How to Draw: Ginili

  Here's a mini tutorial on how you can draw Ginili.

InktoberTangles 2017 Prompts

  Inktober is almost upon us. This will be my second year doing Inktober. Last year, I followed the official prompts but it was a bit difficult because the official prompts were created more for illustrators and artists... So this year, I created a list of my own, featuring tangles as prompts. With this we start on a new hashtag... #InktoberTangles

  And I thought to share my list with you, in case you'd wanted to do the challenge, too. Here's the original poster/flyer for the challenge:

  And if you're on Instagram and would like to share it there, here's a square version of the poster/flyer:

  If you're more of a Facebook sort of person, here's a shareable Facebook post so that you can share the challenge with your family and friends. I hope you'll have fun with the challenge and that there'll be many people who'll join in the fun.

  Do you think it's a good list? I tried to have a mix of official tangles and some tangles that I liked and used often. I will be using the official prompts to practice my calligraphy, and these prompts for my Zentangle art.

  Will you be participating in Inktober this year? Let me know in the comments section! :)

book and Kickstarter announcement

  I'm so excited for the new projects I'll be taking on soon. I'm planning to make a book (or rather, an art zine since it'd have a soft cover and will be about 30 pages only). This first volume will be A4-sized and will showcase Zentangle pieces from my sketchbooks. I have all the art works ready. They just need to be scanned and sorted, edited and then sent to print. I'm aiming to have them out by December, in time for Christmas. :) How quickly time flies.

  Aside from that, I'm planning on creating a Kickstarter project. It'd be small-scaled compared to some other projects on Kickstarter, but it'd be a pet project... something I've had in mind for quite a while now. And I want to make it a reality just to prove to myself that I am capable of great things as long as I put my heart to it. I'm aiming to have that up by the start of November.

  Fingers crossed that both projects will go without a hitch and be successful. I'll let you know via this blog and my newsletter when I make progress on them and they are up for you to look at and support. You can subscribe to my newsletter via this link.

  That aside, here are my tiles for the weekly challenges... Here's my tile for Joey's challenge:

Featuring N'zeppel.

  And a page in my sketchbook for Diva's Challenge:

Featuring crazy N'zeppel. Her example tile had basic tangles, so I went back to basics, too.
It's nice to do that once in a while.

  Anndddd~ The November/December school holidays are almost here. So I've been busy with coming up with new lesson plans for my craft classes. Here are samples for the greeting card class that I'll be teaching:

  They were made fully with Tombow markers. And during the class, I will be teaching different techniques on how to use your Tombow dual brush markers such as misting, colour blending, and how to create gradients. You will also learn how to draw beautiful gemstones that you can use to add a spark of magic to your art work. Here's a video, for you to see how cool they are. 

  I'm so excited to share with you how I created these greeting cards. If you live in Singapore and would like to find out when the greeting card classes will be up for registration, be sure to be subscribed to my newsletter.

  "Don't wait for opportunities. Create them yourself."

How to Draw: Abeko as a String

Abeko is such a pretty tangle, and it's versatile too! Learn how to draw Abeko as a string by watching this video.

really rad sketchbook page

  Here is my tile for Joey's challenge featuring Ginili. I actually posted a short video of me drawing Ginili in my sketchbook earlier in the week.

  And from that video, I completed the page using some fun tangles for the Diva challenge, which was to use cozy tangles.

  In other news, I completed this tile for the Travelling Tangles Project. The tile was from Joey (of Joey's challenge). Here's her start:

 Here's my finish:

  And lastly, I thought you'd like to see this super cool sketchbook page done by one of Teacher Joni's students. The student's name is "Daphne". Superb work, don't you think?

Watercolour Background with Tombow Markers Tutorial

  A short and sweet tutorial on how to create watercolour backgrounds using Tombow Markers.

"Tree Canopy": Art Work at Shangri-La Hotel Singapore

  We were invited to the Tower Wing of Shangri-La Hotel Singapore two days ago to work on part of the art installation of "Tree Canopy" by Japanese artists Hirotoshi and Nami Sawada. It was such a wonderful experience and I wanted to share some of the magic with you.

Wefie with my mum, Joni Toh.

And a bathroom selfie before the event.

  The instillation is the first thing you see once you step into the lobby. Shangri-La has completely renovated this tower, with the idea to bring nature indoors. And Tree Canopy reflects that idea by being inspired by leaves blowing in the wind. I also see it as a flock of birds. What do you see?

  If you look closely, you can see the little tags that are in place to mark where the last few "leaves" are meant to be hung.

  Here's a video for you to get a scale of how large the art work is. I spoke to Nami Sawada at the event and he told me that this was his largest instillation yet. He also told me that it took Studio Sawada Design a total of seven days to completely put up all 2000+ pieces. Amazing.

  I thought that the leaves are made of metal, but apparently that's not the case. They're made of flexible plastic because Sawada needed the art work to be light enough to be hung up into the ceiling using fishing lines. These fishing lines are not visible from the dining area at the Tower Wing which just adds to the magic of the art work. I really love those shadows on the ceiling,

  At the dining area, we had a tea-time meal whilst taking in the nature that surrounded us. There were potted trees (actual trees!), an infinity pool, and six sculptures of children scattered around the lobby. The most impressive, though, was the floor to ceiling basalt rock that had tropical ferns and mosses tucked between them. It stood as a backdrop to the bar area and what a sight it was. Almost like a three-dimensional painting made out of plants instead of paints.

  The tea-time meal was equally wonderful with bite-sized portions of local delights such as ondeh ondeh filled with a sweet filling, fa gao that was more fluffy than what I was used to, kuehs, satays, and a durian cream tart that smelled like an entire durian had been opened right in front of you. Everything was so lovely.

  Look at the tiny ang ku kueh! Ahhh~ It's so cute and small and yet so detailed.

  The kaya spread was SO good. As was the satay. And in case you hadn't noticed, all the plates (and even the sugar pot) are made to resemble traditional Peranakan wares. My maternal grandmother is actually a Nyonya so this was a delight, and such a great to tie the food to Singapore roots.

  After the meal, we headed back to the lobby area to put up the final pieces of Tree Canopy. The "leaves" of the art work are of different tones— shiny silver, matte silver, and gold. Sawada also told me that the design of the art work went through a number of ideas, going from water droplets, to orchids (our national flower), and eventually to plants. It took four months from conception of the design, to production, and finally to setting up the entire art work.

  I am so thrilled and honoured to have been allowed the opportunity to put up one of the last few pieces of Tree Canopy. Here's a set of pictures showing the moment.

We climbed up a cherry picker (yes, that's actually what it's called).

Going up!

You can see the little squares of paper that denote where each piece is meant to go.

What you can't see, though, is the fishing lines that we are holding...

Hirotoshi explaining to us how to hang up the "leaf".

Ta-da!

*claps claps claps*

That was quick! Going down, now... Steady as she goes.

  It was fun. And every time I visit Shangri-La from hereon, I can say that *that* particular leaf was hung up by me. :)  Go see Tree Canopy for yourself (and the six children sculptures, and the indoor potted trees, and the magic stone wall) at Shangri-La Hotel Singapore. Perhaps even order the same tea-time set I had, I highly recommend it.

paint with the colours of the wind

  Here's my tile for Joey's challenge:

  Here's a tile from Raye Burnett for the Travelling Tangles Project. Raye started with Flux on the corners. So I decided to echo that with a lot more Flux-y tangles. Ando is featured, along with Fe-Ba for the background. And I don't know whether the top band in the quarter circle has a name but I've been using it in my tiles quite often lately. Shading was done with Tombow marker 977, and highlights were added with a white Uni-ball Signo pen.

  There's a beautiful golden glimmer to it that the camera didn't pick up, so I took a video to show you, instead.

  On a personal project front, I did some tiles in a rainbow format to play around with my Tombow markers.

  These ones made up a circle, like a China plate.

  And here's one tile with very beautiful edges.

  If you live in Singapore and would like to purchase some Tombow markers, I sell them at the lowest cost possible. You can find out more via this link.

  In other news, I will be going to an event to work on part of the art installation titled "Tree Canopy" by Japanese artists Hirotoshi & Nami Sawada at the Tower Wing of Shangri-La Hotel Singapore. The event is happening this coming Tuesday, 12th September, from 7:30pm. I will make a post about it the day after. :)