My Art

Another of my Earliest Sculptures

2010-03-27T17:17:00.005+08:00

I did this also at my extra-mural part-time class in 2003. This should be the second sculpture I ever did in class. It is a portrait sculpture, life-size. The material is cement reinforced with some fiberglass, hollow.

Looking back, I think the teacher/instructor make too big a jump in the way he progressed from the first to the second sculpture. At this second sculpture there were so many new sculpture techniques to learn. But I did manage the given task with just a slightly broken tip of the nose.

We followed a solid teaching model with muscles exposed and one eye closed.

My First Artwork in Class

2010-03-24T18:17:00.005+08:00

The above picture should be the very first artworks that I did in class. It was dated July 2003. This was when I was finishing my semi-retirement at the university NTU. I was doing doing it at the NAFA sculpture workshop at their old Upper Wilkie Road campus. I think it was at an Extra-Mural Class on 'Portrait Sculpture' taught by their part-time staff Chang Wei.

I was learning the first steps of sculpting. We learnt about bas relief sculpting with wet clay, then about mixing water into plaster and pouring it to make a one-piece plaster mould. Next after applying separator we poured a plaster cast, and finally painting.

The Style of My Artworks

2010-03-11T09:49:00.008+08:00

When I was going into sculptures, I did quite a bit of exploration into different styles and different materials. Some of these exploratory items are still on my shelves.

I submitted some of them into the Annual 3D Art Exhibitions of the Ngee Ann Cultural Centre at Tank Road. Among those I submitted, although there were a variety of styles, I was drifting towards creative artworks that are figurative and express strong emotions. They were not large as, perhaps for their practical reasons, these Exhibitions had to impose limitations on the size and weight of the artworks.

Subsequently I was honoured to be sponsored by this Ngee Ann Cultural Center (NACC) to hold a solo exhibition in May 2007. For this exhibition, the styles of my artworks were creative, figurative, expressing emotions, and with something to communicate. They are not necessarily stand-alone sculptures. The general term for some of them is installations. Doing installations allow the artist to have more freedom which is a necessary condition to be creative.

The Exhibition Hall is big. Thus some of my artworks could be big. There is now no size limitations other than the ceiling height. But to get more freedom from height limitation, some of my artwork were placed ourside the exhibition hall.

For this exhibition, I gave the title, "Our World Today". My focus was on humanity around the world. As many viewers may not know the background to what the artworks are expressing, to each of them I add a relatively long write-up to explain.

After this exhibition, I slowed down in the making of statues but continued to make installations making use of mostly of plastics boards very much becuae as they are not too heavy. These are again based on the human figure.

At the same time, I started to explore doing oil paintings. By then it is clear I focus on the realism style of paintings, many of them figurative but not all.

Then I got news I was sponsored a second time by the Ngee Ann Cultural Centre to hold a solo exhibition. This was held recently in October 2009, called "Our Changing World".

Thus in terms of contents, they continue to be about topical issues, events and people around our world. My artwork style continues to be the same.

I am surrounding by my paintings

2010-03-08T10:28:00.004+08:00

For the time being, I've finished hanging up my paintings, both along my staircase and in a room upstair. As my wall space is limited, the paintings are crowded together all over the walls.

These paintings were mostly painted for my large solo exhibition in October 2009 with the theme 'Our Changing World'. Thus they are mostly on topical issues, events and people from around the world. Their style is realism, many of them figurative.

When I walk up and down the staircase and through this room to take a short cut to my study room, I feel surrounded by thing to do with our world.

To show what I mean, I have taken a video of these hung up paintings, and have loaded it into YouTube. It is here, duration 9 min. Oil Paintings on 'Our Changing World'

I cleared an upstair room to hang more paintings

2010-03-07T09:40:00.004+08:00

By now my staircase is filled up with paintings, crowding against each other. The extra lightings have also been adjusted and improved.

But as I still have paintings to hang up, I decided to clear up one of my extra room upstair on top of the staircase. It was once a guest bedroom subsequently used for storage. The wall spaces on two sides can be used to hang paintings.

I thus clear off the things inside, some to be thrown away, some are put aside to give away, and the rest are moved into a smaller room next to the room I want to clear. This clearing is easily said than done. I keep being distracted by the old things I have to deal with.

Among the paintings I have to hang up, six of them are not on canvas. They are on plastics panels, each of size 2 x 4 ft. They are heavier than stretched canvas, hung not at the centre but at the two ends. They really gave me problem hanging up by myself. Once I had to call for an extra pair of hands to help.

I've now hung up all my paintings that deserve displaying, and have installed extra lighting in this upstair room.

Perhaps I'll do a retake of a video of the staircase and add on this room.

I get more active in Facebook

2010-03-05T08:40:00.006+08:00

I am now quite active in Facebook. Initially I joined to network with artists. Some are with the online art forum which I have been active, and the others are their friends.

I spend time trying to get familiar with FB, especially with their privacy settings. The trouble is that FB has special terminology. It looks simple but is actually quite complex. They have to be complex as they have to cater for more than 300 million users each with their own interests when they network.

FB keep encouraging us to link up with more friends. This is their successful business model. They provide a free site and rely on income from adverts in their pages. The more users they get, the more businesses are willing to pay to put adverts there.

Gradually I notice other friends also using FB and I link up with them. Some are old classmates, and some are relatives. This is where the situation gets more complex. This I like to show or talk about to do with art are not of interest to others.

Fortunately a few artist friends are helpful and guide me on how to separate the conversations into groups of friends. But sometimes I forget.

In general, for networking with artists, FB has its pros and cons compared with online art forums. I notice so far in FB I cannot get in-depth discussions with artist friends. It is not designed for longer comments. After a while, the line of discussions gets buried and does not rise to thet top with new comments.

FB has fan page for more in-depth comments. But the comments are limited to friends who link to the fan page.

On the other hand, the amount of interest in online art forums seem to be reducing and artists are drifting to FB.

Camcorder & Facebook

2010-02-10T10:20:00.003+08:00

I have not been using this pocket size camcorder to record videos to put into YouTube. For this purpose I'm still using the borrowed camcorder. But as one day my friend may want it back for his own use, I may have to buy a proper one for myself.

I have been pursuing another activity related to art. I have joined Facebook to connect to my art friends. It is a complex e-platform and takes time to get familiar. By now I am a bit better using it and adding as 'friends' more artists I knew, and others that I previously didn't know. I also managed to search for and connect with some local art friends.

But Facebook is for networking with any friends. Gradually I have made connections with say some relatives, old friends that are not artists, old colleagues, classmates, etc.

One problem is that when I post something to artists, this also appears at the FB page of other friends. Many of these art postings are not really of interest to others. I'll have to see how to be selective in sending out my postings.

Trying Out my new pocket size HD Cammcorder Samsung U10

2010-01-29T21:31:00.006+08:00

The new pocket size HD camcorder I bought is remarkable. It is the Samsung U10, packed full with options. I got it at S$319.

Unfortunately it is so complex that at first I can't get the touch pad switches to work, and had to take it back the next day to the shop (store) that I bought it from. It works when the sales assistant tried it. Then I notice it was my 'butter fingers'. I am used to pressing clickable buttons while these touch pad switches work with a gentle tap of the finger.

Then when I went home to try it out, I notice Samsung do not supply a printed user's manual. They only supply a CD. This is most user-unfriendly. I cannot flip through the 90 pages of it on my computer screen. Nor is it worth my while printing the full 90 pages on my computer printer.

This problem took me sometime to sort out. I had to check through to see what pages are worth printing, then printing them in a 2 to one page format. Then I notice some printed letter size after printing is too small to read.

I next managed to record and playback videos. These are simple steps. But when I want to load the video on to YouTube, I keyed in the wrong ID or password. Somehow I cannot go in to key them in again.

I finally had to manually transfer the video to my computer and then load into YouTube. This is what I have been doing all along with my borrowed camcorder.

See below for the YouTube of this Samsung U10 trial test. The lighting of the recording is not as good as that of my borrowed camcorder. Also while recording I tried to zoon out and it was not responding.

Test Video Samsung U10

[To be continued ...]

I've loaded more YouTube Videos

2010-01-25T16:24:00.028+08:00

I have been working hard. I've now recorded and uploaded the 3rd YouTube video, duration 1:30 min, and subsequently a group of five more.

In terms of video technique, for the first two videos, the camcorder was kept still while recording. For the 3rd one, the camcorder was slowly panned around on a tripod.

Do take a look by clicking below. Your comments and ratings there are most welcome.

Sculptures in my Garden [This has now been removed, and replaced by on of them below.]

These below are the group of 5 videos, shot inside my house with the camcorder held in the hand.

My Oil Paintings up on my Staircase - # 1 ... time: 0:22 min
My Oil Paintings up on my Staircase - # 2 ... time 0:55 min.
My Oil Paintings up on my Staircase - # 3 ... time 0:45 min.
My Oil Paintings up on my Staircase - # 4 ... time 0:40 min.
My Oil Paintings up on my Staircase - # 5 ... time 0:34 min

Then I took and loaded two more. They are a re-take of earlier videos.

Rotating Model Yacht with Reflective Sails ... time 1:21 min.
Statues in my front garden ... time 2:38 min.

The camcorder I am using is borrowed. It is a HD camcorder normally used for large blow up showing on HD TV screens. When my videos are loaded on to YouTube, the sharpness and light contrast are good. But just for a 1.5 minute recording, it takes up a large 75 MB file, and a long time to upload on to YouTube. This large HD size is however a problem for me only. It is not a problem on YouTube, as they allow even larger sizes.

I have now bought myself a camcorder, a Samsung U10. It is pocket size, but it is HD. Technology changes very fast with these digital devices. I've now finished charging the battery, and I'd be testing it tomorrow.

I then recorded and loaded a new YouTube, see below, still using my borrowed camcorder. The new one is not working well. More details in my comments below and in a new posting.

One Sun Painting Studio & Sculpture Workshop ... time 3:35 min.

My First YouTube Videos - Rotating Model Yacht

2010-01-23T21:07:00.009+08:00

I'm excited. I got my first YouTube videos published.

I did video recordings of the rotating sculpture model mentioned two posts below, and loaded it into my computer. I then subscribed to YouTube and published my video clips it there. This is my very first time.

The first video is a trial test YouTube video with no music. But it is successful, visually nice, with my name up there. Click into the link below to see it.

Rotating Model Yacht with Stainless Steel Sails

The second video is done in the evening. Visually it is not as attractive. But I made some improvements to the techniques by making the video shorter, putting in some background music, and making better commentary.

Rotating Model Yacht with Stainless Steel Sails - Evening View

Old Bronze Vases

2010-01-22T17:57:00.004+08:00

These two days I am doing a bit of 'spring cleaning'.

One task is to check on my informal collection of paintings, prints, reproductions and other artworks. I have to give many of them away. I have been displaying my own artworks around my house and there are now not much space left to display artworks not done by me.

While clearing up, I got interested two identical old bronze vases passed on to my by my mother, see below. Around the sides they each has well done bas reliefs of Chinese style dragons, phoenix biirds, and dogs.

On careful checking, I notice they were not from China. The bottom has engraved letters saying they were cast in Kyoto, Japan. It is a pity the year they were made was not indicated.

Our family was in Hong Kong which was occupied by Japan from 1941 to 1945. Our father was a doctor and was asked to continue practising during this period. Were these vases given to him by a Japanese in appreciation of a job well done?

These vases are 10 in. tall.

Displaying my Old Rotating Sculpture Maquette

2010-01-18T18:05:00.008+08:00

While touching up my old painting, I felt like doing some physical work and I took out for display at home a very old rotating sculpture maquette that has been tucked away gathering dust.

This was already five years ago that I made it to get ready for an outdoor sculpture competition. Finally I didn't even get through the first judging round which required only paper submission. Thus I had no chance to submit for the second round the maquette (small conceptual model).

This maquette was already disassembled and stored away. Recently I took them out, put them together again, made some improvements, and switch on the motor. It still worked.

I thought it a good idea to take a video of it and got a friend to help me take it, later on in the week. In the meantime, this below is the still carmera shot of the maquette on display at home in the shade outside my house.

It is a model racing yacht with the beautiful sails made of stainless steel sheets. When the maquette rotates, interesting reflections from the curved sails can be seen slowly moving. Even the water waves from the bow can be seen as reflective foil.

Incidentally on the right, the large globe which I designed and painted, rests on a flat rotating bearing. It can be rotated, manually.

Tweaking an old Painting

2010-01-17T09:15:00.006+08:00

After deciding to call it finish the two smoke & fire paintings, I notice among the paintings hung up on my wall, another old painting was done in a hurry and really need improvements. It is called 'Nantah Pioneering Spirit'.

This below is the WIP after some improvements yesterday.

This was the last painting I did before my recent exhibition. It was still a WIP and I shouldn't have shown it. But as the topic was interesting, I showed it. And true enough an artist friend who saw it was not happy.

Hanging & Lighting Up my Big Paintings

2010-01-15T16:34:00.006+08:00

Today I got outside help to install special lighting for my painting displays, as well as assembling and hanging up my large 6 x 6 ft painting along my staircase. See below for the picture. The job is quite difficult, but we managed.

It is difficult to place ladders on a staircase. I have to specially plan the way I hang up this large painting. If one day I need to tranport it somewhere else for display, it can be lowered by the hanging wire all in one piece. It can then be transported away in one piece.

Reworking My Earlier Smoke & Fire Painting

2010-01-12T09:18:00.008+08:00

After this smoke & fire painting, I have taken out my previous one to rework. It was badly done and really has to be improved. This painting shows workmen inspecting the furnance melts of Singapore's earlest iron and steel mill.

This is a difficult painting to paint well as it has many small changes in tones and values. This below is the WIP after some reworking. It still requires further tweaking.

This Painting is Finished

2010-01-10T17:49:00.004+08:00

I've just finished and signed this smoke and fire painting.

It was prompted by news of violent supressions of protests in Iran. It shows one of their policemen in front of a burning motor cycle.

Perhaps a title for this painting is "Middle East on Fire". It is an oil on canvas painting, size 30 x 40 in.

My Sculpture Garden

2010-01-08T09:22:00.016+08:00

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In front of my house, I have on display some outdoor sculptures, see below. Some are done by me, but not all. The garden fence is not too tall and neighbours walking outside can see them.

Recently I arranged to paint them all sparkling white. This makes them look very nice.

In the picture of my garden below, the three from the left were done by me. The first one, done in concrete, was kept to remember my very first sculpture I did in class. The second one shows a muscular man in agony squatting over a sinking earth. The third one shows a proud male lion. Both are cast by me in fiberglass. fiberglass.

The tall sculpture on the right is a beauty, probably the only one in Singapore. It is a quality fiberglass copy of the ancient Greek marble statue 'Winged Victory' in the Louvre Museum, Paris.

In the second picture below, among the sculptures, except the two on the right, the others were not done by me. On the left is a large 3 ft diam fiberglass globe. It was designed and painted by me.

I am the designing artist of the concrete ship underneath the Winged Victory, and the concrete round stepped platforms underneath the sculptures.

Incidentally I didn't buy any of these sculptures not done by me. I got all of them free, from the local art college that I used to attend part-time.

And, about six months ago, when Google sent its Street View car with its roof-top camera to drive around Singapore, the car did come around my house. As a result, they took and publish photos of my house and my garden with these sculptures. It is a pity the photos were taken before I arranged to repaint the sculptures sparking white.
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Hanging up My Paintings - A New Year Task

2010-01-05T14:25:00.024+08:00

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Over these few days over the New Year, other than clearing up my sculpture workshop and writing blogs, I have also started rearranging to get clear wall spaces to hang up some of my relatively large oil paintings.

It is surprising I have never hung up my own paintings on my walls. For some time I just paint non-stop to prepared for my large solo painting exhibition. After finishing a painting I then put it up on my racks to dry which takes many months. Now that the exhibiton is over, I can now start hanging these paintings up.

This picture below shows four of the paintings being hung up at the bottom portion of my staircase.

The hanging locations seem all right. But there is insufficient lighting on the few paintings further up at the staircase wall. I'll need to see what can be done on this.

I'll continue to get more hooks and hang up more.

It may be of interest this large painting of an angry old man faces the entrance door of my house. It'd give visitors a shock when I open the front door. LOL !

Further up along the staircase, I have two large wall spaces. I am excited that one of the spaces shown on the left below is ideal for hanging up my large 6 x 6 ft painting assembly called 'Upside Down World'. But the location is too high up for me, and there is no suitable ground space for a good ladder support. I'll need outside help to safely hang them up.

Even on the simple job hanging the few paintings shown above, I fell. Fortunately I fell just a few steps, and there was no harm done.

This afternoon as I've a small job to be done at my roof top, I've asked my renovation contractor to come over. While he is over, I'll also ask him to install extra lighting and to hang up this large 6 x 6 ft painting assembly.

Soon my staircase will become my home art gallery. LOL !

[Click on the picture images above to enlarge.]
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Continuing with this Painting

2010-01-04T14:54:00.007+08:00

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When I continued with this WIP, I did some detailed touch up with yellow, and then added the white (Titanium White) colour to make the hottest part of the fire white instead of yellow.

Then I had to decide whether I should keep this as a painting with only these three plus white colours, or should I add a bit of other colours to some small areas.

I then decided on the latter. The main reason is that this man's face and hands cannot be painted by the three plus white colours alone.

This below is the next WIP picture with nearly all the colors in place to show the man.

I think after this should be the detailing.

While I am taking pictures inside my house, I took a shot of my painting studio, see below. Behind my floor easel the shelves are where I put many of my previous sculpture items. On the floor are two of my 3 x 3 canvas paintings making up the large 6 x 6 ft painting assembly 'Upside Dowm World'.

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Started on a New Painting

2009-12-30T09:35:00.009+08:00

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After a few weeks break, I've started on a new painting, the second one since the lull after my October painting exhibition.

My work on this oil painting was triggered off by being upset over some traumatic current event. The painting will have a lot of smoke and fire.

To explain the process, I first had to decide on the proportion and select the canvas. By now I don't have many new canvas and the only one suitable was abandoned after being partially painted. Tnus I had to cover it by painting acrylic gesso over it.

I then started the painting by applying a thin coat of yellow oil colour (Cadmium Yellow Light) over most of the canvas. I then had to wait for it to dry a bit before adding other colours. If this layer is still wet, this colour will gradually filter up into subsequent layers of other colours.

This below is how the WIP looks like after applying two more colors, red (Cadmium Red Medium) and black (Paynes Grey).

I'm surprised what can be painted with just three colors. And I have not added white yet.

Size: 30 x 40 in.

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What to do Next?

2009-12-22T10:23:00.007+08:00

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Sigh! Due to the many wrinkles on my round mounted printing, I think I'll give up looking for a suitable rubber hose to make the rim for this.

In the meantime, I've started some clearing up of my sculpture workshop. Some of the scrap materials are very unlikely to be used, and they do gather dust. Rats love this type of environment.

It is surprising how much rubbish we can collect over the years.

It is similar with our world. Over the years, it is collecting too much greenhouse gas, and is still adding more.

One of the new activity which I am doing is to write Blogs, this one and two others. I seem to enjoy this online writing, writing one episode at a time, and easy to go back and edit.
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Bad Wrinkles on the Round Printing

2009-12-19T16:47:00.002+08:00

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After a few days, bad wrinkles appear on the round printing, see above. [Click to see a larger image]. Possibly the spray adhesive shrinks when it dries causing these wrinkles.

Sigh! Possibly this problem cannot be remidied.
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My Round Printing is now Mounted

2009-12-14T23:52:00.011+08:00

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I've now got an extra pair of hands to help me, and have now glued the printing on to my round mounting board. The mounted printing can now be placed on the pivot at the floor stand and can be rotated, see below.

This looks all right from afar. But on detailed inspection later, defects can be found.

Firstly, the printing is slightly off centre. This causes a narrow red rim to be seen at about 1/3 of the circumference. Secondly, narrow wrinkles can be seen. These two cannot be remedied.

Thirdly when lights are right in front, it can be seen the surface is not flat. This means on display, lights have to be from the top, not in front.

Fourthly, some parts of the edge are spayed. I have now put masking tapes around the edge, in case the glue is still tacky and will set tight later.

Anyway, on this point, I intend to add a rim around the edge later on. Currently I am testing different types of rubber hose as the rim. A 1/2-in. hose is of suitable size. My neighbour hardware shops (stores) sell this size, but only the soft transparent type for acquariums. This is not suitable. I also have a sample of 1/2-in. hose that is nearly white. The color is all right, but this is a bit too stiff to be easily installed. I'll have to continue to work on this problem.
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Things I can do in an Art Blog

2009-12-14T20:55:00.010+08:00

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This Art Blog is relatively new. Even writing a Blog is also new to me. I started it partly to get familiar with its nature and features, and with the things I can do in it.

One of them is to explain and show my work in progress (WIP). The final picture of my art can then be shown in my Art Website.

Another is to do some thinking aloud while working on my art, especially any artwork that is complex and require much thinking.

I'll elaborate on this thinking aloud. I have been taking part in online art forums, one of them which I go in more often is the Artspan forum.

Recently in this Artspan forum, I have been doing quite a bit of thinking aloud about planning and pursuing the works on my art. Talking aloud about my thinking process on my art is of benefit to me. It helps me think more clearly, and modifying the things that do not seem right. But actually an online forum is not a suitable platform for this type of talk.

On the other hand, an Art Blog seems a better place for this type of mainly one-directional talks. Thus it is likely that I am going to do more in this Art Blog.
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Mounting Board for this Round Printing

2009-12-14T10:43:00.009+08:00

Continuing on the task in the earlier post, I've found a spare 4 x 4 ft foam PVC plastics board of suitable 10-mm thickness. With my portable jigsaw, I carefully sawed the circular profile with a diam slightly smaller than that of the printing. A central pivot hole is then drilled.

This round board is sufficiently stiff, and not too heavy. It's round shape makes it sligly awkward for one person to move it around. But fingers can be slipped into the central pivot hole to help with this task.

I then got a short pvc pipe for the central pivot and mounted it on my wooden A-shapes floor stand.

The arrangement shown below in my workshop is now ready for the gluing operation.

For this gluing, I plan to use spray adhesive. But I need to buy a new can as what I have now is a bit old and not working well.

But then, one thing bothers me. The circular edge needs to be framed to avoid the edge spaying. Frame materials in frame shops are all straight. This frame material has to be flexible to make it follow the circular profile. A split rubber hose is not the best frame, but there seems to be no other choice.

A Printing of my Round Painting

2009-12-14T08:29:00.012+08:00

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I am working on this task now.

At my recent painting exhibition, there was a backdrop with a large printing of my round painting "Our Upside Down World". After the exhibition, I took this printing sheet back and looked at it recently. It is a 4-ft diameter glossy printing.

The original painting of this, shown at an earlier post, is of size 6 x 6 ft, built up from four 3 x 3 ft painted canvases. At the exhibition, the assembly was hung faced down below the hall ceiling for viewers to stand underneath to look up at it. Also viewers had to bodily rotate themselves to see the eight paintings in the right direction. Hanging this painting under the ceiling was a difficult operation that required a few men.

Now that I have this slightly smaller quality printing, I decided to do something about it. I'd mount this on a 4-ft diam round board and pivot it at the centre. This means it can be rotated when hung up on a wall.

Thus viewers can stand in front and view the eight scenes at the right alignment when the printing is rotated.

Now I have to think through how to make a 4-ft diam mounting board and glue this round printing at the exact position on it. For this, I'd make a central pivot hole on each of them and rely on these two holes to guide me while gluing the two items together at the correct position.
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Racks for Drying and Storing my Oil Paintings

2009-12-07T06:48:00.006+08:00

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Oil paintings take time to dry, perhaps three to six months to get them very dry. This means by then they don't get tacky when leaning against each other. In the meantime, they have to be kept separate from touching each other. This means suitable racks.

I have been building up my racks for drying and storing these stretched canvas paintings. The individual items of the racks are bought from Ikea, the furniture chain store. You can see them in the picture below. There are nylon fishing lines stretching tight between the paintings to keep them separate.

Give Us Clean Water

2009-12-04T23:24:00.000+08:00

This is the photo (not too well taken) of my oil painting showing three composite scenes. On bottom left, a child is shown scooping dirty water from a stagnant pond for drinking. On bottom, a child is shown using a cheap but non-permanent solution to dirty water, sucking water through a special filter. At top centre is shown a long-term, but more expensive solution. It is a properly constructed deep well. It is cement lined with a rim around the well to avoid dirty water going back down the well shaft. Size of oil painting 30 x 36 in.

"The failure to provide safe drinking water and adeaquate sanitation services to all people is perhaps the greatest development failure of the 20th century. The worst consequence of this failure is the high rate of motality among young children from preventable water-related diseases."

Child Soldier

2009-12-04T21:24:00.001+08:00

This picture shows my oil painting showing a sad looking young girl soldier holding a gun that can kill. Size 30 x 30 in. Click image to enlarge.

It is a regrettable fact that throughout history and in many parts of the world, children have been extensively involved in military campaigns even when such practices were against cultural morals. Some of these children are orphans, while some are captured and kidnapped. They are then easily trained and forced to kill.

Our Upside Down World

2009-12-04T18:04:00.001+08:00

This complex painting needs a bit of explanation. Ideally, to see the eight sectors of this round composite painting well on the computer, you'd need to rotate your r screen. It is not planned to be hung up vertically on the wall like other paintings. Instead, it is planned to look like a round ceiling painting. The viewer stands underneath at the centre looking up facing outwards while rotating.

In reality, the oil painting is to be hung facing down underneath the ceiling. It is built up of four square stretched canvas paintings joined together. The total size is 6 x 6 ft.

In terms of content, the painting is built up from four pairs of paintings of scenes that are viewed from above. Each painting pair shows two contrasting scenes, or scenes before and after disasters. Together, they serve to illustrate how upside down the world can be, arising from recent events.

On the top left of the photo above, the painting pair shows our world's rich poor divide. One of them shows the glittering night scene of the gambling/entertainmemt city Las Vegas. The other shows the tents at a crowded refugee camp where people including women and children are living in subsistence conditions.

The painting pair on top right shows people and their crops in poor countries are badly affected by bad climate conditions, either severe drought or deadly flooding.

The painting pair on botom right shows a over-crowded over-loaded ferry boat with a few hundred on board before and after it was overturned by stormy seas drowning many on board.

On bottom left, the painting pair shows the New York World Trade Centre Twin Towers before and after they were attacked causing the two tall buildings to burn and collapse completely. A few thousand people died from this horrid event.

Modern History - #16, #17

2009-12-04T17:36:00.002+08:00

These are the last two in my series of oil paints depicting significant events or people in the modern world.

On the left, painting #16 symbolically depicts the final tsunami or global financial crisis sweeping across the world starting from the New York Wall Street since September 2008.

Painting #17 on the right depicts the tough efforts by political and financial leaders in many countries trying to save the world from being drown in a sea of recession since September 2008. Economic recoveries are still not certain at the US, Japan and Europe.

These six panels of 17 paintings can form another mini-series. Like the earlier mini-series, this can also be displayed at a semi-formal show.

Modern History - #13, #14, #15

2009-12-04T16:51:00.000+08:00

Continuing on the series of my oil paintings on significant events and people in modern history.

On the left, painting #13 is a semi-abstract depiction of the internet revolution that has, since the 1990s, caused a paradigm change in the world's business, economic and many other human activies, anc causing the world to change faster and faster.

Painting #14 at the centre shows the twin tower of the New York World Trade Center were in thick damaging flame before their final collapse killing thousands on the eventful morning of Sept 11, 2001. This was the result of deadly attacks on the US by the al Qaeda terorist group lead by Osama bin Laden.

On the right, painting #15 is a composite showing two events. One was a bronze statue of Saddam Hussain in Baghdad being pulled down. The other shows a gaint Buddha statues in Afghanistan before and after bombing destruction by the Taliban forces. These depict the US lead Iraq 'war' from 2003 and Afghanistan 'war' from 2001. Both 'wars' keep dragging on for so many year and the US has not been able to end.

Modern History - #10, #11, #12

2009-12-04T14:06:00.000+08:00

Continuing on my series of oil paintings on significant events or people in modern history.

On the left, painting #10 shows the two leaders Nikita Khrushchev of the USSR and Richard Nixon of the US angrily facing each other. It depicts the all out confrontation between the two camps in the 1960s during the Cold War.

Painting #11 at the centre shows the comforting relations between the two leaders Margaret Thratcher of the UK and Ronald Reagan of the US. It depicts how they effectively advocate the free market economic system in the Western world since the 1980s.

On the right, painting #12 shows a man dramatically wielding a long hammer to try and break down the Berlin Wall separating East and West Berlin. It depicts the collapse and breakup of the Soviet Union and its satellite countries, ending the Cold War at around 1990.

Modern History - #7, #8, #9

2009-12-04T13:42:00.000+08:00

Continuing on my series of oil paintings on significant events or people in modern history.

From the left, painting #7 shows China's Mao Zedong at Beijing in 1949 declaring the birth of the People Republic of China.

Painting #8 at the centre shows the contrasting figures of Earl Mountbatten representing the British crown and Mahatma Gandhi of India at their final talk in London on the forthcoming independence of India in 1947.

On the right, painting #9 shows a scene at the 1975 'Fall of Saigon'. This was the traumatic attempt of many S Vietnam elite to leave Saigon boarding an US helicopter on top of an US embassy building. It depicts the end of the long bloody US Vietnam War.

Modern History - #4, #5, #6

2009-12-04T13:02:00.001+08:00

Continuing on my series of oil paintings on significant events or people in modern history.

From the left, painting #4 shows the second US atomic bombing of Japan, this one at Nagasaki. This resulted in Japan's surrender. At that time Italy and German had already surrendered. This event depicts the final end in 1945 of the 2nd World War.

Painting #5 at the centre shows Winston Churchill of the UK, Franklin Roosevelt of the US and Joseph Stalin of the USSR at their meeting at Yalta, Crimea, near but before the very end of the 2nd World War. These three together carved out the spheres of influence and control of the post-war world. They did it without the agreement of affected countries and territories, nor the need to inform them. This painting also depicts the start of the post-war Cold War.

On the right, painting #6 shows the United Nations Headquarters building at New York city, depicting the 1945 birth of the world body.

Modern History - #1, #2, #3

2009-12-04T10:07:00.000+08:00

This is the first three of a series of my oil paintings on plastics board depicting significant events or personnel in modern world history during my life time. Each panel is of width 48 in. Click on the image to enlarge.

Painting #1 on the left shows Germany's Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in salute to depict the start of WW II in 1939.

At the centre, painting #2 shows the Blitz, a sustained German bombing of London to break the spirit of the English in 1940-41. This depicts te European theatre of WW II.

On the right, painting #3 shows the 1941 Japan sneak bombing of the navel vessels and facilities at Pearl Harbour at Hawaii causing the US to enter the War. This depicts the start of the Pacific theatre of WW II.

Fifth Economic Era on Creative Human Talents

2009-12-04T08:53:00.002+08:00

This is a very new economic era that has recently started. It is ongoing in only some parts of the world, like the US, some Europe countries, and is starting in Japan and some parts of many other countries, including Singapore.

The change is due very much to the powerful and extensive internet supported by other information and communication technologies. They cause a continual accelerating change to most human activities. As a result the most important driving force is the human talents with the knowledge, entreprenaurial abilities, and especially creative abilities.

The picture above shows my oil painting depicting this era, showing some of these creative human talents. Size 36 x 30 in. Click image to enlarge.

This and the previous four paintings on the Economic Eras had been displayed in my recent solo painting exhibition in Singapore. As this exhibition, which is a relatively large one is now over, these five paintings can be re-displayed as a mini-series, say in a less formal setting in one of the libraries of my old University.

Fourth Economy Era on Capital Intensive Production

2009-12-04T06:38:00.000+08:00

Throughout the 20th century in industralised countries, the productivity of manufacturing had very much increased due to advances in technology, business organisation, law and banking. This saved much labour but required much larger capital investments.

While other forms of manufaturing and economic activities were being pursued, the main economic activity of the world was dominated by these productions that required very large capital investments, like production in petrochemical plants, pharmaceutical complex and wafer fabrication plants.

The above picture shows my oil painting depicting this economic era. It shows a complex petrochemical plant. Size 30 x 40 in. Click on the image to enlarge

Third Economic Era on Manufacturing

2009-12-03T22:55:00.001+08:00

The industrial revolution which started in England in the late 18th century caused the main economic activity of many parts of the world to change from agriculture and farming to manufacturing.

The term manufacturing means the use of machines, tools and trained labour to make goods for use or for sale. It first started as handicraft supplement to agriculture and farming and progressed to craft guilds. The industrial revolution in England introduced textile mechanisation and the making of iron, steels, machine tools, steam engines, steam ships, railways, as well as factory production. Soon in many parts of Europe and the US, manufacture overtook agriculture and farming to be the main economic activity. Gradually other countries followed.

This picture above is my oil painting showing skilled workers in an early industrial factory working on machine tools powered by a steam engine through shafts, pulleys and belts from the ceiling. Size 30 x 40 in.

Second Economic Era on Agriculture and Farming

2009-12-03T21:59:00.001+08:00

Gradually human beings formed communities and settled down in suitable places. The gathering of wild plants was slowly replaced by agriculture culturing selected plants, and the hunting of wild animals by farming rearing selected animals. The main activities were grually replaced by agriculture and farming.

While tools were still useful, the main resources were land without which no agriculture or farming could by pursued effectively. For this reason, different communities under some leaderships sometimes fight other communities with hunting tools to occupy good land. The concept of terrorites, kingdom and countries were formed.

Bartering exchanges were slowly replaced by exchanges through some form of money.

The transition from the first to the second era occured around ten thousands year ago. This varied very much at different parts of the world.

The picture above shows my next oil painting to depict these activities of agriculture. The size is also 30 x 40 in. Click on the image to enlarge.

First Economic Era on Hunting and Gathering

2009-12-03T20:58:00.000+08:00

Ever since the prehistoric stone ages, human beings for survival relied on hunting of animals and fish, and gathering of plants and stones for protection, food and fire and to help with shelter and clothing. Hunting and gathering were thus their main activities.

To pursue these activities more effectively, human beings needed appropriate resources. The main resources they relied on for their hunting and gathering activities were tools like sharp stones, spears and bow and arrows .

When basic survival was sufficiently ensured, excess animals, fish and plants that they obtained were exchanged by bartering for a improved quality of life. These are the main economic activities.

For most parts of the world, this economic era was very slowly superceded by the second economic era.

This picture above is my oil painting to depict this era. Size 30 x 40 in. Click on the above image to enlarge.