Mimicking Lautrec

Copying Raphael

I recently just finished a 44″ x 32″ oil painting! For this one we had to pick one of Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino’s (better known as the painter Raphael) painting and copy it BUT we have to put our own face on the painting.

This one was pretty hard. Don’t get me wrong, I love using oil paint and as boastful as it may sound, I think I’m great at it. However I’ve never been great with painting faces let alone my own face, which btw has to look like me O_O. If it was just any other person, even if I don’t get the face right, I could just say that how I painted the face is EXACTLY how the person looked like in my reference… oh well.. I think the outcome was satisfactory anyway.

Recreation of the cowper madonna

Although the face of the woman only resembles my face by a bit …

Cramming is not worth bothering with..

So recently I keep on finding myself cramming a lot of things, mostly with my academic related work load. In reference with my first post wherein I had promised to myself that I would not procrastinate anymore, clearly I couldn’t keep the promise I was so set on keeping. (sighs) It would be okay if the “cramming” that I have been doing is still the average amount of cramming I used to do last year.

Let me make it clear, for me the average cramming means having to complete about 2-3 plates 4-5 days before the due date and being able to meet the deadline. In such a situation, I am able to get 6-8 hours of sleep every night from the day I start working to the deadline. NOW, I feel like I have no time for anything but in truth I think I spend more time on Facebook and on doing unrelated stuff on the internet  or go to exhibits or to the mall than the time I give to studying and making my plates. It makes my head ache every morning and disappoint me so much. This week I had only 2 hours of sleep every night…Even when I sacrificed the sacred time for sleep, I still got overdue with some things! I know it is not good for my body and neither is it good for me psychologically. Whenever I don’t deliver with confidence in my works and actions I feel disappointed immediately. I get frustrated of how I fall short..

This is what happens when you don’t use time wisely, you have to face the consequences. I hope this does not continue on. I’d hate it if this become a habit. I’d hate it so.

Starting Off the New Year with Resolutions!!

It seems that every year most people think up resolutions that, let’s face it, don’t really get followed.  “Avoid bad habits”; “Quit smoking”; “Jog every morning”; “Maintain the cleanliness of own room”; “find love”; “Find world peace.” Such resolutions are common, some bigger, some harder to do than the others and some that’s really not up to us to decide whether they will happen or not.

Though they usually get broken, it won’t hurt to make some resolutions for the new year. You don’t know, but you might be able to follow them this time around.

• This year I plan to put better effort in making my plates- both academic and personal works.
• I will focus on improving my skills and avoid distractions!
• I will get physically fit!
• I will make wiser decisions!
• I will do tasks right away! I shall not procrastinate!

Although some of the above are already in danger because as of this hour, I have a 3′ x 3′ canvas that needs to be painted on and a 1’x1′ impasto painting which I was drafting on half an hour ago..

Sadly I’ve had to re-use my old plate (3’x3′) to make a new painting that’s due in a week’s time.  This is a pic of what I did last year:

 

And now it’s been painted over with a layer of Gesso, and I’ve outlined what I’ll paint on it.. a board game called “cranium!”

Now I think I need to sleep then work on these things early tomorrow morning! Good luck to everyone with their resolutions!!