Faber-Castell Art Festival and more!

Warning: Loong, image heavy post! (But do read on... I'd like you to) 

For those in Singapore, the Faber-Castell Art Festival is currently ongoing at Marina Square and will run till 3rd June 2018. If you haven't checked it out you might want to do so. 

Like a little fortress, the fair sits in the central atrium of Marina Square and has several "components". The predominant portion of the fair relates to the children's / school supplies (many of which are on pretty good looking deals). Most things appear to be on at least 15% off with a selection of items on "1-for-1". 

However, for the "hard core" don't dismay!

There are corners dedicated to their "higher end" pens and artist grade art supplies *drool*. Waaay out of my price range but hey! Window shopping is free!

There's also a small art exhibition area which is cool to check out - all pieces made with Faber-Castell products of course. 

I loved the robot / gundam / transformer made of Faber-Castell connector pens *hee hee* 

And perhaps best of all, workshops!!!!! There are workshops EVERYDAY! [It's unbelievably hard for me to find interesting workshops that fit in my work schedule...]

My sister treated me to a 2 hour workshop with local artist William Sim, "Nature Study with Colour Pencils". She went as well of course! This is what I did in the 2 hours: 

Not too bad if I don't say so myself... considering in particular that I've always maintained that I suck at "true to life" drawing, colouring and painting. The wonders a great teacher can do! He was patient, encouraging and gave a lot of "tips and tricks" that I didn't really know about drawing / using watercolour pencils. 

I didn't know much of William Sim before (but my sister is a fan girl). Now that I do know of him, it's really worthwhile taking some time to look at his works - I promise you it's worth it! Here are his pieces that are on exhibition: 

William is holding one more session of this workshop! It's an awesome workshop so do check it out! 

The child in me is also rejoicing at the "fun pack" that comes with joining the class! Woo!

- a tin of 12 Faber-Castell Art Grip Aquarelle - these are AWESOME! 

- 3 graphite pencils

- 1 dustfree easer

- 1 clic & go brush

- 1 clic & go watercup

Bask in the glory of my "fun pack"!  

And of course... all window shopping is never that fun right? Wondering how a pure graphite 3B pencil will work with Zentangle. 

Speaking of zentangle... back to the zentangling! 

IAST #243: Zenbuttons was great fun! Used a different method to do a watercolour background with my Koi markers. Quite liking the outcome!

pokeleaf.florz.chillon.betweed

koi watercolour markers direct wash 

faber-castell ecco pen

Then follows slew of tiles that left much be be desired... and also left me chanting "there's no mistakes in zentangle... there's no mistakes in zentangle... there's no mistakes in zentangle... ". Hence, BE BRAVE! And share the not so great tiles too... right? 

Tried yet another method of watercolour backgrounds, this time with a Koh-I-Noor watercolour pan  that I got as part of the "project pack" of a workshop I attended at Overjoyed some time back. The outcome was a little "powdery" but after a few swipes with a tissue it was fine. To add experiment to experiment, tried to tangle on it with a "pointed pen"- a Zig manga nib holder and a Nikko G nib with Yellow Gold from the Kuretake Gansai Tambi Starry collection. Took a workshop on this a while back at Heartistry - thanks CZT Mabel! CZT Mabel is giving another class on this soon if you are interested!

More experiments were abound with a black background (using my Sakura Identity marker) and 5 colours of Sakura Moonlight pens (and a white of course). ("there's no mistakes in zentangle... there's no mistakes in zentangle... there's no mistakes in zentangle...")

Also experimented with Staedtler Karat Aquarell watercolour crayons with some round gems (the box of 12 that I bought were on sale). 

Also used these crayons for the background of IAST #244:

auraknot.paradox

staedtler karat aquarell crayon background

micron PN in navy.staedtler fineliners.warm grey copic liner 

Also sharing Joey's weekly challenge #217 feat. cadent:

cadent.knightsbridge.aquafleur.tipple.mooka.y.a.f. 

koi direct watercolour

staedtler pigment liner

Started out with a regular cadent then got bored and went a little crazy... resulting in a weird looking tile... ah well.. live and learn. There's no mistakes in zentangle right?

Diva Challnge #364 feat. Puf

puf 

staedlter pigment liner

Joey's Challenge #218 feat Dicso:

dicso.florz.printemps.knightsbridge.huggins

faber-castell ecco pigment liner

Now, if ya'll will excuse me, I need to go and see if there's more workshops at the Faber-Castell Art Festival that I can sign up for!

Playing with Sparkling Shadows

My contribution for Joey's weekly challenge #207 is a small home-cut bijou tile. 

In a little bit of fun I tried tangling with Diamine Shimmer Ink (Sparkling Shadows) and a smiley Pilot Kakuno (if you look closely at the nib, it's smiling at you =)).  

knightsbridge.ahh.pokeleaf

Had to angle the photo a little so that you could see some of the shimmer. Wasn't quite as smooth as a micron but the inconsistent lines give it a little bit of it's own character I think =).

Liked the outcome so much I tried it on my Diva Challenge #355 tile in my sketchbook.

verve.'nzeppel.YAF.huggins.purk.frunky.knightsbridge.rixty

Didn't bother to angle this photo so that the gold flakes can be seen. 

Interesting experience and outcome I must say. Surprised at what a difference the type of pen can cause. 

And in case you haven't yet... last call for my birthday giveaway here! Open to all!