My Museum

1. Practice -The secret of perfecting your craft is practice, practice and more practice. I started with making cards before I seriously began painting. I’d give my finished works (“Thank you and get-well” cards to friends at Christmas time and birthdays. I just kept sketching, drawing, painting; trying different mediums (soft pastel, color pencils, oil paints, water color etc.) until I found the one that best suit me. I also experimented with different canvasses (paper, cloth, wood). 2. Patience and perseverance - At first, your work may look pre-schoolish (unless you were born gifted but still, that’s rare), eventually you’ll learn to mix colors; use brushes and develop your own style and ways of painting your favorite subject. Don’t give up! 3. Learning from others - There are many painting sites on the net now that offers free membership and lessons as well as video tutorials. Most of them are community sites for both newbies and veteran artists, and the professional ones are u...

14x15 inches soft pastel on cloth canvass Owner: ME Location: Philippines

I’ve always been on a scout for cheaper ways to paint; cheaper materials to work with. In my country, there are talented children (even in my Sunday school) who would love to paint and get training but can’t afford the cost so I’m continuously experimenting to find everyday materials I can use for practice painting until I find the one that won’t cost me much BUT at the same satisfy me too. Although paper is cheaper here, the supply and choices is limited and personally, I do prefer cloth canvasses. A few days ago, I started a flower basket painting on a “sanforized” fabric. Don’t know if this material has another name that it’s more known for but tailors and dressmakers use it. It’s cheaper here and can also carry layers of pastel. Blending is easy too using linseed oil and drying is faster. Well, this experiment is still in its early stages so no guarantee of anything yet. I just wanted to share what I’ve been up to concerning my most loved hobby.

This was my first work on cloth canvass using soft pastels and pastel pencils. a 14 x 17 inches piece. Location: My house Owner: ME Date: 2007

I never thought I'd ever be able to paint like I do now. I dreamed of it when I was just a child but when a crippling illness struck me down, that dream got lost.God's been so good though that I've recovered some use of my hands and well, I continued my broken dream....to paint. Someone sent me a few books and pastel tools and I thought I should try again and did. First on cards sent to friends on occasions then ventured into cloth canvasses and then stumbled onto "How To Draw And Paint" site by Bob Davis . It offered free lessons....my GOD! Free? What a gold mine for me who can't go to a regular school (since I can't walk) and really can't afford it, now I have learned techniques on shadowing, fixatives and still learning. He is so generous to want to put up a free site for aspiring artists like myself, a definitely true lover of art that he would concern himself about others who love the craft too. But how I wanted to be in the company of fellow Fili...