Author: artxbyvk

AGO First Thursday celebrating the 10th edition of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche (produced by the City of Toronto) was definitely something worth going to. We got a glimpse into the all night art event that happened on the following weekend with special talks by various artists and performances all through out the evening.

Picture below on the right: A peek and a homage to Ekow Nimako’s Lego barn owl maquette that was set to go on display at this
year’s Nuit Blanche. The actual version of the ‘Silent Knight’ piece is sculpted with more than 50,000 Lego pieces – making this Ekow’s tribute to one of the most admired and exquisite birds in the verge of provincial extinction.

Some more snippets below before my phone froze (boo!).

Oh hey, September! ~ your timing to get here couldn’t be any better.

New for the new month: Miniature painting.

The inspiration came from the South African miniature artist Lorraine Loot and her wonderful collection: Paintings for Ants. The details in each one of her little master pieces make them absolutely intriguing. She, in my eyes, defines greatness that is miniature painting.

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“All mountain landscapes hold stories: the ones we read, the ones we dream, and the ones we create.” – this quote seemed fitting for my first go 🙂

Used: Ink, Pencil Colours and Fine Tip Pens.

More to follow ~

It’s time for a few (overduuue) updates on the recent project. Here is a tiny preview of what I’m currently working on.

 3 piece canvas set – purple, purple and more purple acrylic for the background sky. Lots of blending. Added a little bit of black, navy blue and white in the areas that needed shadows or highlights.

  Flowers, tree branches and the water reflection are on the way! Cherry blossoms (aka. Sakura trees) are a beauty. Hope this piece does ’em justice.

  After a few (maybe a lot more than just a few, actually 😕  ) practice attempts, I’ve got the flowers blooming with more details. It’s all about variety in shapes and sizes of the blossoms for this piece, as well as adding in different shades to make them look more realistic. Next update will most likely be the end result (eeeennnnd is near!).

 After months, the final look for the buyer’s new home 🙂  happy this gets to be a part of the space.

❗  Note: This painting is based on a picture provided by the buyer.

   Had the pleasure of meeting talented artists and art lovers from across Toronto and some travelling from abroad just for the show. A huuugge plus point to this event is that no commissions are taken for the art pieces sold, making it possible for the customers to purchase them at reasonable prices. A great first time experience and looking forward to taking part in more expos like this!

Below are 2 original pieces featured in this year’s galleria:

The Forgotten Worlds which depicts the core conflict faced today between mankind and nature. These were inspired by nature’s ability to give even in the darkest of times. 

and Where The Wild Things Grow which was inspired by the colossal mountains and luscious greenery of a place I’ve personally always wanted to travel to – New Zealand.

+ few highlights right bee-low!

 

 

 

 

P.s. thanks to everyone who came and took a part in this y’all are awesome!

 

 

 

 

Update on this series: Few more completed so far for the Art Galleria Expo ~ 

Happy spring, everyone! ❤

Originally created this piece as a mother’s day gift for my mom. Now (excited to say!) it has been recreated, bought and gifted as a birthday present for someone else’s ma, which makes this piece a super special one!

If you’ve bought something from me recently, you may have gotten one of these little notes (made by yours truly) as a token of thanks! 🙂  It has been overwhelming (in the greatest way possible) that you are willing to buy these pieces and give wonderful feed-backs. It started off with a simple sketch few years ago… deciding to follow something I spent doing as a child. And now something like this has been made possible.

I’m humbled by your inquiries and requests to create something that can be part of your life or someone you know. That is truly the best part about doing this and for that I’d like to say a biiiiig thanks to you.

A little break from the Monochrome Series for the next month or so and back to Acrylic ~

“What we do in life, echoes in eternity”. If you’re a fan of Russell Crow (or Gladiator), you might have already guessed where this quote is from 🙄  The piece below is my take on the last scene from the movie; added a few misty mountains in the background and changed the texture/colour tone of the field… and voila!

This time around I found the perfect brushes that helped speed up the process. The wonders of *drum rolls* 1 inch and 2 inch acrylic brushes! This is by far the most challenging painting I’ve done, with the intricate details and finding the perfect colours that flowed together. But I couldn’t be happier with the end result.

❗  Note: This painting is based on a picture provided by the buyer.

Ah yees! 🙄  The idea originated after coming across old black and white photos and walking into a Chinese Brush Painting gallery filled with breathtaking pieces done solely with ink and water. Black and white paintings (and photography) are known to have a unique place in our collective consciousness; it definitely captured my interest in starting a new series using this contrasting medium.

And here we are, the beginning of the monochrome series that I hope to build on as time goes. Look out for the new tab on this!

 

It’s January 5th (Whuuut!) – A few days behind on writing this post looking back at 2014 but… it’s better now than never, ammiright?!

Last year turned out to be a whole lot better than I had expected, from selling my very first painting to tweaking this blog, it’s been great exploring and learning new things along the way. Many, many thanks to those who took the time to have a look at this blog (hey, that includes you, too!) and those who encouraged me to get started on this. Looking very forward to what 2015 has in store.

Happy (x 2015 times) New Year!! ❤