Heirloom revisited

The work below is entitled “Heirloom” and is probably the last artwork of mine that will published in Malate Literary Folio (at least as a member). It’s currently one of my favourite works and last time I checked it is still being displayed at Exile on Main Street bar & restaurant.

Left: ‘Hairloom’ (2010), Watercolours on thick sketchpad paper || Right: ‘Heirloom’ (2012), Mixed media collage on wood panel

To those who are now familiar with how my process in making a/an drawing/painting/collage/artwork go I like creating works which prod the viewers to close-read it to make sense of it. I love surrealism and the philosophy behind the art movement, in addition I often enjoy works which present something perhaps only found inhabiting ones dreams or imagination. Most of the time when people ask me what is the meaning behind my painting I often reply back with the same question, ‘what do you think it means?’. Normally I just do this because I love hearing what other get out of my work, but another reason is to see whether or not my own personal concept has translated well onto the piece itself. In the case of “Heirloom” I have heard only one or two interpretations of the work and I was glad to hear their ideas were quite in-line with my original concept. It makes me feel that I did a good job in portraying my feelings in an image.

Another reason why I’m fond with this work is because it was one of the few revised artworks I have done which does not look like a cleaned-up second copy of the the original work. If you look back and forth from the original work done in 2010 to the final 2012 work the only thing that seems the same is the fact that the older man’s beard grows into the younger man’s hair, and the use of the sun-halo behind both figures. Everything else on the other hand has changed from the colours, their faces, and the position of younger man has changed. Okay, on one hand the original does not look that different from its original concept. However, for me this is a big change. Normally when I’m asked to revise I just fix those things which I was asked to fix be it colours, position of a hand, etc. And in the end those revisions look exactly like the first artwork just with perhaps one or two minor alterations. Heirloom was different and I’m quite happy about it and it makes me want to revise more old artworks and see what I can come up with.

Commissions and bumhood and trying to lose weight

When was the last time I got into blogging? I don’t know, if you don’t count out the playlist-that-never-was posts (which I still have yet to finish due to my forgetfulness and aptitude for not finishing what I start) the last time I updated this blog was a while back. My lack of activeness is mostly due to the lack of illustrations and other works I’ve been producing on my own accord. It’s not artist’s block of anything, rather it’s my lack of willpower to get off my butt and just draw, draw, draw or paint, paint, paint. It’s a bit unsettling, actually.

Given that I’ve been taken on two random commissions. One to do a logo for a friend’s bakeshop and the other to draw up my my other friend’s cover for his steampunk album. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that I believe art should be done for profit or material gain, the commissions just help give me structure and motivation (in the form of deadlines and cheesecake-pie as pay) to actually produce something. Maybe it’s the fact that for the past 3 (if not 4) years I’ve gotten used to the system of the publication I was in which worked on more or less strict deadlines and an environment which bred this habit of always wanting to make something. With graduation being ten days away I somewhat shudder at the idea of being in this constant dry spell once I get my diploma. So here’s to hoping those two commissions and my promise to Joelle to make ACEO cards (which is actually underway because I started cutting up paper) will get me back into the groove.

I haven’t seen familiar faces (mostly those of my female wunderkind friends) in a while too. This bums me out. If I haven’t seen your face in a while don’t worry, I’m trying to update myself by reading/lurking around your blog. If you don’t have one then I’m probably lurking around your facebook profile. Ha ha.

In other news, I’ve been trying to exercise in order to lose weight and be able to flex. For those who don’t know this embarrassing fact, I cannot flex a muscle even if my life depended on it. There is too much fat over the muscle for me to flex, or so I’ve come to believe/understand. So I’ve been hopping on a bike, lacing up a pair of actual non-converse-or-vans rubber shoes and awkwardly jog-walking around my village. My dear friends I am so unhealthy and here’s me trying to fix it without vices, be proud.

Dating bears should come with a warning. “Caution: May give you this urge to eat more than you normally would and will guilt trip you if you skip meals”.

Did no exercise today though because the weather’s been wet. Fingers crossed that tomorrow yields a clearer sky.