TREE, MOON AND PRIZE

Here's my last post for 2009 in Singapore! I'll be flying to the States tomorrow and had been busy scrambling with my vintage jewellery business since I am missing the Christmas sale takings. My next post will be from California!

I apologise for the lost of steam in blogging and I haven't done a single artwork. Below you will see some snapshots that occurred during this past Nov & Dec in Singapore.

This huge Christmas tree had lights but can't pick the faint glow with my camera. This is in Vivocity, it's just beside the harbour! I love Christmas light-ups! On the left you can see a cable car tower peeking in the horizon that links the main island to a resort/theme park island Sentosa. They are currently not in use as they are revamping the transport system to Sentosa. I think the management sold off the empty cars for mementos... nice idea though I don't know how one finds space to house a 4-seater cubicle.


2 Dec: 6am I took a shower and saw this bright orange thing from my bathroom window. It's bigger than usual and immediately thought of werewolves. My camera is really bad at taking celestial objects though. Talking about that, the Leonid meteor showers in November were a big disappointment. Not a streak in the sky. All the hype for nothing... the light pollution was frustrating. And the clouds. And the rain before that.

Last but not least I received a large package yesterday from Andria of Shagpile! Yaayy her blog giveaway prize includes a pile of fabrics, buttons and an awesome brooch. Thank you! <3>

ART- SO LONG, DUCKY

Another one for autumn. Entitled 'So long, ducky', I bought another bunch of Copic markers to complete this picture! The design came out slightly different from intended, perhaps my choice of colours makes the leaves appear like fallen petals instead. Also the white dotted ripples was done when I was almost dozing so the angles are a little off. Did you notice the gold dots on the top? It doesn't appear too well in the scan. Enjoy anyway! I think I shall continue with drawing some ACEOs next.

"I threw a pebble in a brook
And watched the ripple run away
And they never made a sound
And the leaves that are green turn to brown
And they wither in the wind
And they crumble in your hand"
~ 'Leaves that are Green' by Simon & Garfunkel

IS YOUR WORKSPACE NEAT OR MESSY?

A long time ago when I got my first Canon no-zoom camera I liked to snap photos of my bedroom. Maybe I oughta keep up this habit, see how my room & workspace morph over the years... in a mysterious manner too, because I don't have a habit of shifting furniture around.

A book placed on the shelf will be in the same spot 10 years later. The magical shifting of books and additions of shelves and containers are courtesy of my mother really. She hates clutter and migrates my items whenever I'm not home. MAGIC I tell you. Despite it being much spacier and less dusty, I usually can't find my materials/ unfinished artworks and she doesn't know what I'm talking about lol.

Anyhow here is my current workspace. A mess; clutter = my 'To-do' list, and reminds me that I have alot of things to finish. Because by getting frustrated seeing the mess and working without elbow space, I strive to clear up (in this case unlisted jewellery) as quickly possible. If neatness prevails long term, I forget what I'm supposed to do lol. How does your workspace/studio look like? If possible I'd love to take a peek!

ART- WINDY DAYS

One for autumn, made with markers and pen, the background is added in Photoshop! We don't have autumn or winter in Singapore so I guess this works for the monsoon season. Just change the jacket into a raincoat or something! The lightning storms here are scary - mainly I'm afraid of getting struck since we have one of the highest lightning activity on the planet. Just 2 days ago there was this storm and my apartment's living room got flooded because the rain pipes couldn't handle the sheer amount of water gushing through 15 storeys of pipes lol. And the lightning hit so close and so loud (a couple of times nearby) the table rattled and I was flash-blinded by the reflection on the window! Just scary. I hope no one got hit.

1. Don't stand in open fields or swim in open sea

2. Don't take shelter under tall trees, that's just a magnet for lightning

3. Don't carry metallic objects, wear metal-stubbed shoes or use electronics or umbrellas

4. Don't use the shower

5. Seek shelter immediately if you're out in the open

6. Stay in a car or building

7. If there are no shelters nearby, crouch in a lowland area (like a ditch or something) or under low shrubs

8. Pray

OK LET'S GET ON WITH SOME TAGS Q & A

Angie's Suds 'N' Such & recently, Blossoming Tree Bodycare have tagged me with the above lovely award. Many thanks! Oh boy so long ago too I do have a tendency to lose links stored among on my desktop clutter!

I'm going to skip the rules & tagging part since so many bloggers have already passed this on =P

+++

Instead here is another one from PilarCat who tagged me ever so long ago in July!

The rules:
-answer the questions
-replace a question that you don't like, with one by your choice
-add one more question
-tag 8 people to continue the game of tagging

What is the thing that makes you happy?
Contentment.

Coffee or tea?
Tea only

What’s for dinner?
Outside food.

What was the last thing you bought?
Herbal drink

What are you listening to right now?
8-bit music from Rockman 2

What is your favourite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
T-shirt & jeans

What is your favourite ice cream flavour?
Green tea, green pistachio or rainbow sherbet

What do you think of the person(s) who tagged you?
Oh very nice! I love to read of other artists' thought processes. Her art is super cute too!

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
Those places with the rolling hills and flowers stretched till the horizons (travel magazine type places).

Which language do you want to learn?
Japanese. I'm still learning it for fun for some years already.

What is your favourite colour?
Evening sky colours.

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?
Food!

How much do you rate your creativeness?
5 out of 10

Describe your personal style?
Does this mean lifestyle or artworks style? Or how I dress? I guess it all works lol. Natural.

What are you going to do after this?
Upload a whole bunch of cuff links to LemonKitscharms

What are your favourite movies?
The Shining (the Stanley Kubrick one). Horror movies mostly. Lord of the Rings, Akira Kurosawa's samurai movies and Studio Ghibli's animations.

What inspires you?
Other artists, music, quotations, dreams.

What is your favourite fruit?
Mangosteen, guava, lemons, strawberries, blueberries and lychee.

Do you collect something?
Art books, manga, random gashapon toys and vintage brooches. I can go otaku-ish if I had to finanaces to do so lol.

If you could change your name to anything, what would you call yourself?
(I'll change this question to this:)

How many hours do you sleep a day?

Usually 8 hours but 10 hours easily. I think this is accumulated from my years of inadequate sleep when I was studying and working - those years I could only afford 3-4 hours of sleep...

How many times do you press the snooze button before you get up?
Twice or none. If none it means I'm late.

What is your favourite smell?
Cold fresh wind when it's gonna pour. And museums.

What is your biggest regret?
That I had high fever on the day of major GCE 'O' levels and bulldozed my English papers in 20 minutes (it was a 3.5 hour paper) so I could snooze on my desk.

What are you most proud of?
it's a secret

Cats or dogs?
Cats

What’s your biggest fashion mistake?
Everything I wore in the 90s and school like 3 inch platforms.

What is your guilty TV pleasure?
Cartoons that I watch as a child. Doraemon, Candy Candy, Creamy Mami, Wind in the Willows... also old tv drama shows.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
Archaeologist, astronomer, veterinarian, then fashion designer.

If you could meet any person dead or alive who would it be?
Jesus?

What is your biggest dream?
Not living in reality. I dream of living in very beautiful scenic places and to quit worrying about finances doing what I like. Ooh and a treehouse a treehouse!

What is your favorite book when you were a child?

Archie comics and a fairy tale compilation book my dad bought for me.

The last one is my added question:

If today was your last day on earth what would you be doing?

These are the 8 folks I'd like to tag with the Q & A :

Namaste

Shagpile

Artisanne

Absolutely Small

Jenny Bunny Creations

Adventures of Minco

DIY Addicted

ApparentlyJessy

IMAC SCREEN PROBLEMS

Not good stuff. I have that infamous pink line vertically across my imac screen. Needless to say I'm not in the best of moods now - reason being I saved up long enough to splurge on an Apple computer because I thought it was supposed to last 5 years without glitching - like the cute emacs. Guess not. No, NOT going to spend a cent on repairing a problem that wasn't my fault (I treat my computers with care and even clean my keyboards regularly). Apparently this is a widespread problem on the imac lcds (a manufacturing defective batch made in a particular Shanghai factory was the speculation). Major disappointment. My specs are: Early-2006 Imac4,1,Intel Core Duo 1.83GHz, serial number starting with W863.

I'm gonna call them on Monday and my chances are probably bad for a free fix. Repairs may cost couple hundreds I might as well get a new computer but since it's just a line it's not worth it. Here in Singapore, we aren't particularly great on customer service (refunds are unheard of, exchanges reluctant) so keeping my fingers crossed. Also I'm running the smcFanControl to up the fan speed because it could be the problem of the graphics card overheating due to the low rpm imac fans were defaulted to run. It's currently lowered from 62 degrees to 42 degrees celcius now... we'll see I'll post an update if things go well!

ART- GOODBYE AND GOODNIGHT

Something psychedelic in a muted way. First drew the border with the grass and leaves not knowing what the main subject was to be! I'm haphazard like that lol - just wanted to try out elements of shadowed folia. This piece is made with markers, and again there were some problems with colouring the sky. Hope your guys like it!

Took about 3 hours to colour the sky, excluding hours of hesitating time... border about 3 hours of inking, 1 hour of sketching and mountain about 5 hours on-off. Over a period of 2 weeks.

"Looking back on the good old days

I cried till my eyes dried
I am going to miss you."

- 'Good bye and Good luck' by The Brilliant Green

TWO NECKLACES I MADE

I've got nothing going on in my life for blog topics so here's are 2 little gifts I made for friends recently:

This one below is a birthday gift for my best friend of 17 years, a necklace & earrings set handmade with Swarovski crystals. Nothing out of the ordinary design but it'll stay in fashion for the next few decades... quite confident of that!

This second necklace was created some time back and was collecting dust on my desk because I was too lazy to mail it. It's for a pen-pal hopefully she doesn't read this post before she receives it. It's made of shells, pearls and quartz. I hope it survives Italian customs! Nothing better than handmade gifts =) I urge you to create your own birthday cards if you want people to keep your mementos!

I'm currently doing some illustrations for no reason, my next post will be my latest artworks! Also I am always open for commissions for ACEOs and small sized artwork... just ask!

STRAWBERRY FESTIVAL ACEO

Just finished a new ACEO (art cards, editions & originals) yesterday! Entitled 'Strawberry Festival', made with pen and markers. The scan's a little faded for some reason. The artwork was inspired by the Sarah Coventry vintage brooch of the same name. I bought one last week because I wanted it for so long and finally saw one with the right price!! Now to get the matching pair of earrings lol.

Mmm so pretty. I love Czech glass fruities. It's the first fruit-related in my brooch collection lol (I collect flower power brooches maybe one day I'll show them all lol)

The ACEO is available in my Etsy shop here: Strawberry Festival - Original art ACEO

ART - WISTFUL

Finally managed to complete a normal-sized artwork!! Entitled 'Wistful', 7 x 11" on paper. I took about a week to finish this, 5 hours just on the sky alone, the blue wasn't supposed to come out this dark but really had no idea how to work the clouds lol. Try try try again. This was created with markers, white and silver pen. I specially made a trip to the art store and busted 60 bucks for refills and blue markers for this artwork!

Also Maria of A Zeal of Zebras did a write-up on ACEOs available at Etsy, check out her blog post here: Buy Art!

Thank you for including my little pieces Maria! If you like pop and lowbrow art you should visit her blog now for some eye candy!

THE HORROR THAT IS CALLED COMEX 2009

The Singapore Comex 2009 is the largest computer & electronics expo held here from 10-14 Sept. I have avoided all computer conventions (about 2-3 large scale ones annually) since 2005 because of the immense crowd but this year my brother wanted to take a look and it was a free drive, I might as well check out the latest cameras on sale (btw I can't drive and don't need to since we have public transport here).

My initial expression when imagining the crowd:

I had already expected a huge turnout from my last experience. There's got to be like a million visitors but the papers reported about 710,000 or so, I don't know how they count the heads but anyhow it was just PACKED.

This is the Nikon booth I was zooming in for but the counter (a polygonal shape with staff on the inside) was lined up with customers trying out the cameras... so like one camera you have three people huddling over it. I mean I didn't even get to peek at the cameras. Gave up after 10 minutes and wanted to leave. Oh yes my 2nd option was Olympus behind there but I am not looking for a 12 megapixel compact camera but a 6-7 megapixel because the sensors are small anyhow.

So I hung out on the outside while my brother browsed monitors. See the escalators were full. Five storeys of electronics so about 10 sets of escalators all packed. Notice it is still daylight.

Fast forward night - an hour before closing and the escalators were still congested lol! Hats off to security.

This part isn't as bad as the console games alley which was mainly just shoving your way through. I got my foot ran over by a stroller and got 'molested' by another woman who was shoving from the opposite direction.

Ah yes confetti. Techies are neanderthals at heart, really. Just be careful how you walk and this is why you shouldn't bring strollers.

I didn't buy anything. The papers reported record-breaking sales of $63 million(!) That means that the recession here is all mumble and grumble but most Singaporeans aren't really starving homeless, just less money to spend on luxuries... and this rings true because the travel fair had record-breaking sales too. They say it's 'pent-up demand' from 2008 when people travelled less. As far as I'm concerned I'm always stuck on the struggling-artist rung with occasional splurges on (mostly) food & art books; not richer nor poorer, just needed to work harder for my cash.

And I haven't been blogging regularly but will visit & comment on your blogs soon and thank you for all your visits!

DEAD SEA SCROLLS EXHIBIT

The Dead Sea Scroll Exhibition in Singapore on 30th August. The event is open from 27 Aug - 20 Sept, ticket prices are S$13.50 to $20.00 depending on which day you go!

The Arts House at the Old Parliament. This used to be the Parliament House in the early days, it now hosts occasional events and performances. I once set up a booth for one of their bazaar events here... let's just say it was a ghost-town bazaar. On this day, however, it was so crowded we couldn't find parking nearby.

According to the pamphlet:

In 1947 a Bedouin shepherd boy in the small settlement of Qumran went in search of his goats which had strayed away. He threw a rock into a dark cave but instead of hearing hooves of goats, the unexpected cracking sound of clay pots led him into the caves where he found jars filled with the first 7 manuscripts of the Dead Sea scrolls. They had been preserved for 2,000 years by the salty atmosphere surrounding the Dead Sea. Over the next 9 years more than 800 documents were unearthed, many in fragments."

You can zoom in my photos to read the description. The actual piece is the smaller one on a beige background. The larger one is an infrared scan because the fragments of the scroll (written on animal hide) were darkened from age. There are about 18,000 fragments and 4 were displayed here.

Hebrew Torah scroll (the law) : Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. This handwritten scroll on parchment is approx. 400 years old. It was scribed in Poland and survived the Nazi Holocaust there during WW2.

Another Torah.

Mesopotamian pictography in clay (that tablet in the box). It is over 5,000 years old.

The work of William Tyndale and Richard Taverner. This bible is from the year 1551 in the reign of King Edward VI, is the Taverner Old Testament and the Tydale New Testament translation.

The world's first printed book with moveable type in 1455. The first and thus most valuable printed book in history is a bible.

The other rooms featured an exbibit of the history of the translated Bible, related books and 4 people: Erasmus, William Tyndale, Martin Luther and John Calvin.

For more pictures (texts acompanying the displays), visit my Facebook album::

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2035083&id=1347191705&l=366e0550aa

ROLLING TROPICS ACEO

A psychedelic artwork in markers and pen. I was watching a chinese historical drama while inking this and Akira Kurosawa's 'Dreams' while colouring it. I enjoyed 'Dreams' alot, it consists of 8 short stories based on the director's dreams and is reminscent of Natsume Soseki's 'Yume Jyuu ya' (Ten Nights of Dreams) which also had a movie made in 10 short stories by various directors; Kurosawa's was less absurd though. It's slow-paced and mostly talks about man and his interaction with nature with no apparent ending but I found it rather artistic.

Back to the ACEO: The double floral border was fun to draw, maybe I'll use it again on another artwork. ACEO refers to 'art cards, editions and originals' and are limited to 2.5 x 3.5" size.

It's available in my Etsy shop here:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29842120

ARTCARDIST.COM FEATURE!

Huzzah!! An ACEO-ATC-ArtCard site just featured an article on my artworks =D

Visit Artcardist.com to read more: http://artcardist.com/gallery-2/vera-ma

Why art cards? Well this is an easier reference to 2.5 x 3.5" artist-created cards that can function both as ACEOs or ATCs. Usually ATCs are strictly for trading without intention to sell and ACEOs are strictly created for selling. Ditto if you are planning to join a specialised collector's club or forum. For people who don't want to choose a side (like me), the term 'art cards' is more convenient and speaks for itself, although I am currently only creating ACEOs. Everywhere else outside my Etsy shop/Ebay/blog I always call ACEOs 'Art Cards' anyway because no one understands what the acronym means!

For the uninitiated, ATC means 'Art(ist) Trading Cards' and ACEO means 'Art Cards, Editions and Originals'.

Many thanks to Corey Brown for taking the time to create the feature!

TOPPING HATS ACEO

After a hiatus of a few months, my latest artwork.

Entitled 'Topping Hats', it shows a battle between sprinkles or cream. Decisions decisions!

I plan to make at least 10 more ACEOs (2.5 x 3.5" art cards) to replenish my Etsy shop! This is made with markers, gold & white pen and a new Pilot brown marker pen - I've been searching high and low for years for this particular colour used in my early artworks; all the bookshops carry them in black and blue but not brown but lo and behold my local stationery shop carried one last piece! I was ecstatic... love how it smudges softly when used. Going to buy a whole box if I ever see any shop carrying extra stock!

Available at my Etsy shop here:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=29451149

SINGAPORE COMICON 2009

So I managed to drag myself to the Singapore Games, Toys & Comics Convention 2009 held at Suntec City. I was hoping to see/ meet some local artists and artworks but the convention contained mostly commercial toys and games. The artists' booths were small right at the last row so they're easy to miss compared to big companies like Nintendo & Star Wars but it was nice to see them nonetheless.

It was quite a lovely experience being surrounded by designer toys though I had to refrain from being too *otaku* (this means somewhere along the lines 'fanboy- fangirl obsessed geek') and getting excited that my hands weren't steady enough for proper shots! It was also interesting to note some senior folks enjoying themselves; an old man was delighted at the giant Gundam mecha sculpture below and I helped him with a photo. Also a few energetic senior folks playing the wii were having fun. Very child-like =) Hopefully next year's convention will invite a wider range of toy makers & manga. More indie, handmade, more artists and more art books definitely needed.

Also it was very crowded... it doesn't look like it in the photos but I kept getting knocked about when taking photos. People kept cutting in front of my shots because it was just lots of human and semi-human (aliens and startroopers) traffic.

I believe this is from Gundam (at first I thought it was Macross)

Bandai brought in a massive lot of gachapon machines. I only managed to spin one Tofu Oyako toy because I was rushed into leaving, am seriously regretting it now.

My beloved Tetsuwan Atomu / Astroboy figurines.

Gloomy bear

Beautiful gothic Blythe doll. She has a black doggie even.

Row of Blythe dolls. The display was impressive, the pink Blythe is gorgeous!

Gachapon toys. I got the Poison Tofu magnet.

Domo-kun reminds me of an angry cookie/ abominable snowman. I think he's really cute.

Graffiti wall. See there's Tofu again.

Gary Baseman was here too.

One group out of the several cosplayers present. They add much colour to the convention.

Crowd-pleasers