Timeless

There's Always Gratitude.

Even in the cold winter days, there are flowers in full bloom. There is no lack of abundance in nature. There's always In any situation, there's a capacity to find and create beauty. There's always gratitude.

This is my on-going little corner of devotion and expressions of creativity to my mom and essentially all mothers, fathers, beloved, forgotten and unknown departeds. To all with no flowers and candles by their tombstones and altars day in and day out... here are flowers and virtual acts of devotion in loving remembrance of our time here that will never wilt and fade away.

May it remind you of your own and instil in you moments to devote some thoughts to them.

#DevotionsToMyMother

throwback: thoughts on navarathri 2014

Stumbled upon an online mag I published in 2014. It's the only one I ever made.. It was about Navarathri and the Kanya Puja which believed that children are the purest manifestations of Devi.
I have never witnessed something like this in my culture so this was a very beautiful sacred thing to experience.

Here's the link to the issue:
http://issuu.com/dreamtaym/docs/navarathri_rev?e=1144767/9601165

Didn't even realize that it was Poornima today. Big Devi living mandala waxing and waning before our very eyes every month.

temple visit

My friend desperately needed to whisper into Nandi's ear so we went to the one near my house at Serangoon.  It was a matter of urgency. I arrived early and soaked this scene in. From all that modernity outside and seeing something so structurally ancient brings me into a time warp all the time. 

I sat down across the altars where Rama, Sita, Lakshmana and Hanuman were and got transfixed there. I had no prayers but I drew them.  It was just Ramnavami Celebrations last Friday so I think I am just nicely catching up with them... 

It all started with a lotus...

I was called to make a lotus fall.. a few lotuses.. opening to the sound of water-like drops, falling as blessings from the sky, the Guru, the light that showed the way. It was a busy time for me but somehow it was something I needed to go through. It was something I just felt I needed to say yes to. And so I did.  The journey was magical and I couldn't really believe what just happened after it was over. Somehow things weren't the same. It made me listen to mantras first thing when I woke up. It made me wake up early. It made me want to go back to eating well and taking care of myself and others. 

It brought me back to a temple I visited 2 years ago. It was the first time I managed to draw a piece of architecture and it also got published in a book about Little India. This temple which I only related to Lord Krishna was a temple I went to during Christmas time when I had to stay in Singapore and experience it away from my family because a friend was in town and I had to wait for her and meet her before I went home for the holidays. On that day,  4-5 years ago, I went to this temple and felt like painting Krishna in oil, a day before Christmas. 

my orange weekend..

I am no stranger to the orange world. I work with Nickelodeon, a kids' channel. It is an orange world, with slime! So plugging into a different kind of orange last weekend was a deeper dive into the color and what else it can stand for. It is arresting and comforting at the same time. Temples are filled with oranges and yellows, mustards and golds. Spiritually this is the inner pot of gold. 

An endless oasis for learning, in its simplicity. 

Teacher. Student. Openness.

As Luisah Teish says:
"The first prerequisite for education is a willingness to sacrifice your prejudice on the altar of your spiritual growth. "

As it comes to an end, I had to pinch myself to say, yes it happened. And it was an amazing journey which is probably just beginning, ushering growth to become a better soul, a better human with lessons coming from a wider circle and its center can be anywhere.

True North is where you stand on. Begin there. Begin now. 

May the blessings be. 

resonance

Why do we meet people and at the exact times and places we meet them? Why do people, their legacies and the people they have come in contact with eventually ripple on to our lives? I always think there's a part of ourselves that others are here to give light to so that we can grow and learn a little bit more about the world, others and ourselves.

The familiarity of the culture and the music and the way it honours the sacred is the rabbit hole that i have been probably listening to and following all these years. The GURUs are plenty and yet they appear as one, and exactly the one that needs to touch you at this point. They belong to a collective spirit and essence of guides and masters who lead the way.  They're great Artists. They illustrate, they illumine, they shed some light to make darkness beautiful and part of the cosmic pattern altogether. They all belong to the same light, isn't it? So we can bask and eventually join in too...

Train rides!

I love sketching on trains because there are loads of people ready to be drawn! 

However there's only one thing they're doing...: it's a good practice to sketch hands holding mobile phones! 

My Current Hood

Can't get enough of sketching this new place where I live. It's only 5 minutes away from my office and I love the fact that I can sketch bits of it before the sun sets for the day! This is the view from one of the wooden picnic tables under the big mango tree. It's the usual hang out of the ang mo cyclists. So I was happy to get this view for sketching since they weren't around then. It was almost dark when I started sketching this straight with pen and ink. And the only waterbrush on me had about 5 drops left :( So here is is slightly dry-brushy. 

First time trying out the Calligraphy Brown Ink on my trusty old Airmail Wality italic ground fountain pen.  Stillman and Birn Alpha. 

Lorong Chuan, Singapore

Dharma Ashoka: Sketches from the Shoot

We had a photo shoot for our teaser for Dharma Ashoka at TFA Singapore. It was the weekend before the 6th International Urban Sketchers Symposium. A few sketchers from all over the world who arrived early for the symposium stopped by to sketch the scene.  Welcome to TFA (front row) Marc Holmes, Liz Steel, Laurel Holmes, Amber Sausen, Daniel Green, (back row) Chris Ng, Dawn Lo and Andrew Yeo!

These are by Marc Taro Holmes, from Montreal, who was one of the instructors at the symposium. Marc is an amazing sketcher and teacher who taught sketching People in Motion. 

Liz Steel is an urban sketcher from Sydney, an architect and is also one of the instructors at the Symposium. She taught pointless perspective and is the online teacher behind Sketching Now! 

Marc's wife, Laurel Holmes, is a professional photographer who took fabulous shots! Here are some of them that she has graciously shared with us.

Here are sketches by Amber Sausen and Daniel Green from Minnesota. Before they left Singapore for the next leg of their journey, they allowed me to take some shots of their work. Thank you! 

A very fast and prolific sketcher, Andrew Yeo from Singapore came a few minutes before we finished and yet whipped this out in time when we were shooting the monks. 

Thank you so much for sharing your work!

DHARMA ASHOKA: A Transformative Journey 

27-29 AUGUST 2015, 8PM

TRCC Republic Poly

To collect invites, get in touch with TFA SG: 

6535 0509

admin@tfasg.org

www.tfasg.org

20 Havelock Rd, 01-01 Central Square 059765

Dharma Ashoka. 7 Days to Go!

Counting down the days before the production goes up on stage.
7 days to go.. A peaceful sandstone Buddha from Orissa.

Invitations are available upon request.
This show has no admission fee. Donations are welcome. Invitees are encouraged to give generously in support of the arts.

You may reach Temple of Fine Arts Singapore at
6535 0509
20 Havelock Rd, 01-01 Central Square 059765
www.tfasg.org
admin@tfasg.org

Musings From an Urban Sketcher

This year's international symposium was in Singapore, the country where I currently reside. I had a unique view of the symposium as I was recording what's happening at the event in sketches.

From a trigger happy photographer to sketching what's going on, I saw the importance of each perspective as we all see the world one sketch a time. urban sketchers style, i gathered what was shared via the #usksingapore2015 hashtag to show some of the posts from everyone in one go. with different media, different paper formats and different hands contributing to the experience, it's one big sketch party at the little red dot!

Enjoy! See you online and at the streets :)

*credits to everyone who shared their sketches via the symposium fb page with the #usksingapore2015 hashtag. I hope it's ok that I compiled them to show them side by side with others.
*music by Herbie Hancock, Imagine, The Imagine Project.

Dharma Ashoka: Sketch by Andrew Yeo Kh

The weekend before the Urban Sketchers International Symposium, a few sketchers from different parts of the world dropped by at our Dharma Ashoka photo shoot at Temple of Fine Arts. Andrew was one of them. He is a very prolific urban sketcher from Singapore.  He arrived the latest during that day but whipped this out in less than 30 minutes! Thanks for sharing your sketch, Andrew. Appreciate it. 

Urban Sketchers Symposium!

It was an amazing experience being one of the correspondents for the 6th International Urban Sketchers Symposium that happened in Singapore last 22-24 July 2015!

Here are the posts that I did in the four days... 

http://www.urbansketchers.org/2015/07/usksingapore2015-day-1.html

http://www.urbansketchers.org/2015/07/day-2-usk-singapore-2015-fun-continues.html

http://www.urbansketchers.org/2015/07/day-3-usksingapore2015-time-flies.html

http://www.urbansketchers.org/2015/07/usksingapore2015-its-wrap.html

Dharma Ashoka: How Graceful Can A War Be?

 

Yesterday I went to a rehearsal of Temple of Fine Arts Singapore's Dharma Ashoka dance drama. They were working on the war scene. It's amazing how movement can be so poetic and graceful even in the context of war. Must give it up for these dancers working out their routine and how their action/reaction and personal exploration of movement become the choreography.  

This production is happening on the 

27-29 August 2015 at 8PM, TRCC Theatre, Republic Polytechnic. 

If you haven't gotten your invites yet, you can get them at 

Temple of Fine Arts Singapore

6535 0509

20 Havelock Rd, 01-01 Central Square 059765

admin@tfasg.org

www.tfasg.org

Dharma Ashoka: A Transformative Journey

As Singapore hits its 50th year anniversary, Temple of Fine Arts Singapore is mounting a dance drama on the 27-29 August 2015, 8pm at TRCC THEATRE, REPUBLIC POLYTECHNIC.

"Dharma Ashoka: a stage production that brings to life the metamorphic journey & spiritual uplift of the mighty Mauryan Emperor Ashoka.  Upon witnessing the suffering caused by his greed and desire 

for conquest, he sought inspiration from teachings of the Buddha, thus relinquishing violence and adopting peaceful models of rule.

As we celebrate the city-state's milestone birthday, we reflect and revisit the ideas conceived by our very own leaders, whose vision uprooted Singapore from conflict and confrontation, propelling her to become an exemplary city state through co-operation and reconciliation, achieving the ideals of Peace & of One-People."

Here's a sketch of King Ashoka, played by Dharmenda Ganesh, 

drawn at one of the photo shoot sessions.  

You may reach TFA to get your invites at 

6535 0509

20 Havelock Rd, 01-01 Central Square 059765

admin@tfasg.org

www.tfasg.org

GISTORIES: Anand and the Sitar

Gistories: Anand and The Sitar

I met a Sitar teacher at Temple of Fine Arts Singapore. His name is Anand, originally from Coimbatore in Tami Nadu, South of India. On his last day before moving back to India, I made a video of him and got to know him a little better. It has been a few years since but on days I remember him there's a slice of this day captured in a little movie that I can replay.

Hi and Bye For Now Virginia Hein

I totally missed Virginia Hein's workshop at the 6th International Urban Sketchers Symposium in Singapore . I was at another location covering the workshops there which was far from her location. Today she is flying home to Los Angeles. Some sketchers met up with her at lunch and went with her to Waterloo. Managed to join Francis Theo, Chris Ng and Parka with her for some drinks and ice kachang and headed over to the Chinese temple to sketch. 

Before going back to work I did a super quick sketch and got her to sign it.

Felt good to meet her and bask a bit in her sunshine  before she left. Safe travels, Virginia Hein and hope to learn more from you and see your sketches online via your blog. See you again someday :) 

My First Ever Sketchwalk

The day I met the Urban Sketchers in Singapore, I knew that I have found my tribe!  It was my new year's resolution for 2013 to do something I really love and but just never gotten around to allowing myself to go for it. It was the January 2013, the first for the year.

I came in at show and tell so it wasn't valid but I made connections and caught a whiff that there was a regional sketchwalk at Chao Praya in Bangkok. It was good enough to get Madam Tia Boon Sim's email address and I emailed her about my interest! Bam! So I went and that was my first sketchwalk!

I missed my flight and took the next flight out. No one could pick me up but Mr Asnee Tasna told me where to go and I dove right in to the temple of the Reclining Buddha and sketched my heart out.
I was hooked!

Back in Singapore, the wild sketchers here are so fired up there was always someone sketching and if the weather was bad, we virtually sketched together! The interest for sketching here was like a fever that you would never want to be cured of! Haha!