Working Title: Wet Shoes And The Journey To Las Lilas

Some readers shared with me that it is fun watching the slide show of the behind-the-scene footage on how I draw.  Since we have already established the fact that each object of my recent drawings is formed with rationale, I shall focus on the story behind this drawing and showcase the behind-the-scene footage instead.

Some of you may recall my rather memorable experience in trying to sun dry my sport shoes.  Three years have passed and I found myself in the same situation.  Mid November, as I was near the Spanish school Las Lilas after work waiting for Cynthia to join me, there was a sudden heavy downpour.  So heavy that it was impossible not to get totally soaking wet even with a huge golf umbrella like mine.  So heavy that I have seldom seen something quite like this, even in a tropic island of ours.  My sixth sense told me that Cynthia would not have an umbrella with her.  So I braved the rain, walked all the way to the train station intending to fetch her with my golf umbrella.

Life is full of anti-climax scenes and renewed surprises.  When Cynthia emerged from the station, the rain had subsided, obliterated what appeared as an heroic act with now only my pair of wet dark trousers that did not look that wet against the dark color and my shoes that oozed out water from the stitching on every step I take as subtle evidents of what I had endured.  Those stitching that looks great as a design but is defenseless against heavy rain.  My socks were soaking wet.  So were my shoes.  As we crossed the street and passed The Cathay – our favorite cinema – the rain gathered force and Cynthia turned to me and asked, “Shall we skip this lesson, have dinner and go home?”

Erm … no.

What I did not tell you is that in the making of the previous behind-the-scene footage, I nearly set my stack of drawing papers on fire.  Candles are fire hazard.  Also, setting up the scene takes at least an hour.  But if you enjoy viewing these footage, I am happy making it.

Recently, I am reading more into Dalí’s work.  I figure that my drawings so far lack perspectives and a frame.  And I am intrigued by Dalí’s imagination and articulation.  To create this drawing, I have made numerous practice on how to draw my shoes in different angles.  I viewed them from close to the ground.  Imagine the discomfort of drawing in that position.  I could of course  put my shoes on my dinning table and practice my drawing.  But that would drive Cynthia mad for sure.

I used to think that making a surreal interpretation of an object is easy.  But it is not.  I have to be able to draw the object in realism first before transforming it into surrealism.  As for the overall composition, I have also made quite a number of sketches in arriving to this final state.

This drawing took me three hours to complete (and many hours to compose and prepare).  Initially I thought doodling takes much lesser time than oil painting.  Maybe not.