Electric Shadows

"Electric Shadows"
5"x7" Oil on Gessoboard
$95 Unframed
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This was another Theibaud inspired shophouse. The shadows were just vibrating with color, and I loved painting it. Sometimes you can find so many colors in white, it is amazing. Don't forget to come out to The Fair @ the Hilton Hotel Singapore on Thursday and Friday this week. I'll be there in a smaller booth and would love to see you!

Santa Barbara Sail Boats

"Santa Barbara Sail Boats"
5"x7" Oil on Gessoboard
$75 Unframed
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This was a scene from the Santa Barbara harbor on the first day that I arrived. Such a fun scene to paint. I'm back in Singapore after having to go back to the US for the weekend, so as soon as this laundry gets finished I'm back in the studio. Next week is The Fair @ the Hilton Hotel, so if you are in Singapore, come by and see my booth! I'd love to see you there.

Venice Beach Alleyway

"Venice Beach Alleyway"
5"x7" Oil on Gessoboard
$75
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It is the burning season here in Singapore. That basically means that somewhere in Indonesia or Malaysia the farmers are slash and burning the palm plantations (usually) for the Palm Oil harvest. It creates this horrific smog that just turns the sky to a weird smoky gray, and generates more thunderstorms than normal. I have a really tough time with it because so little light gets in. This month of smoggy gray had taught me I probably wouldn't do so well in China, where it is like this year round. In any case, because of the awful smog, I needed to paint a blue sky. This is just down the street from my cousin's house, which is right by Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier. I had just had a week of cloudy gray in SoCal, and this last morning in the LA area broke with beautiful blue sky and no clouds. It was so uplifting.

And as for my husband and I, we'll be traveling back to the US first thing tomorrow morning. I wish the circumstances were better, but we are so grateful for the family and friends that we have. We have been blessed with close, happy relationships with all of our family, and I for one am eternally grateful that both of us have enjoyed relationships with our grandparents well into our adulthood. Not many people can say they have had that opportunity. 

It is times like these that make being on the other side of the world much harder. Luckily, we can get back, and see everyone. And, in the meantime, in addition to seeing all of our loved ones, it looks like it will be sunny in Kansas, so we'll be able to also enjoy some Mexican food and BBQ!

And as a side note - all you Gulf Coast people, make sure you are tied down and have extra ice for the drinks in case power goes out!

Jade Dreams

"Jade Dreams"
5"x7" Oil on Gessoboard
$95 Unframed
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Here is another shophouse, this one is from the backside of Little India, close to the Lavendar MRT station. There are a couple streets of some really cool ornately decorate and painted shophouses back there. I've been experimenting a bit with the 5x7 format. It is totally different and a bit of a challenge. Stephen Masgsig, who does Postcards From Detroit, works quite a bit in the 5x7 format, so I've been looking to his work for some composition ideas.

Yesterday was National Day here in Singapore, so we had a few people over to grill and watch the fireworks. It is especially cool because all of the aircraft pretty much buzz right over our apartment. I think one of the coolest parts of the whole show is when the choppers come in with a giant Singapore flag. It passes almost literally over our heads. I've found a video someone uploaded that shows you the choppers and flag bits...

Spottiswood Coral

"Spottiswod Coral"
5"x7" Oil on Gessoboard
$95 Unframed
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This lovely house is down in the Spottiswood Park area, which is just south of Chinatown. There is a neat little enclave of shophouses in this area, about two streets spread over two or three blocks. And this coral guy is one of the ones that faces the main road and is in a strip of bars and restaurants.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow, which is National Day here in Singapore. It is similar to our 4th of July. We're having a few people over to watch the F-16s do fly-bys of the down town area. They literally weave in and out of the skyscrapers. It is pretty wild. 

As an aside, one of our acquaintances was on the team that did this Mentos ad, which does double duty in addressing Singapore's low birth rate. Quite the creative way of addressing a national health issue...

Morning View

"Morning View"
5"x7" Oil on Panel
$95 Unframed
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This painting took so much longer than I thought it would. But this is the first time I have really tackled people in any way, shape, or form in months. It was kind of an adventure. I found this scene on a Saturday morning down by the Ferry Market in San Francisco. The market has some wonderful food - lots of fresh fruit, jams, popcorn, cheese, you name it! So tasty. But behind the tents and stalls, there are some fantastic people watching opportunities. Plus, when you add in the the view of the Bay Bridge - just amazing!

Corner Store

"Corner Store"
5"x7" Oil on Panel
$45 Unframed
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This was a fun little street corner in NYC from my visit there last spring. I still have so many fantastic reference photos from that trip. And as I keep on working and improving and seeing things with a new eye, I'll see another photo that catches my eye that I ignored before, or seemed to difficult. I really loved the shadows and light on the awning.

In other news (drumroll please)... WE GOT A DISHWASHER! Well, let's just say it has finally been installed. Dishwashers are a huge luxury over here. You almost never see them. But they aren't the unicorns of Singapore quite like automatic ice machines and garbage disposals. Those just don't exist. So yes, in typical Singapore fashion, our dishwasher has been installed and hooked up to the closest water line. Alas, the power cord does not even get close reaching an outlet. Why am I not surprised?  

Reflected Glow

"Reflected Glow"
7"x5" Oil on Gessoboard
$45 Unframed
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This painting is of one of the first nights I got into New York. I was wandering around the Times Square area, and I saw the sun setting behind the buildings. The sky was neat - it always is at sunset, right? But more so than the sky, I was really intrigued by the way the sky was kind of reflecting off of the cars and the street. It was just glowing, more so than the bright lights of the theaters on Broadway. Kind of crazy, isn't it?

Also, I thought I would end the week with another crazy Asia story. So I'm painting this morning, and I go into the kitchen to make my lunch. The kitchen is flooded, and there's water dripping out of the ceiling. Well, that's a bad sign. I was thinking broken pipe and worried about damage to the apartment.

So I call the owner's handyman. He is like, "No, no. You must call the aircon people, it is not my problem." This is a pretty typical scenario here. You ask anyone to take responsibility and solve a problem and their first response is "No, cannot lahhh." But to be fair, the last time I checked, you rarely get water pouring out of the ceiling because of the airconditioner. That usually means plumbing.

In any case, I'm telling him there is no way this is the aircon. It is on the other side of the house from the aircon. He doesn't believe me. Tells me to call the aircon people again. Back and forth, back and forth. Finally, I convince him that I'm not just some nervous nelly and complaining about the doorknob not working (that's another story - the day the doorknob quit working and fell off, thereby trapping me inside the apartment until my husband came home. Oh, by the way, this is when I didn't have a cell phone either.) Anyways, so he comes over, takes one look in the kitchen, and is like "Ohhh, that is a leak. Very bad. I look."

Sigh. Long story short, hopefully we will have a new hot water heater soon. :)

Arches in Blue

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"Arches in Blue"
5"x7" Oil on Panel
$45 Unframed
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This painting is another one from my too-short time in NYC. This was during the day that I got to visit the New York Public Library - what a splendid building. The architecture was so neat, and the people watching was spectacular. I really enjoyed spending time there. This was during one of the days that was very overcast, so I tried to go to place that were inside to find good lighting.

And to continue my discussion from yesterday about exotic food that we had at the wedding, take for example, shark fin soup. (Here is my obligatory link to something about banning shark finning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_finning.) They did serve shark fin soup, which Singapore has finally banned from restaurants. I did try it because 1) the soup had already been made and 2) I didn't want to offend the people that had invited us by staging a moral protest. The soup was okay - basically the part I thought was an onion-y mushroom wound up being the bits of fin. It basically tasted like some mushrooms and onions in a chicken based broth. Not bad, but not exactly something I'd want to spend $100 per bowl on (and yes, that is the price in restaurants for a bowl of shark fin soup!). If we are going to eat something expensive and exotic, Bird's Nest Soup (explanation here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird%27s_nest_soup) is much tastier. And yes, the bird's nest basically consists of bird spit and twigs.