Journey through art: Second half of 2011

The reason behind this huge delay in posting is primarily due to my lack of writing skill. You may ask,” then why do you have a blog?”. My answer is,“ I wish to record my wonderful journey through art. Please don’t give up. Hopefully, you will find at least one post every six months ! As you will find out, year 2011 was filled with artistic activities and some of it spilled over to Jan,2012. I cannot avoid distractions, specially if it is something I enjoy. I don’t like to restrict my art as something produced on paper or canvas. I can’t recollect any phase in my life when I ceased to be an artist. I look at art as an expression of my perception of life as a whole and it involves everything I do. Whether it is cooking for my family,or playing with my grand daughter, I like to exercise my creative instincts. I don’t like to plan too much in advance as that takes away the thrill experienced from the challenge of creating something new, something different every time. Work and play were never separate entities in my world. Perhaps that is the reason why I don't get BORED with life.” Now getting back to my post:
I returned to Singapore from San Diego on 1st June,2011 and started planning for my next trip to US even before I got over the jet lag. Mamoni [ that's how we affectionately address our daughter-in-law] sent me an invitation to attend an water colour workshop in Wayland. On June 28th, I left for Boston. This year brought numerous 'first ever' experiences in my life. This workshop in wayland was 'en plein air'....a dozen 55+ artists had registered for it. Artists David.A.Lang and Bill Sterling had organised this workshop and were the chief instructors. Every thursday, we would gather at 12 noon at a picturesque spots around Wayland, Natick or Sudbury and work together till 5 pm. David shared his expertise with the rest of us and sometimes demonstrated some techniques and allowed the artists to paint on the spot whatever caught their attention. Around 4:30, we gathered again to view each others work and discuss. The weather was great and so were the venues.

This was our first session at the red burn, Sudbury.

Above- at the old mill, Sudbury
Water colour on paper- 35cm x 26cm

Next to Charles river-South Natick
Water colour on Paper-35cm x 26cm

Excerpt from ' Wayland Town Crier'-July 24th, 2011-
"David Lang and Bill Sterling are entering the third week
of teaching a watercolor painting workshop sponsored by the Wayland Council on Aging.The 14 participants have already enjoyed perfect weather for painting outdoors in the last two weeks. The last two sessions took place at the Wayside Inn and the old Grist Mill on the Wayside Inn property.This week the group will gather on the banks of the Charles River at the waterfall in South Natick.David Lang, a Wayland resident, had taught art at Middlesex School for most of his career. The workshop is for intermediate painters who want to take their art to the next level. The painters are delighted to have such expert advice and look forward to repeating the workshop every year."

I was in wayland for almost two and half months of which five weeks were taken by the workshop. The rest of the time was spent with my grand daughter.

Old Mill from a different angle
Water colour on paper-35cm x 26cm

I did quite a few water colour paintings this time. It was a nice break after a long span of acrylic on canvas. Each media has its advantage and disadvantage. It all depends on what I enjoy working with and what effect I am expecting at the end. I believe that my creation should reflect my own interpretation of what I want to express in my own way. I learnt a lot from this workshop, but my works always displayed the influence of impressions left by my previous experiences or knowledge. Sometimes my own work surprises me. I often end up producing something very different from what I had conceived at the beginning.
Water colour as a medium offers very little or almost no scope for correction.I derive a thrill out of the challenges thrown by water colour. I want to discover the possibilities rather than sticking to the traditional approach. It is a game I like to play over and over again, trying out different ways to get the desired result.En plein air- throws an even higher degree of challenges.

The artist’s biggest enemy and friend in ‘en plein air' is the sun. While a sunny day provides ample scope for the artist to work with light and shadows, the shifting position of the sun makes it tough and one has to quickly make a rough sketch of the landscape in order to capture the shadows properly.

Much like my previous trips to Wayland, this trip didn’t go without doing some art work with my grand daughter Amie. This time we tried to use plastic bottle caps to produce something beautiful.

Amie’s art works this summer were dominated by use of bright colours. She was eager to hold art shows and sell her art works although she didn’t know why she wanted to sell her works or what she wanted to do with the money.........