The day before yesterday I went to Sim Lim Square to get a new adaptor for my notebook and since I was in town, I decided to drop by ArtFriend which sell all sorts of art and graphic related materials. I wanted to paint something. I’ve only painted with water colours before (that was 10 years ago!) and know nothing about painting with oil. With the help of the shop helpers, I got my basic ingredients for my oil painting. Prices vary. I chose the cheaper China brands. (Edit: next time I would choose a better brush).

Today I took the brushes, paint and started to paint. I didn’t have any design in mind. I just wanted something abstract (I love abstract art). It was basically just take the brush, use several colours (I wanted earthly colours), solvent if required and just paint on the canvas. Within 30 mins I was done with the first canvas. Maybe I should have taken my sweet time and perfectionate each stroke instead of rushing to finish it.

This is the end result and I’m pretty satisfied since this is my very first oil painting. The round stuffs are thicker paint. I also did another similar one with the second canvas (they will be hung beside each other). Now I just gotta wait for them to dry before hanging the two somewhere. I’m gonna get bigger canvas in the future. It is definitely cheaper to paint your own canvas. This 50 cm x 50 cm canvas costs $13 only.

If I’d engaged a contractor instead of an Interior Designer, I would have considered these following designs. They are nice, simple and elegant.

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One single door, as large as the facade of the unit, with a perfectly smooth surface, only occasionally interrupted, in an apparently random sequence, by wide square openings. With a simple movement, the door slides until it partially juts out from the side of the unit. In one simple gesture, surprisingly the view changes completely: books disappear, while objects previously hidden are unveiled (tableware, vases, other books or many other objects that we wish to hide away). On/Off, open/closed, inside /outside… Blitz! A brief intriguing door movement creates not only a new and different piece of furniture, but reverses its function: when closed seems to be a shelving or display unit, when opened offers the storage capacity of a sideboard. Finishes: Structure matt lacquered white or black. Door in wood matt lacquered white or black or in glossy Setapan® white or black. Setapan® is an innovative high quality material made of massive acrylic coloured inside and with glossy surfaces. Resistant against scratches, UV rays, it can be repaired in case of rifling and it is fully recyclable at the end of its use. Design: Lodovico Acerbis Manufacturer: Acerbis International

Nice article from http://www.3point7designs.com/blog/tag/galleries

Everyone thinks they know what looks good, but in reality they only know what looks good to them. While there are general rules to design (such as balance, contrast, etc, etc) for the most part people simply have a preference as to what looks best.

For Example: You might be inclined to like lots of white space, and love a clean yet elegant design. Someone else however - will think the same site looks basic, boring, and overly simple.

My suggestion is to focus less on VISUAL design, and more on USABLE and CONTENT focused design. While harder to sell, ultimately no one is going to go to a website to see what the design is… they are going to perform a task, or to access the content. While a good design might be more memorable, even some of the most popular websites have lack-luster designs (myspace is the classic example).