Family Portrait - Georgette Chen

Georgette Chen - Still Life With Big Durian -humz

                                            "Still Life With Big Durian"-1965

This painting depicts a representation of Asian fruits. It is done by using oil on canvas, which makes the painting look realistic, textured and have the slight "popping" effect. The focal point of the would be durian, evident through the use of contrasting colours and heavy brush strokes to highlight the texture of an actual durian and how it creates a contrast by being painted against a pale yellow wall. It is evident that just like many other artworks done by the same artist, it has a "Chinese" style/element to it as seen from the use of heavy brushstrokes and the choice of fruits( mostly Asian fruits ), and colours ( Oriental red ). Just like many of Georgette Chen's artworks, i think that its purpose would be to display/represent common things that would bring joy to the common folk during that time. Also, compared to recent artworks done by recent artists, this particular painting gives a very nostalgic feel to it.

Liu Kang - Lanterns Galore -humz

                                   "Liu Kang - "Lanterns Galore"-1971
This painting depicts a scene of a 7 membered family gazing at lanterns together. This painting was done using oil and canvas. The artist painted the people and lanterns using bright colours, in contrast to the black background. It is evident that he wanted to items painted to be eye-captivating, thus he painted the background black and outlined the dark parts with white paint. I think that the artist wanted to paint using very vibrant colours to set off a very happy feeling to the artwork, which also represents the joy that common folk would have during the lantern festival, it also depicts a scene which would be common to be seen during a lantern festival. The principle of design used is balance and contrast. In the painting, as seen from top to bottom and from side to side, everything was painted in such a way that there would be no dominant item, and that contrast can be clearly seen through the artist's use of colors.

Georgette Chen : Moon Festival Table -humz

This painting depicts a table filled with moon cakes and pastries, and also a few lanterns hung from the ceiling. The artist, Georgette Chen used oil on canvas for this painting, which resulted in it being very textured. The artist has painted the festive goods in colours such as red, white and green, against a pale yellow background. The representation of this piece is very direct and the artist allows the viewers to easily be able to relate to the overall mood of the painting by using very bright and festive colours. This piece of art was done between the years of 1965 - 1968, which during that time, the majority who were living in Singapore were Chinese. Thus, the purpose of this painting would have probably been to represent the simple joy - common celebrations and festive goods enjoyed by the common folk.

Georgette Chen | Still Life with Cut Apple and Orange 'R

                          

Still Life with Cut Apple and Orange by Georgette Chen in 1930 ' Oil on Canvas

This is a still life painting depicting a cut apple and orange, with a mix of warm colours with dark tones. She has used oil on canvas, using heavy brush strokes to create this textured painting with volume. The fruits appear vibrant and bright with use of heavy tones and strokes, producing a very rich image. Although the brush strokes are thick and heavy, it is a very detailed painting with the many colours used to create the 'roughly blended' look. The close-up perspective gives the viewer a sense of intimacy, almost as if they were there themselves. The main focus point of this painting are the fruits, but it is balanced out with the vague background with grey tones. In my opinion, this painting is an excellent example of the influence of Paul Cezanne in her early artworks, with her emphasis on volume and texture. 

Georgette Chen | Lion Dance Mask 'R

Lion Dance Mask by Georgette Chen in 1985 ' Oil on canvas

This is a painting of a Lion Dance mask with an interesting mix of colours used. The artist has used cool and lighter tones of bright colours to paint this image. Usually, bright, vibrant colours of red, orange, and greens would have been used to paint anything related to lion dances as those colours would represent the loud beating of drums, cymbals and gongs. However, Georgette Chen has used a more toned-down version of those colours, thus resuting in a cool image in my opinion. The oil on canvas has allowed her to create textures and streaks of colours, creating a roughly blended look.The main focus point of this painting is obviously the lion dance mask, and in overall, is a balanced painting. Still, looking at this artwork prompts me to think of her reasons for her selection of colours. It is quite a confusing painting to me as not only did she choose cool tones for her lion dance mask, but she also painted the background as light pastel blue. This has allowed the whole artwork to look balanced, but she could also have used a brighter colour to make the lion head stand out. In conclusion, it is a balanced painting indeed, but I cannot grasp the intended purpose of it. 

Georgette Chen | Mosque in Kuala Lumpur 'R

Mosque in Kuala Lumpur by Georgette Chen in 1957 ` Oil on canvas

This painting depicts a mosque in Kuala Lumpur with warm colours, such as tones of orange, browns and yellow. The artist has used oil on canvas, resulting in a very textured and realistic painting. She has painted the skies blue and the mosque golden, and the allows the viewer to assume that the area painted is rich and prosperous. There is no particular focus point in this painting, and the palm trees 'frame' the image, creating a balanced and harmonious landscape. Infact, that should probably have been her intended purpose of this painting, as mosques are a place of worship, a symbol of religion. She has painted in such a perspective that allows the viewer to view the landscape as though as they were there themselves, without the need to travel and spend money!!!!  Hence, I think Georgette Chen has conveyed the message of her painting with great success. 

ACRYLIC PAINTING TECHNIQUES /- weiting

ACRYLIC PAINTING TECHNIQUES

What I've learnt from the video :

• We can mix many different colours of acrylic paint to get our desired colour

      - crimson + yellow gives us an earthy orange

      - green + red or orange + blue gives us different shades of brown

• Translucent colours can be mixed with white to make it more opaque

• Textures can be added to acrylic paintings using

      - crushed aluminium foil

      - stencils ( can be used to create detailed designs ) 

      - toothbrush ( it gives a very rough texture ) 

      - wire gauze 

• The more water the brush holds, the smoother it will be to paint with acrylics. However, it may cause the paint to be more translucent too. 

• Dirty water = dirty paint 

• Different brushes can be used for painting!

      - a large flat brush can be used to paint large backgrounds 

      - smaller brushes can be used to outline / add details

      - round brushes can be used to fill spaces or gaps 

      - flat brushes are good for corners and curves

MORE TECHNIQUES FOR CREATING ABSTRACT ART EFFECTS

• We can mix acrylic paints with a glazing medium and this allows us to control the translucency of the paint by pushing it around in the medium. It results in a very glossy ' oil-slicked' appearance.

• As acrylic tends to be very opaque, we can use contrasting colours ( with reference to the colour wheel ) to create very abstract art !