Child at Play Series

Child at Play 2

Oil Pastel on Paper

8.5 X 14

March 13, 2013

Have you experienced playing in the province? I did. Children living in rural area are quite lucky to have a large playground and having so much space and healthy air to breath.  It was really fun and carefree during those days.  Now, we live in a city and there's so much concrete around our community.  We barely see fruit trees.  There are no streams to bath on with friends.  We can't even run and play under the rain anymore.  Those were the days.

My friend photographer shared a photo of a very young student playing with ropes tied on a tree.  This painting is actually copied from an original photo taken by Mr. Dom Meily of Photoville.  I asked him if I can use his material to paint this scene.

I hope I was able to capture the fun and joy that the kid felt while he's playing.  He was close to nature and though alone, he seems happy enough on his own.  I hope you too enjoyed this scene.

Please comment if there's anything that I need to improve in this work.

Child at Play Series

Child at Play 1

Pencil Color on Paper

8.5 X 14

Sept. 11, 2013

This work is one of my favorites.  I have awarded this to a friend who's already in Vietnam.  It took me 3 hours to finish this.  It was through this drawing that I discovered the characteristics of drawing pencils.  The one that I was using is Castell-Faber coloured pencil.  It was frustrating at first that I wasn't able to make the colors vivid.  Then I accidentally placed one colored pencil in my mouth while thinking, and had wet the tip of the colored pencil.  When I put it down on the paper, the led became softer and the vividness of the color that I was looking for came alive.  I immediately looked at the pencil's box and found out that the colored pencil was water-based.  From then on, I get water and dip the pencil's led on it when I do the final touches.

My reference for this artwork was a picture of a Vietnamese kid playing on a hammock.  Her face is sweet and she seems so happy and untouched.  That's why I had the photo downloaded and had it printed.  While drawing, I captured the facial expression but changed the way it looked.  Thus, if you'll see the original photo, you would know that it's very far from what the kid looks like.  The kid was darker and this drawing is paler.  Nonetheless, I am happy with the output.  

Have you noticed the blending of colors?  If you have any comments about this drawing, please feel free to do so.  I will take it as a constructive criticism.  Thanks for reading.