油畫. 遠觀不可褻玩

油畫，個人感覺是種情緒和表達很突出的藝術。遠觀，我愛它的鮮明，愛它的豐富，愛它用色彩撰寫的想象，愛它逼人的立體。不想，實際操作果真也不容人隨意褻玩。陌生，再加上我笨拙而不羈的特性，一切都不太受駕馭。

其實我喜歡想象和揮灑，真的不太愛靜物寫生。但既然一踏進課室就是一景的靜物設置，那也沒辦法，就靜物吧！還好靜物裏沒有布作爲背景，我最恨畫靜物的布！




在紙上完成構圖后，把輪廓小心翼翼地描在帆布(Canvas)上。帆布——這不就是我夢寐以求的感覺嗎？油彩隨即而來，我雖興致勃勃，卻也想念起了較爲平易近人的水彩。水還是比油親切多了！大概也是陌生的緣故，揮灑畫筆的瀟灑沒了，徒留交替畫筆與刮刀(Palette Knife)、顔料與抹布、處處見松節油(Turpentine)和顔色痕跡的手忙與腳亂。是的。洗個畫筆還得用松節油，混個顔色還要用刮刀。把顔色這樣刮刮壓壓、敲敲打打的感覺是還蠻爽的，但操作豪邁的我就是感覺浪費了不少顔料。原諒我只是個門外再外的門外漢，於是我才在這課中陶冶一下。



今天的任務之一是完成單一顔色的九個調。經過一番刮刀翻騰后，終于完成。望著這九牛二虎后的小布條的同時，我的四肢、我的衣服，已無一幸免調色盤的波及。算了，不過是賺取了些許“我還挺藝術”的感覺的小小代價。

Equipped to Oil-Paint

Counting down to my first part-time oil painting class at NAFA, I was happy to find my way to two arts shops, Art Friends and Straits Art in the Bugis area with the pre-lesson material list prepared by NAFA. I had been to Art Friends before for some craft materials; Straits Art was totally new-to-me but still, good to start with as it had knowledgeable staff and gave 10% discount for cash payment :)

The starter shopping list wasn't too long, yet rather explorative. I realised that oil painting isn't a pocket-friendly spare-time activity at all. Oil paint of the student-range brands "Winsor & Newton - Winton", "Daler-Rowney - Georgian" and  "Talens - Van Gogh" were recommended by the teacher. I got myself "Georgian" since it seemed to be the cheapest among the three, at S$5.35 per 38ml pc. Colours necessary for the class are Titanium White, Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna, Raw Umber and Ultramarine Blue. Beautiful names, aren't they?



Brushes themselves were confusing. There were different types and sizes. I hope I didn't pick wrongly for Flat #4, Round #4, Filbert #5 and Flat #8. Ending the list were a wooden palette, a small canvas of 12" x 16", linseed oil, turpentine and palette knife. Now I'm beginner-ly well-equipped to oil-paint! So, let's see!

Poulét. Casual French Dining

Today is just another usual Sunday. If there's anything special about this Sunday, it's the 15th Jan on the Lunar calendar "元宵节", the last day of Chinese New Year. We're ending Chinese New Year already, "let's have some good food for the day!". After the Sunday service, we went to Bugis+ nearby for an early lunch. We popped on to Poulét, Amazing French Roast Chicken, which I have been longing to try. We were there 12 noon and able to avoid a queue.



Well, French dining is always at the side of more pricey range of food (at least to my knowledge :p). Poulét being the first French casual dining concept in Singapore, I must not miss it. Poulét has been there for about half a year. From what I observed, it's now quite a popular bistro. Fusing local ingredients with classic French cooking techniques, Poulét caters to the mass with affordable fare.



Greens are my must-have for meals, so we had Salad de Paris. I loved it topped with dried cranberry and pine nuts, enriching the texture and flavour. It's overall, a creamy French-dressed salad! I'm not very comfortable with snails, or eating snails. However, simply because of my belief that Escargot is a never-missed appertiser in French dining, I just had to try. Its chewy texture was much like abalone. I liked the tomato fondue and garlic butter very much, yet I just wasn't able to convince myself to enjoy chewing snails wholeheartedly.



My first main course at Poulét was of course their star dish Rotisserie Poulét Roti. Its home-made mushroom chardonnay sauce had a very creamy milky taste. It's delicious but a bit greasy. Our first dining experience there was made-complete by the Tiramisu. The jar of mascorpone cheese and soaked sponge was indeed very filling.

Poulét
Bugis+, 201 Victoria Street, #04-12, Singapore 188067   |   (65) 6509 9411
Mon to Sun 11:30am - 10pm