Plein Air Oil Painting

Three hour painting at All Nations Park, Northcote in Melbourne.
Painted a bike figure afterwards.

This is my last painting this year.
It's been a long journey, and, I'm reasonably happy with the progress so far.

Painting has given me a new way of looking at people and nature, and made me more aware of the surroundings.

Oil on cotton canvas. 12 x 16 in.

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Gallipoli - documentary

I didn't know much about this disastrous campaign during the First World War from which ANZAC legend was born.
My knowledge of it was very limited to Wikipedia.

Watching this documentary reminds me of the power of visual narratives.

It focused on letters written by not only Allied soldiers but also Turkish ones as well.
That creates a well-balanced portrayal of this brutal savagery of war.

Watching it is excruciatingly painful. What a waste of human lives.
These must have included artists who could have been as great as Picasso. Musicians as talented as Mozart.
Their lives were cruelly cut short by the ruthless geo-politics in their day.

It's a great reminder how lucky we are here in Australia right now, enjoying wonderful summer days.

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Plein Air Oil Painting

Three hour painting at All Nations Park, Northcote in Melbourne.

Oil on cotton panel. 12 x 16 in.

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Plein Air Oil Painting

Three hour painting at All Nations Park, Northcote in Melbourne.

Oil on cotton panel. 12 x 16 in.

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KOKODA - documentary

This is probably one of the best war documentaries I've ever seen.

As someone from Japan and now lives in Melbourne, it's very heavy and painful to watch.

Based on a book by Paul Ham, who also wrote 'Hiroshima Nagasaki', it traces the history of this brutal campaign to counterattack Japanese advance on the island of Papua New Guinea.

Using very clever reenactment, historical footage, interviews by both Japanese and Australians, he takes viewers deep into this savagery, forcing us to think about the meaning of the war, life and death.

Everyone should watch this.

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Plein Air Oil Painting

Three hour painting at All Nations Park, Northcote in Melbourne.
I need to learn how to capture light.

Oil on cotton panel. 12 x 16 in.

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Plein Air Oil Painting

Four hour painting near Yarra Valley in north east of Melbourne.
It lacks a punch.

Oil on cotton panel. 12 x 16 in.

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Plein Air Oil Painting

Three hour painting near Sandringham in Melbourne.
I don't like hillside on the left. It's too thick and dirty.
I think I lost the plot at half way through.

Oil on canvas. 14 x 18 in.

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Oil Painting

Small study from a magazine photo.
I can't get skin tone right.

Oil on cotton panel. 9 x 12 in.

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Gerhard Richter Painting - documentary

One of my clients yesterday told me about this documentary currently available to see at SBS website.

He's probably the best-known living painter, and one of my favourite artists.
His diverse range of painting styles and subjects, from portraits to abstracts, never cease to inspire me.
I particularly like his big, colourful abstract paintings.

What I like about this film is, it solely focuses on his process of making abstract paintings.

Unlike most of other art documentaries, where it's all about soundbites, the film's minimalistic approach feels like a fresh air.
The camera simply follows him in the studio without not much talk between him and an interviewer.

Probably that's how he likes it to be. He doesn't seem to be interested in any celebrity culture surrounding art scene.
We can clearly see it when the camera follows his exhibition opening.

A couple of months ago at NGV, I found one of his abstract paintings was on display.
It was sensational. So beautiful and powerful that I spent a lot of time in front of it.

This film offers us an opportunity to try to delve into his artistic mind.

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Oil Painting

Small study from a photo.
I can't do fingers!

Oil on cotton panel. 9 x 12 in.

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Oil Painting lesson with Gregory Smith - Day 10

Today is the last day of this year.
On top of Ivory Black, Titanium White, Raw Umber, I introduced Burnt Sienna.
I spent only one and a half hour, just to give a painting some warmth, and we had a roundup for the rest of the lesson.

I thoroughly enjoyed this class for the last 10 weeks.
I learned quite a lot from Gregory, mostly the way I see things tonally. And the discipline that is required to do that.

There will be a break for a month, and I'm looking forward to going back to the lesson next year.

Work in progress. 16 x 20 in.

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Christopher Hitchens - In Confidence interview

I'm very fond of this photo of my favourite writer and polemicist.

It was taken when he was fighting against stage four oesophagus cancer. Obviously, he looks very ill, but, his eyes are very strong.

 I guess he was having an interview, talking about politics, religion, morality, etc....
And we can see a glass of his favourite Johnny Walker Black (?) at his side.
Well, that would be really characteristic of Hitchens.

It's been two years since his untimely death.
I've learned a great deal from his writings and lectures. He was an awesome teacher for me. He made me think about what's going on around the world.
I really love to know what he thinks now about Mandela's death, new Pope, North Korea......
It's a real tragedy that we can't hear his voice any more.

Here in this interview with Laurie Taylor, he looks very tired and ill, but, his mind is very lucid, and his polemic is still razor sharp.
This is the man who, even in his death, still keeps me inspired.

“I hate the idea that somebody like Henry Kissinger is what, well into his 80s now, or Pope Benedict likewise, would live long enough to read my obituary when I had fully intended to be writing theirs and I make no bones about it.
That’s why I don’t ask for sympathy because I’m not intending to dish it out.”

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Life Drawing

Today is the last day at Princess Hill this year.

Carmen is truly a great model from Queensland.
She creates a very dynamic pose one after another, and not only that she manages to hold them well.
It's a sheer joy to draw a model like her.

Being in a studio, drawing fabulous models with other artists. What a great way to start Sundays!
I love this class.

Carmen

60 x 85cm. 10 min.

20 min.

20 min.

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Sunday Live at Iwaki Auditorium

Classic FM conducts a live performance every Sunday afternoon at 3pm, and this month it broadcasts from SouthBank in Melbourne.

A collection of nocturnal pieces with moonlit connections was today's theme, presented by Colin Fox, a familiar voice on radio.

Pianist Caroline Almonte performed wonderful pieces that include Beethoven's Sonata No. 14 in C sharp minor, Debussy's Clair de Lune and Chopin's Nocturne Op 27 No. 2.

I'm always in awe watching pianist's fingers jumping and floating on piano.
It really looks like a magic.

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"Hiro cuts my hair" T-shirt

Mary Quant once remarked that "Vidal Sassoon was the first hairdresser to cut hair as though it were a material."
She recognised that his cutting hair was something deeply creative, and his hairstyle was nothing but artwork in motion.
It's a very sharp observation befitting the founding father of modern haircutting.

Cutting fabrics is not my forte, but, I always wish I could design clothes that are very unique and original.

I have a client who runs a company called Twisted Printz. The link is here.
She told me that I can easily create T-shirts using my own drawings, photos or any images printed on them.

That really got me interested. I often joked about making the T-shirt with "Hiro cuts my hair" on it for my clients to wear. I thought, although I can't design it from scratch, I can still create something that is the one and only.

So, I decided to have a go.

And, here it is. Kate from Zucci Hairdressing in Ivanhoe, wearing T-shirt that has her portrait (painted by me) printed on it.

She's lovely.

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Melbourne University lecture - The Universe and The Large Hadron Collider

Subtitled 'Is the truth really out there?', this lecture by Professor Mark Kruse was very timely, considering this year's Nobel accolade for the theorist of Higgs Boson.

He offered a very spirited talk with minimum technical details, telling us what has been going on at LHC in Switzerland.

I particularly liked his demonstration of the idea of Higgs Field, using magnets.
When a plastic goes through magnetically charged metal cylinder, it falls straight down to a floor.
But, when a magnet goes through it, it falls a lot more slowly, due to the effect of magnetic field.

That's a brilliant analogy of how different particles interact with Higgs Field, gaining mass in the process.

Next year, LHC resumes its operation with much higher energy.
He told us that they may be able to answer some questions like, the nature of Dark Matter, the possibility of higher dimensions, etc.

What LHC won't answer is questions like, the nature of Dark Energy, how Big Bang happened, etc.

These are really fascinating questions, and I thoroughly enjoyed this lecture.

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Oil Painting lesson with Gregory Smith - Day 9

Working on a previous painting, I introduced Titanium White and Ivory Black with Raw Umber.
I'm still focusing on tonal shapes, rather than doing any chromatic colour scheme.

It's amazing how things change once I used cooler colours, i.e. White and Black.
Suddenly, Raw Umber started to look so much warmer than before.

I've never thought that still life painting have such a depth that requires an enormous amount of concentration, planning and skilful execution.

As usual, Greg's philosophical approach to painting is very inspiring.

I'm happy so far.

Work in progress. 16 x 20 in.

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Oil Painting

Small study from a photo.

Oil on cotton panel. 9 x 12 in.

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Artist of the year exhibition 2013

The Victorian Artists Society's annual exhibition is taking place at this historical building in city.

This year's winner is Julian Bruere. Beautiful water colour painting.

Otto Ottavio Boron's impasto landscape paintings are very powerful, but not ugly.

Other artists I like are, Nell Frsteen, Barbara McManus, Mary Hyde, Ray Hewitt, Elaine Young, Pamela Pretty....

And of course, Gregory Smith, my teacher.

It was a great show.

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'The Mountaintop' by Melbourne Theatre Company

This year marks the 50th anniversary of 'March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom' where Martin Luther King was immortalized by delivering one of the most important speech in history.

The recent passing of Mandela and his life-long struggle, along with King's story make us realise how far the world has advanced, become a better place.

However, as this wonderful play tells us, it's still in the process and it's our responsibility to keep challenging

Brilliant performance by Bert LaBonte and Zahra Newman is surely the reason why this play is so powerful, moving and at the same time, hilarious.

The plot is very interesting.
Bringing an imaginary character into King's last moment, revealing his vulnerability, self-doubt and fear, it succeeds in keeping audience mesmerised and engaged.

It all culminates in the final scene that is utterly touching, making this production a memorable one.

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Darebin Art Show 2013 opening

Well, it was a great opening at Bundoora Homestead in north of Melbourne.

They said that there are 134 entries this year, so, it seems it's getting bigger and bigger.

The greatest thing about going to a gallery opening is, of course, meeting creative artists.

Cara-Ann Simpson is a curator at this gallery and a multi-disciplinary artist, ranging from sculpture, sound, photography, installation.....

I had a great chat with her today. Very inspirational.

The link to her website is here.

Although I didn't win, it was very nice to see some familiar faces in this iconic building.

And, there are some great artworks on display.

My photo is being shown at a very nice location in a room upstairs. It's really great to see my work exhibited very nicely like that. 

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'Short + Sweet Dance' at Chapel Off Chapel

There are sixteen performances by emerging or established choreographers and dancers.

The range of their styles and themes are very diverse, and here are some performances I liked this evening.

Maud Léger is from France, and I met her a couple of times at life drawing session.
She's a brilliant model, a joy to draw.

Her work, Pour l’instant, transforms surrounding stimuli into dance performance.
She told me that most of their movements were improvised. Amazing.

'The Other' by Ashley McLellan was a great solo, showing her flexible and energetic movements beautifully.

'Out of No Thing
', choreographed by Rochelle Carmichael
, was a standout.
Their costume, sound and lighting were very cool.
Each performers had a solid skill to render this fast-moving, fluid theatrical piece effortlessly.
It was really beautiful.

'Chink' by Amber McCartney was another knockout performance.
She has this incredible ability to use her body so fast that it seems all her bones can move independently.
It's worth paying for this second show tonight just to see her.
It was truly a mesmerising solo dance and I loved it.

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Oil Painting lesson with Gregory Smith - Day 8

Today's exercise is to use Raw Umber, a rag and a bit of Ivory Black.
I'm still struggling with tonal painting. I tend to do outline sketches first.

With a help from Gregory, it turned out to be a reasonably ok underpainting.

Work in progress. 16 x 20 in.

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Oil Painting at Last Peek Studio

Today is the last class of this year.
I really enjoy this place in Thornbury.
Frank organises fantastic models, and Henry makes awesome cake.
And, artists in this wonderful studio are all lovely and very talented.
It was a beautiful day in Melbourne.

I need more practice painting hands.

Emma

Oil on cotton panel. 14 x 18 in.

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