Oil painting of construction landscape; a transient space and disappearing scene with dumpster

A Slope Still

 I'm drawn to rustic, back-to-basics, disappearing spaces. This is one of the vacant spots in Tampines, north-eastern Singapore, like so many others, that's being urbanised. I pass by here at least once or twice a week and was lucky to capture this dumpster parked right there.

A Slope Still: Oil on panel / 6x8in (15x20cm)

It is a sleepy little scene with little activity, unlike the symbolism of  'Foreign Elements: Supremely Hazy Talks'.

Cityscape painting over newsprint of work in progress and Singapore Migrant Workers, to mark International Migrants Day

Foreign Elements: Supremely Hazy Talks

A shout-out to International Migrants Day (Dec 18).  Made during a period of thick haze caused by environmental pollution.  

 It is painted over newspaper - Banglar Kanthar, Singapore's only Bengali newspaper, affixed over canvas. Its editor Mr AKM Mohsin started the newspaper as part of his dedication to, and work and support for low-wage Bangladeshi workers, his countrymen.

Foreign Elements: Supremely Hazy Talks. Oil on newspaper-covered linen. 18 x 24 in

The title refers to the pollutants from agricultural fires in Indonesia attributed to illegal slash-and-burn vegetation-clearing practices by farmers. 

It also alludes to the then uncertainties of high-level Indonesia-Singapore haze talks. 

And, oh it's a nod, too, to the former Singapore Supreme Court Building (now National Gallery) that just happens to be in the background :) The green-topped gallery sits across St. Andrew's Road from the Padang , its lower structure blocked by Singapore Recreation Club.

I've come by this way hundreds of times on weekends to have coffee at nearby cafes. This scene was easy to capture accurately - only a few reference photos were needed for this work - the traffic was light that Sunday afternoon. This was quite the perfect capture for me: roadworks with safety-vested workers, traffic cones and lego bricks-like safety barriers, sand piles and the ubiquitous yellow cat crane that are sights that never fail to quicken my pulse; and that make me, a Singaporean, feel my homeland is a perpetual work-in-progress - which in many senses it is of course.
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International Migrants Day is observed in many countries. The day was appointed by the UN General Assembly in December 2000 to acknowledge the large and increasing number of migrants in the world. A decade earlier the GA had adopted the international convention on the protection of the rights of migrant workers and their families.

Recognition of migrant workers' plight has led to dissemination of information on human rights and fundamental political freedoms of migrants, and the sharing of experiences and practices to ensure the protection of these vulnerable workers. All are steps forward.

Meanwhile their journey continues....
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Beyond the picture:

To the right along Beach Road is grand dame Raffles Hotel, on the left is another heritage structure, the Non-Commissioned Officers' (NCO) Club. It was among the cluster of pre-war buildings, four of which have been gazetted by the Urban Redevelopment Authority for conservation.

The site was under a $3.5 billion redevelopment as part of  South Beach, a mixed-use property that includes residences, offices, F&B outlets, and a 654-room hotel designed by Philippe Starck.

Beach Road used to run along the coast and was among the first roads to be developed in land reclamation in the mid 19th century. So the expanse of ground from South Beach to where Gardens by the Bay, the Singapore Flyer, Marina Bay Sands and other iconic landmarks stand had been open sea. 




 

It's looking a lot like Christmas, with oil paintings, canvas prints ...

I'm all set for a Christmas fair at Raffles Town Club -- seven hours from now!

Here is a video snippet of my set up at the fair:
Raffles Town Club Christmas Fair

Apart from my oil paintings, I also have canvas prints of several paintings. I've been thinking a lot about offering such reproductions to those who'd love to own a piece of my art but would rather not pay the price of an original. Or those who'd go for the originals except they are no longer available.

     'A Tropical Christmas'.  Oil on linen. NFS.
This stone lantern was in the garden of our rented home for 8 years. The owners passed it on to us when we moved out. This was a temporary scene from my backyard, the poinsettia didn't stay in the sun for long. I recently found out those are poinsettia leaves.                                                                                  

Artists can reproduce for sale their artworks because copyright of original works of art remains with the artist even after the sale. Unless otherwise contracted, only physical ownership -- not copyright -- is transferred. So artists who have spent years honing their craft, are continuously studying to get better at it, and having spent countless hours on the piece that will go to only one person, may choose to sell prints.

Prints help to spread awareness of an artist's work and generate income to pay the bills and replenish art supplies.



Being semi-retired from my regular editorial work, I feel free to follow all manner of my painterly persuasions rather than be bound to work only on what others wish to see. Painting 'for' others isn't always a bad thing, though. It can be challenging and good for artistic growth. And new homes await the paintings!

My difficulty lies in getting good shots of "works in progress", quite an obsession with me at times. Good reference photos are often impossible to shoot as most worksites are boarded-up, restricted spaces.

'Men at Work'.   Oil on linen. NFS.
I took some 60 shots of this scene but finally had to use a combi of several medicore ones for this little compo.

I've had my share of run-ins with site supervisors and management, as well as with security people...

Most bothersome of all -- I have a couple of thousand snaps of construction/road works but the number of  good paintings I've managed to create from them can be counted on the fingers of two hands. And with my ever-growing digital photobank of mediocre captures, I feel loaded down yet suffer delete-paralysis, determined to coax out several more works.

But I digress. I've made 1 - 3 copies of each of a few paintings for sale and as giveaways, mostly of those originals I couldn't bear to part with.

I like the idea of eventually having archival-quality, limited edition prints, while I keep my originals. But getting the original art out of its original space may encourage the creation of more originals.

'VW Bus, Stopped'. Oil on linen.

The ABCs of copyright laws
'Who Owns the Art?'

Oil painting of a disappearing wooded path; a transition to Dead Wood to urbanisation; a construction scene.

Dead Wood

This is one of several small paintings on the de-wooding that's going on where I live in Pasir Ris. It's the site of a new school for overseas families. It's sad knowing that the families of eagles (among other wild critters) will have to find a new location to build their nests.

Transitions: Dead Wood
Oil on archival panel
6 x 8 inches (15 x 20 cm).
Not for sale.

 What drew me.....the tarpaulin a-fluttering in the light.

And oh....I had the last two lines of our four official languages on the signboard in the wrong order. But that's ok, danger by whatever order is still, well, dangerous!

I was tempted to name this piece 'Uniquely Singapore' (as in the languages combi).
Or I could name it 'Families Come, Families Go'.
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This painting is one of a few that mark the beginning of my paint journey along the themes of transient spaces, conservation, works in progress.