Carnivale

"Carnivale"
6x16 Oil on Gessoboard
$395 Unframed
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I love, love, love this one. It really just reminds me of a circus or carnival. I'm especially happy with how the yellows turned out. This shophouse is in Chinatown, although in real life, the colors on the house have faded significantly in the two years since I took the original reference photo. In any case, until this one finds a good home, I'm really enjoying it on my drying shelf in the studio.

Speaking of my studio, I've been working on really making it my own, "feathering my nest" as Dreama Tolle Perry puts it. One of my biggest struggles has been lighting. I have a full wall of giant windows that face mostly East South East, so I get fantastic morning light, but they're tinted. Also, by the time the afternoon comes around, I have indirect light from outside (which is not enough) and a warm (very warm) flourescent overhead light. So, by the time the afternoon rolls around, I've really been struggling to see, which has been heightened by the fact I'm now seeing colors so much more clearly. 

Well, today I finally got fed up. I've been looking for a decent lighting solution since we moved here, but so much is flourescent, which I can't stand. Too cold or too orange. Ideally, I would like to find a 3 bulb halogen floor lamp like the one I had in the US, but so far I've had no luck. As per usual when I'm in doubt and don't know where to go, I wound up at Ikea. Ikea winds up being like the closest thing to Walmart or Target here, when you don't know the exact widget store for what you need at home. 

In any case, all I did was take one of their track lights and sit it upside down on top of my book case. Viola! With three halogen lights, I can almost work at night (not quite, but almost). With another track of 3 lights, I could totally take over the world. In case you want to use this solution, make sure you get the wall plug-in attachment. It is ugly, but makes the whole thing totally transportable to the next apartment/studio situation. Yay!

Telok Ayer Prism

"Telok Ayer Prism"
6x16 Oil on Gessoboard
$395 Unframed
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Wow, I had gotten so good about posting and painting. But then we were thrown a wonderful and fantastic curveball. My husband has accepted a new job here in Singapore. This will be a fantastic move for him and us, it just means that I have to have the house packed and moved by next Friday! So, instead of getting another 2 weeks to paint before going to the US, I have about 1 painting day left. And who even knows if we will have our permanent housing situation figured out by the time I get back. It's going to be a wild ride for a bit. I'm definitely packing my tabletop easel and my paints for the temporary housing!

Club St. Chic

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"Club St. Chic"
6"x16" Oil on Panel
$395 Unframed
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This painting is from Club St. in the Chinatown area. I thought the architecture as well as the colors were just something that I couldn't pass up!

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 100

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"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 100"
6x16 Oil on Panel
SOLD
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Ahhh... the end feels so sweet. This, my friends, is the last of my 100 shophouses. Like I mentioned earlier, one of my favorite collectors has already purchased this guy. She got the first one and the last one, which makes me super happy. I've had so much fun with this series, and I will continue, but not quite the same way. Firstly, I'm still re-working some of my favorites from earlier in the series. Not all of them could be saved, but some of them are coming out really awesome, which makes me very excited. As for completely new shophouses - I still want to keep pushing the cropping and perspective angles that I've been working with. But as for the title - well, it's a little cumbersome. Can I just mention how tired I am of typing "Singapore Heritage Shophouse?" :)

Plus, one of my other collector's had a fantastic request. He wanted to know where the shophouses were, so from now on, the title will more or less be the address of the house. Maybe if I really know the right address I can even tag it in PaintMap or Blogger Location settings. It'll be a nice little chronicle of Singapore and how things change over time.

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 68

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 68"
6x16 Oil on Panel
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This was the painting and post that Blogger devoured. It is of a row of houses in the Chinatown area, on the main drag. I think my favorite part about these houses is that I didn't make up any of the colors that they had on them. All five of them have a really wonderful red/green color scheme going on.

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 67 - SOLD

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 65"
6x16 Oil on Panel
SOLD

This longer panel is of a bright orange building down in the heart of Chinatown. In so many other cities and towns, this would be a vulgar, garish thing. It is literally Clemson orange with Chinese red trim and some aqua accents on the shutters. One of the most interesting combinations of colors I've ever seen, but it strangely works for the building. To be fair, it is next to a school but yellow with cobalt blue trim building, so it is in great company!

I thought you all would enjoy a "welcome to Asia" moment I had last night. Pictogram - FAIL. To make the context even more amusing, it was seen at a port-o-potty at the Swiss Club Oktoberfest event. So that meant a bunch of locals and Germans and Swiss in full Lederhosen. Locals in Lederhosen is definitely a sight to see. But back to the sign, even the Asia hardened people I know here were left unsure at the meaning! I think the best explanation we had was that you are not allowed to throw away carrots or spareribs, but you are allowed to throw away annual reports. However, you can only throw away annual reports when barefoot and when you are not smoking. Silly, I know, but so is the sign!

Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 68

"Singapore Heritage Shophouse No. 68"
6x6 Oil on Panel
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This is a little scene of several shophouses together in Chinatown. The is one of the main drags going through the area. I just love how different the architecture and facades are on all of them, but they still seem to coordinate color wise!