I had this vision on my mind all of last night and it was the first picture that entered my mind early this morning. I was dead tired but the drive to paint pushed me out of bed early this morning to paint this piece. It was a three part job. First, I did the colours which turned out quite disastrous at first. So, I gave it some time to let the first layer dry and work on it some more. It started to look really good and turning out the way I wanted. Lastly, I added some texture. I'm still working on textures and I hope to do more textural work in the very near future. I had run out of canvas so I need to go out and stock up!









The textures turned out exactly the way I wanted and I was extremely pleased with the results.

Labels: Painting

I can't even remember the last time I painted something, unless you consider painting the house or gate as painting. Even so, it has been ages! I think the last painting I did was when I was in high school. I loved art class in school and I think it would be my second favourite subject, after English of course. I wonder what happened along the way. I don't know why I just stopped painting. Maybe music took over or simply because I never dared to take the risk with my painting. This was something I discovered today.

Armed with encouragement from the wife, I went out to buy some art supplies and attempted my first ever art on canvas! There was nothing to lose. The paint set came with oil, acrylic and water colour. I messed around with water colour first because that's something I'm familiar with as I've never used oil or acrylic before and this was the mess I made!





It went straight up on the wall. I must say, for the very first attempt, I'm pretty proud of what I did as it's been something that I really liked and something that I wanted to make for a very long time now. I am glad I made my first step today. I'm going to go buy more canvas and play with the other paints soon! RAWK!

You reckon anyone would buy it, if I sell this for $200? haha!

Labels: Painting

This was another spot we stumbled upon during our Eastern adventures.


Welcome to Silvan Reservoir Park.


The view of the reservoir was just breathtaking.


I know, every picture like this looks the same. A whole lot of green. But I love it.


These ants were huge. Well, not humongous but definitely larger than the common Malaysian ant.


Isn't this sight postcard material?


The picnic spots at this park is awesome. Can't wait to come back for a picnic or a barbie.


Spotted a monkey in the forest.

The series of photos next were exactly how I saw it in real life.

First, I saw this sign that wasn't unusual at park exits.


Then, as I approached the exit gate, I saw this on the ground! This looks like one of those spike strips they use in the movies to puncture your tyres and as you are in distress, robbers jump out to rob you. So I made a u-turn and drove the other way.


Then this sign appeared! I thought to myself, hey, if I'm driving the wrong way towards the entrance, there may well be another spike strip there. So I made a u-turn again and headed to the exit gate before. I got out of the car and stepped onto the strip and it turns out, the spikes will depress when you drive over it, from the right direction. Phew!


Before we left, we took a picture of those short trees, assuming that they were newly planted so that when we come back next time, we can see how much they have grown.

Labels: Dandenong Ranges, Eastern Adventures, Melbourne, Picnic Spot, Silvan Reservoir Park

Over the weekend, we took a short drive out to Belgrave to have a look see. It turns out there was nothing much there so we drove on ahead to explore. We didn't feel like going up to Sassafras so I made a turn into a junction to make a u-turn and stumbled upon this bird feeding site! I was a happy boy.


As we drove in, we saw this cockatoo rolling the V can! If it were a Red Bull can, I would have titled this post "Red Bull gives you wings". It's clear that the birds here have gotten used to the idea of humans hanging out in their territory. Although it was quite amusing to see the cockatoo playing with the can, it was really disturbing as well because the can does not belong in this picture. Dear humans, please take your rubbish with you!


This photo just doesn't do these Crimson Rosellas justice. They were way more vibrant in real life.






This one here looks like a rainbow mutant. Can't quite put my finger on what species it is. I don't think it's a Rainbow Lorikeet. Might be a Rosella or Parrot of some kind.


I can't believe I have never done this before! It was great to feed these birds. I loved it when they landed and ate out of my hands!


Trying to pat its head but I was unsuccessful.


This King Parrot was so confident, flying onto my hand without hesitation. At the time, I didn't know it was a King Parrot and I said, "wow, this one is so confident it must be the king of this park or something".




Adoring the beauty of this King Parrot. As a kid, I've always liked the idea of holding a parrot in my hand, just like Captain Hook did and here I did it! The best part was these birds were all free to fly in wild and they were not kept in captivity. Awesome!


"Forget about feeding me. I'll help myself. Thank you very much."


Dig in!


Two is better than one.


The pattern on the feathers kinda look like fish scales or at least those I would draw for art class when I was a kid. I just love the vibrant colours!

Labels: Birds, Dandenong Ranges, Eastern Adventures, Grants Picnic Ground

I was mixing at Creepshow festival at The Espy in St. Kilda on Saturday and I took some photos before I started mixing.

Entrance of the Gershwin room.




It was pouring all day and this was how it looked like from the inside looking out. I can't say that I've seen St. Kilda so miserable before this. The rain definitely didn't deter people from coming though. The venue was packed!


Front Bar. Anna Salen's set up. These guys were on first and they were a treat to mix.


I could barely see the stage when the show actually started. It was a great night of mixing. Had a ball mixing Anna Salen, Engine Three Seven, The Committal and Contrive.

Labels: Anna Salen, Contrive., Creepshow Festival, Engine Three Seven, The Committal, The Espy