Affordable Art Fair Spring 2016 Review

  I attended the private viewing of the Affordable Art Fair Spring Edition 2016 yesterday. As always, the event was held at the F1 Pit Building. You can visit the event on...

• Friday, 22nd April 2016: 12pm - 6pm
• Saturday, 23rd April 2016: 11am - 8pm (Afterglow Event happening from 6pm - 10pm)
• Sunday, 24th April 2016: 11am - 6pm

  Here's a selfie I took before I left for the event:

You can't really see it in the picture, but my dress has pieces of glitter.
So I was shimmery all evening.

  Onwards to the event!

The sculpture that first greets you as you go up the stairs at the F1 Pit Building.

  This time around, there was a coffee place half-way through the event space instead of it being at the end of the building. Which was nice.

Paintings by Dae-Sub Kim.
I featured a similar piece by the artist in my review of the Affordable Art Fair 2014.

Spot Joni. hehehe

(photo credit to Affordable Art Fair)

There also are an elephant workshops that will happen daily... (Quantites of elephant sculptures are limited, though, so don't be too late.)

• Fri: 12:30pm - 2pm & 7pm - 8:30pm
• Sat: 12:30pm - 2pm & 5pm - 6:30pm
• Sun: 12:30pm - 2pm & 3pm - 4:30pm

Small human figures that make up the portrait.

This was done by Cha Young-Seok.

Another piece by Cha Young-Seok.
It's actually graphite on black paper with details in gold paint. Really beautiful!

I liked these pieces. They were made with magazine pages and mixed media.
I initially thought they were watercolour paintings.

There's also a Children's Art Studio & Gallery by the Little Artists Art Studio. (Though I didn't take any photos. Oops.) And they're holding workshops everyday of the fair for children aged four and above.

• Friday: Animation/ Charcoal
• Saturday: Pop Art/ Oil & Chalk Pastels 
• Sunday: Cubism/Watercolors
• Daily Children's Art Tours:
• Twice Daily, 1:30pm & 4:30pm; register at the Children’s Art Studio

Colours everywhere!

Vintage feathers dipped in gold.
Really pretty.

These were really interesting. They're actually lightboxes and the subjects in them were made using brown packing tape. How cool is that? The artist who created the works is from Amsterdam.

The artist is Max Zorn, and he was at the event creating a new art work, and it was beautiful.
He was so open about his creative process and answered all the questions we asked about his works. His works really are one-of-a-kind.

  And that's about all the pictures I took of the art works. You'll have to visit the event to see all the other wonderful paintings that are being displayed there. The exhibition area also ended with a bistro that sold snacks and drinks. Yummy!

  All in all, I felt the space was better laid out than last year. As usual, there was a good mix of styles exhibited, with a wide variety of artists from various countries. It's always a pleasure to go to the Affordable Art Fairs to gain inspiration, and also mingle with gallery owners/other artists/art collectors. Do drop by to visit the event today, or over the weekend.

it's Spring

  It's Spring and I think that's why I'm currently obsessed with a tangle called "Lanie"... We're also experiencing a heatwave in Singapore... Up to about 37 degrees Celsius (that's 99 degrees Fahrenheit). It's insane.

  We took part in a Mother's Day event at Bukit Batok RC Zone 3. Mr Desmond Lee was the guest-of-honour for the event. Joni and I taught a few Zentangle workshops during the event and with our help, the residents created beautiful Mother's Day cards using some tangles.

  I created this drawing on a canvas for the event:

I first sprayed the entire canvas in gold.
Then drew out the word "Zentangle" in pencil.

Then I drew the tangles with a black Identi pen.

And finally, I added white Printemps to the "Zentangle" with a white Uni-ball Signo pen and added a silver outline to the words to make it pop even more.

  If you haven't seen the photos yet, you can view our photo album for the Bukit Batok event over on our Facebook page. See whether you can spot the canvas drawing in some of the photos. ^-^


  There are times when you'll draw on a tile... only to end up not liking it. I have the habit of keeping those tiles just so I can paint over them with acrylics and then re-using them. Most often, I end up being able to create something beautiful the second time around. Here's one of those tiles:

Black acrylic paint and sweeping brushstrokes; paired with Bunzo. I never quite liked Bunzo when I first learnt to draw it, but I think I've grown to like it now.
This tile is now on its way to New York as a gift to my godmother.

  Some tiles from the Travelling Tangles project:

This one was done with Glenys Sykes. I did very little on this tile: only the basic shape of the Arukas plus the border of Luv-a. Everything else was added by Glenys. I love the Art Nouveau-inspired colours! I was blown away by how beautiful the tile turned out when it started out so simply.

And here's a tile I did with Lynn Noga. She did the jewels; I added the tangles.
This tile was done for the March Monthly Swap but I didn't finish it until now because I didn't know how to make the five jewels link up with one another. It wasn't until last week that I thought to add a border so that it'd look like a little frame around the large jewel.

  Sometimes, you just have to give yourself a little time to figure things out.

ATCs Spring Swap

ATCs is an acronym for "Artist Trading Cards". I joined a swap over on Zentangle Artist Trading Card Swap Facebook group. Here are the tiles that I did:

  And some close-ups:

  In other news: Joni and I had a Zentangle workshop yesterday. It was lots of fun creating Mother's Day cards with the residents at Bukit Batok RC Zone 3. You can see some pictures I took of the event by clicking this link.

  Thanks for viewing. ^-^

Colours Everywhere

Here are some pictures of the tiles that I completed for the Travelling Tangles project.

A tile that Rosie Fellenz sent to me.
I love the matching watercolour on the envelope.

Here's the half that she did.

And here it is, after I added tangles to it.

   Stephanie also discovered a new tangle recently, and has been adding it to a lot of her works. She calls it "Naida". You can find its step-outs by clicking this link.

Here's what she did.

I added Crescent Moon and Printemps to it.

  Thanks for looking. Happy tangling!

I'm working on something. You just can't see it yet.

  Some projects take time to complete. And basically, that's what has been going on for me for the past week or so. Added to the fact that I'm experiencing.... (What do I call it?) I wouldn't call it a creative slump because I still am full of ideas. Just that I don't have the motivation to complete all of the ideas that I have. I know that it seems like I've been doing a whole lot less creative work than usual. However, I really am still keeping myself quite occupied, and I'll show you the projects I've been working on as soon as I'm done with them. I promise. ^-^

  For now, here's a late tile that I did for Diva's Challenge #262. We had to work with "Fassett".

You can't see the shimmery acrylic I laid on the tile very well... But it's there.
The tile was left without shading on purpose.

  And here are some lovely tiles that I completed for Travelling Tangles:

  ... I still have one more jewel tile to complete. And I think Joni has a tile or two to show you, too... She'll probably have a post up tomorrow.

  We did a Poetry Themed April Swap over at Travelling Tangles. It inspired me to make this tile for a friend. I don't think he follows my blog, so I'm posting it here (wow. so exclusive preview...)

Done with watercolours on a Zentangle® tile.

"Hold fast to dreams; for if dreams die, life is but a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. Hold fast to dreams; for when dreams go, life is but a barren field frozen with snow."

How to Draw an Ammolite Gemstone

  You know what's great? Tutorial Tuesdays! Today, I'm going to show you how to draw an ammolite gemstone and it's going to be beautiful.

  First off, what are ammolites, you ask...? They're the kind of gemstones that dragons would keep in their hoards, that's what they are. Go search for "ammolite" on Google. Go on. I'll wait.


... Gorgeous, aren't they?

  And I made a video that will show you just how I drew this gemstone:

  Here's the video: https://youtu.be/pzWNUpQfPjE


  The tile was part of Travelling Tangles' March Swap. The theme for that month was gemstones, and this tile of mine went to Lynn Noga who completed the tile this way:

  I was absolutely blown away by how amazing it turned out. I never would have thought to finish it that way. If you'd like to do collaborative Zentangle tiles with other artists from all around the world, join us over on the Travelling Tangles Project Facebook page. (Link to it is right here.)

a whirlwind of tangles

  So much has happened over the past week~

Easter happened.
This is a tile that Inge and I did together for Travelling Tangles.

I finally finished this tile. You can learn how to draw the gems on this tile. View the video by clicking this link.

  I also did a mural! How cool is that?

And here's the finished piece.

  I looked extra pretty on this day and lighting was great, so here:

Ethereal fairy princess.

So much happened on Travelling Tangles, too! I've done so many tiles already but still have a couple more to complete. The April Poetry Swap also just closed today. (Happy Poetry Month!) I did three tiles for that swap that I won't show here, but I'll have Draw With Me videos up on my YouTube channel soon.

Here's a tile done by Margaret McKerihan.

And here it is with my additions.

This one was done by Diana Schreur.

And completed by me.
Initially, I had the tangles drawn in black ink but they looked washed out so I went over the lines I had drawn with a white pen.

Sandi Buschpics sent me this bonus tile. (I am ashamed to say I haven't completed the tile she had drawn on... but the colours were just so prettyyy~)

I drew Naida on it. (Step-outs to it right here.)
And the white ink mixed with the colours on the tile so I ended up with this really beautiful ghostly effect.

  Here's another Naida tile I did. Knightsbridge with Naida, with Printemps in the background.

And now I have to work on the tiles I received for last month's swap. It was jewel themed. Not going to show any of the tiles I received yet, but here's a beautiful gem on an envelope that Beverly Grotthardt sent me:

  Speaking of jewels, sneak preview on a piece I'm working on. Needs shading and an addition of jewels... I'm going to do something experimental with this, and I know it's going to look awesome when I'm done with it.

Look at that groovy Cubine. I'll be teaching you how to draw it in an upcoming video.

  Have you downloaded your Tanglelendar for April? ^-^  Here's my completed March page:

  And lastly, back to basics.... I'm planning a new Introduction to Zentangle class. (Some teachers call it "FUNdamental Class". I might adopt that name...)

  And that has been my insanely creative week or so. I'm still not out of steam yet, so look out for my next post. Thanks for reading. I really appreciate all the kind comments all of you leave me across all of my social medias... They always bring a smile to my face. Till' next week~

Moonstone Tutorial

  Moonstones have lots of different colours in them. So you're going to have to do some noodling around with your own gemstone even if you decide to try following my tutorial. I do hope that my video would help you in some ways, though... To get a sense of the colours you can use, or the ways to colours the gemstone. Because moonstones look so pastel and have such soft colours, I decided to use complimentary colours for the stone's shadow instead of using black like I usually do.

  The materials I used are:

1. Original Zentangle® tile
2. Uni-ball Signo Broad Pen for highlight
3. Prismacolor coloured pencils

    The colours I used are as follows:

1. White PC938
2. Sky Blue Light PC1086
3. Non-Photo Blue PC919
4. Periwinkle PC1025
5. Indigo Blue PC901
6. Lilac PC956
7. Lavender PC934
8. Pumpkin Orange PC1032
9. Beige PC997
10. Jasmine PC1012

  And here's the photo reference I used:

Link to where I found this picture.

  If you liked this tutorial, here's another jewel tutorial that you might like: (click here)

  If you have any questions or requests for future videos, let me know in the comments section below.