PTEM's art department visited Maktab Duli's art exhibition today. We saw a lot of amazing work there! The last day to check it out is this Saturday 25th until 12:30pm.

I got myself a new FABER-CASTELL fountain pen last night and was very excited to try it out. I did this quick sketch of my buddy Leo. I learnt that you can create lovely water colour effects by going over your lines with a bit (or a lot) of water using a brush. The darkness of the colour depends on how dry or wet the ink is - it is all about timing. 

This pen cost $29.90 at Hua Ho. And I bought black SCHNEIDER cartridges for $1.20 (6 pieces). This is actually supposed to be a fountain pen for school kids (although I think it is quite pricey for kids!) You can get cheaper (Schneider) versions starting from $8 and up, if I'm not mistaken. I'm sure they all work the same anyway. I like the fact that (it's pink!) you can actually keep a spare cartridge within the pen so you never have to worry about running out of ink!

I did this illustration this morning - this took me just over an hour to complete. I just want to show some of the pens that I used for this. I'm thinking of incorporating seahorses into my next painting for Reverie.  

I'm painting a portrait of my adorable niece again. I actually started this piece a while back, when she was about 5 months old (she is now 11 months old). The image on the left is where I left off, and the image on the right is about 2 hours later. I finally managed to create that smooth 3-dimensional effect. However, this is no where near finished! It really isn't easy painting babies as their faces are so smooth, it's quite difficult to figure out how the shadowing works. And I usually like filling in details like eyebags and wrinkles, but this is good practice :)

another update. I decided to add butterflies! Might change the background colour though...

Love this installation called "Sweet Apetite" by Korean artist Jee Young Lee. Check out more of her amazing artwork here! 

It was so nice to just spend the day sketching outdoors with the Brunei River in plain sight. 

Found this amazing image of pretty beetle's by photographer Tim Flach. Check out his collection called "More than Human".

Another piece which has been an on-going work in progress. I am stuck with ideas, however, I am happy with the colour combination of these patterns, and I think my lovely, furry studio assistant approves too. Leo seems to love drinking my mucky paint/PVA infused water... 

I'm going for a more angular, futuristic and abstract feel for this piece. Which probably explains why I feel a creative block, as this is not my usual area of interest.

These are close-up's of an artwork I have been working on for almost a year now. I had the idea to paint on glass (inspired by my perspex pieces)... I've been stuck on how to conclude this piece for a while now even though it is about 85% finished! This is part of my REVERIE series and the inspiration of this piece was from one of my many hikes up "Bukit Tempayan Pisang" last year.

Photographs I took at 'Bukit Tempayan Pisang'...