Downstrokes, Upstrokes, Circles and Stones
SITizens slow down and find inner balance through the art of watercolour painting and calligraphy
On Saturday, 12 September 2020, SIT alumni learned how to create their own watercolour paintings and calligraphy artwork. Organised by the SIT Alumni Leisure Network, the workshop was held over two sessions in the morning and afternoon, led by Ms Phillane Cheng from Med Kärlek Inc.
The participants were provided with a watercolour paint set, consisting of a watercolour palette, paintbrush set and paper. They started with a short exercise where they thought about what aspects they were currently trying to balance in their own lives, then painted using circles and visualised them as “balancing stones”. This also helped with playing with space in their artwork.
Ms Cheng guided them on differentiating “warm” and “cool” colours from their palette, as well as different methods to draw circles and create gradients. They were mostly encouraged to go with their “feeling” and not worry too much about precision.
For the second part of the workshop, the participants practised faux calligraphy on scratch cards, a technique used to imitate the look of real calligraphy. The participants could refer to a guide sheet to help them imitate thin upstrokes and thick downstrokes commonly seen in traditional calligraphy. This technique is useful for beginners to practise as well as to create calligraphy on alternative materials such as acrylic and wood.
Once they had familiarised themselves with the strokes, they then proceeded to add their own personalised calligraphy to their watercolour artwork. The final touch was adding of splatter of paint with a brush.
Besides being a form of therapy, Ms Cheng also stated that this kind of artwork can reveal information about one’s personality and state of mind. For example, some people prefer more structure and precision in their artwork, while others don’t mind being messier and more fluid.
Ms Evania Wong, Food and Human Nutrition alum, said “I learnt about colour composition and using different materials to create an art piece involving calligraphy writing. My favourite part of the workshop is when I get to explore and play with different colours, turning it into a piece of artwork.”
