More Oh Boy Bok Choy

I’m still playing catch up. These paintings were done in August last year and the draft has been gathering dust for an entire year. You will remember I painted a watercolour for Oh Boy Bok Choy! - South-eastern Asian kitchen and bar. 

This painting became a larger than life feature in the restaurant,  appearing on the menu and placemats.

 

The cocktail menu at Oh Boy Bok Choy has an array of enticing sounding drinks. 

How about The Enchanted Forest, Breath of the Dragon or The Queen’s Garden? 

I was asked to paint these delicious concoctions and had such fun painting them. 

All watercolour on paper. 

The Queens Garden 

 Budding Lotus

Dragon’s Breath

Mandrake Gin

The Enchanted Forest 

The King’s Chalice

Numb Numb Juice

Oh Boy Bok Choy

Some of my favourite commissions have been for restaurants - Milk Cafe was one. This commission grew from an urban sketch I had done in the cafe years previously. More about these paintings can be found here. and here.

In August 2020 I had been invited by the lovely owner of Farmhouse Kedron (previously the owner of Milk) to conduct a drawing and sketching class at the restaurant. This was a great way to interact with students in person after using Zoom for months. 

A new venture for the owners of Farmhouse was their new baby - Oh Boy Bok Choy located not from from the Kedron restaurant. 

I was asked to paint Bok Choy to be used in a backlit box above the bar. Bok Choy is a wonderful vegetable to paint and to eat as well. 

Incidentally, if you haven’t ventured to the restaurant yet, do yourself a favour and go - now - the food is fantastic!

And just to whet your appetite a few of the delicious dishes…


Top LH: Wok tossed pad see ew, Bok Choy, Gai lan, tofu vegan oyster sauce,dark soy (VG)

Top RH: Wombok veggie dumplings

              Whisky Tamarind Pork Belly

              Oh Boy fried rice

              Crispy Silken Tofu, Red Dragon sauce(vegan)

Bottom LH: MYO Bao buns with pickled salad & crispy pork

Bottom RH: Oh Boy Prawn toast, yuzu mayo 

(Re) Finding direction in Art and Life

Experiments with a sword liner brush. Watercolour  on paper 

My blog, Art Matters, has a sub heading my thoughts on art and life. I added this primarily because eleven years ago when I started the blog in preparation for my move to Australia I hadn’t settled on a format or content outline for the blog. The subheading gave me leeway to divert from strictly art content. I’ve mostly stayed true to only art content. A recent post about my visit to the Emergency Room was a rare diversion. 

2020 - 2021 - 2022

It’s been an odd time well it’s been an odd two years plus now for everyone, I guess. The pandemic has changed the way we live. It’s added extra pressures, forced us to find new ways of working and living. In some ways, I think the slowing down which fosters more introspection has helped many find out what’s important. 

COVID 19 has forced health matters to the forefront, we cannot ignore its presence. Experiencing the pandemic now in 2020 - 2022 rather than decades ago, makes me particularly thankful for the extensive developments in medicine. We have vaccines to protect us just as in the past these eliminated Smallpox, Polio and Diptheria as well as a host of childhood infectious diseases.

I’ve always considered myself to be a healthy person. I’ve never been the sporty type but in recent years I’ve given more consideration to diet and exercise. The events of September 16th brought this all into sharp focus. I’ve realised this year more than ever that how we feel gives direction to the type of art we create.

Renovating 

It’s almost eleven years since I arrived in Australia - a decade plus of living here. I decided that I need to give my home a makeover. I arranged a painter, added new bench tops and sinks to the kitchen and replaced the carpets. That quick sentence makes it sound so easy but the reality is somewhat more complicated. I needed to tidy, sort and de-clutter to make the renovations possible. There were boxes of items that had travelled in the container from South Africa and many had remained largely unused. It was time for them to go. I realised I had been extremely productive - so many paintings too many to hang in my home, just too many. 

Consequently, I’ve been taking a more minimalist approach to my creativity. I am doing more work on paper, more drawings, more watercolour and a lot more digital work. Both my iPad and my sketchbook have become my constant companions. It’s almost a relief to work small. 

Drawing Inspiration 

I regularly listen to a podcast called Drawing Inspiration hosted by Mike Hendley. In December his guest was Marta Witkiewicz. The episode was titled ‘Taming Inner Demons with Pencils and Magic At the end of the podcast Mike always asks his guest to set some homework for the listeners. Marta urged us to find somewhere quiet and consider  our creative why. 

This time of self reflection and perhaps some introspection is so necessary. We need to check that we are following our planned direction - are we in fact on the right path?

What is your why?

A special anniversary - eleven years in Australia

As we approach the end of the year, it’s a time of reflection. A time of taking stock and planning for the time ahead. I am reminded once again of the anniversary of my arrival in Australia now it’s eleven years since I landed at Brisbane airport to start a new life. 

And what a life it’s been. In July, six months later I moved into my own home and started teaching in my studio. Thanks to the wonderful support from loyal students I have been able to  earn a comfortable living and as a bonus make really good friends along the way. 

My home with its little garden has been a comfortable haven. When I moved in the garden had nothing but vigorous weeds and a few tall trees. With the help of my son in law, Craig, the garden was transformed into a lush haven, the water feature encouraging local birds to come for a drink or bath. 

Eleven years ago - the garden in the process of construction. 


My colourful visitors 

Recently, I gave the front garden some attention adding a bed of bromeliads and Agaves. The struggling lawn was given a makeover with Sir Walter grass, now it’s green and soft underfoot. The perfect spot for my early morning coffee. 

(Re) Finding Direction in Art and Life

Another post started and not posted…

The draft of this post is dated 8th December. I’ve had to revise and edit to make the content relevant but the essential premise is still valid. Periodically an artist need to stop and assess one’s creative path. 

2020 - 2021 - 2022

It’s been an odd time - it’s been an odd two years plus for everyone, I guess. The pandemic has changed the way we live. It’s added extra pressures, forced us to find new ways of working and living. In some ways, I think the slowing down which fosters more introspection has helped many find out what’s important. 

COVID 19 forced health matters to the forefront, we cannot ignore its presence. Experiencing the pandemic now rather than decades ago, makes me particularly thankful for the extensive developments in medicine. We have vaccines to protect us just as in the past vaccines eliminated Smallpox, Polio and Diphtheria as well as a host of childhood infectious diseases. Now during this pandemic people mistrust the science, mistrust the long standing defences against disease. It becomes a divisive element in society.

Art matters

My blog, Art Matters, has a sub heading my thoughts on art and life. I added this primarily because eleven years ago when I started the blog in preparation for my move to Australia I hadn’t settled on a format or content theme for the blog. The subheading gave me leeway to divert from strictly art content. I’ve mostly stayed true to the art content plan. A recent post about my visit to the Emergency Room was a rare diversion. 

I’ve always considered myself to be a healthy person. I’ve never been the sporty type but in recent years I’ve given more consideration to diet and exercise. The events of September 16th brought this all into sharp focus. I’ve realised this year more than ever that how we feel gives direction to the type of art we create.

Renovating

It’s almost eleven years since I arrived in Australia - a decade plus of living here. I decided that I need to give my home a makeover. I engaged a painter, added new bench tops and sinks to the kitchen and replaced the carpets. That quick sentence makes it sound so easy but the reality is somewhat more complicated. 

I needed to tidy, sort and de-clutter to make the renovations possible. There were boxes of items that had travelled in the container from South Africa and many had remained largely unused. It was time for them to go. I realised I had been extremely productive. There were so many paintings -  too many to hang in my home, just too many. 

Consequently, I’ve been taking a more minimalist approach to painting. The driving desire to paint large canvases just isn’t here anymore. Maybe it will return, I really don’t know. 

In the last six months I’ve done more work on paper, more drawings, more watercolour and a lot more digital work. Both my iPad and my sketchbook have become my constant companions. It’s almost a relief to work small.

A belated Inktober review

I realised that it’s been two months since I half heartedly started this blog post - so maybe the time has come to inject a little enthusiasm into my blog writing. I’m trying a new writing app called Craft so perhaps the challenge of mastering a new tool will get me going.

Once again I have taken part in the annual Inktober challenge. I have mixed feelings about challenges - I enjoy the sense of achievement that comes form keeping up and doing something every day, but part of the process of working to a set of prompts is really frustrating. Some prompts just do not inspire me so. Some years I have dispensed with following them and gone off on my own personal tangent, being content with doing an ink drawing every day.

This year, the Sktchy app, now called Museum publish a set of images for each prompt. This didn’t help me very much since quite a few of the images just didn’t appeal to me. In the end my Inktober drawings have been a mixture of following a prompt and then simply doing a portrait using a muse from Sktchy. (I can’t get used to the new name!)

So without any further procrastination here are most of the drawings. I’ve used a number of different pens - ballpoint, fountain pens, and coloured ink.