My Painting
Brian’s Painting
This was one superb painting workshop for a cause that Brian and I have pretty much enjoyed. It is like hitting two birds with one stone. This was my first painting session and it was a very memorable one. Praise be to God for this wonderful opportunity. 🙂
You can read more about our experience here:
http://www.wheninmanila.com/tabang-tambayan-pin-tayos-color-bursting-at-sip-and-gogh/
Brian and I with our finished paintings.
“Like a bokeh!”
Yes, that is exactly what I blurted out during our 15-hour long drive from Bicol to Manila yesterday along with other November 1 and 2 holiday takers. A long trail of red tail lights was all I could see around night time and out of boredom, I removed my eyeglasses to rest my tired eyes – my first, while traveling at night.
With a 20/750 vision on both eyes (normal is 20/20) and a .25 astigmatism on my right eye, my world is a blur when I am not using my eyeglasses or my contact lenses. In other words, I am blind. Well, not really. Let’s just say I only see light and silhouettes. Exactly like a bokeh.
Just in case you are not familiar what a bokeh is, here is a definition I lifted from Wikipedia:
In photography, bokeh (Originally /ˈboʊkɛ/,[1] /ˈboʊkeɪ/ boh-kay — also sometimes heard as /ˈboʊkə/ boh-kə,[2] Japanese: [boke]) is the blur,[3][4] or the aesthetic quality of the blur,[5][6][7] in out-of-focus areas of an image.
If you want to know more, you can read the entire article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokeh.
I have always wanted to achieve this kind of photo effect/filter with my Holga camera as lomography cameras are the best when it comes to achieving natural light leaks in your photographs. Unfortunately, I ran out of films already (expensive, they are). So I resorted to the practical ways of photography hoping to achieve the same effect of lomo cameras in dslr cameras and stumbled upon this website on doing bokeh for beginners using Nikon:
http://www.nikonusa.com/en/Learn-And-Explore/Article/h0ndz86v/bokeh-for-beginners.html.
I did exactly that with my dslr camera set to an f4 aperture, manual focus, an oil burner and some candles we have at home under a very dim light and this is what I got:
Bokeh
I told my brother that maybe the one who discovered bokeh has the same visual impairment like mine and saw the beauty in blurred lights, thus, used the concept in photography.
I am having my eye surgery in a few days to have my vision corrected and I am afraid I only have last night as my first and last experience to witness bokeh with my own eyes and without any photography paraphernalia.
Ahh, the beauty of patiently waiting during long travels and appreciating the aesthetics through low vision – no matter how weird it sounds. Well, discoveries were made because of our inquisitive minds, right? Yes, no matter how weird they may sound – at first. 😉
P.S.
I thank God for the safe travel, for the beauty of eyesight and the awesome wonders of this world, tangible or not though I see everything but a blur.
You just gotta love life. 🙂
Natalie Portman
Of course, it is none other than my favorite Hollywood actress – the very beautiful, glamorous, intelligent and talented Natalie Portman. I can’t help but show my love for her by doing a portrait sketch using pencil and charcoal. 🙂
Red-Orange Kusudama Origami
This is the tiniest origami flower I have made so far. Folding it has been the greatest challenge as it is difficult to fold an inch-big paper and make it relatively smaller. I colored this one with red and orange poster color to give it that more natural look. I created quite a number of this to decorate the flower box origami I made as a birthday gift to a friend.
If time would permit, I hope and pray I can do more of them, origami. 🙂
When things get really serious and heavy to carry, this is how I digress – either I write, do arts, or play music and just recently, make crafts.
It became a newest past time for me and my sister. She made the really difficult butterfly origami (see photo below). Very pretty they are, aren’t they? I believe I’ll learn this another time as it is far too intricate for me. 😀
Swallowtail Butterfly Origami by my sister Ate Abeden
Before starting, I first practiced making a lily origami using a colored art paper through a Youtube tutorial – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWylGb8EyQw.
There are thousands of tutorials to choose from on origami-making uploaded in Youtube and I must admit I really had a hard time choosing which one should I do first as I wanted to learn all of them. I first made the single petal lily and the multiple petal next. It took me a whole lot dozen of them before I finally memorized the procedure without referring to the video.
Patience is a virtue, indeed. 😉
Lily Origami in Art Paper
After making them, my sister and I thought we wanted to make our origami crafts more “personalized” so we have decided to use a white paper instead of the regular colored art paper and painted them using poster color.
White paper and Poster Color
We allowed it to dry for a couple of minutes before starting to fold.
Two-tone
I used pink for the primary color of my lily and lavender as an undertone brushing with left to right strokes. Of course, a flower cannot stand alone so I made the stem origami using a color green art paper and a flower box origami using a black special paper.
This is the final result. Do make your own personalized origami as well. I assure you, it is so much fun. Enjoy! 🙂
Multi Petal Lily Origami and Flower Box Origami
Couple Sketch
This is my first time to sketch a couple and I must admit I am apprehensive when my friend, Jalyn, asked me if I could do a portrait sketch of her friends as a wedding gift. But I was up for the challenge so the answer was “yes.”
This is the 5th sketch that I am to give away. For every art work I make, I feel like a part of me is instilled in it. Something like “The Picture of Dorian Gray.” 😉
The sketch is size 12″ x 18″ and I used just the regular 2B pencil.
“Moonlight By The River” 2013
Finally had the time to finish another art work. Thanks to Scott’s post for giving me the ‘nudge’ to start working with my colored pencils. 😉
I used colored pencils and black paper with silver speckles that now looked like gleaming stars. Ahhh yes, more to learn, more to improve. 🙂
Sketching a male subject is quite a challenge for me as all of my portrait sketches are females.
When I have thought about sketching a dear friend for his birthday gift, I was apprehensive if I can pull it off like REALLY WELL.
But the verdict came: first attempt, not bad at all (according to him). 😉
So, it is a YES to more future “manly” sketches like this. Now, who’s gonna be my next target? 😀
Combined two mediums: oil pastel and colored pencils. My first time to try oil pastel. Enjoying it so far. 🙂
I was randomly searching bible verses over the internet to get me through the day when I came across a picture of a woman looking upwards and a bible verse from Hebrews 12:2 that says:
“fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
I was simply not just motivated by the verse, itself, but the photo of the girl as well which made me create this art work.
I hope I have made even just the slightest improvement when it comes to rendering.
🙂
The Journeyman's Moments 