Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 77

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 77"
6x6 Oil on Panel
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This shophouse was such fun to paint. This one was totally all about the mood. It was kind of funny, because I originally was worried that this was a sign for a house of ill-repute. To be fair, the sign was in Geylang (the red-light district) and it is RED. But upon asking one of the local artists, who knows Mandarin, he said it was a sign for Korean BBQ. Not exactly what I thought it was. Interestingly enough, the first character, with the kind of T as its backbone, symbolizes horns, like beef, for BBQ (or might have been mutton, I can't remember).

In an everyday life in Singapore note, locals are totally fascinated by how westerners cook with an oven. Ours was broken when we moved in, which the landlord didn't think was a big deal. Ahem, but no. In any case, the owner's handyman, Kelvin, was in here today, uninstalling the broken oven.

Kelvin: "Ah, soon you have new oven, very very good!"

Me: "Yup."

Kelvin: "This oven big! Very big! Very good for you!"

Me: "Yes! Now I can cook whole chicken in the oven!"

Kelvin: "No! This one you can cook TURKEY! Big Turkey! Christmas time coming, Turkey for Christmas!"

Me: "Sure..."

I just find it hysterical that the locals all think we eat turkey for Christmas dinner, and that is apparently why we need these crazy oven contraptions. They really think that the only thing we cook in there is turkey, lots and lots of turkey.