EASTER CHICKS

Easter Chicks, Yellow roses and watercolor on paper

I believe it is harder to make things simpler. It is really easy to complicate things. When I was in college, the lecturer always emphasize how important it is to always find a balance between harsh strokes and smooth blends in a painting. 'Less is more', now this is hard to achieve and it takes years for me not to over stack my brushstrokes.

The white space is such an important element to my latest works. It leaves a viewer its own space imagination to think further of the subject matter. Something can be there. And there might be nothing there. I have to credit this strong influence to Chinese ink paintings as well. I learnt a year or two of Chinese ink paintings and I never look at paintings and other things the same way. Western and Eastern art have really different philosophies and there's nothing as a 1 point perspective in a chinese ink painting. And believe me, my Shifu taught me nothing else but chicks, frogs and bamboo that entire year. That's how hard it is and I am still far from mastering these few even until today.

Not only in space, but I tried to retain nature's form at its most original and challenge myself to use lesser materials in an artwork. For these two chicks, I am using only two yellow roses, and a few strokes of watercolor. From now on, you will see the rose as a perky butt!

And that's more than enough. Happy Easter!