'Postcards' of Singapore

'Postcards' and vignettes of Singapore.....transitions, nostalgia, beauty in the ordinary .....

Friday, October 3, 2014

Dreama's Louvres




 Dreama's Louvres
Oil on panel
8x8 inches
Sold

Painted from one of Dreama Toelle's photos at her Pasadena, USA, workshop in 2012.  
A lovely lady bought it as a gift for her niece in Scotland. She wanted the blossoms to add warmth to chilly days. I hope they do:)






Sunday, August 24, 2014

Singapore Garden Festival

The Singapore *Garden Festival at Gardens By the Bay, where I took a booth to show and sell my paintings, has just ended.

The biennale featured eye-catching garden themes and exquisite floral displays by acclaimed landscape and garden designers from around the world.

Check out these links to know more about the festival and international award-winning Gardens By the Bay:

Sustainability and energetics of the conservatories; functions of the 'supertrees';
The Flower Dome;
The Cloud Forest, biodiversity of plants; indoor waterfall;
The Heritage Gardens that tell, through the story of plants, Singapore's history and culture.




For me, the nine days have been exciting, exhausting, sometimes hectic, sometimes quiet... I had never met and enjoyed speaking with so many people in one day as I did on each of the days at SGF.

Plants and gardens enthusiasts all, they came... hot, sweaty and happy from the botanic galore, alone or with friends or family. Several bought my paintings and art cards, many were curious and wanted to find out more, or stopped to browse my work.

Of course, there were huge throngs among some 300,000 visitors who packed the garden festival who were totally uninterested in, or oblivious to the existence of, a non-gardening theme. After all, if your purpose was to view the impressive permanent or temporary attractions including more than 2,000 varieties of orchids–collaborations of art, science and nature–and you’re spoilt for choice over which lush species within the scores of booths to add to your plants collection, you’re not likely to be drawn to 2-D paintings.

All in all, it was an enriching experience for me. I’m encouraged by the people who connected with my work, grateful for the interesting conversations we generated.

View from my booth.



Thank goodness, during the lull periods I had the delightful company of Praema Raghavan and Lee Gilbert, the only artists besides me exhibiting at the Festival. We toed and froed between our booths, one at each end of the colonnade, and that helped shorten the 12-hour days.






The festival spread over nine plants-filled days, mostly sunny.....




 (Don't be fooled by the empty colonnade, the crowds are hiding....somewhere....)



... and casual ..













.... haunting music and
balmy, enchanting nights....








What a feast.



*Update 3 Oct 2014: This year's garden festival won the International Garden Tourism Achievement of the Year award, at the Gardens Without Limits Conference held in Metz, France.


Thursday, June 19, 2014

Kopitiam eggs



Oil on canvas, 6x6 inches. Sold.

 I contributed this to the recent Affordable Art Fair (Red Pencil Project).