Large Golden Fluffy Clouds Today!

Saw this lovely cloud this morning on the way to work.☺

 

Who Can Buy Jay Chou Concert Ticket?

My cousin tried to buy Jay Chou concert tickets but  couldn't get into the system. I decided to buy the tickets but the page is always showing the image below. They should know that there is great demand for Jay Chou concert and thus ensure the ticket system can manage the online booking. After waiting for more than 20 minutes, the page never change. Anyway, we decided not to watch his concert already and just stick to Mayday concert on 3rd December this year. 

Watercolour Practice

Since I brought so much watercolour materials, I might as well use them well and improve on watercolour painting techniques. It's quite fun to play and experiment the various watercolour techniques.

I like learning from various youtube videos like Makoccino as her tutorials are easy to follow. 

First time using negative space technique for the green leaves. Not very nice but at least I tried. It's better than doing nothing and get stuck. Aim for progress. The bottom right purple background effect is achieved by sprinkling salt on wet paint. 

 

Sound of Peace

The last Imee Ooi's Heart Sutra concert I attended was in January 2020. Imee Ooi has really good voice and I like the Heart Sutra song sang by her. She be coming for a Dharma live concert at the Esplanade on 11 and 12 July this year but they are on weekdays. I realised that I need at least 6 to 7 hours of sleep else I have really bad temper and get irritated easily. I need to take afternoon nap to get some rest if I sleep late. I have to wake up at about 5am or 6am for work. I'm not a morning person and if there is no work the next day, I will read, blog or paint till 1 am and wake up at about 8.40 am on weekends. 

If concert starts at 7.30 pm, it will end at about 10.00 pm and I reach home at about 10.40 pm. Taking into consideration it takes me a while to bathe and put on facial cream, I'll sleep at about 11.40 pm and the next day I need to wake up at about 5 am or 6am. I think this year, I will not attend the concert as it is on weekday. Hopefully she will come to Singapore for concert on a weekend.

You can read earlier post on the Heart Sutra concert here.

 

Life is a Gift

I highly recommend this book, "Dying to Be Me" by Anita Moojani, I decided to buy this book after reading an article written by actress Brigitte Lim in the Chinese newspapers, Lianhe Zaobao in 2017. Brigitte Lim shared an inspiring story written by Anita Moorjani who survived cancer. The book, Dying to be Me by Anita shared how she miraculously survived from cancer after near death experience. Doctor had told her family to prepare for her funeral as her organs were shutting down and she was in end-stage lymphoma. However, after experiencing near-death experience and seeing her deceased father and friend, her cancer miraculously disappeared 5 weeks after she woke up from coma. She learned that she has to live her life fearlessly as long as we don't hurt anyone. Life is a gift meant to be enjoyed. We are all just visitors to this planet. Just enjoy this journey. 

Her description of near death experience is similar to Dr Jill Taylor, a Harvard trained brain scientist who survived stroke after experiencing near death experience. She wrote, "My Stroke of Insight" that described her stroke experience and her road to recovery. 

Life is a gift and we should find what we have instead of what is lacking. Please value your life. 

I would like to share the following inspiring quotes by Anita Moorjani. 

"Change your awareness." 

“The way to find your happiness joy is to make a list of all the things that are fun for YOU to do. Then do some of those things everyday.”

“What I really learned was that life is a gift and our only purpose is to be who we are. We all make it so complicated, and try to find our purpose, I learned that all I have to do is be as me as I can be.”

"Our life is our prayer. It is our gift to the universe, and the memories we leave behind when we someday exit this world will be our legacy to our loved ones. The best thing we can do for ourselves and everyone around us is to find our joy and share it!"

Anita Moorjani

Happy Holidays

I'm really happy with the long weekend! I spent the holidays catching up on my art assignment with painting and also reading. Really hope I have more time for the art. I'm glad I finally completed the A3 art task. But I think there is still room for improvement and maybe I'll improve in the next few days. Sometimes inspiration comes and I will just sketch and paint. 

This A4 art piece is still in progress.I'll draw and paint a hummingbird to it. 

With only three primary colours and white, you can create many colours!

 

Happy Hari Raya

Happy Hari Raya to my Muslim friends and readers. To the rest, hope you all have a good rest!

 

Finally Saw the Four Planets!

Yesterday I finally saw the four planets aligned at about 5.45 am. They are more visible early in the morning before the sun rise. From left to right, you see the Jupiter, the brightest planet Venus, Mars and lastly Saturn. In mid-June, we get to see five planets align when Mercury joins in the parade. 

Maybe I should buy a good telescope so I can see the ring around planet Saturn and other planets. 

Any idea what is the star at bottom right?

Mayday Band Concert in 2022 December

I'm happy that my cousin will be watching Mayday band concert with me in December this year. 

Finally, we can watch live concert after two long years of pandemic. I was supposed to watch Broadway musical On Your Feet in 2020 but it was canceled due to the pandemic. Hopefully covid infections can be reduced to single digit by November this year. 

Click here to order the ticket:  https://ticketmaster.sg/activity/detail/20_mayday

I hope they sing this song Perfume.

Blooming Peony

Beautiful exquisite shophouse design

 

Early Morning Clouds

Mesmerizing clouds this morning at my workplace. This morning, I could only see two planets Jupiter and Venus and the lovely crescent moon up the cloudy sky at Tampines. Recently, sun rises early and by 6.35 am, glimpse of sun ray peeking through the clouds. 

Jupiter, Venus and crescent moon

 

Butterfly in the Sky

Saw this beautiful sky yesterday morning. Sky brighten up early recently. I took this image at around 6.40 am yesterday at Tampines. It looks like a orange butterfly with the clouds swirling around it. 

 

Four Planets and Moon Aligned

Finally I managed to capture the four planets namely Jupiter, Venus(brightest dot), Mars, Saturn and the moon early this morning at around 6.30 am at Tampines.  This photo is not very clear and I had to zoom the image on my phone to see the planets which are very faint dots. Mercury will join the four planets in alignment in mid-June and we can see the five planets in alignment till early July. 

This Saturday 30 April is a special day when Venus and Jupiter will meet in conjunction. Maybe I wake up early to see the conjunction. 

You can read more about this rare planets alignment here.

Kissing Clouds

Could you see a couple kissing up in the sky? The positive and negative shape reminds me of yin and yang concept that generates sparks of universe. 

 

Jay Chou 周杰伦《双截棍》

Good news to all Jay Chou's fans! Jay Chou will be coming to Singapore this year for live concert at the National Stadium of Singapore on 17th and 18th December! Coincidently Mayday band will also be coming for live concert on 3rd December this year. I have to decide which concert to go to as their tickets are not cheap. The cheapest Mayday concert ticket is priced at $225.

周杰伦《双截棍》 Nunchucks is one of my favourite songs. 

周杰伦 双截棍☆

曲: 周杰倫 / 詞: 方文山

岩烧店的烟味弥漫 隔壁是国术馆
店里面的妈妈桑 茶道 有三段
教拳脚武术的老板 练铁沙掌 耍杨家枪
硬底子功夫最擅长 还会金钟罩铁步衫
他们儿子我习惯 从小就耳濡目染
什么刀枪跟棍棒 我都耍的有模有样
什么兵器最喜欢 双截棍柔中带刚
想要去河南嵩山 学少林跟武当
干什么(客) 干什么(客) oh~
干什么(客) 干什么(客)
干什么(客) 干什么(客)
一个马步向前 一记左钩拳 右钩拳
一句惹毛我的人有危险 一再重演
一根我不抽的烟 一放好多年 它一直在身边
干什么(客) 干什么(客)
快使用双截棍 哼哼哈兮
快使用双截棍 哼哼哈兮
习武之人切记 仁者无敌
是谁在练太极 风生水起
快使用双截棍 哼哼哈兮
快使用双截棍 哼哼哈兮
习武之人切记 仁者无敌
是谁在练太极 哼哼哈兮
把手举高 把手举高 我看不见你们
把手举高 把手举高 最后一次 跟我一起
快使用双截棍 哼哼哈兮
快使用双截棍 哼哼哈兮
习武之人切记 仁者无敌
是谁在练太极 风生水起
快使用双截棍 哼哼哈兮
快使用双截棍 哼哼哈兮
如果我有轻功 飞檐走壁
oh oh oh 一身正气
快使用双截棍 呵~
快使用双截棍 呵~
一身正气 呵~

Watercolour Painting- Peony and Fruits

Did some watercolour painting today on peony and fruits- lemon and pumpkin.

Art Store at Tampines Century Square

I've been spending lots of money on art material recently at Art Friend and Popular bookstore. Even though I'm a member of Art Friend, enjoying 10% discount, I still spent a lot. 

Thankfully my kind friend who is also my colleague told me there is an art store at Tampines Century Square level 2, Umistrong Art Hub that also offers art lessons. I went to explore this Thursday and I was elated to see other affordable brands. 

I think it's the first store that sells individual watercolour papers instead of package set. I brought some watercolour papers of different weight to explore. 

Maybe next weekend, I will explore their Suntec City branch which also has a Gallery, studio and retail store. 

Update: Suntec city shop has closed.

Website: https://www.umistrong.com/

They also offer art lessons

You can choose from a wide range of watercolour papers of different weight

/////////////////////////////////////////////////

I brought this gold highlighter and the globe sharpener which is quite good.

Taking Photo of My Photos

I brought a palm-sized photo printer Canon Selphy Square QX10 two years ago in 2020 as there was a good promotion with free 5 boxes of Selphy square photo papers. Each box of Selphy square costs about $21 with 20 photo papers. 

I paid $255.00 in 2020 for the Canon Selphy square photo printer. It is now priced at $219.00. 

I'm quite happy with the photo colour quality. I can print out photos from my phone by using wi-fi to link up with the printer and I can edit borders and even use the filters to edit the photos. The photo paper is like sticker. You can paste on your sketchbook or album. I'm quite happy with this purchase for the good quality photo at affordable price.