Written by My name is Whee Teck Ong and I am based in Singapore but was born in Malaysia, having lived in Singapore for close to 20 years, it is now home. I believe that anyone can learn how to sketch and paint. I started painting in late 2011 and, in many ways, have surprised myself at how fun and how engrossing drawing and painting is.
In the area of work, I started as a programmer and have been in the information technology business for a long time, so it is quite different from my day job whenever I take time out to sketch and paint.
I am still growing my skills and learning as much as possible. I generally work on 5 areas of my development, I’ll summarize as such:
Mind
What theories or ideas can I develop further? What knowledge do I lack that could help me with my development as an artist? I generally try to glean from conversation with more mature artists and “steal” from them as much as possible!
Of course, there’s always books, I do have a good collection of art instruction books at home (over 500 books in my collections now!).
Material
This is where it can get very expansive! As you can imagine, I collect brushes, colours, palettes, etc. etc. It is fun collecting artist tools to test and try. I find it fun and interesting whenever I discover a new “toy”, and my art can take a different turn!
I am very fond of Daniel Smith watercolours, they are very intense, very bright, I love their granulating colours, such as Lunar Black, Daniel Smith Quinacridones are out of this world, love them to bits, especially when I am painting flowers, all the shades of reds and purples! Regarding sketchbook and papers, I use Stillman & Birn almost exclusively and Fabriano Artistico 300 gsm papers for my larger works. For brushes, I use quite a lot of Rosemary & Co. brushes. So there you go, my tools in a nutshell!
Membership
I am part of the Urban Sketchers Singapore. I hang out often with several them, and I try to sketch as often as I can with them. It is fun and satisfying having a “support” group who are very supportive. We also often go on overseas trip together, it is fun to have found my tribe!
Motivation
It is not always easy to stay motivated, I occasionally find a hurdle either in drawing or in painting that I cannot overcome.
It could be frustrating, but I remind myself the reason why I paint and why I began my journey into the realm of the visual arts, and then I usually will discover my love for it again. Reflecting on my own motivation is something I constantly do to keep me going.
Muscles
Developing the right behaviour or muscles for the arts is very important, I constantly place activities in my iPhone calendar to ensure that I spend enough time practising my drawings and my paintings. Although it is very pleasurable to draw, sometimes, I do it when I am not enjoying it as much. I give myself a little push so that I could continue to develop the skills that I need to get better.
If you are stuck in development as an artist, try tweaking one of the 5 Ms above, and see if you could push yourself forward. Good luck on your own journey as an artist! I’m really a believer that everyone can draw and paint, with some practice of course!
Whee Teck Ong
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Wonderful capture of the moment and location. Thank you for sharing.
Your work is beautiful, and your advice to paint even when you don’t always feel like it is very good! Thank you for sharing your artistic journey with us!
Whee Teck, it’s great to see your wonderful sketches here. This brings back such great memories of painting in Singapore, of meeting you and all the local sketchers, and of visiting your beautiful city. Thanks for sharing your work and your process.
Shari
Shari good to see you here. Yes I remember Singapore Symposium well… still have one of your piece!
Wonderful urban sketches! I love your use of color.
Your work is beautiful. Thank you for the great “M” ideas. Useful!!
Thank you for teaching us about the 5 “M” . I will try to think about your story as often as possible 🙂
Whee Teck, I really like your 5 M strategy for art, especially as it can be applied to any endeavor and generate success in the outcome. Your art is is exciting to view, with their dashes of color and lines.
Thanks for sharing your art and your artistic journey with us. Loved your concept of 5 M’s of painting!
Beautiful series of works 🙂
Great work!