather cliche subject to me. But the Land of Fire and Ice changed my mind. And this may be the start of many more, in hopefully the start of a series that explores the feelings that this indelible abstract harsh lands in the cold volcanic north stirred in the artist in me..
Title: Solace (A39)
Description: A soulful piece depicting the unforgettable Icelandic sunset at the surreal wetlands of the Skútustaðagígar pseudo craters in Mývatn, North Iceland. Icelandic Series 2013.
Medium: Acrylic on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 30 x 30cm.
Purchase at: yen.artfire.com
3 comments:
sag said... Wonderful....
jeffrey said... This is really nice! Makes one feel optimistic just looking at it
lu ky said... great! I like it! No wonder your talent here!
After using painting knife for a long spate, I suddenly missed my brushes and decided to try a new approach using short vertical strokes and simplifying the objects in the scene. In a sense, I was gravitating towards the abstract. I was never a realist anyway and more of an impressionist but I needed to establish an identity. Many have said that my colours are distinctive but something more is needed.
Flipping through my photos, I came across 2 pictures from my hiking trip in Tasmania on the Overland Track (some say Underwater Track) that gave me strong indescribable feelings. They both have this imposing mountain aptly called Cathedral Mountain, the 1st in the distance taken when we were hiking towards it, and the 2nd captured when we've reached our hut that has the mountain as a magnificient backdrop.
I did both paintings at the same time and they therefore have a common colour palette. They are an experiment and different from my past works. But I do think that they convey the feelings that the pics and my remembrance of the trek gave to me.
Title: Tree And Cathedral Mountain (O21,SA24)
Description: On the Overland Track in Tasmania with Cathedral Mountain in the distance. 2009.
Medium: Oil on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 50 x 40cm.
The 2nd piece is based on a pic taken whilst I was in Bhutan doing the Druk Path Trek which is a 5-day trek from Paro to the capital Thimphu. Let's just say it was a very himalayan adventure ;p
I had a great time in Bhutan despite being ill initially and the nice feelings were to stay with me for a long time after. So when I did this piece, the pleasant feelings just translated into the peaceful pastels for the Paro Valley setting. I can't think of Bhutan without a smile on my face so even though this is an approaching storm scene, it emanates a message of peace and serenity.
This painting is also available at the 6 perspectEVEs exhibition on 4 ~ 28 August 2009 at The Art Loft @ Volvo.
Title: Approaching Storm II (O18,SA10)
Description: Peace and beauty prevails at Bhutan's Paro Valley even with creeping storm. 2009.
Medium: Oil on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 60 x 45cm.
Price: SOLD.
Mini-Acrylic Work (with dark green cardboard frame) 25x21cm: SOLD.
To round off my cloud-themed series, I decided to do 2 works simultaneously that involved clouds in the backdrop. As it turned out, both reference pics I chose happened to have mountains.
The 1st is an opportune shot I took while descending on the plane to Capetown at the southern tip of South Africa. It shows the city's omnipresent Table Mountain which seemed to carry a beacon of hope at the top amidst a gathering storm over the sprawling city. Capetown is an exquisitely beautiful, sparkling city - exotic, colourful, exciting, even dangerous, full of contraditions, and somehow the wilderness is always nearby in Africa..
Suffice to say, my trip was a memorable one by all accounts. And somehow, the vibes of the place came through when I did the painting. My colours got stronger and stronger and I ended up with a colourfully drama piece which hopefully captures the unique essence of the place. This work will be displayed at the 6 perspectEVEs exhibition on 4 ~ 28 August 2009 at The Art Loft @ Volvo.
Title: Approaching Storm I (O18,SA9)
Description: Hope amidst an approaching storm at Capetown's Table Mountain. 2009.
Medium: Oil on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 60 x 45cm.
Price: SOLD.
1 comment:
tt said...
Like the picture "The approaching storm 1". Good effort.
My main medium is oil which I use in the studio, or acrylic when I paint outdoors. Occasionally I'm enticed to dabble in other media for the fun of it or when I'm having a block with the canvas. So it was that I was having a particularly long block that I decided to have a go at watercolour which I've been told is the most difficult medium of all. In fact, several of the experienced folks at my art class started with watercolour and are now firmly attached to the canvas ;p Too much heartbreak, they say.
So it was with great trepidation that I started on watercolour.. and learned first-hand all the things that I had been warned.. tremble, tremble, joking.. I'm no watercolourist but it had been a fun experiment. I learned the essentialness of thinking and planning everything ahead, the importance of decisiveness in colour, stroke, and amount of water in the brush, and of course, the criticalness of delivery where a single mistake will cost the whole piece - and somehow it almost always does.. sigh.. that's why I say I'm not a colourist. Too much heartbreak, indeed ;p
But I do find that the watercolour experience helps when I reverted back to oil and found fresh perspectives. When I travel on my own, it has become a habit to bring my little watercolour pad because it's the easiest medium to bring, in case I do find the opportunity to paint. So here are some of my "experiments", for good or for bad.
Title: Sunrise At Halong Bay (W4)
Description: Impressions of Halong Bay, Vietnam. 2007.
Medium: Watercolour Work.
Dimensions: 30 x 23cm.
Price: SOLD.
Title: Trees At Overland Track (W5)
Description: Eucalyptus trees at Overland Track, Tasmania. 2007.
Medium: Watercolour Work.
Dimensions: 30 x 23cm.
Price: SOLD.
Title: Iona Abbey (W6)
Description: Inspired by the beautiful columns of an ancient abbey at Iona Island in the Scottish Hebrides. 2007.
Medium: Ink & Watercolour Work.
Dimensions: 24 x 18cm.
Price: NFS.
Title: Iona Ruins (W7)
Description: Ancient ruins at Iona Island in the Scottish Hebrides. 2007.
Medium: Ink & Watercolour Work.
Dimensions: 24 x 18cm.
Price: SOLD.
1 comment (Halong Bay):
karen said...
... gorgeous... pretty impressive, in my view.
1 comment (Overland Track):
beibei said...
Somehow i like this
The reference photo for this piece was taken on the famous 100-mile Klondike Highway from Skagway, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, paralleling the White Pass Trail of the 1897-98 Klondike Gold Rush. I love this shot because it shows the winding road flanked by tumbling autumn slopes with majestic snow-laden mountains interpersed in clouds looming ahead. Everything folds into a kaleidoscopic centre where the highway appears to dip into a lake, hinting at the drama and spectacle that lays ahead.
I did the watercolour piece at a time when I was experimenting with watercolours, which I learned to be an unforgiving medium when it came to mistakes. However, I was really pleased with the nuanced effects I could achieve for the clouds interplay with the mountains. Later when I moved back to oil and started using painting knife, I decided to try this piece in a different mood. I had been trying to learn colour theory from artbooks which somehow stifled my inspiration, so this piece was a happy comeback explosion of sorts for my colourful palette. In the end, I have 2 works on the same scene but varying in medium and moods - one bold and glorious, the other subdued and pensive - echoing respectively the sweeping events of the grand epic adventure that was the Klondike Gold Rush and the poignant poetic side of the individual human stories.
The oil piece will be displayed at the 6 perspectEVEs exhibition from 17 ~ 28 August 2009 at The Art Loft @ Volvo.
Title: Seasons ~ Autumn Crescendo (O8)
Description: On the Klondike Highway from Alaska to Yukon. 2008.
Medium: Oil on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 73 x 60cm.
Price: SOLD.
Watercolour Autumn Highway (W1) 41x32cm: S$80 (USD62).
2 comments:
alice said...This is gorgeous!
judy said...
Your use of color adds excitement to your work! I love your treatment of the mountain scape in Autumn Crescendo and the lovely Winter Wonderland.
This was one of my first landscape pieces after joining my art space, where I learned spatial (near-far) perspective and optical mixing, an impressionist technique that involves say putting 2 colours beside each other instead of mixing the pigments so that the intensity is retained. Except in my case I went riotous with the colours. It was great fun doing this piece :)
The reference photo (below), a shot from my trip in South NZ, looks quite different but it had evoked in me a sense of mystery and fantasy which invited me to run free with my imagination, at least colour-wise.
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Title: Glacier Valley At Franz Josef (A1)Description: Evoking a sense of mystery and fantasy to this glacier valley scene at Franz Josef, South NZ. 2005.
Medium: Acrylic on Ready-to-Hang Canvas.
Dimensions: 46 x 33cm.
Price: SOLD.
1 comment:
weishian said...
Glacier Valley At Franz Josef has a pretty modern touch, to me that is.
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