art auction for angel faces

inspiration avenue is holding an art auction starting from the 7th march and will run a week until the 14th of march. the auction will include handmade artwork/crafts/jewelry/etc by our members at inspiration avenue and we will be be donating 100% of our proceeds to an award winning charity organization called angel faces

photo courtesy of angel faces

angel faces ... a place where adolescence girls with facial disfigurement due to burns, can just be themselves without being judged by society. these girls who have undergone counseling and therapy, mainly in the form of art, come out with amazing transformations and confidence to once again step into the society and claim their place. *please click on the link to go to their website and read more ...

i would be writing another post which will go live on the 7th of march detailing how this auction will be run. please help us spread the word by grabbing this button and putting it in your blog. there are also retweet, stumble & facebook sharing buttons at the bottom of this post that you may use to help in this cause.


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every little help would be much appreciated :)

happy pimping! :)

"B" for benicio, blunt, balance and back again

influenced by both the realms of dark and light, i create …

and depending on which of these two realms dominate my frame of mind, my creations vary from one spectrum to another.i constantly struggle to balance these two aspects within me so that i may not delve into either one too deeply. i frequently wonder if i could strike a balance … somewhat ...

i have come to realize that i am inspired mostly by movies, characters and the stories they tell. and a great percentage of these movies are fantasy based. i am unrealistic? ... yes. i live in a make-believe world? ... most probably. i am happy in there? ... most definitely!

my latest movie experience was wolfman :) yes ... wolfman. if you are not into gory, shock treatments and body parts flying around, please do not go. i didn't know, so i went. but i braved through it, only closing my eyes during 2 parts ... but beyond that, i found mesmerizing beauty in the set locations which were purely english (yes lisa wright ... stop smirking;), the gorgeous pre-industrialization costuming, the hypnotic atmosphere and the stellar cast of sir anthony hopkins, emily blunt and above all, benicio del toro.

i could have kicked myself for NOT knowing who benicio del toro is all these years, and even thought he was the harry potter director guillermo del toro ... and altho i wouldn't call "wolfman" his ultimate award winning piece (far from that actually) but it certainly made me curious enough to google "benicio del toro" ... and my ... what a treasure of an actor i found!

as always, my twisted little mind went to work. but if you have been following my posts, i was into creating "light" of late :) ...

i clearly had other plans for this little baby here ... something in the essence of light ...

but i couldn't stop thinking of the duality, the darkness, the forbidden, the curse and the conflict that is wolfman. and all my previous plans for this little baby ... seem to fade magically.

yet ... there is an attraction that keeps me wanting to hold on to the purity and the good in this piece. and in my mind, i saw the face of gwen conliffe played by the ever beautiful emily blunt to perfection.

so after a couple of nights of assembling and dismantling the piece ... and my mind ... this is

untamed love

and i realized that this might be the closest i have come in striking a balance between light and dark. i saw in this piece, a marriage between the characters of del toro and blunt, the duality that is in the man and the beast, the balance that could have been, between the pure and the untamed.

i love the look of it and the effect it has on me ... it is something that i definitely would be exploring further.

................................................................

lately, i have also been thinking about "there and back again" . some of you who have known me for a while now, knows that i use to make costumes for my dance troupe. yes ... my (very infrequent) day job comes in the form of a choreographer and a stage director :p ... we were not big when we began so ... moi, had to make most of the costumes even if it involved a lot of glue-gunning and not so much sewing LOL!!!

when i began making adornments just a little more than 6 months ago, i had in mind, selling. so i made things that were wearable. but lately, i feel that has changed a little. in that, i am reverting back to making adornments that look more like a "costume". i realize that these pieces probably won't sell, but they satisfy the psyche.

so have i gone "there and back again"? it seems to me that i have made a full cycle.

i did manage to find some pics of the costumes i made. the ones in white background must be at least 10 years old! GOSH!!! i'm old!!! ancient!!


what a long post ... i hope i haven't bored you to tears already!! i shouldn't write anymore "contemplative" posts ... UGH!!

ok ok i'm going ... but before i go ... let me leave you a little gift :)

happy pimping! :)

special post - chinese new year 2010

welcome year of the TIGER ! let me hear you roar!!

cute festive tigers decorate our main door and origami fishes (made by my mil) hangs off our doorbell :)

ahh ... the chinese new year frenzy has quieten down a little, tho there are several more days before cny officially ends. we celebrate 15 days of cny where the 15th day or fondly known as "chap goh meh" falls on the first full moon of the new lunar year. this year everyone seems to have taken extra long holidays ... or is it just me :) the first day of the tiger year fell coincidentally on valentines day. i guess not too many roses got sold, or rather most of the florists have already gone back to their hometowns for cny ... :p

the friday just before the 14th saw hoards of traffic leaving the big city back to smaller townships where the elders still live. it is customary that the kids make it back to their parents' home on the eve of cny for a reunion dinner. my reunion dinner ... well, my mother in law always preferred lunch, was set at our place :D can you see the glee on my face? no traffic jams back to hometowns since all of my family have moved to the big city. we had the city to ourselves during cny!! such JOY!! reminds me of christmas holidays in manchester, when all the students have gone home, we had the uni campus and the city of manchester to ourselves ... those of us who were foreign students and didn't celebrate christmas were the only ones left :)

food is always in abundance during reunion dinners ... and really fatty! the must-haves would be these... boiled chicken complete with the skin, and boiled pork belly complete with the fatty layers :) the dip ... shreaded shallots, ginger, spring onions mixed is a soya sauce concoction, cooked by splashing hot boiling oil over the concoction :)

and the liquid that was used to boil these, would never be wasted ... my mil is a magician in the kitchen. she could turn anything into food and in this case, the liquid was turned into yummy soup!

some vege just to balance the meat :) and of course mandarin oranges are always a must. they signify prosperity and gold to the chinese family ...

well ... we definitely have no shortage of "gold" in our fridge! probably more than the country's gold reserves !!

the rest of cny eve was spent chatting and preparing angpow packets (or red packets) for tomorrow's influx of kids ;) unfortunately, married couples are expected to give angpow packets out to children, which include singles becos as long as you are not married you are considered a "child" ... i have given angpows to a 45 year old "child" ... my very good friend ... hehehe ...

angpows are traditionally in red to signify luck, but the mod ones now, come in yellows and gold :) *the image of the angpows above, is llara kaye's stash this year ... !

the first day of cny is dedicated to visiting elders. but since my house is designated the mothership, my parents in law spent their time here and we had jason's family all coming over to visit. on the morning of cny, i would always prepare a cup of "new year's tea" for my mil and fil :) chinese tea leaves and a red date for longevity and good health :)

it is also customary that we exchange "gifts" with family members, "gifts" comprising of oranges, groundnuts, sweets, chocolates ... actually whatever that you think signifies abundance and joy :)

the first day of cny in jason's family is vegetarian day ... we eat a simple but delicious meal called "jai" which comprises of a variety of fungi, tofu, mushrooms, cabbage, grass noodles, ... all cooked as one hodgepodge in famented beancurd. sounds weird but i assure you ... it tastes fantastic!! we eat this with white rice :)

and of course the visiting continues to the second and the third day of cny with no short of festivities, open houses and fatty food :)

although the public holidays officially ended on wednesday this week, but people are just trickling back to the city, as most of the chinese community has taken leave from work for a week. i should think monday would see the city back in full working order.

having said that, there would be another big celebration on the last day of cny (15th day). it's to celebrate the first full moon of the new lunar year and in modern times, some even think of it as a sort of valentine's day ... singles will toss oranges with their names and phone numbers written on the oranges into a river or a lake, hoping to meet their soul mate :D
*image of oranges belongs to mikeyip.com*

cny is always a time where family gather. those who work away from home, make their way back home to celebrate this auspicious time with their parents and grandparents. there is of course lion dances and dragon dances, the burning of fire crackers ... a lot of festivities and noise and celebrations out there. but for me ... it's a time to reflect, slow down, forget about work and concentrate on family ... and eat as much as i want ;)

elven magic, heART and hope

guess what, i miss bloggie land :) ... i took some leave off writing and visiting blogs cos i wanted some time to myself just to settle some things and muck around a bit. during my absence i drifted back and forth lothlorien, and enjoyed some quiet time with my elven frens. together, we even managed to make some magic!

ainu valinor

"messenger of valinor" ... where valinor is the undying lands (in tolkien’s lord of the rings). also known as the ancient west, it is a land where the elves would return to, upon the dawn of the age of men. ainu valinor is already on it's spiritual travel to another foreign land call USA to further spread the word of valinor and of love and hope :)

*i must confess, i was still thinking of the archangel at this point :) to the amusement of my elven friends ;)

estella

once again, hope is the essence of this piece. hope for a better future and a better life ... here's to angel faces :)

and guess what :) i think i shall enter this piece for inspiration avenue's challenge this week - heART
yes lisa?

iaur eryn

the last piece in my elven escapade ... this piece was inspired by the ancient trees of lothlorien … where the oldest beings live and play … where the trees are covered with ancient moss and vines … where elven lights that hang off these ancient branches become the only source of light and hope in times of mordor’s looming darkness. yet … there is always hope …

hence, iaur eryn … which loosely translates to "ancient woods".

this was a therapeutic journey for me ... i think my elven frens would agree to that :) i didn't actually realize that every piece here is somehow related to hope ... until i wrote this post. i am seriously amazed by this! it is no doubt a manifestation of my inner thoughts at this point in time ... isn't it glorious how life can manifest itself in art?

happy valentines!
happy chinese new year!

and
happy pimping! :)

"A" for ainu estel

when my friend mellie told me that she can't wait to see what i'll come up with after i watch legion, i told her ... i dun think i would be inspired to create with a genre like legion. i'll probably drool over paul bettany and dream of him every night for 2 weeks ... but create? i think not ...

well, it turns out i have to eat my shoe(s). i couldn't stop myself from thinking of the archangel michael when i was creating over the weekend. and this is what turned out.

and so it seems the "messenger of hope" did inspire me ... ladies and gentlemen ...

ainu estel

"ainu" is quenya elven and translates to "messenger" or "angel"
"estel" is also elven, meaning "hope" ... aragorn himself was named "estel" by elrond when he first came to rivendell as a child.

i do love this last image very much because it somehow caught the right lighting. and it looks as if ainu estel is glowing in an aura of angelic light!

so there you are mellie ... this is what came out of legion :)

happy pimping! :)