Trip to San Juan Bautista

Chaperoned on a field trip to San Juan Bautista mission. The buildings are - the mission church, Plaza Hotel, Plaza Hall, Settler's Cabin, Livery and Stable, Jail, Outhouse (single and double story) ... don't remember much. I was in charge of 3 girls and 3 boys, and we had to go on a "scavenger hunt" looking for a list of items. The girls behaved very much like girls - insisting on visiting all the gift shops, candy shop and ice-cream parlour. I wanted to join the boys and just sit out but I couldn't. Most of the time, I just stood outside waiting for the girls ... much like a husband waiting for the wife to finish her shopping ... needless to say, I konked off on the bus ride back to school. zzzz.

View rest of the pictures on this link: https://picasaweb.google.com/115283976243930785758/SanJuanBautista?authkey=Gv1sRgCJHk5c3i77z-oQE#

After three classes of watercolor painting

Busy Bee's beautiful creations pressured me to come up with some. Here are two paintings after three classes of watercolor painting under my (ever-expanding physical) belt. I had to stop going because of volunteer commitments. For some reason, most of the field trips and school events happen on the same day of the class so I am not sure if I will sign up again.

First taste of folk art painting

Folk art Welcome sign

This was my first ever project in Folk Art painting.

Folk art painting of Ms. Darling Duck

Let me introduce you to Ms. Darling Duck.
She was one of the first few projects that I did. So, not very professionally done, but satisfying to me, nonetheless (grin).

I used a MDF Board of duck (which I bought from Craft Haven, 1Utama for about RM25)
Different brushes (liner, 1" square, etc. to paint the features)
Jo Sonja's acrylic paints (black, orange, turquoise etc.)

Here's how I prepared and painted her.
1) To prepare: paint all over with Jo Sonja's All Purpose Sealer. (1-2 times).
2) Basecoat with Jo Sonja's White Gesso (2 times).
3) Background colour is Jo Sonja's Island Sand (2-3 times). Use a sanding pad to smoothen the surface in between coats of paint, except the last layer.
4) I drew a free-hand image of her features using a 2B pencil.
5) Paint in the details with a mix of different colour.
6) For the lace: I dotted red colours using a stylus.

On hindsight, I will probably use a Blending gel to make her shawl less stiff.
That's it. 

Getting the light

My family and I travelled back to Taiping (which is located  in the Perak state of Malaysia) for a wedding recently. Along the way, we stopped by one of the famous shops in Bidor, which sell sweet, ripe pomelos. 

All the girls made a mad dash for the toilet but we were stopped in our tracks. Just outside the toilet was a beautiful display of paper chains and hanging plants. This was all  inside the dimly lit shoplot. The decorations were made by a Burmese lady who came in to Malaysia to work. Such an unexpected sight of beauty in the least expected of places. I wished I had taken more pictures.