coursework.

argh. i didnt want to post my coursework till everything is done 

pictures below show the progress of my work. 

(picture and word post)
COURSEWORK 2011

heres the story:

i've always like doing art stuff related to animals and i think i'm not bad at drawing/painting animals(lol) and i want my coursework to be on something that i like because this is the oly way to sustain my interest in my coursework as this is gonna be a long journey. so i started with the subject matter of animals in mind and proceed to think of a theme. the first thing that came to my mind was saving endangered animals. so i dived straight into that theme and started on my prep work. okay sorry for no prep work pictures. just imagine many drawings and paintings of animals. maybe if the current viva voce's over then i can go take my prep boards and take pic of them. cross your fingers if you wanna see them if not nevermind. okay so i discovered the IUCN red list. you can go wiki it. its a list containing 7 categories of animals. 

this is the IUCN red list. animals are grouped according to their status. EX being extinct, EW being extinct in the wild, CR,EN and VU are grouped under threatened. CR represents critically endangered, EN represents endangered and VU represents vulnerable. NT's for near threatened and LC is least concerned. so i picked out one animal from each category to be included into my painting. 

EX= no animal cause i cant get hold of a photograph of an extinct animal that i can use in prep. they only come in pictures which are unreliable.

(okay just scanned my prep into the comp. here they are)

board 1. artist inspiration and basic stuff about the IUCN red list

compositions. i dont intend to touch on compositions. 

manipulation of animals.

final composition's compositions.

EW=  panamanian golden frog

CR= hawksbill sea turtle

EN= siberian tiger

VU= african elephant 

NT= black buck 

LC= humans. viewers who are looking at the artwork play a part in the interpretation of the artwork as well. 

octopus is also seen in the painting but it is not grouped in any of the categories because too little information is known about them. they represent the future, they may be in one of the groups now or they may not. 

these are the basic background information you'll need to know in order to understand my work.

i started off with measuring the wood and with the help of mrs tan, saw the wood. then glue them and staple them together using a staple gun. yes, we have to make the whole canvas from scratch. kinda cool and its quite interesting. its the second time i'm making a canvas, first from the nanyang painting. http://sylaep.blogspot.com/2011/01/work-in-progress.html

the canvas was stretched and stapled on. scraped some skin in the process :( proceeded to prime the canvas and with the help of sandpaper, sand the surface of the canvas to smoothen it so its easier for blending later on.  then i started on the painting. 

(2)

i started with the background, blending various tones of blue and hints of yellow, which represents light streaming into the sea. fairly easy,its probably the easier part of the whole coursework.

then i started on the turtle. i was very excited, cause its the start of the coursework but after a while it gets kinda boring and i had to stop and relax a while before continuing. after every break i would become more productive :} i need to charge up every now and then haha. the head is a panamanian frog's head. 

got bored of the turtle an started on the coral and the other turtle at the background

went back to the main turtle (i just switch to and fro every now and then)

finally completed both turtles and started on the octopus-black buck animal. i'm very satisfied with the frog-turtle. i used a different painting style in this coursework. my first 2 attempts at oil were all done using different styles as well. the very first attempt was a post impressionist painting style. 2nd attempt was the nanyang painting pop art style, where i the edges had the be clean and colours used were pure, no/little blending in the painting. this coursework however is on the other end of the spectrum. this coursework requires details and blending. though i used oil to paint, mrs tan commented that it looks like watercolour. its different from zhiyi's/lin hui/liyi/elizabeth/valerie's oil painting style. i dont really know why either. i guess everyone has their own painting style :} i like my style though. haha. 

then i started on the black buck's head.

finished the octopus's body and went on to the elephants.

had to wait for the first layer to dry before painting again so i started on the plants

done with the plants (not really done though) later you'll see, added more tones. 

(darken the tones of the plants here)

started on the corals as well. will talk more about the corals later

(coral pic below)

elephants 

plants were toned down, added darker tones. experimented on the leaves as well. used scrape cardboard from zhiping's coursework and use it to apply paint. it gives the plants more texture :} and there is no harm in doing that to the plants due to the nature of plants and the possible effects/consequences that come after.

started on the herd of black bucks

the tiger's done too

nearly done, but the grass's too yellow, so i had to tone it down. used a palette knife to create thin strokes tested it at the side of the canvas because this is a big area and i cannot afford to mess it up or else there goes my painting. so i practiced till im satisfied and started on the grass(credit to zhiyi for this suggestion)

added different shades of green, brown and pale yellow for more depth to the grass

close up of the elephant. wrinkly skin of the elephant is showed, quite happy with the effect. its light but it serves its purpose well. the tusks have been replaced with octopus tentacles. i also like how i painted the veins on the elephant's ears. its subtle but i like the effect.

the two mrs tans asked me why i left the background (grass) unpainted and painted the animals first. it is because i need the grass to cover the animals such that it seems like the animals are behind the grass. if i were to paint the grass first, then there will be a white space between the grass and the animals as i am not sure where to stop painting the grass. it is also difficult to fill in the gaps if the grass ends too low the animals. by painting the animals first, i can freely paint the grass over the animals. it makes the job easier and the effect will be nicer too.

this is a close up of the black buck octopus. octopus is painted with different shades of orange, yellow and red so that its not so boring, not just plain flat colours.

the corals are textured. i experimented with different materials around while doing my coursework. i think its boring to just do your work without experimenting. since everyone was busy sawing their wood (theres alot of wood works for this year's coursework) and there was sawdust everywhere. so i took a pile of sawdust and mix it with the oil paint and there you have it, extremely textured paint. since its the corals, there is no harm in testing out how this textured paint looked like, corals are mostly rough in nature. so there you have it, textured corals. really interesting find and i like how it turned out.

used oil paint brush, those with the thick and dry bristles and paint the tiger skin(orange part) not really paint but rather dabbing paint on, so its like a light stabbing action. this is so i can stipple the paint and create a furry airbrush effect without leaving visible brushstrokes. the stripes were then painted on. the tiger's tails are actually elephant trunk :}

ink drops. mrs esther tan asked if i dripped paint onto the canvas to create such an effect. the answer is no. it was painted on. this is my first time painting ink drops. i usually dont touch ink drops or smoke as they sort of disappear into the surroundings and its not easy to paint that effect. but after trying it on my coursework, i think its fairly easy. turpentine's the trick. i guess its like water colour? haha

okay so my coursework is about raising awareness of  animals. when we contribute to various kind of pollution, be it directly or indirectly, animals will be affected. we tend to forget about them and only talk about the degradation of the environment, basically, trees, crops and land but we seem to forget about the animals. when we need more paper, more trees will be cut down, frogs lose their habitat. when we desire things (eg, new phone, clothes, laptop etc) we forget that such products come from factories and some factories dump their wastes into water bodies. water bodies will be polluted and marine animals will be affected. the ink droplets represent waste being dumped into the sea. if given more time, i would add crushed cans in the background to bring out the effect of littering/other kinds of pollution. but im very satisfied with my artwork the way it is now. 

this work starts off with the sea and it slowly becomes the sky and then the land. its a little surrealistic. the animals are not exactly the animals you know them as. they are mutated animals. they represent the undesirable effects that pollution can bring about. there are subtle/obvious mutations in each and every animal. if you cant spot the mutation it means you are not very observant >:} or that you dont really pay attention to animals (as in you should know how they look like at least)  first glance, most people would think that there is nothing wrong with this work, there are animals in their natural habitat. however, second look one would notice that something is off about the animals, they look kinda weird. so after a while, viewers would realise that these animals aren't what they are supposed to be. they are mutated. as you keep looking at the painting, you feel this sense of uneasiness (esp because the top most frog-turtle has such big eyes and they look as if their staring at you). i want the viewers to feel uneasy and to know that this may happen in the future and they dont want that to happen. i dont really know how to convey this point but its just the sense of uneasiness that doesnt sit well with them. im not sure if i've covered every single point that im suppose to cover but if anyone has questions feel free to ask me :}

MINI REFLECTION THAT I WANNA SAY

through this coursework journey, i've learnt many things. i also know about my strengths and weakness. i experiment alot, from the start of the coursework journey till the end. before i started on the actual work, i experimented with different mediums, water colour, acrylic, oil. during the painting of the coursework, i experimented painting with cardboard, palette knife, and mixing sawdust with oil paint. i also experimented with painting styles as this style is different from the first two oil paintings i did. i feel that art should be something that you enjoy doing. to me, there must always be some form of experimentation be it the painting style, the medium or anything. constant experimentation helps you learn new things, understand whatever medium that you are using and it brings new possibilities as well. if i had not experimented, my corals not be textured, my painting would not have different textures. i want my painting to be interesting, be it the idea or the textures. 

also, i know my mediums well thats why i take calculated risks. i know the limits of oil paint and i know my coursework well. this is why i can experiment WHILE painting. it makes the process more interesting. i think everyone should know their mediums well when doing a piece of art. just like andy goldsworthy. he is extremely familiar with his mediums, that's why he can create such amazing artworks and dubbed the master of balancing stones. i think if i know my mediums very well, there can be many surprises installed for me. i may discover things that i dont know. 

i also think im daring in a way. i dont know how many people wouldnt mind experimenting directly onto their coursework. there is always this fear of ruining the artwork. i guess im not exactly daring because for the grass i tested it at the side of the canvas before actually painting the grass. that kind of risk i cant take. its too big a risk to take. smaller risks such as the plants, those are fine. i guess calculated risks can only be done if you know your mediums well too. everything goes hand in hand. 

i also realised my weakness through this assignment. i cant paint continuously for too long a period of time. i will get distracted and restless. but if i put my mind to it, i can complete things at a very fast rate. if i were to do such a large scale piece of art (okay, i admit mine isnt very large at all. i wanted to do a larger painting but because i was in sydney during the first week of school, i didnt have much time left so i shrunk my painting) i would start earlier so i can do things the way i want it. if i want my painting to be big, i would have enough time such that i complete my artwork on time. though at times i may complain that coursework is such a troublesome thing and that i dont really enjoy painting, i think somewhere in me, i actually think the opposite. i feel so accomplished and happy after finishing my work. there is actually joy from painting. it actually is very fun just that because of the time and effort i had to put in, i missed out on fun parts and only saw the tiring, not-fun parts. i dont mind doing another coursework. :} i think my theme will still be on animals. haha

in a nutshell, i love aep and i enjoyed doing my coursework alot. i hope everyone else feels the same. it would be a pity if you dont enjoy this journey. its something that only happens once. even if you say (assuming you make it to hcjc) that in jc, you'll also do coursework, but the people that follow you through this journey is different. thank you fellow aep-ians who were there with me, it was such a fun experience. once again i hope you all enjoy your coursework journey!!!

coursework 2011 has been an incredible journey for me and thank you 201'09 (aep) for being there with me through this journey!

pardon the picture quality, taken via phone

edited on 18 oct 2011. decided to reupload the pics cause i dont know why but most of them cant be viewed :( whywhywhy!!