V Cards

I did a few more painting experiments this week, this time thinking about the upcoming holiday in mind. I have never been particularly fond of Valentine's Day. But I now have a reason to look forward to it ever since I came up with ideas of what I can make and paint for the occasion.

I made some nine to ten greeting cards, whipped up simple phrases and painted them with matching illustrations and whatnots. I'm trying to keep them as simple as possible because I like having a lot of white space in my designs.

I chose light and casual messages that you could also say in person but would "sound" so much better when drawn on a card, with illustrations and/or colors.

What I love about watercolor is how unpredictable it is, in a good way. Sometimes when I'm painting something and see that it looks horrible but it actually does look better when dry. And sometimes, I feel that it's the perfect media for beginners because you don't need to have hardcore drawing skills to paint something in watercolor and actually recognize what it is when it's done.

By the way, I like to paint feathers. They allow me to be flexible with colors and design. They can look weird and colored in neon and it would still look acceptable.

Cupcakes, though, are a bit of a challenge but I'm slowly coming around to making the icing look convincing. I do like how I can do any topping in any color I want and it would still end up looking like a cupcake, even if it looks like a badly-baked one.

And, part of the joy of painting is photographing my artworks afterwards. I like coming up of ways to present them in a photo. I've always been a fan of white and clean workspaces, but of course, a cluttered one can also make a wonderful picture.

It's important to take photos of my paintings because I almost always handpaint everything. If they are given away or get sold out, I won't have a copy of them anymore. It can also be useful just in case anyone wants an exact artwork I did in the past.

I'm putting these up for sale (still haven't decided where). I'm also a bit shy to market my stuff because of what people might say.

Post-Valentine Thoughts

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. In some parts of the world, today is still Valentine's Day. In my opinion, it has become a highly-commercialized day when people (have this notion to) feel obliged to give flowers and sweets to their significant other and later on share photos of those on Facebook.

I would like to think that Valentine's Day, (although St. Valentine started all the flowers and sweets kind of stuff) is a special day to reconfirm love that you show to someone everyday. I think of it as an extra special day to express love in doing something special and meaningful. I mean, you can give flowers and sweets any day, everyday. What's so special about doing that on Valentine's Day? There should be so much more than merely giving something you can buy from a store. 

What is special and meaningful are the intangible things. They are those that you never forget somebody made the effort of doing for you despite anything. The effort behind a gift is what matters the most. That, to me, is a gift that trancends time; a gift that doesn't wilt nor melt in your mouth. It speaks so much more of a person's desire for someone to be happy, and isn't that, my friend, what love is all about?

A colleague told me yesterday, that no matter how small or insignificant something is, if someone gave or did it for you without you expecting it, it will definitely mean a whole lot more than the expensive ones.

Nevertheless, i hope all of the people i love and care about are happy and content with how they spent Valentine's Day. After all, the most important thing is to be happy. Life is too short to be anything but that.