succulent paintings

Succulents are very therapeutic to paint. Even though it took me awhile to understand when sketching. I love using the green and blue hues together and play it a little with oranges/ violets.

Using Hot press paper is better when painting floral related paintings. you want the smooth texture from the paper to be able to add in more details. 

Agave potatorum

Sedum palmeri

This is probably going to be my final post of the year. Say hello 2017 with more challenges and exciting adventures!

Stay gold fellas!

x

Ashley  

watercolour illustrations - Autumn 2016

Hello Everyone! I hope you're having a great holiday season.

I painted these items that are related to Autumn ( at least from what i have searched on google) Never have I ever experience autumn season before but I do think Autumn is the season of the cozy! 

I had the most fun painting the scarf and the pinecone -in which I thought I might mess them up because of the details and all. I doubt myself in the beginning but look who finished it lol. self doubt is very toxic.

pumpkin spice latte with cookies

a pinecone and a carved pumpkin

cozy scarf

Watercolour food illustration 2016

**Looks like I'm on a roll in painting food illustrations lol 

loaf of bread.

Teriyaki Sushi burger

Blueberry waffle

Blackberry yogurt + oats

Watercolour Food Illustrations - Malaysian delights!

 I painted some of my favourite food while I was in Malaysia. Fun fact: I always have my nasi lemak with teh ais. It just feels complete that way.

Nasi Lemak

Penang Lasksa

Ayam Rendang

Curry Mee

Teh Ais ( Malaysian Iced Milk Tea)

Food illustrations - Desserts

Custard cream biscuit freakshake

Taiyaki ice cream

Strawberry shortcake slice

Cheesecake slice

October & November favourites!

Look what we have here! A blog post? 

Actually i have lots of fav stuff to show but these are the summarized version for the two months. I've been very keen in skincare lately. Better skincare means less fuss on makeup heh. 

December is the month of self reflecting and also to remind myself some goals that I want to achieve.

Christmas is around the corner, be sure to keep warm and.. eat more! 

December Calendar 2016

Firstly, I have to send my apologies to whomever waiting for the calendar. But on the other hand, I finally resigned my job - which I disliked. Probably this might be on another blog post if y'all curious about it.

Anyway!

It is finally December - my favourite month of the year! First it is my birthday month and second- Christmas! Although Christmas is illegal in Brunei ( bummer!) I still can drink wine at home :D tucking under my blanky watching kdramas.

I hope you enjoy this last calendar of the year! 

click below to download full res.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 

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November Calendar 2016

Yikes! It is November guys! That means we are nearing the end of 2016 and shopping for christmas! lol. It is also the month I'm looking forward to because it will be my very last month of being a school teacher.

I hope you enjoy this month's calendar! 

click below to download full res.

See you on my next blog post! 

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Favourite things in September.

I am late while posting this, my apologies to you!

A month gone by really fast. I learn a very important lesson - that is to slow down and enjoy the current moment. No worry about the consequences or the past. 

1. Luxury face oil -Jeanie Botanicals
This bottle was gifted by my friend for my birthday last year(Thanks Emma!).The term 'luxury' isn't a joke. It literally makes me feel so relaxed while applying just 3-4 drops on my face every night. And also I'm impressed how well my skin has gotten so glowy in the next morning. For very oily skin type , I highly recommend this to try it out!

2. Nelaton, my boyfriend, visits me.
Oh boy, things gonna get cheesy here. We have not seen each other since my last visit to KL last December. So it makes perfect sense why this goes to one of my highlight thing of the month :)
P.s : long distance relationship sucks. 

3. Xmen Apocalypse movie.
The movie was great. One thing that got me is this coming when Prof x. Xavier said this to Magneto- "There is so much more to you than you know". Man, that quote really got me thinking deep bout me life because I was really unmotivated to do anything at that time.

4. Two door cinema club - sun 
This song stayed in my head when I was painting. And it still is now lol

Although this is a rather short post, I'm drafting a few things about watercolour for y'all to read about. It would be helpful to tell me what you want to know more about ! Just leave me a comment or email me.

I hope you have a great day ahead! 

x

Ashley 

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October Calendar 2016

Hello friends! 

It is October and I have prepared another calendar for you! It is kinda delayed because I ran out of ideas to try a simple approach to a minimal composition (i.e, I suck in composition) 

The month of October is the starting month of cozy sweaters, cute mugs and cookies and also , Halloween! (If you're wondering what are those leaves hanging around, they are cookies) 

Click below to download the full size 

****Also, please give me a shoutout or comment below if you're using my wallpaper! I'd love to know more feedback that can help with my calendar designs in future :)

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Cocktails

Old fashioned brandy- never gets old.

This is my favourite piece to paint on especially the bottom glass refraction.

Blood orange Margarita - That's a bloody one indeed.

Excuse my spelling mistake on 'Margarita'. This salt crystals on the rim of the glass took me longer than I thought.

Classic Mojito - I got that lime rum classic thing that you like.

One of my favourite cocktails.

I can imagine myself sipping on a tall glass of Mojito while watching the sunset.

Tequila Sunrise - Only available on sunrise lol

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Watercolour supplies for beginners.

Hello everyone!

It has been a  while since I made a lenghty post about watercolour. For I am such a nerd for watercolours.

Choosing what to buy for watercolour can be a pain. Especially when there's too many choices to choose from. But it's okay because I'm going to show you a list of affordable items that you can get for a decent quality for watercolour painting.

A rather awkward monthly favs. post.

August was a weird month for me. Rather boring actually. I didn't do much painting, I guess it is because my lack of motivation and I was so bummed out with my day job. Quite a number of depressing days. Well I guess it's not normal to feel happy everyday.

1. Pentel Brushpen (gray)

I love how flexible the strokes i can get from this brush pen. I always use this to ink on my sketchbook during work. I also use this brush pen for inking my sept calendar 

2. Pentel pocketbrush

This is actually a impulse buy because it was on sale in amazon. I didnt get to use it until i realise how magical they can be when I ink my drawings. 

3. Kinako cookies (vegan)

I snack alot. Especially when I read mangas and watching dramas and SNL skits (big fan of Bill Hader!) But I cannot just stayhealthy with just store bought cookies. So I make them Kinako (roasted soybean flour) cookies. I also add heaps of matcha to make it even healthier. 

4. Ipod 

So I started to pick up running as a hobby . It was great. I like the feel of running aimlessly around my neighbourhood with music in my ears. I used to suck at it last year but ironically I can now (??). The ipod is actually 4 years old now. and still doing good. (Big fan of Foo Fighters btw)

I wish September will be a good month. at least more painting to look forward to :> I hope you are too. Chin up and look forward! 

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September Calendar 2016

My apologies for the delay of posting this beforehand. I have no excuses but procrastination has gotten the best of  me.

But i'm trying for a different approach this time!  I was experimenting mixing water with ink to create  a classy approach for this month's calendar.


I hope you like it! Feel free to download the Hi-Res version below!

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Birds in South East Asia

Disclaimer: I'm sorry this is a very backdated post. I totally forgot to post this up.

Some of my bird paintings based on the common bird species in South East Asia. I might add in to this series in near future.

Chestnut Munia

***fun fact: This black headed Munia used to be the national bird of The Philippines before the Philippine Eagle takes over.

Rhinoceros Hornbill

**They always appear at my backyard calling for their mate. It can be very noisy sometimes.

Oriental Magpie Robin

Fun fact: This bird species sing a lot. The males sang louder to attract females.

Zebra Dove

fun fact: They camouflage well on ground. (lol)

Progress shots

Over here you'll see some bad quality progress shots(for that I apologise). I didn't have the patience to keep in track of the progress shots as it sometimes kill my mood to continue. It's just my habit to keep painting while I'm in the zone. I wonder if anyone has this experience before. 

The magpie and the chestnut munia are my personal favourite to paint. I think because I understand how their feathers flow. However, the hornbill got me confused while adding the details on the feathers. I kinda hide my mistakes by adding more purple and blue :D

The zebra dove is the most tedious among all and it always made me procrastinate from continuing. The spots and the patterns got me overwhelmed. But  I managed!
Patience and listening to music got me through this process u_u

The process of painting is not all difficult. Actually not everything is difficult if you have the patience and the understanding of colour and form. But it takes a long time to understand. It took me a few years to understand that adding blue shades makes a great colour for details instead of adding black itself.
I still have my habit of procrastinating -which is unbeatable for now.

I am still a work in progress and I am enjoying the journey to improve myself.

I'm glad that you read my thought process in this blog and I hope you get to enjoy (or to be inspired?) reading it :D 

x

Ashley 

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Homemade muffins still taste better :)

July is the month that I spent alot of my money on restocking my skincare products D:


1. NYX glam shadow stick in pink ruby
I bought this a few years ago, just because i like the grapefruit shade. Only recently I figured out how to apply this on my inner corners. It perks up my tired eyes in the morning at work sspecially when I wear glasses.

2. Most used colour for the month goes to.... Winsor and Newton Cotman's Raw Sienna!
I find myself going for this colour alot when I paint food illustrations.

3. Mizon Skin Repair Ampoule.
Really like how instant the product absorb into my skin.  No breakouts ever since.

4. Frozen fruits ( grapes and mangoes)
They just taste sweeter. my coffee snack actually.

5. Homemade Banana muffins.
I wanted to make some healthy snack for work, Muffins make a great substitute for my usual white bread for breakfast at work.

6. Nubian Heritage Raw Shea Butter.
I have dry skin problem around my knees and elbows and fingers. Not the best one I've ever tried, but its okay enough to keep my skin hydrated from flaking.

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August calendar 2016

Going simple and pink for this month's calendar.

Feel free to pink it up on your own desktop wallpaper! 

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June has been good to me.

Hello Hello!

 I hope you've been good so far!

Not too late for a monthly favs yes?

1. Rainy Days.

The monsoon season has changed and we have more rainy days. I like to stare outside my window during heavy rain with warm coffee.  

2. Mangas ( pardon my rusty drawing, it has been a long while 'u')

I have alooot of mangas to recommend. 

Ask me for recommendations if you like shoujo mangas.  Ask me! 

3. Oh wonder 

 My favourite will be midnight moon  and livewire .

4. Documentary about Australian parrots

(psst. check out  34:11 )

I started to get interested in bird behaviors right when i painted a few birds this month. I think this can make a good conversation starter for awkward people like me.

Fun fact: The oldest cockatoo, which happens to be the palm cokatoo that can live up to 90 years!~ 

I've been spending my long Raya weekend with my family and less time in painting. So probably explains why I'm inactive in Instagram. Long weekends like this are rare so it is better to be grateful :D I hope you have a great weekend and stay happy!

x
Ashley





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July Calendar 2016

July calendar is here!  

These are some sketches i did during the month of June so I thought it'll be a great idea to use it for July calendar. (and also to make use of my washi tapes lol)

 Feel free to use it for your own purposes :D

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