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.

My Baby is Fat

Tags

#art, #babies #, #illustration, canineweightgain, cockerspaniel, englishcocker, fatdog, furbaby, watercolor

I have news about my furbaby, Lola. I was going to order a doggy raincoat for her and so I called home to find out her exact measurements. The numbers my father gave me over the phone would more aptly describe a little ‘takiya”( a fat cylindrical indian side-pillow) rather than a dog standing at a whopping height of 19 inches from the ground.

Lola is a Fatty Mcfatty now. And all the exercise and diet food in the world will not help because she likes to beg and my parents always oblige. She also likes to be carried around the house like a baby, so this is alarming news.

But also cute. ‘Cuz now when she does her two-legged happy dance, all that junk in her trunk makes it even more adorable.

Love in the Time of Cholera

Tags

#art, #bookcover, #gabrielgarciamarquez, #illustration, #loveinthetimeofcholera, #magicrealism, #reading, eternallove, lovestories, watercolor

“To him she seemed so beautiful, so seductive, so different from ordinary people, that he could not understand why no one was as disturbed as he by the clicking of her heels on the paving stones, why no one else’s heart was wild with the breeze stirred by the sighs of her veils, why everyone did not go mad with the movements of her braid, the flight of her hands, the gold of her laughter. He had not missed a single one of her gestures, not one of the indications of her character, but he did not dare approach her for fear of destroying the spell.”

Marquez’s ‘Love in the Time of Cholera’ is a book I reread in times of distress. There’s something so life affirming about this piece of literature that it fascinates, excites and calms me, all at the same time. Fermina Daza remains one my favorite characters in literature, and half way through reading the book for the third time, I started this little painting without any direction or set ideas about form or color. I like to think the words manifested themselves in the colors and, right at the end, while waiting for the page to dry, a magical accident happened. The bottle of gold pigment on my desk has a loose lid and it tipped over when I tried reaching for a pen. I rushed to fix it by dusting off the gold, but the stubborn glittery powder stuck to the painting. I was really upset. But in the end, after everything dried, the painting is all the better for it. More so in person, than in this miserable scan.

Reality is full of magic. Sometimes, that magic comes in the shape of accidents.

In Pero by Aneeth Arora

Tags

#art, aneetharora, fashionillustration, india, indianfashion, pero, spring-summer16

Pero is an Indian fashion brand that works with traditional fabric and embroidery, with sustainable, fair trade textiles. Their recent show had this stunning embroidered top, and the styling was very Freida-esque. Now, since I can’t afford the beautiful piece in question, I did a little illustration, just to feel close to it 🙂

Hair and Hide

Tags

#art, #bighair, #bitches #music #people #blog #blogging #sketches #illustration #blackandwhite, #hair, fashionillustration, manga, thering

Sometimes, I use my hair to hide. I part it down the middle, keep it falling down the sides, with my head down, it obscures my vision of the world around me and vice versa. People with long hair might be able to identify.

Love of Labels

Tags

#art, #feminism, #illustration, #labels, #singapore, #Stamping, abstract, Branding, Lovelabels, mixedmedia, singaporeillustrator, women

If you wear western clothes, you are a slut.

If you speak too much, too abrasively, too feminist-ly, you are a cantankerous shrew.

If you smoke, you are a bad, fallen woman.

If you smoke AND drink, you are a shame to your family.

If you do all this publicly, you deserve to be raped.

Please feel free to add to the list. Because, we may not label our merchandise but we label our women with enthusiasm and ease.

Mixed media 2: Sharpies, brushpen, watercolor and digital.

Mixed Media Project – Being Female in South Asia

Tags

#art, #artproject, #fineart, #illustration, #mixedmediaproject, #southasianwomen, mixedmedia

I haven’t posted anything new this week. The reason is, I have recently come to possess a small little Japanese sketchbook. It has 20 beautiful, thick, creamy pages and is about 3.5 x 5 inches. So I have stared a mixed media project, drawing on certain social aspects of growing up/being female in South Asia. These will be slightly different from my usual style. I will be looking to pair traditional media with stitching, embroidery, stamping, and digital – which means it will be time consuming to both conceptualize and execute.

I will be talking about my personal experiences, of course. But it’s also a look at the socio-politics of gender that is sometimes unique to South Asia and at other times, universal. So it would be great if people of the interwebs and the amazing ladies who read this blog could help me by:

a. sharing your own stories or thoughts, irrespective of whether you are South Asian or not.

b. helping me with some suggestions for a name for this project.

Here are some progress shots. I’ll start posting the individual finished pieces soon.

Some Women are Fairy Tales

Tags

#acrylic, #art, #fairytales, #goldfoil, #illustration, #painting, #singapore, #woman, poetry, singaporeartist, watercolor

you are filled

with gold

and the humid magic

of story.

-TN Trivett

Mugshot Monday

Tags

#art, #illustration, #singapore, #tea, coffee, coffeemugs, espresso, mugshotmonday, singaporeartist, sketchblog, sketchbook, watercolor

I am obsessed with china. Especially tea cups and coffee mugs. These are actually pretty accurate representations of all the mugs I own. O and if you are going to give me a mug as a present, please resist the ones with cheesy/corny/lovely messages in cheesy/corny/lovely typography. The thought of reading something deep before my first sip of morning coffee is just too much for me.

Days like these

Tags

#art, #depression, #illustration, bed, blackandwhite, mentalhealth, sharpiepens, sketchbook

There are days when my bed is an island — surrounded by murky stormy waters and dark thunderclouds. Stepping off this island doesn’t feel safe. Not even to open the curtains and let in some light. Not even to eat the leftover chicken in the fridge. Not to speak to mother or answer the door.

There’s nothing to do but sleep, waiting for the storm to blow over.

Rainbow without rain

Tags

#art, #atlashands, #clouds, #illustration, #music, #rain, #rainbow, artblog, illustrator, quote, sketchbook, watercolor

Can you be heartbroken and hopeful at the same time?

The Magical Ang Mo

Tags

#angmo #singapore #whiteobsession #racism #xenophobic #colonialhangover #beingbrown #blondblueeyes, #art

Ang Mo.

Two magic words that will get you the job you don’t deserve, the better apartment, that sea view table at the restaurant, and local women, who will drop it like it’s hot, for your dull but very white presence.

*Ang Mo in Singapore means a Caucasian person.

Home is…

Tags

#art, #home, #illustration, #lingerie, #nobra, #nude, bra, brushpen, Floral, watercolor, women

… where the bra comes off.

The best part about coming home, at anytime, from anywhere, after anything, is that you can take off that awful device and just breathe.

Excuse me, Miss?

Tags

#art, #bitches #music #people #blog #blogging #sketches #illustration #blackandwhite, #illustration, sharpieart

Laugh

Tags

#acrylics #teeth #laughter #funny #comic #friendship #love #saturdaynight #party #illustration #expats #singapore, #art

I realised what I had been missing more than anything else since I moved to Singapore. When I was in Delhi, in the company of the awesome human beings I was lucky to know, I used to laugh a lot.

Not the smiling a bit broadly or hahaha kind of laughter. The kind that comes from your belly, like an uncontrollable spasm. The fall-down-holding-your-stomach-till-your-sides-hurt kind of laughter.

On Saturday night I laughed like that, in the company of some awesome humans. Long story short, best night so far on the island.