The Thoughts That An Anxious Person Has

  I had a whirlwind of emotions in the past few weeks. And you may/may not have noticed that I haven't been posting on schedule... That's because I'm currently on a holiday in America. ^-^

  On the 12th, my mum took a plane from Singapore to America. The thing was that I was left alone for two weeks. And it was the first time I was living by myself.

Here is I learnt from living alone for two weeks...

1. I had to plan to do chores during the week. 
2. It's difficult to make meals for just one person. There was a lot of food wastage during the two weeks... :/ 
3. Random unexplained noises immediately indicate that my house has been broken into and that I was going to die. 
4. Related to the previous point; it's very useful to have pets (I have two cats) because then I could blame the noises on them and hope that there really was no burglars... 
5. The freedom is very liberating but there were moments when I just felt really lonely.  
6. I will survive. 

  And then on the 24th, it was my turn to take a plane (by myself, mind you) to go to America. The last time I flew in a plane was when I was six years old, when I migrated from Paris to Singapore. But I can't remember how that flight went, so I considered this flight to be my "first time" flying.

  Worries that I had before my first flight...

1. Did I pack too much?
2. Did I pack too little? 
3. Should I pick a window seat or an isle seat? 
4. What do I wear for the flight? 
5. What if I get hungry during the flight? 
6. What do you mean I can't bring water along for the flight??!? ... Oh. I can bring an empty bottle then have the stewardess fill it up during the flight. But why would you ban people from bringing water? What did that one person do to get airlines to make this rule? 
7. Which sketchbooks and art materials should I bring? .... Am I packing too much?

  And then it was time for my flight. I took a plane from Singapore to Beijing, and then from Beijing to New York (JFK airport).

 Things I learnt from flying...

     1. Planes make me nauseous, have headaches, and at times make it feel like one of my vein is going to pop.

2. Ice crystallizes on the plane's windows.

     3.  Landing is very fun. /sarcasm/ 

     4. Beijing is so polluted that you can't see that far out. And their sun is reddish instead of yellow-orangey. Also, at Beijing, I had to deplane, then take a bus from the outside of the plane to the airport...

    5. Flying made me reflect on how much developments there have been in out technology.

  One of the best moment I had whilst flying was when it was around 3am and I opened the plane's window to see what I could see. And the entire sky was pitch black but there were dozens upon dozens of stars in the sky. And I placed my hand on the window and the glass felt really cold and my hand made a foggy handprint on it. In that moment, I felt so terribly small compared to the vastness of the Universe. It was inspiring, and beautiful, and splendiferous.

Joey's Zentangle Challenge: Bunzo

  For this week's challenge, we had to do a monotangle with "Bunzo". If you didn't know, a "monotangle" is a tile that only has one pattern on it.

I tried to make the tile more visually interesting by trying a new take on the border and the pattern.

  I don't know whether this constitutes as a proper Zentangle tile.. It's of a proper size. I did draw a border. But since it was a monotangle, I didn't see the need of drawing a string... What do you think? Is this a proper Zentangle tile, or should I call it "Zentangle-inspired"? Leave me a comment below letting me know what you think.

Diva's Zentangle Challenge: Pride Week

  This week's challenge was to use multiple colours in celebration of pride week. Here in Singapore, we just had a "Pink Dot" event where people participating in the event wear pink to show their support for the LGBT community in Singapore. It is a group for everyone, be them part of the LGBT community or a straight ally, who support the belief that everyone deserves the freedom to love.

  Why pink? Pink is the colour of Singaporean's Identity Cards. It is also the colour when you mix red and white – the colours of our national flag. Pink Dot stands for an open, inclusive society, where sexual orientation represents a feature, not a barrier.

  In America, though, a common symbol of the LGBT community is the rainbow flag. As that seemed more related to the challenge, I took that as inspiration for my entry:

This is a monotangle. The pattern I used was "Mr.E".

  Leave a comment of love down below. And happy pride week to all of your lovelies. ^-^

Zentangle Challenge: Beads of Courage

  This week's Diva Zentangle Challenge was inspired by "Beads of Courage". Beads of Courage aims to support children going through treatments for cancer and other serious illnesses by helping them to record, tell and own their story of courage through beads.

  My grandmother was a cancer survivor. She had two relapses and eventually passed on from the cancer. However, Science and Singapore's medical team gave her extra decades' worth of a healthy life. My heart goes out to all families whose lives have been affected by cancer- especially to those families whom have children affected by it.

  Here's my submission for this challenge:

Going back to a true Zentangle tile.
No coloured background. Just a black pen and a pencil for shading.
Tangles used were "Z-trik" for the border and "Groovy" with beads added to it.

  I've not been posting on my regular schedule because I've been super busy getting my art works ready for my upcoming exhibition. But I hope you've been enjoying the Zentangle challenges I've been doing. They've been keeping me happy and sane amidst all the craziness that has been going on in my life. :)

   I hope you have a great weekend ahead of you, lovelies~

Joey's June Zentangle Challenge

  This is my submission for Joey's 63rd Zentangle Challenge. The challenge was to use string 006 and just tangles that started with the letter "J".

Tangles used are "Jemz", "Jalousie", and "Japan Diamond".

  The lines in this tile aren't as clean as I'd like them to be... "J" tangles are not my favourite... I liked using "Jalousie", though. Sakura pens were used for the black ink, plus a grey Derwent Graphik Line Maker, and pencil for shading. The background was made with Winsor & Newton watercolours.

  Leave me a comment to tell me which "J" tangle you like to use the best!

  Hope you have a great week ahead! ^-^

Recommended Artist: yourPorcelainDoll

  View more of her works via this link.

Zentangle Challenge: All Boxed Up + Big Announcement

  "All Boxed Up" was a really interesting tangle to work with. The look of it really changes after you add shading. The tangle looks more like triangles than boxes after you add shading... Here's my entry for the challenge:

The background was done using Winsor & Newton watercolours.
The pens I used are Derwent's Line Maker.
I quite liked how this turned out.

Now for the big announcement:

  I would like to take this opportunity to officially announce that my very first exhibition, "Building Bridges", will be happening between the 13th of August until the 24th of August 2015. It will be held at Alliance Francaise de Singapour, a place very near Newton MRT. If you remember, it's the same place that The Little Prince exhibition is being held at.

A little map of the area.
The exhibition space is located on the second floor of the building.

Opening hours are as follows:

Mon – Fri: 11am – 7pm
Sat: 11am – 5pm
Closed on Sunday and Public Holidays

  To all my followers living in Singapore, and to anyone who might be visiting Singapore in August; I would love to have you visit the exhibition. 

  I'm super excited for it because it's a joint exhibition between me and a lovely lady by the name of Joni Toh. (She's my mum!) We're both working really hard to get everything ready. Did I also mention that we'll be taking a trip to New York to relax and then fly out to Providence for the Zentangle seminar. And then we'll be back in Singapore for a final push to get everything in place for the exhibition. Does that sound crazy to you? It does, doesn't it?

  Also, if you've noticed, my website has been revamped and I'm loving the new look. (To see how it looks click this link.) Lots of my old art works were taken down as I felt I have grown a lot artistically. The art works I'll be exhibiting are not shown on my website. For you lovelies, though, here's a few pictures of works in progress...

Imagine Zentangle all over her dress!

Here are two more pieces from the series that I'm currently working on.

Here are some of Joni's works.

  The aim of the exhibition is to build bridges between different cultures and religions, and also between humans and animals. To remind all of us that we're not that different from each other.
We're also hoping to bring more coverage for Zentangle as an art form in Singapore

  I'll be periodically posting more sneak previews on my Instagram and Facebook fan page, and I'll also try to do mini fun projects like zentangle challenges when I can find the time. This is a brand new chapter to my artistic journey and I'm glad that I can share all this with you guys. ^-^