Another break and winning a contest

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This post has been sitting on my drafts for more than year. I had to go back to Instagram to check my posts so this title would make sense again. Anyway, this was after Inktober 2021. After successfully completing Inktober for the 2nd time in my life, I was burned out. I thought that I deserved a rest, and so I took a break. Here are some the few artworks that I did on this break.

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The painting above is a sunflower painting that I did with a scrap arches paper that I cut out from the huge sheet that I did for my katmon painting. Its still unfinished though! And I doubt that I’ll finish this. The ink artworks below are for Kathleen’s @deartoourhearts ‘ birthday giveaway where you need to create an artwork of an endemic plant or animal from the Philippines. I made a Katmon Dillenia philippinensis and a Tawilis Sardinella tawilis. Katmon because her name is “Kath” hehehe. And tawilis because for some reason I know some facts about this fish. Tawilis is a freshwater sardine only found in Taal lake! This species is now endangered due to overfishing and other illegal fishing activities

I also participated in PNPCSI’s symposium botanical art workshop. The recently discovered Begonia beijnenii was the subject. I did this using prismacolors and surprisingly won. ♥ Happy for this achievement!

CET Designer Entries

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I’ve mostly finished uploading most of my 2021 works in my print on demand sites. I felt like I could finally tackle this blog. So I’ll start with my lowest draft post.

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The program we use in my work is Configura’s CET designer. Our company participates in the CET rendering contest every year, hoping for another win. I previously participated last 2019 and was a finalist. Last 2021 I participated again, but sadly did not get into the finals. The photo above was my render. I was basically going for a luxe tropical office vibe. Pretty happy with the results even if I didn’t get in. I didn’t get to participate this year due to my schedule. But maybe next year?

Also blogging feels so weird again after a long time. I don’t mind having no readers. This is just a diary or a journal of sorts to look back on memories anyway. Okay. Let’s tackle the rest of the drafts.

The last 2 months of the year

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Last 2 months to go before the year ends. I think I finally have some time to work on personal things. My main goal is to finally upload the remaining artworks into my Print on Demand sites, and finally continue to post more on this blog. I stopped because of a personal matter way back in March. I’ve been keeping myself busy (and distracted) to drown out the negative thoughts inside my head. I think I’m ready again to work on the remaining tasks for the year. Here’s to hoping that I do.

Feeling a little guilty (but not really)

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Another break from blogging, I guess? I lost motivation with most of everything last March. Managed to push through by April due to deadlines. And managed to create (but not a lot) the following months.

I hope I could blog again in the future. It seems like I have a lot of backlogs to write about this year since I joined some groups to keep my art life interesting. Trying to keep busy.

Inktober 2021 – Completed

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I’ve been wondering on how should I present my inktober works last 2021. This is the second time that I’ve completed inktober. The last time was around 2017 – and look at the way that blog post was designed. I had Inggo do that part, and I really didn’t feel like doing that again. So I’ve compiled my works into 3s this time. The prompt for 2021 was #artoberflowers by @shealeenlouise. I researched for reference photos a month before and used her 2020 prompt before she posted a 2021 version. So my works are a mix of both. And again, another picture heavy post ahead!

Peony, Buttercup, Foxglove.

Peony – The first drawing showed how I was experimenting and planning on how I want to do this inktober. I used lines to form the folds of the petals, and I also tried out hatches and cross hatching for the shades of the petals. I’m not really fond of this piece, but it is a good reminder that this is what it looks like whenever I’m doing something again.

Buttercup – Inktober and October in general is another excuse to bring out my markers again. 

Foxglove – This is the drawing that shows I’m getting used to my inks again. More hatches and 0.05 goodness. I used my college unipin markers for this

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Above – Hellebore, Daffodil, Tulip | Below – Azalea, Primula, Sakura

Hellebore – With this piece, I’m experimenting on how I should render the petals. Should I focus on the petals? Shadows? What about contrast? Some things to think about when inking. 

Daffodil – The day that I made this piece was a good 0.05 thickness kind of day! From my hellebore work that showed the folds individually, this one showed the shadows of the folds for a softer look. I especially loved the lowest petal on the drawing.

Tulip – Pretty proud of this one! It took a lot of restraint to hatch shadows on the petals. Sometimes simplicity is the only thing that’s needed in a piece. ♥

Azalea – I didn’t write much on my instagram post about this one. I really liked the way I hatched the shadows on the petals, its similar to what I did on my daffodil drawing.

Primula – Getting tired of inking using unipins so I got out my freebie brush pen from @pennarr.ph when I ordered from them. I used it on the leaves and it made an amazing effect. 

 

Above – Anemone, Sunflower, Orchid | Below – Lilac, Forsythia, Crocus

Anemone – This was actually the first one I inked for inktober! I used my new brush pens creating the lineart and left it for a while to get started on the peony one. Pretty proud of the hatched petal folds! I was also practicing how to use my brush pens. I love the various line thickness that I can have with just one pen. Hatches are still 0.05 unipin and a lot of patience.

Sunflower – Also another happy piece! I used my brush pens for lineart, and the unipins for the hatch shadings.

Orchid – Feeling a bit guilty of not using my markers, I used them in this piece since I had the colors needed. Some warm greys, yellow, and green for a phalaenopsis orchid. Mental note that if I ever wanted to pursue markers in the future that I need to hoard more greens. In my IG note – I did this in markers because my hands were hurting from too much inking and hatching.

Lilac – This one took 3 days because we discovered Pokemon Unite lol. The start of distractions!

Forsythia – One of my attempts of lessening my hatches to help my hand recover. If you’ve noticed my works, I have a hard time doing minimal lines and go crazy on hatches. But sometimes simple is a bit better.

Crocus – I find it funny that after writing about wanting to help my hand recover, I went crazy with the hatches here. Oops.

Above – Magnolia, Hollyhock, Hyacinth | Below – Poppy, Iris, Dahlia

Magnolia – I would consider this one of my more simpler works lol. I really love the effect my brush pen did on this leaves. 

Hollyhock – But my heart is already set on intricate petal details. Because look at what I did on this! 

Hyacinth – Nothing much to say, even on IG. I wrote that I’m slowing down a bit – maybe due to work and IRL responsibilities? 

Poppy – Liking the subtle pure black shadows that I added after hatching everything. I feel that this is also one of the simpler ones.

Iris – In an attempt of lessening my hatches yet again, I used brush pens to create the line art and big hatches for shadows. Looks a bit messy but I like it a lot!

Dahlia – The petals with the streaky and spotty pattern was a challenge to ink this time! And I changed how I hatched the petals. Only in one direction but some parts are denser so it would imitate shadows. 

Above – Daisy, Rose, Fritillaria | Below – Hibiscus, Clematis, Begonia

Daisy and Rose – nothing much to say here except both were simple. I needed to rest my hands again.

Fritillaria – The reason for resting my hands was so I could go hatch crazy with this one. Who knew that there’s a flower that has this cute checkered pattern!? I love it.

Hibiscus – I was not really feeling this one when I was inking it. I found a really old marker pen and used it for shadows on some parts. After scanning and cleaning it up, I sorta like it?

Clematis – Hatch crazy again. I liked the left part of the petal where I made the shadow parts.

Begonia – I had this thought “Ballpens are INK too”. So I used my Titus pens for this.

Forget me not, Geranium, Pansy, Gardenia

Forgot me not – The REAL forget me not is blueish and fuzzy. Plumbago is mistaken as forget me not here in the Philippines and I could see why!

Geranium – I wanted to focus on the leaves. Its not really visible here, but I did pointism on the stems because someone was requesting it on Instagram lol

Pansy – This is similar to the way I hatched my dahlia piece. It felt a bit simpler to do!

Gardenia – One of my favorite flowers made with brush pens and unipins.

And that’s it! I learned a lot on this inktober run – my preferences, habits, and perseverance. I also learned that I love using brush pens! I bought some more as a reward to myself for completing this one lol. Looking at my IG page – it seems there’s not a lot left to talk about for now. We’ll see!

Some goals

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Another random post in the middle of catching up on 2021 posts. I wanted to write about some goals for this year as well. Making lists and looking back on it is pretty fun, you know?

  • One catch up post per week (until I catch up!)
  • One edited post for POD sites per week
  • Watercolor practice in preparation for SG exhibit
  • Learn more art

The very few watercolor paintings

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After painting landscapes and seascapes, I had the confidence to practice white flowers. Since it was around Aug-September, I had time to prepare for inktober as well! So I bought some new materials from Pennarr. I got some baohong academy (student grade paper) to try, and some brush pens for inktober.

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The beautiful gardenia above was painted on my sampler Canson Montval paper. I finally got used to the paper when I only had a few left haha. Super proud of this one, because it was sold before I even posted it on Instagram! This is now proudly displayed in my client’s home in Subic. The gardenia below is another practice piece, this time on my old Strathmore watercolor pad. I felt a little guilty that this expensive watercolor pad is not being used as often as I wanted. So I tried practicing on it without feeling guilty of making ugly art. It looks messy but I like it. The only problem I think is that its hard to scan on my scanner!

Two of my custom watercolor sets that I used for my paintings. The bigger one is my Mijello Pure Pigment set! I alternate my watercolor sets depending on my mood. If I want brighter colors, I use my Mijello set. If I want subtle desaturated colors and a mix of my usual, I use my custom palette. The blueish thing below is a Jade vine or “Strongylodon Macrobotrys”. It’s my part of the art collab with Rochelle. I think we did well! This was also done on my Strathmore pad.

Above: more practice white pieces! The left one is a practice piece of a Katmon painting. I asked @theateneowild for permission to use their katmon photo and thankfully they agreed! The white poppy in the middle was also bought by the same client. Really thankful that there are people out there who really love my work! The stargazer lily on the right was painted on Arches paper. ARCHES PAPER! This was the extra paper that I cut off from the big paper that I used for an open call painting. Painting on arches paper is a different experience. You could really tell the quality of this paper. It was a wonderful experience. ♥

The last three paintings before Inktober (October). A random poppy painting, an anemone painting (on Baohong paper!) and the Katmon painting. I already blogged about the right most painting here. This is my entry for PhilBas exhibit last year!

9 paintings for 2 months. Its not a lot for my usual standards, but I think I did great! Next up would be my Inktober write up, and I’m already dreading the editing time. Wish me luck!

2022

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Oh 2021, what can I write about you? (It’s that time of the year again)

I wished for a continuation of a quiet, steady year again. It felt like I also got to achieve that this year. Although it felt like I didn’t make a lot of artworks this year, the numbers tell me that its almost the same with 2020. I did around 120+ paintings for 2020, and with 2021 I did 100+. That’s a lot!

This year I wanted to paint more roses, and I think I did well on that promise. I feel like I improved a bit with sketching them before painting. I also practiced painting white flowers more. I finally tried landscapes, seascapes, and pet portraits. Someone bought some of my paintings and framed them in their home! (Which prompted the pet portrait artwork). I completed Inktober for the second time in my life. I participated in two exhibits for PhilBas this year. I also officially joined the society as a member so I could participate in future exhibits as well. During PNPCSI’s symposium, I also won the contest with my Begonia color pencil work during the art workshop.

It felt a little bit lonely painting alone nowadays, but I read about the Tough Love – 8 Hard Truths for Artists by Heather Ihn Martin and one of them really resonated with me. It’s a lonely journey. I 100% agree on this. I’ve had a lot of friends share this journey with me. Most are on hiatus and focused on other things. Others quit because they were chasing the wrong goal – social media fame for sponsors. I’m still grateful, though! There are friends who are still with me on this journey – or who would come back to paint with me. ♥

It felt like I didn’t do much art because I kept on going on breaks. I think its okay to take breaks! I played Bravely Default 2 and Monster Hunter Rise. I also completed Star Craft 2 after playing for 5 years lol. (I only played during December!). Surprisingly this year, I also took on a new hobby which is baking! My creations are either a hit or miss, but I’m having fun making them. ♥

So what’s for 2022? I’m joining another exhibit with PhilBas – this one is an open call for Singapore! I also finally joined the Philippine Guild of Watercolorists – hoping that I could learn from other people. I want to learn this year. Let’s hope it will come true!

Landscapes and seascapes, finally!

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I’ve been planning on painting landscapes and seascapes for years now but never really pushed through. This time, I finally did! I painted all of these on my Hue&Ai No Paint No Gain watercolor pad. I love that its small and I can work on studies like landscapes and seascapes.

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I also tried out using washi tape to make borders for my paintings. Its surprisingly effective!

The top and bottom landscape works were referenced from photos from the Free Photo Reference group in FB groups. I’m a bit jealous of other countries since they have Fall, and the color gradations on the trees are just so much fun to paint! Also, I tried out painting water as well. It looks okay for a beginner! ♥

Can I also just say that I completed all of these while binge watching New Girl? Having a Netflix account is now a blessing and a curse lol. After painting landscapes, I went ahead and did seascapes. The blue green photos are mine, from our trip to Siargao a few years ago.

Except for the one above! This one is from Kayangan lake from Coron, Palawan. I experience swimming there without a life vest. It was hard! Since there wasn’t any waves, you would sink quickly. I had to float and swim myself to the docks. But the water was really clear. So beautiful! Nowadays, its now required to wear a life vest while swimming because of an incident.

The next photos are from the FB group I kept on mentioning. I loved painting clouds and waves, so I went ahead and painted a lot. The gradients were also challenging to paint, since I’m not used to doing it. The reflections on the water were also fun to do:

And that’s it for landscapes and seascapes! I filled up my watercolor pad with these. I hope to do more pieces soon. Hopefully in a bigger size? Let’s see!

June paintings

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The month of June is about my Hue&Ai No Paint No Gain watercolor pad. This is a small pad that is perfect for quick paintings, perfect for practice. The artworks are in chronological order – so let’s start: wax flower practice (photo reference from my officemate), a pink rose with a watercolor base and color pencil details, and a white poppy. I used a masking fluid on the yellow things of the white poppy. It was my first time using masking fluid, and I’m glad that I got to experience it. 

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The next two set of paintings were peonies, loosely painted and detailed with color pencils. I guess this is my color pencil phase? Check out the difference between the photo (left) and scanned (right). I love how vibrant the post-processed artwork looks.

This was also the phase where I thought I should try to paint fruits. So I did! Most of these were done while watching Haikyuu!! anime. Since the manga was finally finished, I started and completed reading this series. One of the best sports manga out there, you should go and read it! Its about (male) volleyball and friendship. Wholesome and action packed!

And that’s it for June! I had a lot of confidence creating these works because the pad is smaller to what I’m used to. It also made me feel like I had the excuse to experiment and try out new things, which is what I’ll be blogging about next!