Saturday, December 17, 2005

an eye for detail

i was thinking, just a few days ago, that since 2005 is pretty much over, that i needed to tie up a few loose ends. the implication is that broken ties need mending if any, and apologies made and promises kept to their best end and and and. but simply put, to me it meant trying to complete from my portfolio of paintings, the very first and the two more recent works, left kind of hanging.. a tribute to my hectic schedule on the down slope slalom race to the finish line of this year.. for me that means dec 24 when i remove myself from my usual routine for a few short weeks carrying me into the middle of january 2006.

so anyway. unfinished business. a tribute to my lack of commitment :P
ok. perhaps not quite so dramatic. low attention span. considering its never been easy for me to work one painting at a time; there have to be a range going at the same time! and well, why not!? but the truly haunting piece of the lot is an oil pastel work-in-process that took six gruelling weeks in february this year and then got relegated to the dark room so to speak. the subject? trees.

now, i have always felt a special thing about trees. like when we were little and couldnt keep still on a long distance journey. mom would come up with these games to play with the clouds.. make up figures and images in the clouds, etc. count the cars in colours that went by; i was always fascintaed by the trees. no matter how fast we sped by them, they were oblivious to the rush and rage of it all/ they just twirled defiantly on their own axis, at their own pace, it seemed. as a student, the alien jacaranda that splashed its lavendar paintwork across the drab canvas at octobers exam sessions lent a comical smile to all who played along to the silly superstitions of having purple blossoms in odd numbers falling on ur head if u were to pass. and driving home in winter always means appreciating the rows of bare trees that seem to be like hands raised in prayer towards the heavens above. perfect and eternal supplication.

so, then. the tree picture begs completion. or maybe not?

i remember a design lecturer who put us through the most trying paces on the count for detail..
and drastically altered the most fundamental notion about trees that we had forever carried along with us from the sacred precincts of kindergarten:
trees in drawings are NOT a piece of plywood plank with bunches of green cotton wool buds glued ontop of them. imagine our shock to discover such radical change to a comfortable image that we had grown up with. and so we were made to spent nights preparing and presenting with straight faces, the most painstakingly FElt and drawn trees. we learnt latin names and kinds of flora and fauna that grew and habitated around them. and we learnt that fine point ink pens took five hours longer per tree but created the most profound foliage as ever. and u could cover any mistakes with a few more tiny squiggles here n there:P but we also learnt appreciation of the fine details, as God intended.

prefection, of course, we leave to the Creator.
i can make an easy peace with myself now, and sleep sweetly until 2006:)

1 comment:

Charisma said...

Good for you kim :)

may all your wishes and dreams for 2006 come true ISA.