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A very different type of work compared to my usual pieces. As you can see from my previous work, I like to do mainly still life or scene/picture with stories. These birds were a request by a repeated client  as commissioned pieces, a gift to her mother this coming Mother’s day in May 2014.

She had suggested earlier last year that I should be doing birds as part of my work as they are quite a lot of birds lovers in this part of the world, especially if they are colourful ones. But I was just not interested enough to do it as part of my collection.

So, one fine day, after much thought & persuasion from her, plus her plight to do something special for her mum, I gave in.  She recalled that her mother had told her it’s auspicious to have

This is something very different from my usual work. I was intrigued by this scene I saw in town.

Initially, that cobalt blue captured my eyes, didn’t give it a second thought. But I don’t know what made me took a second look, a long second look.

The whole scene seemed to speak to me. Suddenly my surroundings became so still, so quiet. My focus was then on that chair. It can be eerie, come to think of it, but for some reason, this chair suddenly depict a sense of the emptiness.

The solitary chair, the leg stool, the gloomy background & the striking gaudy picture frame…… It somehow represent my feeling after the departure of my beloved father. The chair & stool represents emptiness left by my dad in my life. The blue represents my feeling of losing him. The gaudy picture is my

Guess what? The toughest part of this painting is the title! Funny titles came to head before I even started it, “Ave Maria”, “Prayers”. “Amen”….. Nah! Way to religious!

The painting itself speaks volumes, don’t need to double it…. right?? So, I think, while sketching, my mom’s hands, and she’s always praying, for us, so voila, that’s it! A mother’s prayer! O.K., done!

This reference photo was taken using my Tab when my dad was hospitalised, the same day when I took the reference picture “To have and to hold…” You can see him at the background. It took me quite sometime to decide to paint this as the pain of missing him is still raw.

After completing “Mr. Macho”, I came back to this. Well, I told myself, just do it. And I did! Glad I did!

This time around, no

 I just could not resist painting this guy. He with his many looks & moods.

This photo was taken by my daughter when Spike (yes, Mr. Macho’s name), just woke up from a nap. She aimed the camera at him and look what a haughty expression he gave! Didn’t even flinch, a “I don’t give a damn” attitude. That’s a real bully (short for Bulldog).

I did my first portrait of him back in early 2013. You can see the difference in the details. As I have only started to pick up coloured pencils in March 2013, so Spike, the bully, turned out not too bad. It won me the votes from Colored Pencil Artists & Lovers on Facebook for the August 2013 challenge, winner of the beginner category. Something I’m so proud of. And to add to that, I’ve also won a set of beautiful 48 Bruynzeel design

I was invited to join this closed group on facebook by Mr. Justin DancingHawk (yup, that’s his name alright!) 2 months ago. It was an honour to be invited because, to be invited, he will screen through the work of the recommended artists, and if he thinks that you work is good enough, only then, you’ll be added to the group.

This group is called Go APE for ART, for and of artists, dedicated to stepping up and out to change the world we live in through our donations of art works, focused on the orangutans, in support of wildlife conservation, specifically the OrangUtan Protection Foundationhttp://opf.org/

The requirement after accepting the invitation is a MUST to produce an orangutan’s artpiece, no restrictions of media, it can be anything, as long as it’s an art piece. Sales of the Orangutan art will be donated in FULL to the Foundation to assist in

How would I know that this will be the last time that my dear father would pose for me….

Not long after I finished up this piece, he passed away. He never left the hospital, after a month and half stay. It’s a consolation to me that he saw this finished piece and he said that he’s amazed that I could paint his hand exactly like his plus the tattoo too, that remark meant so much for me and I know that he’s proud that I possessed his talent for art, which he had taught and encouraged me since I was in my early teens.

I had the inspiration to do a series of paintings depicting hands of various ages and poses since I started my coloured pencil paintings. The idea was shelved because I could not get good referrals. I want it to be my own composition

Now, this is an interesting piece. You may think, who on earth is this ‘weird’ looking man, what made me paint him?

Well well, this funny looking man is my DAD!! People who look at me, then him, will go “Are you sure?” We get that remarks, always!! Let me just tell you something about him.

He is half chinese(father’s side) and mom side is eurasian. There’s where the surname ‘Kow’ came from (Kow in mandarin means tall). His mom side is ‘Fidelis’, a mix of dutch and something else…(lost in generation) LOL….. And there’s where he got his tanned complexion.

Ok, let’s cut the story short.

He is very supportive of my art work and always tell me to paint a potrait of old wrinkly people. I was quite reluctant to because I don’t think I could handle wrinkle well. So one fine day, when

This is a piece that I put on hold for quite some time. I took this photo in a restaurant in Kuala Lumpur. The whole atmosphere of the restaurant was warm and cozy. I saw this huge pot of orchid beside the entrance and can’t help liking the lighting that gave the orchids an enthralling overall. I captured this on my mobile and it turned out just as I like it.

As you can see, I enlarged the reference picture  to A4 for clearer definitions. I started off with free hand sketch. No grid this time as this is quite a free flow kind of piece with plenty of whites.

Now, this is the toughest part of all, the almost silhouette, transparent petals on the right. That’s the main reason I chose a black surfaced paper. Eventhough it’s supposed to

What can I say, I did a commissioned work!! Which I never intended to do any at the first place. WHY??

First of all, I find it tedious to do commissioned work as it’s very difficult to please everyone. I may like something which someone may not. One man’s meat another man’s poison.

I was approached by Wendy, the owner of Leo books located in Island Plaza where I rent all my books. She is the one that really got me started on my art work. She inspired me to paint a picture, which I posted ealier, ‘Water for Life’ for water.org. And also, she also suggested that I put some of my work at her shop for sale, what a nice lady, so how could I not do a favour back?

I got her email one fine day sending me this reference photo of Leo, the

This is a challenge from Color Pencil Magazine on FaceBook.

They have monthly art challenge and winner gets to win lots of goodies. I did this because of the colours. These are colours which I hardly, some never, use unless its for blending to add depth to primary colours.

Since I’ve done it, might as well submit but of course, don’t expect to win anything. Should see other artist work, just awesome.

It’s quite a breeze working on this, especially using the Faber-Castell polychromos, since they are oil based, the colours just glide on and no wax bloom like those wax based. But still be using other wax based colour pencils because they have their own distinctive outcome.

I’ve stopped painting for almost 2 days now. taking a break before I start my commissioned work, fingers crossed!