Valentine’s freebies – downloadable cards

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#valentine, brushfont, brushpen, download, free, freebie, printable, typography, valentines, valentinesday

Feel free to download and use as you like. These are hi-res images and can be printed in any color.

I had made these for a CSR initiative of my company. This and a couple more designs were screen printed on cards and sold to our staff to raise funds. Thought these might help you begin a new love story this Valentine’s day. : )

Valentines freebie

Feel free to download and use as you like (just NOT commercially). This is a hi-res image and can be printed in any color.

I had made this for a CSR initiative of my company. This and a couple more designs were screen printed on cards and sold to our staff to raise funds. I particularly like this one, because if you bought this then maybe you are about to begin a love story 🙂 

Okay? okay.

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everybodysaysi'mfine, johngreene, lies, okayokay

The average person tells 4 lies a day, 1460 lies a year; a total of 87,600 lies by the age of 60. And the most common lie is, “I’m fine”.

Have you ever wondered why that is? Why is there such a premium on appearing okay? Is it because we all secretly know how fucked up the world is and that people who are truly coping are the ones who are winning and we all just want to be perceived as being one of the winners? Because if you’re not fine, then what are you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First kiss

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#illustration, drawing, eduardogaleano, firstkiss, firstlove, kiss, love, singaporeartist, teenager

“We are all mortal until the first kiss and the second glass of wine”.

I drew this rough and quick in 2014. Never published it because I didn’t think it deserved to be seen. But, what the hell…

Happy New Year!

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#illustration, #singapore, brushfont, laurel, notecard, thank you, watercolor

Happy New Year, everyone! And thank you for staying with me all this time.

I have said it before and I will say it again – this blog, your friendship and encouragement have saved me in every way a girl can be saved.

I update my artwork on Instagram more than here nowadays. It’s just easier to snap and post over there.

May 2017 be the bomb for all you lovely people.

Ink brush pen freestyle

​​​so my laptop was updating and I had time to kill while I waited for it start up. 

Thought I’d do a little brushpen freestylin’. 

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Life is better on the Island

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#illustration, #singapore, #tropical, expatlife, hibiscus, tropicalisland, tropicalpalms

Life is better on the island (the island being Singapore).

My 100 day project

My 100 day project has been going OK. Sometimes I run out of ideas ( because how inventive can you get with wreaths after a point, really) but I still make sure I put something out. The whole exercise was started so I could practice leaves and flowers without feeling bored. That’s going well, I’m happy to say. 

It’s on my Instagram sreetama_ray. It would be great to see a little encouragement so please say hi if you’re on Insta?

Outfit Goals

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#illustration, #singapore, #sketches #sketchbook #illustrations #expatliving, fashionfail, feeling, OOTD, outfitgoals, singaporeartist, watercolor, zigkuretake

When you think you are looking fly and your outfit is rocking but it isn’t.

If anything, your outfit is very grandma.

 

 

Everything will be alright

This is for anyone who needs to hear it. It really will be OK in the end. Remember that when the days get tough.

This is part of my 100 day project on Instagram (Sreetama _ray) where I draw 100 wreaths over 100 days. 

Do what you love

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#illustration, dowhatyoulove, Floral, flowers, typography, wreaths

Unfortunately, not all of us can do what we love for a living. We still need jobs that pay the rent. But it’s a good idea to try to have that one thing that nourishes your soul. For me, art is a little oasis I retrear to when I am stressed. It’s an escape into a calm, happy place where I feel entirely at peace for a little while.

100 days project on Instagram – 100 ways of wreaths

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100daysproject, 100wreaths, Floral, instagram, sketchbook, wreaths

I have started a 100 days project over at my Instagram account Sreetama_ray ( you can see it on my side bar too! )

I have rather impractically decided to do a 100 wreaths – that’s one a day! You can also search for #100waysofwreaths 

If you want to see how it’s going, say hi to me on insta! 

I have only done 2 so far, and possibly a third tonight on day 3. Let’s see how this goes 🙂 

A very short short story

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#greatexpectations #fitzgerald #art #illustrations #dreams #selfesteem #beliefs, #illustration, charcoalcrayon, graphicnovel, selfacceptance, suicide

In August 2014, I lost a dear friend to suicide. He seemed to have been doing well – handling his depression, making amends for past behaviors. But over the university break, he decided to end his life, reportedly over his long-term girlfriend leaving him. He was visiting his parents home in India and sometime around dawn one morning, he jumped from the 4th-floor terrace. It was over before they found him.

I took this quite hard – despite our many differences over the years, we had been friends since our teenage and I deeply cared for him. A week or so before this happened, he had called to get me to “forgive” him for his selfish behavior in the past ( we were not talking at this point). And I did.

Many people thought of him as brilliant, some thought he was eccentric and yet others felt that he was just another arrogant asshole. But he used to tell me things, allowing me a little peep into his life – both past and present.

I believe the whole problem in his drug-addled, mad, pretentious and brilliant mind, actually came from a deep lack of self-esteem. The locus of his esteem was always external. He liked himself when people liked him. He liked himself if people saw that he was with the “right crowd”. He liked himself if a girl he liked, not only like him back but had a fan-like admiration for him.

I have noticed that whenever this is the case, people lose sight of who they really are. Every time they look at themselves or think about themselves, it is through the prism of other people’s opinion.

In life, all of us are bullied some time or another. Sometimes by our classmates, sometimes by a parent, sometimes a spouse, a boss, a  friend. At times this on purpose, but there are also times when people do this unknowingly. It’s important to know that whatever or whoever may be taking away your humanity from you, can’t affect you so deeply if the locus of your self-esteem is internal – as it should be.

Self-esteem is not swayed by other people’s opinion of you. It’s not swayed by how poorly you did in a test or whether people are calling you ugly. It’s not broken by being jobless or buoyed by being successful – that’s confidence, not esteem. Because self-esteem is the mettle you’re made of. It’s your very fabric. Whenever you see or hear people trying to poke holes in it, I hope there’s someone in your life who tells you : Don’t see yourself through their eyes.

The art of doing nothing

Tags

art, Floral, floralpattern, girls, interiordecor, patterns, watercolour

If I have perfected anything in life, it is the art of doing nothing for extended periods of time without the slightest guilt or urge to be productive. On a serious note, I really believe that we need to stop this glorification of busy (at least in the corporate world). It’s enough to be productive within the set number of working hours in a day. This madness is not helping anyone.

Flowers in Singapore

Tags

#art, #illustration, #singapore, flowers, flowershop, watercolor

Before we moved to Singapore, we always had fresh seasonal flowers at home. Something about them really elevates my mood after a long day at work.

After we moved here, for the first few months I tried to keep this up. But fresh flowers in Singapore are hella expensive! They’re mostly hothouse type flowers, which aren’t particularly fragrant. Also, having been in a fridge for days before they actually hit the shops, they die rather quickly after you bring them home. 

So, that’s something I miss, apart from having four seasons, winter clothes, and parties by the bonfire.