This painting shows a crystal ball emitting light in the midst of darkness. In the crystal ball, blocks of colour are put together, forming a maze. Above it is a pair of hands, held in the fashion of a gypsy foretelling the future.
Rough, choppy brushwork have been used to depict the subject matter. Composition is evenly spread out throughout the painting. Complementary colours, such as red and green, attracts the viewer's eye to the center of the painting. Striking colours linked to the red and green, placed toward subject matter around the crystal ball, initiate and allow for eye movement around the painting. Contrasting colours like black and white have been used, so that light in the painting will stand out to the viewer's eye. The hands depicted in the painting seem to be coming out of nowhere, due to the blending in of the upper arms to the background, which gives off a mysterious feel to the subject matter. The colours in the crystal ball are mostly warm colours, adding a touch of vibrance to the painting.
The artwork communicates a sense of mystery and a mix of emotions such as a distant coldness and, at the same time, vibrance. This is to symbolise the different aspects of light, where in the painting only a few perspectives have been given. The mysterious feel, achieved by the dark and murky background and the use of a crystal ball as a subject matter, could be an example of how alluring and magical light can be, while the maze of colours symbolises the many different uses and shades of light. Its vibrant contrast to the murky and dull background could suggest light in the form of revelation in the midst of ignorance.
Lights Out
Lee Shu Hui
Watercolour, colour pencil and toothpicks on paper
2010
This artwork depicts a building at night with some of its windows open and curtains drawn, revealing different people and families through each open window. All the figures have been cartoonised. One of the windows show an animated-looking figure speaking on a red telephone. Through the next window, an old man is resting on his couch in his bathrobe, staring at the television screen in front of him. Above the old man's room is a window with green curtains drawn back. Through this window, a boy is literally burying his head in a book, as the yellow book he is reading blocks his face entirely, so that only the top of his head can be seen. The window beside him shows a boy staring fixedly at his computer, his eyes wide, typing on the keyboard. A different window above shows a couple fighting and yelling at one another. At the window above them, a cartoon figure is hunched over a bowl of noodles, ready to eat his supper. The pots and pans hanging from the wall in the background behind him suggest that he is in his kitchen. To the right, another window at the top shows a cartoon figure kneeling on his bed, confiding in his soft toy. Subject composition is not balanced, but rather concentrates toward the bottom left side of the artwork.
Smooth shading of strokes using colour pencils have been used. Smooth brushstrokes have also been used to depict the pitch-black tone of the building. Colours used have been mostly cool colours, like black, which covers the whole of the building to show that it is night time. Warm colours have been added to create contrast in the picture, like red, for the mouths of the cartoon figures and for the curtains of the uppermost room at the right, purple, used for the old man's couch and the computer of the boy, and peach, for skin tones of the cartoonised figures.
There is little sense of movement in this artwork as the moving figures make up a small portion of the whole artwork, while most of the figures are stationary or seem to be moving very little.
Emphasis has been placed on the topmost right hand corner of the picture, where a lone window stands out amidst the blackness of the building and the surrounding windows. The curtains of this window are a striking mixture of bright and dark tones of red, which attract the viewer's eye towards it.
There is a repetition of squares throughout the artwork. These squares were formed by glueing toothpicks onto the paper. They have been placed uniformly side by side, depicting the steady goings-on of the night time. The artwork also has a rather flat perspective.
This artwork sheds "Light" on the lives of all these different people living together in the building. The artist's use of many windows revealing different people and situations could be showing the complexities of life, while the chosen setting of night-time and the use of black for the building could depict the darkness many face through the difficulties of life. The dominant use of cool colours, like black which dominates most of the artwork, and lack of a sense of movement in the artwork also creates a sleepy, stagnant mood which depicts the artist's opinion of a typical night scene in a residence.
Labels: shuhui
posted at 3:02 PM,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Hand
Lee Shu Hui
Charcoal sketch
2009
This artwork depicts a statue of a hand, clenching on to a cylindrical object, sitting on a plinth. The light source is coming from the top left hand corner of the artwork. The shadows are elongated. The statue of the hand is realistic.
The shadows have been made especially dark to contrast with the lit parts of the hand and the plinth. The pencil strokes are a mixture of rough and smooth, as the strokes for the background, which was done using charcoal, are somewhat rough, but the shadows, done using a mix of charcoal and pencils, are smooth. The rough background creates a rough, misty feel over the subject matter. Composition is balanced, as the subject matter is situated toward the centre of the picture.
Through this artwork, the artist might be trying to show that the things which we are attached to and cling on to are made beautiful in our own eyes, from our own perspectives, as shown from the light falling upon the cylindrical object, which could signify the things we are attached to. The artist might also be trying to say that we should truly treasure what we already have, as it is of much worth to us, as shown from the clenching of the hand over the cylindrical object, which could show the clinging on of the things which we already have. This artwork is related to the exhibition theme of "Light", as the artist portrays the hand literally bathed in light. This artwork also has a symbolic meaning, that we should always treasure what we have, and also showing our unwillingness to let go of the want for materialistic things, which in our eyes may be beautiful and hard to let go of.
Labels: shuhui
posted at 2:29 PM,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Above the World
Lee Shu Hui
Pencil sketch
2010
About the Artwork
(the following art critique I did in 2010 was for our AEP SIA. We chose the theme Light, so I'm talking about how this work relates to our theme towards the end)
This artwork depicts a man standing on a narrow rectangular pipe, which could be stretching from one building to another. Below him, there are many buildings of different shapes and sizes, which show a cityscape. The people walking on ground level appear to be small dots. A linear perspective has been used so that the buildings appear large at the top and small towards the ground. The light source is coming from the top left corner of the picture, showing that the sun is beginning to set.
Contrast has been created through the differing intensities of light and shadows. Shadows have been made extra dark by using a 6B pencil, while the actual drawing was done using HB and 2B pencils, causing the pencil marks to appear much lighter. There is some sense of movement in the artwork, as from the direction in which the man's hair is blowing, one can observe that there is a breeze blowing from the viewer's right. Large rectangles, the tops of the buildings, have been placed around the man, to allow for eye movement around the artwork. Composition is rather balanced, as subject matter is not concentrated on any spot, but is evenly spread out. Emphasis has been placed toward the centre of the picture, where the man is. Beside the man, the side of the building not facing the sun has been made specifically darker, to draw the viewer's attention to the man.
This artwork is somewhat similar to Friedrich's Wanderer Above the Mists, although urbanized. The man stands alone, above a cityscape, looking down below at the happenings of busy city life. However, there is a sense of stillness in the picture, as there is little sense of movement but for the slight breeze, which shows the serenity the man is experiencing alone high up above the ground. This brings across a peaceful mood. Through this artwork the artist might be trying to portray that the man is fleeing from the troubles of a hectic life, and goes up to a quiet high place as a form of escapism. The dark shadows which spread across the artwork could mean that the darkness is threatening to overpower those on the ground level, who are still engaged in the bustle of a hectic life. Through this, the artist might be trying to say that having too busy a life would not be good for people, and that sometimes all we need to do is step back for a breather. This artwork could also show the serenity of being alone at times, bringing across a light peaceful feeling, and also shows striking contrast between shadows and light, hence connects suitably to the theme "Light".
Labels: shuhui
posted at 12:25 PM,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Childhood
Lee Shu Hui
Colour pencils
2010
This artwork depicts a boy on a swing. A lollipop stick hangs from his mouth. Behind him, a yellow sun rises in a mild sky tinged with red. Beside the swing, a soft toy lies in a field of lush green grass. Toward the bottom right, the colours of the grass softly fade away in a mild Polaroid effect. The light source in the artwork is coming from the direction of the sun, which is diagonally behind the boy. Linear perspective has been used to create the illusion of the boy appearing closer to the viewer than the swings are.
Mainly warm colours have been used, like the shades of brown for the swing, the peachy skin tone of the boy, the vibrant yellow colour of the soft toy and the sun, the yellowish-green of the grass, and the red of the clouds and halo surrounding the sun. Pencil strokes are a mixture of rough and smooth, so as to bring out certain textures, like the roughness of the strokes for the boy's shirt, compared to the soft smooth strokes for the soft toy.
The striking bright red colour of the boy's shirt contrasts with the deep blue of his shorts. This striking contrast brings the viewer's eye toward the boy in the artwork. Also, the dark brown tones of the swing contrasts with the light blue sky. The ropes of the swing stretch upwards toward the top of the artwork, which allows the viewer's eye to travel around the artwork. There is a sense of movement in the artwork as a slight breeze appears to be blowing from the viewer's right hand side, which can be perceived from the direction at which the field of grass is bent towards. The boy's hair is also slightly ruffled towards the viewer's left, according to the direction of the wind. The composition of the artwork is not balanced, and concentrates toward the left. The boy and the swing dominates the entire left side of the artwork. This places emphasis on the boy, and what he is doing.
The lollipop stick in the boy's mouth might be showing the artist's impression of the sweetness of childhood, even as a lollipop is delightfully pleasing to the taste buds. The light breeze blowing could be portraying the artist's perception that childhood is gentle, and also could signify freedom. The two birds flying far off in the horizon also might show the freedom and lightness of childhood, as birds are lightweight, and fly freely in the sky. The soft toy lying in the grass could signify the innocence reminiscent of childhood.
This artwork is similar to the theme "Light" as it contains the sweetness, innocence and carefree-ness of childhood, which, in other words, portrays the lightness of childhood.
Labels: shuhui
posted at 9:58 PM, 20100903
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cick pic to enlarge :>Light By Yiyuan
Medium: Tablet, Paint Tool SAI, Photoshop
This work is a picture of the silhouette of a ballerina dancing on top of water under falling, softly lighted feathers. This of course, is unrealistic as well. The ballerina signifies the beauty of light, and the fact that the ballerina can float on water is another meaning of the word light. The white water ripples in the middle of the black also makes the painting look quiet and calm. Water is also something that can reflect light very well. The feathers floating downwards are symbols of being light as well, and they are also, at the same time, giving off soft light. Just like the feathers floating down, the ballerina has the same pink light as them, as if she is a feather herself, or that she is as light as a feather.
The composition of this work is balanced, as the water ripples and the ballerina are both right in the middle of the painting, and the feathers are spread equally over the canvas space.
The brushstrokes are well blended, and carefully modeled so that non of them are visible.
There are no outlines to contour the subjects in the painting at all.
The colours chosen are black, pink and white. The black and white is to show high contrast, and to emphasize on the light. While the pink is a warm colour, and pinkish light also gives off a soft impression.
This work is an attempt to fuse two different meanings of the word ‘light’ together, and showing the beauty of both at the same time. This also is what helps to make the painting more interesting.Labels: yiyuan
posted at 12:01 PM, 20100711
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Objects Under Sunlight By Yiyuan
Medium: set of H and B pencils, drawing block, art fixative
This is a simple sketch of two still objects, a cup and a bottle, with strong contrast to emphasize on, again, light. After all it is out theme. The slanted rays of light, shown by the slanted strokes of shadows, are as if the objects are by a window to the right and are being shone on by the sun, even though in the painting there is no visible window, however most of the time, light will only shine on objects like these when they are by a window of a dark room, and the smooth surface that the objects are resting on(as seen from the shadow) is commonly the table. Again the composition is distorted and the whole work is unrealistic as the shadows are being exaggerated, thus having the effect of emphasizing the light too. Both items are also not very straight and geometrical like real ones and are also slightly slanted too to further emphasize on the light. It is also unrealistic as we barely see these kind of bottles and cups nowadays, especially when the rim of the bottle shows that it probably does not have a cap.
The composition of this artwork is not balanced and definitely asymmetrical as the bottle is taller than the cup and I also chose to write my name to the right empty space. Another thing is that both the bottle and the cup are also slightly slanted to the right, to show the obvious slanted rays.
A linear perspective is used in the painting as well. This work, like my others, is 3-dimentional too.
For the texture of this sketch, the strokes of pencils are very obvious, especially for the shadow.
The outlines to contour the shape of the objects are obvious, even at the parts with lots of light shined on it, where there is still a thin outline.
The colour is black and white, of course, or a range of grey, as I only used pencils though they are ranged from 4H to 8B. I used high contrast to emphasize on the light. There is a rather warm feeling to it even though there are no colours used as the slanted rays resemble warm sunlight.
This work is trying to show that light can have a lot of warmness in it and even though it is shone on such plain items. The rays and shadows are supposed to remind viewers of sunlight shining through a window into a dark room, and sunlight are, as people know, warm. I am also trying to portray sunlight without using colours at all (like yellow highlights) and that light can be beautiful even though it is shone on such plain items.Labels: yiyuan
posted at 11:44 AM,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Light Sea by YiyuanMedium: watercolour, drawing blockThis is painting of unreal and unnatural lighting and fire. The lighting is too short and too thick to be real and the fire almost seems like waves. And most people have the impression that a sea is endless, just like the end of the fire cannot be seen in the painting at all. This time the unnaturalness is meant to give off a sense of uneasiness, and the light that is emphasizes it more glaring and sharp than well blended and with soft edges.The composition of this work is balanced as the lightning is spread over the background of the painting while the fire is spread over the foreground of the painting.A linear perspective is used in the painting. The work is 3-dimentional as well.The brushstrokes are visible, though not very obvious, thought the layers of different shadings are obvious and rather distinct. Strokes of line of the shadings of the lightning are also jagged and not smooth at all to create a sense of sharp colours.There are no outlines at all for this painting.The colours used for this painting are both warm and cool. Warm colours are the orange, red and yellow for the fire, while the cool colours are the different shades of blue for the lightning. This time, neither the warm nor the cool colours are welcoming, and the jagged edges and obvious layers of different colour are not very pleasant looking as well.This painting is trying to show that not all light are beautiful, not just that sometimes it can be glaring, light can be emitting out of dangerous things like lightning and fire. And a lot of light can be emitted from them too. This time, light probably just serve as a warning as we make use of our sense of sight to detect it.Labels: yiyuan
posted at 11:32 AM,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Candle Fire By Yiyuan
Medium: colour pencils, black construction paper, pastel dust, art fixtative
This is another piece of work that gives off a calm feeling, despite being based on the theme light, this work is rather dull as it has not much strong contrast, but still the only thing that stood out was light, as the flame of the candle is the most obvious from the painting while the rest of it fades away into the black background. The words light are written with faint and barely noticeable different colours so as not to attract too much attention to it. Sprinkles of white are used again, but this time in a circle, to emphasize on the light again. The bottom of the candle is barely visible, fading into the darkness, to show that the light is not very strong, only lighting up the top of the candle.
The composition for this artwork is balanced as well, it is even symmetrical without the words.
The work is also idealized as in real life, there will not be a white circle of light, not to mention the sprinkles. There is also a barely visible circle created from the negative space of the cut-off words. The word ‘light’ is used to balance the composition as well.
A linear perspective is used in the painting. The work appears to be 3-dimentional.
As for the texture, this artwork has obvious strokes of colour pencil for almost the whole thing except for the light, which are slightly blended.
There is a slight white outline to contour both the candle and the word, there is even an ‘outline’ for the light, which is the circle.
The colours used are mostly cool,(black and white) except for the little bits of colour of yellow and dark orange. Even though the warm colours used are little, it helps to give the whole drawing a much warmer feeling, like a little hope in the midst of all the darkness. The white that is not applied too strongly gives off a rather smoky effect, showing that it is not very strong. Contrast is low as this sketch is rather dull, even the white is smoky and hazy-looking.
This work is trying to show that no matter how dark it can be there can be light, or hope, even if it is faint, it still exists and someday things will get better. The overall dullness is to show sadness. The chosen subject, the candle is also known to signify hope, and even light itself signifies hope.Labels: yiyuan
posted at 10:59 AM,
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AEP Exhibition Concept: LightWe chose this theme as we find light intriguing to work with; light can be expressed in many different ways, and we thought it would be interesting to experiment with how light can be portrayed.
Even though light can signify hope, it can also be used to show emotions, such as happiness, ranging to the portrayal of dangerous things such as the light emitted from a fire or an explosion. A simple Light could mean anything under the word, such as lightweight, light feelings, or literally light rays. This would give us more freedom to explore the concept, and our works would therefore have a larger sense of creativity.
We draped the board with cloth as we all decided that leaving the board black as it was would be a little plain. To suit the theme Light, we used white cloth with translucent purple so that the board would not give off a dull or heavy colour and would suit the theme better.
As we came up with works suited for the theme, we truly had to stretch our minds as to what light could mean.
In conclusion, preparing for this exhibition opened windows in our understanding of the portrayal of light.
posted at 12:01 PM, 20100705
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sunrise
Lim Xin Ying
Pencil Drawing
2010
The artwork depicts a view of the sun rising over the horizon at a serene beach, with a girl at the right side of the picture.
The horizon is distinguished by a line, separating the sky and the sea. The artwork is created using different values of a monochromatic colour - black. The composition of the artwork is asymmetrical as the right side seems to be 'heavier' as the girl is standing on the right, dominating much space and although the rising sun is situated at the left, it does not balance out the composition of the drawing. The background, which is the sky, is created by blending pencil strokes, creating a misty effect, except for the sun and its rays, which are white, making a very clear contrast between the misty sky and the shining radiance of the sun. The sea is created using short and choppy strokes but it is not blended as well as the sky to differentiate between the sky and the sea. Some pencil strokes on the sea are still visible, representing the gentle waves.
This piece of artwork symbolizes hope. The dawn of a new day is suggesting a new beginning, which means that hope is arriving. Light is often associated with hope and happiness, unlike darkness, which is often associated with depression and sadness. The girl, with her back facing the viewer, may be wishing as her hands are in front of her, hoping to have a bright future ahead, or hoping that she will be able to overcome her problems as a new day arrives. The calmness of the sea may be suggesting that she will lead a peaceful life in times to come. The sun rising symbolize night fading away and being illuminated by the sunrays, which may in turn reflect the girl's troubles are going to fade away as hope is coming.
Labels: xinying
posted at 9:21 PM, 20100627
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tagboard.
click on the 'tagboard' tab again to see your posted comment!
Click picture to enlarge or it wouldn't look nice :>
Candles
The Beginning
Wired: Apple
