Oranges in a box II

Oil on Canvas

8 x 8 inches

Last citrus of the series for now. 

Recently there are a couple of incidents that happened back to back with the same theme - people getting my name wrong in promo material among other mishaps. I am so used to having my own name double checked when I perform because believe it or not, having your name wrongly announced right before you go up stage regularly is not something you want to deal with. 

The most common mistakes is my surname, Leong and Loong is a more common than my surname- Long. The problem is that my surname is so rare that people automatically assumed I spelled my name wrongly. 🙄 not to forget my own given name, Haze which makes more sense when it is Hazel. You have no idea how many times I receive a phone call and the first thing that I hear is "Hi Hazel" which also means the first thing they hear from me is a dial tone. The best are caucasians, they never get my name wrongly cuz all Chinese names never make any sense to them anyway. 

So from someone who always had her name said or written wrongly, I can say that it feels dehumanizing the same way your dog wouldn't respond when you call it "apple". And how do I deal with it? I meditate to "I am nothing". No pun intended as that was what happened in all seriousness. I meditate to the fact that my name doesn't define who I am. Now this is an intended pun.

Original artwork available here, starting from $90

Oranges in a box

Oil on Canvas

8 x 8 inches

Original artwork available here, starting from $90

Lemon & Oranges in a box

Oil on Canvas

8 x 8 inches

Ok I know where I am heading now and its all good. 

Original artwork available here, starting from $90

Lemon in a box III

Oil on Canvas

8 x 8 inches

I am comfortably sinking into this style as I progress. Still playing around with the tonal variations in the background for now. 

Original artwork available here, starting from $90

Iced Gem Medley

Oil on Canvas

30 x 10 cm

Painted this for a new collector. I really had fun painting this it was a just a joy to paint.

I feel that my confidence in exhibiting has increased lately. I was sponsored to join an art bazaar and my sales were very good. I love being able to sell big pieces. Ultimately my happiness still lies in big paintings.

Thank you everyone for your continuous support. 

SOLD

Lemon in a box II

Oil on Canvas

8 x 8 inches

So back to the story.. right now I have 2 visual styles of art :

1. Illusion box painting in oil

2. Chinese brush + illustrative portraits/figures

In my previous post I spoke of possibly merging them together. The simplest method is to introduce a similar visual approach for both of them that is distinct and easily recognisable. This study is the approach I chose. Its nothing revolutionary as it is my staple style when I use acrylics in my murals. Expressive colors in patches, working fast and this time, I kept the lines back in the negative background. 

Its a very pastel Cezanne, to put it nicely. And I am happy where this is going because it has a strong experience supporting it(I paint like this in acrylics all the time, not as exaggerated though) and also because I think it has room to become something unexpected once I stick with it long enough. I am excited for that. 

So, I will be painting a couple of these before I move to portraits/figures where I will be mixing 2 mediums together. Exciting times, the best thing is, I will be able to introduce those paintings here as well instead of just confining to my other market. 

Original artwork available here, starting from $90

Semenyih Dam

Oil on Canvas Panel

30 x 22cm

The new year started with an artist block. I am currently exploring a style(which isn't really completed yet). So the story goes like this, last year I joined Comic Fiesta and sold a couple of my artworks. During the process I realised a couple of things.

1. The illusion box paintings and my pop paintings are catered to 2 different markets

2. Either one will have a decreased value if presented to the wrong market

So I realised I need to marry the both of them and somehow or rather tie them together. Right now I am stuck in some technical difficulties. >_< 

More on this later.

Bid for original artwork here, starts from $70