Transport Heritage Expo

In Transport Heritage Expo, children and adults got excited to the locomotions at Central Station! We all love steam and choo choo trains. On 26 September 1855, the first passenger railway line opened from Sydney to Parramatta in NSW. In the event, the steam engine operated between Central and Hurstville in 60 minutes for return. All the passengers, young and old looked so happy. I waved at them all. 
Children and family often came to me and enjoyed a chat. They delightedly took a photo with this work -- that made me very happy.   

Special thanks for all the event staff who handled so many people and assisted people with disability. It was beautiful to see an event crew friendly leading children into a locomotion and another crew assisting people with impairment in eye sight. No accident, no injury! Cleaners did a great job. The team appreciated my feedback and we've become friends! Wooo, hooo!    

I will develop watercolour paintings from these sketches. Steam and washes are very interesting. I want to put colours on the black and white below. 
It was nice to relax myself after the illustrations. Now, I will move onto other projects and commissioned work.  
Friends, Happy Painting! Have a creative week! 

Transport Heritage Expo

My dog Socks completed!

I sent all the illustrations to Ford St Publishing run by Paul and Meredith. Thank you very much for Ford St Publishing, author Robyn Osbourne and all the supporters. These are my doodles for "My dog Socks." Have fun! The story shows the bond between a boy and his dog, Socks.  When time comes, I'll let you know the publishing date and the front cover. Please share joy with us.  

The project was a great fun for me, a dog lover and the publishing team, dog lovers, too! Daily sketches and research have helped to develop characters. Many people, dogs owners have encouraged me on streets, when I sketched their doggies. 

I also thank for my mentors, Ann James, Helen Chamberlin and many friends in an Australian publishing industry.  I greatly appreciate the support of peak bodies : Accessible Arts NSW, Australian Society of Authors, National Association for Visual Artists, Ku-Ring-Gai art society etc, etc. 

Look forward to the publication and more information! 

Friends, Happy Paining!  

My dog Socks completed!

Self Study

The illustration of "My dog Socks," written by Robyn Osborne is at a finishing touch. Ford St Publishing will publish it in this October. Another project is steadily ongoing. A publisher is happy. We're working in a good team. A portrait commissioned work has come. Very busy and happy. 

Friends, how do you do self study? 
Once, I met a very interesting and successful portraitist at Ku-Ring-Gai art society monthly meeting many years ago. That lady had never studied about portraits in workshops etc, but her charcoal drawings got in Archibald and other very famed national entitlements. "How did you learn portrait drawing?" I asked her after the presentation. The artist said, "I bought books. I learned them all from books. At a book shop, you can find all the stuff." The lady did charcoal drawing at night when family went to sleep. Oh.... Her say inspired my dear friend and me. Ever since, I've been seeking art books and studying art from books as well as available information on internet.     

Looking up books, I'm playing with sketches in a studio. As you know well, in between work, I enjoy sketching people, particularly, children. I love capturing a moment. The boy above was standing in a festival. With and from these sketches, I want to find new approaches and learn new techniques. Not easy, but I'm sure only tons of messes will help me move on. 

Now, I've got to go back to a studio work. The Socks is awaiting me! 

Friends, happy painting! Have a creative week! Thank you for cheers and sharing time with me. 

Self Study

Cremorne Point, Sydney Sketch Club

Sydney Sketch Club enjoyed catch-up in Cremorne Point where we can see Sydney Opera House, Harbour Bridge and Sydney Tower. Opposite to the three famous spots in City. A wind was becoming cold, as it was autumn. But smile, cheerful laughs and nice chats were pouring among us. Btw, members assisted the lady with difficulty in mobility who missed out a private tour ferry. One member kept an eye on the sea and the ferry returned to the wharf! We assisted the lady. Nice to see a happy ending. 

A little deed was wonderful to refresh myself. It was good to see members and to enjoy drawing together outside in busy days, because the due dates are coming, of My dog Socks and another important project. It's essential for artists to have stress busters.   

The beauty of group activities is friendship and networking. A member and I chatted over her self-publishing of art work. She planned it for quite a long time and had come to nearly making come true. It was exciting and interesting for me and other members. I heartily hope everything will go well with her. Another fun was to sketch each other. This member helped the lady. Her down jacket looked very warm, designed for a winter. A visiting British artist remembers me (*Me, too. We met three years ago in this group!). We enjoyed a chat over publication, too and exchanged information. It's lovely to see unique members and thought-provoking artists.     

Another week has started! I hope all of us will have a creative week. I want to make a good progress in the projects. I'm fully charged with energy in the sketch meet at the weekend. Let's get back to a studio. 
Friends, Happy Painting! 

Cremorne Point, Sydney Sketch Club

Medical Doctors vs Sailing

Friends, how do you use a medicare service? In a constructive and useful way, a medicare system needs to be used and doctors should serve patients, whilst a patient and doctors are working in a team. In my view, treatment is like sailing a ship across a sea. I'm the captain. Doctors and other medical specialists are my crews. I make the final decision. My body is a ship. All of crews should respect my ship and treat it with dignity and care. If not, I, the captain will change a crew. "Maximise my healthy life," -- is my goal in a medical treatment. My medicare service use is strategic in a group work. 

"An apple a day keeps the doctor away. BUT if the doctor is cute forget the fruit." ʚ(ˆ◡ˆ)ɞ (source unknown)

However, I, this captain does not have enough medical knowledge. Although I know/feel about my body or a ship more than doctors, the captain needs the assistance of crew/doctors to recover or keeps health. I have a map and a goal, but I do not know how to use a compass and draw a line or how to find routes.  Each crew/specialist has different ability and skills. My crews work together to make my ship sailing safely and smoothly in order to get to the goal. We sometimes experience a storm and difficulty. We work together to sail across trouble waters. So, when we make a comfy journey and safe sailing, we celebrate it. I love my medicare service team and respect wonderful crews. I always appreciate the help of crews. 

In other words, a patient and a doctor are "being in a same boat," particularly, in the case of a chronic condition and a treatment that takes time. Say, two people try to sail the boat or row the boat to reach a goal in a long term. I have one paddle. My partner, a doctor has another. If we cannot work together, we will not achieve my goal, health. "What can I do for you?" when I hear that medical doctor's say, I feel very comfortable and equality between a service provider and a service user. 

So, a good trust is crucial between a service user and a doctor = a doctor and me. Ultimately, communication between a doctor and a patient is a vital key. We, patients need to become wise captains and maximise the crew's ability. I am not able to sail a ship all alone. If I row a boat on my own, I will make a vicious circle on a sea and will never move on. How to handle a group work is important for a service user.

What a joy to sail the ship safely! We're achieving lots of things and have stopped at many treasure islands. Medical specialists and I aim at my ship's safe trip in the future and that's our goal. I, the captain, always thank for my crews' hard work in words with all my heart.

The above is my way. What do you think?
Don't cry alone, Friends. Don't row your boat alone with only one paddle, if you are having treatments, especially, in a chronic condition! I hope you will recover asap and even enjoy a tag team with a medical doctor. When you feel something tough in life, draw or paint on papers. Doctors and nurses will love your work. Special thanks for modelling for my drawings above.

Von voyage.
Best wishes, Happy Painting, Friends! 

Medical Doctors vs Sailing

1) Children 2) Wash Study

Children's dead honest and sensitive response to an outside world always moves me. Their eyes are widely opened by surprise, awe and emotion. Do you like drawing children? Technically, it took time to get used to drawing children, because the proportion of children is very different from adults. A typical example is a young child. Check the positions of eyes, a nose, a mouth and ears in a child's face, comparing them with a grown up's ones. Then, compare a child's whole body with an adult's one. Use an adult's visual information as a scale. Children change proportions as an age grows. Once, proportions, positions, volumes, shapes are perceived in children, values, edges and colours will follow in painting. The ability of observation or the skills of "see" is nearly equal to drawing skills. 

I saw this kid listening to a live music by an amateur gospel band in Town Hall on Sunday. His face expression and body language was lovely. I enjoyed the drawing, surrounded by audience and band members family. In my eyes, children consist of surprise, curiosity, awe and big emotions. 

When I look back the old sketches and drawings, simplified subjects look much better than complicated ones. I might as well be brave and bold in watercolour.  

Do you enjoy wash? I'm playing with wash and studying it on A4. This is a forest, a landscape setting in illustration. I'll practise it more and get on a picture book real size illustration work. Already, I used this technique in "Moon." In some work, I want to paint without drawing -- it could be fun or .... disaster?!  See how it goes. 

Just now, we are getting into autumn. A chilly wind and an ocean gets cold. I swam at a weekend. Only a few people were in an ocean pool. An old couple said, "When you get into water, we clap for you! What a brave lady!" Indeed, they gave me applause. Tap water from a shower was colder than the ocean. It might be the end of my swimming season. 

Enjoy your life and have a creative week. 

Friends, Happy Painting! 

                                        A currently practised wash 

1) Children 2) Wash Study

Art Supply

Thank you for waiting! New projects have come. I have been in a dead hurry to finish it up, whilst working on other projects. Busy. Sorry for the slow blogging. Do you have your favourite art supply? An art supply is a heaven and a great playground for artists. This Parkers Sydney Fine Art Supplies is in National Art School where Sydney Sketch Club visited. The kind staff allowed my sketching. Timothy Perkins was an artist who had graduated from NAS. He showed me his lovely landscape paintings in gouache. We enjoyed a chat. His rich knowledge of products and art was amazing. I'm a starter forever. 

Btw, what is your most memorable experience of materials at or from an art supply? = products designed for professionals. The first use of Arche paper 300 gsm was my most sensational and astonishing experience in the past. I could not believe how much that paper would suck up paints. I felt that its capacity to absorb water/paints was limitless! The paper stood any tortures such as scratching, cutting etc, etc. Ever since, I've become a big fan and royal customer of Arche. Sometimes, I meet people try to use cheaper and thin papers in order to save money. I recommend "thick papers." Thin papers won't hold either paints or water and will often end up disasters and the waste of time and money. 

My favourite shop, Art Scene supports artists well. When a new product comes up, staff gives me a try and its information. Regarding paints, Daniel Smith was my most fascinating experience. They organised the sample watercolour palettes of famous water colour painters. Did you try them? I tried them all. It was fun to experience different watercolour artists's colour options. Very interestingly, I've found the similarity between the famous artists and me! Watercolour artists who use similar cololours to me tend to create similar styles and work on my favourite subjects. After the trials, I chose some colours for my own use from Daniel Smith. "Have your own colours," is my favourite say that I encountered in psychology before getting into art industry. Have you ever thought of your own colour option in medium? What's my colour? Or who am I? I've been exploring it. 

The portrait of a Sydney Sketch Club member at National Art School. 
The sketch club member invited me for mutual sketching.

I access new products though, I keep my studio simple, basic and comfortable. To handling new products and knowing them consumes a certain time. It could be stressful which brings me down whilst working on projects. Although I update myself with new knowledge, I surely maintain the familiar products at hand like a Linus's blanket! If you have interesting experiences in art materials and can share them, please leave comments.   
Now, "My Dog Socks" is at the final stage of colour! I'll enjoy it. Thank you for your cheers and for your great patience! 
Friends, Happy Painting!  

Art Supply