Sunshine Award

My blogger friend, Jackie, gave me this award. It really put smile on my face. Thank you for being so supportive and I'm glad that you enjoy visiting my humble blog:)

Whenever I get a chance, I like to visit these artists. So the award should go to
Jackie Me, down to a fine art
Sean  Luhring
Ana  Adventure of Anra
Nathan The Artwork of Nathan DeYoung
Dominique Fung
Mari  Sekaiseifuku
Eric Fortune
Kathy Hare
Zoe in Wonderland
Shawn Escott Illustration
Tessar Lo
Mia

I can go on and on but the rules only allow me to give it to 12 people:)

Beautiful Weekend and More Progress

It's been bright and sunny here for the past few days. It's beautiful although I still personally like it a bit gloomy.
Sorry for the lack of updating my blog. I've been painting and sometimes when I'm fully occupied, it's hard to do other things. Let's just say I'm not a multitasker.
The process of creating one painting is different from another. There are times where I have to struggle and need to take it slow. Well, I enjoy that struggle and I don't mind to take it slow.

These two paintings are inspired by Studio Ghibli. The always manage to create cute characters who deliver the story. Their gestures, their expressions, the way they move....they're just right.

Anyway, I'll tell you more about the paintings later. I took these two with my digital camera. It was the closest I had around my room. There will be better resolution pictures once they're uploaded on my website.

Farewell Renee

Renee is one of the bloggers  who has been incredibly sweet throughout my art blogging journey. Something that I will never forget. She has been fighting breast cancer for a while and today I just found out that she has moved on:(  May she rest in peace.

Finished Painting and Other Progress

It's snowing today...sooo pretty. I may have thought differently if I had to wander outside:)
Anyway, my sweetie took a photo of my finished painting today. He's going to take another photo for the website when the day isn't so gloomy. If you read my blog then you are probably aware of how not fond I'm at taking photo let alone editing it. Camera and I don't go along well.

                                     Title: Can We Live in Bed?

18"x24" oil on linen.©Heidi Alamanda  2010

And my progress from the latest one

It's still long way to go and I'll keep you posted the progress.

Curt Anderson, from Urban-Muse just "Indonesian at Heart" as their favorite fan submission. You can check it here.  

Time for me to paint some more until my tummy whines "please Heidi, feed me"
Have a great weekend:)

New Painting. New Progress

The previous painting I posted is still in the making. It needs some touch ups, but it gives me time to work on another painting. I've transferred the drawing to canvas, refined it a bit, then laid underpainting to the whole thing. That way I can start working on that on Monday after the paint is dry.

I just found this really cool blog from Richard Scarry and The Chipster (Chippy Coates) http://coatesandscarry.wordpress.com/. You may have read some of the interviews they wrote on Juxtapoz.

Have a great weekend!

Slowly Emerging

I know I know I've been a slacker in updating. If you paint in oils, perhaps you know that sometimes your day goes by from giving lots of love to your paint:)
I got two new drawings done. I only took picture one of them. I'm still working on the same girl. She still needs tons of love, but I'll share her progress.

New drawing that is going to be my next project.
I will keep you posted for more progress.
Also, my sweetie just posted two more images and updated my website, www.heidialamanda.com

Other fun things
Peter Chan tweeted about this funny thing of living as an artist. I think it's hilarious.

The talented Tessar Lo also just blogged about his recent solo opening at Show&Tell Gallery. There was also a short interview with him on late night in the bedroom. After watching that interview, I began to understand more of his artwork. It was interesting of how he thought Indonesia as a big jungle since he relocated to Canada when he was little..hehe. Well, I only thought it was funny since I was born and raised there. If I weren't from there I might have had super crazy imagination about it.

Enjoy your day:)

Progress Painting from My Sketch

Remember that sketch I just posted? Well, I did transfer it on canvas and start working on it. The idea came up when I was working on my latest painting. I sketched really quick on my moleskine, so I wouldn't forget the idea. I worked on a drawing of it, then transferred it on canvas.

It's still part of the underpaintings. I'll put some colors today. will keep you posted:)

Latest Painting and New Sketch

I hope you have a productive Monday:)
Here's the photo of my latest painting as I promised.

Indonesian at Heart
oil on linen
18x24 inches

It has a special meaning like the rest of my paintings, but I'll just leave it to the viewer.

There's a new painting that I just started. It was based on this rough drawing on my moleskine.


Other interesting things:
- Eric Fortune recently posted something really inspiring on his blog titled Tips and Tricks from an Art Slave. It's a nice reminder for us as an artist to be patient in doing what we love.
- Richard Scarry and The Chipster just put this interview with Sas and Colin Christian on Juxtapoz . It's a really cool interview. It explored a bit of Sas Christian's painting process and showed some images of her latest paintings. You could also tell from the interview that they were such a loving couple. Really sweet:)
- I just found this cool blog of Danny Roberts, a fashion illustrator. You may have seen his works on some fashion magazines like Vogue.

First (late) Posting in 2010 with Painting in Progress

Hello again:) I can't believe how slow I am in updating this and how time flies so fast. I hope it's been a wonderful start for you guys.

I'm still working on painting, of course, and let me share what I've been doing on my canvas so far. It's still far from final result.

I'm really not good at photography *grin*. It a painting from the sketch I made before with some adjustments here and there in the middle of working on it.

I just bought a children book illustrated by Nicoletta Ceccoli. She's a wonderful illustrator and her dreamy style always makes my eyes happy. I don't think I can afford to buy her beautiful artwork at this moment, so a beautifully illustrated book by her isn't a bad substitution:)

Oh, the one on the left is a signed Amy Sol card from her show at Copro Nason Gallery. Around a month ago, I put a comment on Arrested Motion's FB page. I didn't know that AM will draw a winner from the comments. Hung-Hei Yung, a nice guy from AM, told me that I was the winner and sent that adorable card. Lucky me...hehehe

Happy New Year 2010!

I just want to wish Happy New Year to anyone who reads my blog. I hope 2010 bring you health, happiness, and prosperity.
Thank you for all your nice comments throughout this year. You all motivated me to be a better artist *grin*
I'm not on hiatus...just a bit slow with everything. I can't wait to update something new soon. I guess it'll be for 2010.
Stay safe peeps and have a great NYE party.
xoxo

Painting in Progress and My Creative Process

Hello Hello....
I hope you guys stay warm in this cold cold world. It's been in the highest of 30ish F lately. PJ pants and long sleeves shirt are pretty much my uniform lately:)
Anyway, my latest painting is slowly emerging. I think I may be able to finish it next week, and of course I'll post it the final result.
I have found an idea for my next painting. When I got an idea in my head, I would immediately sketch it on my moleskine. It'll be my preliminary sketch of what I want to include on my canvas. Then I'll sketch it on a bigger paper. On this stage, I'll work on a specific expression of the girl....I give her a personality:) I will then transfer it on a canvas. You know the rest...underpainting and layers of oil paints.

Here is my progress from my latest painting

Latest sketch

Well, now I'm hungry. I'll make flatbread topped with baby bella in tomato cream cheese sauce plus mozarella cheese. Have a wonderful weekend!

I'll be Your Best Friend painting and twitter

I just realized that I haven't posted my latest finished painting. So there it is, and I promise I'll post picture or at least progress shots of my current painting. It'll be a bit slower, though. This weather has made each layer dries longer. I'm hoping to finish it before Christmas.
Speaking of Christmas, how is your Christmas preparation? Are you done with Christmas gifts shopping? I'm glad I'm done:) Everything is wrapped and ready to be shipped out.

Anyway, I'm wondering what you think of twitter. I joined because one of my good friends was there, then I found lots of artists also had twitter. I'm doing it because everybody is doing it, but I'm not a huge fan of it. The newsfeeds keeps coming really fast so that sometimes you wind up ignoring somebody's response. I don't like that part.

See you soon!