"Lime Sherbet"

A tub of lime sherbet ice cream dreams of it raining limes and ice cubes.

Mike

Esther in the corridor of aknuwat primary school, showing the kids a photo on her camera

"Sawker Ah!"

Recently blew the dust off my brushes, it's been such a long time since I did a shirt!

This shirt is based on a photo of a foosball table I took in a restaurant. Just thought I'd do something fun and different for a change!

mike

Wei Chee and Boy At the Aknuwat Primary School Clinic

these are the moments in life that are truly priceless

"Please Be True": the stars are out tonight

A new take on the original "the stars are out tonight" shirt (which is still available in a girls' M). With the addition of a moon and street lamps bringing out highlights from the roofs and trees. There is an extra picture showing the happy new owner of the shirt!

Mike

"Please Be True": Cloudspeak

Another remake of "cloudspeak" from the "please be true" series. (refer to earlier post for more text)

done on girls' medium

Mike

Trees in Kallang

Based on my previous pastel piece for the sixrocket-panasonic competition.

The inspiration behind this picture came from a bus ride past the tennis courts at kallang- there was a tree with totally brown leaves among the other normal green trees. The colour scheme was limited to give dramatic effect to the tree in the middle.

done on unisex M

Mike

Pastel Pieces

When I first started taking an interest in art the media that appealed to me the most were pastels. For most people (including myself then), the pastels they know of were the oil pastels or crayons that they used in school. These pastels are actually a relative newcomer to the pastel family.

The traditional pastels (known as soft pastels) do not contain oil as binder for the pigments, but rather dry materials like gum and chalk. This makes them brittle and dusty to use, but in exchange you get really vivid "colours flowing from your fingers" as I like to say. I first came across them in the books about drawing techniques, then later when I was in Malacca on a family holiday I saw a box of soft pastels in the store and bought it out of curiosity. I'm real glad I did!

Painting on t-shirts was something that developed later on for me. It came about during a trip to Art Friend when I saw a box of fabric pastels...and later I moved on to fabric paints because they opened up many more design possibilities. T-shirts are a great medium to reach out to people because everyone and anyone can wear them!

So that's the story of my journey with art so far. I really believe it's not some special talent or anything (for the stuff I've created)- you just need patience, good library books and a good imagination. Because up till last year I was under the impression that I was hopeless in "art" (never could draw more than stickmen). But I think that's a misconception that many people have of themselves too.

My 3 latest pastel pieces were done for a design-an-ad competition where the prize is a camera that I really like (the Panasonic GF1) and you can see them with this link

http://sixrocket.com/MIKE/portfolio

under the "defy convention" folder. That was the given theme for the ads and I'm hoping I'll win! ^_^ That will be amazing because there are some very strong entries by other people.

Okay hope you have enjoyed looking at my work and also hope you'll discover that art is something that anyone can do!

Mike

'Sepia': Sit Awhile With Me

hand-painting on t-shirts= endless possibilities! ^_^

this one was done in a 'sepia' theme using a range of mixed browns and bone colours.

The title is taken from the song "you raise me up" by Josh Groban. The painting is meant to convey a sense of peace and wonder when you take time to 'be still' and sit with God.

done on girls' M

Mike

"Please Be True": Tree Duet (winter)

This is a similar design to the original Tree Duet but done with a winter colour scheme and on a black shirt. White features quite abit on the frost-covered trees and foreground, with subtle colour blended in.

done on black unisex shirt small

Mike

Coming Soon: Tree Duet (winter edition)

hello!

this will be a special shirt, because it'll be the first black tshirt i'm painting on! ^_^

It's called the winter edition because it's basically the same scene as the original Tree Duet but set in a winter colour scheme (cool blues and greens). This is partly because it will then fit in with the black shirt thing.

still a work in progress!

thanks for all the support so far!^_^ shirts are coming out rather slowly now because i'm busy but it should pick up again in june.

mike

Cloudspeak revisited

done on girls' medium

Mike

By Request

This shirt was done for a friend who's a fan of Jon Foreman's EP Fall. The shirt design was based on the album cover.

Mike

"Please Be True": Cloudspeak

I've always wanted to do a "rolling hills" painting and I'm glad that I've finally got round to doing it! The hills have their own shades of green, and the cottage acts as a focal point, as does the tree. Cherry red was used for the cottage roof and tree to provide contrast to the cool colour scheme.

The composition was kept simple and uncluttered to keep an earnest feel to the shirt.

(The colour difference you see in the pictures is because I took the closeup under my work lamp, which gives things a yellowish hue)

done on white medium unisex cut

Mike

"Please Be True": The Stars Are Out Tonight

This is another "please be true" shirt, done on girls cut medium.

Inspired by the starry nights you get (sometimes) in Singapore. The silhouettes of the buildings and Ferris wheel were not done with reference to any place, just a random arrangement! Note that the night sky gets lighter as it nears the buildings.

MIKE

Coming Soon...

"Please Be True": The Stars Are Out Tonight

Silhouettes: We Huddle Together

Inspired by John Blockley's book Learn to Paint Pastels. In it he encourages the reader to "think in terms of shapes" and "seeing the whole rather than parts of the whole...". So here we have a group of trees as a whole shape, with the sky light peeking through the foliage. The foreground is a mixture of cool blue shadows of the trees and more light streaks.

done on white small unisex shirt (38in)

just got a new batch of t-shirts, including black ones! Can't wait to see how they turn out^_^

thanks,
MIKE

Fly Me To The Moon- Frank Sinatra

Written by Bart Howard in 1954, the song was originally titled "In Other Words" but they later changed it to the current title. The original song was also longer and tells of this guy writing a love poem and translating what it means as he goes along (hence the "in other words...")

These are the lyrics to the song:

Fly me to the moon
Let me play among the stars
Let me see what spring is like
On Jupiter and Mars
In other words, hold my hand
In other words, darling, kiss me

Fill my life with song
And let me sing for ever more
You are all I long for
All I worship and adore
In other words, please be true
In other words, I love you

info from wikipedia

"Please Be True": Tree Duet

This is the first "please be true" t-shirt- the two trees have intertwining branches that spell the words "please be true". Note the pair of birds in between the trees!

done on white unisex small (38 in) shirt.

(the shirt sizes are measured by putting a measuring tape around your chest and under your armpits. XS=36in, S= 38in, M=40in, L=42in)

thanks,
MIKE

Vinspired: The Balloon Man

This is a series of shirts inspired by my recent trip to Vietnam. Here a balloon-seller waits for his next customer to stop by on the busy streets of Hanoi. The way he was standing made for a good pose and was a nice balance to the endless motion on the old quarter streets.

watercolour dyes on small white unisex t-shirt (38 in)

Upcoming:
In addition to this "Vinspired" series, there will be another one called "Please Be True"- a series of slogan tees calling out for responsible behaviour in relationships. "Being true" to our loved ones and ourselves has taken a beating recently with all the high-profile revelations about extra-marital affairs. However, these issues also affect us much closer to home and can cause massive amounts of hurt. Also inspired in part by the song "fly me to the moon" by Frank Sinatra (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCW9Hey6IVY).

MIKE

Vinspired: Colours of Ha Long Bay

This is an alternative design, a splatter painting! This one is of Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Notice the red Vietnam flag on the junk. The green things are some of the many limestone formations that litter the bay. The bay's waters are rather still, so each feature has a direct reflection in the water. The main theme of this painting is that everything is interconnected- when we visit a place, our memories of the place will be of the "colours" that we experienced while we were there. The colour of the flag for instance, is echoed throughout the painting. In addition, the boat is made of not just brown splashes, and the sky is not just blue. Everything is echoed in everything ^_^

I < 3 WC 2010

I also do slogan tees...this one was created for an avid soccer fan, well sort of!

Silhouettes: Among the Leaves

This was done by request for a Valentine's day gift, photos of the couple were used as reference for the silhouettes.

Silhouettes: Sunset Together

This is a series of silhouette designs that I create using pictures of people as reference. This one was done using a picture of myself!

Falling Leaves

I paint these designs on white t-shirts (coloured tees available if needed) using water colour dyes. So you can be sure each shirt is thoroughly unique! The colours might fade a little with repeated washing, but it should not compromise the design too much! Retouching of shirts can be done quite easily since they are hand-painted.

The shirts are available in girls' cut (S,M,L) and the normal unisex cut (S,M,L).

How it works is you tell me which design you like and the size of your shirt and I'll come up with something unique for you! so quick! ask me to do one for you today! ^_^ price per shirt currently is around 25 for the unisex cut and 27 for the girls' cut (my source of girls' shirts is not v good, because i buy them individually and the bigger sizes are more expensive :S)

Email me at leezhemin.michael@gmail.com

MIKE

Helloooo!

Welcome welcome! ^_^

I will be posting t-shirt designs that I create and you can then select the design/concept and choose the size of the t-shirt you want it in. If any concept interests you then send me an email, something can be created for you!

Look out for upcoming posts!

thanks,
MIKE