18 Monday Jul 2016
Posted in aceo, Art, Illustration
Once when I was running,
from all that haunted me;
to the dark I was succumbing –
to what hurt unbearably.
Searching for the one thing,
that would set my sad soul free.
In time I stumbled upon it,
an inner calm and peace;
and now I am beginning,
to see and to believe,
into who I am becoming –
and all I’ve yet to be.
-Lang Leav
12 Tuesday Jul 2016
Posted in Art, Illustration
Tags
#floralprint, floraldress, illustrator, poetry, watercolour, women
Your head is a living forest
full of song birds.
e. e. cummings
03 Friday Jun 2016
Posted in Illustration
18 Monday Jan 2016
Tags
#sketches #sketchbook #illustrations #expatliving, Floral, poetry, sketchblog, sketchbook, watercolor, watercolorflowers
Posted by Ray | Filed under Art, Illustration, Singapore, Writing
14 Wednesday Oct 2015
Posted in Art
Tags
#fineart, acrylics, art, love, pakistan-india, piyushmishra, poetry, syria, war
1947 saw arbitrary borders being drawn across one nation, slicing the heart of an entire people in two, forever. Just like the Syrian people, families from both sides of the border left behind everything they considered home – to stay alive, to be forever estranged from their loved ones, and to forever remain a foreigner in one’s own home. On the way, both sides killed, raped and tortured each other – like a man who tears out his own hair in anger and despair, wounding himself to alleviate the pain.
On one such dark night, a young man whose true love, Husna, has stayed behind in Pakistan, writes a letter that will never reach her. But he imagines that they are both looking into the same moonless sky and his words will find her. Broken and bitter, he asks if, now that there were two nations, does the sunrise look different in Hindustan? Do leaves in autumn no longer change colour in Pakistan? Does Pakistan also silently weep at night for all the lost loves, just like Hindustan? He lost Husna and she him, so who really won in this war?
PS: If you don’t read Urdu or Hindi, I am sorry but I don’t think I can do justice to the translation for this one. But you can listen to the song here.
07 Sunday Jun 2015
Posted in Art, Illustration
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
22 Wednesday Apr 2015
Posted in Illustration, poetry
Tags
#sex, #singapore, art, femaleorgasm, mouths, Orgasm, poetry, redlipstick, singaporeartist, warsanshire
Make love
like you have no
secrets
like you’ve
never been
left
never been
hurt
like the world
don’t owe you a
single
wretched
thing.
– Warsan Shire
13 Friday Feb 2015
Posted in #illustration
Tags
The waves are erasing the footprints/ Of those who are walking the beach.
The wind is carrying away the words/ Two people are saying to each other.
But still they are walking the beach/ Their feet making new footprints.
Still the two are walking together/ Finding new words.
— Kemal Ozer
21 Wednesday Jan 2015
Tags
#illustration, anitakrizzan, art, fashionillustration, fashionphotography, micronpen, poetry, roses, singaporeartist, watercolor
Inspired by Tarun Khiwal’s fashion photography. Micron pen and watercolor on paper.
20 Saturday Dec 2014
Posted in Illustration
This year has been a ride. It has been difficult in bits but it has also brought in new beginnings. This year I grew to accept a whole new country as home. I met people who befriended me and I can finally say that I don’t just have acquaintances in this city, but real friends who I will always carry in my heart.
Trying to keep up with last year’s resolution, I tried to change myself. I tried to be more measured, more afraid of people, more cynical. But that didn’t work out. Because when I look at my life and find so many people who love me, I can’t help but throw caution to the wind.
I started this blog when I was feeling displaced and alone, when I was trying to cope with a loss of identity. When I felt like I was drowning, it saved me.
I am going home tonight for the holidays, so this is my last post for the year. Thank you for staying with me. You truly are ‘my sun, my moon, and all my stars’.
07 Friday Nov 2014
Posted in Art, Illustration, poetry
Tags
#illustration, art, artist, borges, forlorn, penandink, poem, poetry, sketchblog, sketchbook, watercolo, women
You Learn by Jorge Luis Borges
After a while you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn’t mean leaning
And company doesn’t mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren’t contracts
And presents aren’t promises,
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child,
And you learn to build all your roads on today
Because tomorrow’s ground is too uncertain for plans
And futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn…
That even sunshine burns if you get too much.
So you plant your garden and decorate your own soul,
Instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure…
That you really are strong
And you really do have worth…
And you learn and learn…
With every good-bye you learn.
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