One Classic Concert and a Present

Finally it's Friday again! this week passed by pretty fast. Soale many events took place this week, biasa lah klo banyak yg di expect pasti hari-hari jadi kerasa cepet hehe. Hum Rabu Dec 09 kemaren pergi ke Art House buat nonton Classic Piano and Violin Concert. Eventnya diadain ma Italian Embassy, so you can guess who performed.. none other than Italian pianist and violinist sisters. Yg dateng jg almost 90% Italian. We arrived there a bit early, they were still serving cocktail and wine. That was my first visit to Art House, dalemnya keren euy, kecil sih tp architecturenya gaya colonial tempo doeloe gitu. Mulai concertnya jam 7, trus kelar jam 9an. Pieces yg dibawain jg enak-enak, ga gitu berat ditelinga. Yg senengnya itu, mrk bawain piece by Brahms buat encore nya. Overall it was a great concert. Oya sebelum pulang mampir ke mall deket City Hall situ, nemu toko scrapbook... lucu2 d, jadi pengen nyoba scrapbook, but knowing me, it probably won't last a month. Jadi kemaren uda nahan2 buat ga beli scrapbook kit nya... oh what an effort.

That was Wednesday. What happened on Thursday? I didn't expect much on that day, and to be honest I was a bit irritated over work after lunch. So I expected it would be like any other long Thursdays, coz every Thursday is scheduled for our team's weekly technical meeting... and it was! No canceled meeting whatsoever. Tp yang kagetnya itu pas mau mulai meeting, boss gw tiba-tiba bagi2 kado *oh what a surprise*. What touched me most is not the gift itself. Pertama kalinya gw ngerasain kerja ditempat dimana you can work professionally and they expect you to perform at your best but at the same time, amidst all the hassle of everyday fast and stressful working environment, you can feel that you're still "human", still sane. And they make you feel that. Jadi kerasa kayak long-time friends. Oya, trus ceritanya gw dikasi kado tas, haha yg lucunya mrk spent quite some time katanya cari kado buat gw, berhubung yg cewek cuman gw sendiri di team ^^ So, I really appreciate it guys...

As for tonight's plan, hum ke Dhoby Ghout, mau dinner bareng cell group ^^

A Supposedly 'Secret Santa'

To celebrate Christmas, in office we're doing the Secret Santa. Well, regardless the naming; Secret Santa, Exchange Presents, whatever, we're supposed to keep it a secret, right?? I mean, what's the point if the whole world knows whom you're buying gift for. The thrill is the secret itself, the surprise. But noo... not here. It's the other way around.

So see, I'd been playing by the rule... you know, to keep it in the dark untill few days ago one of my colleagues asked me bluntly what was written on that little piece of paper that I drawed out and today, again, one of my team mates asked me the exact same question!! Sheesh~ Now it's not interesting anymore... oh well

Laid Back Mood

Finally, we step again into the festive month, December... hurray! As usual I don't feel like working during this whole month as my mind constantly diverted by the thought of the planned holiday ahead, but i must say somehow that helps me endure almost anything including work. Take today as an example. Ellen's coming all the way from japan to spore and I'm going to meet her tonight at Vivo City. Oh and one more dear friend of mine, Diana, we met only once even though we're living under the same sky of Spore, ugh an unforgivable thing, I'm going to complain to her tonight as well. I'm too eager to meet them that I can't concentrate on my tasks at hand, so here I am, writing blog. Hmm come to think of it, i haven't updated this blog in quite a long time ^^ ~sheesh~

Talking about blogging, I came to this very stylish new stationary store at Ion Orchard with my mum, and i was drooling over this one particular journal titled 365, so the idea behind the title is to write journal everyday for one whole year. The journal or I should say mini scrapbook (as we can use it to do scrap booking too. See, how cool the thing is ^^) comes in two color choices, red or black. My mum bought it for me and mine is red. I'm planning to use it next year to record simple pencil-colored sketch with a short notes, basically serves as a sketch journal. I can tell you how nice it would look like, with all the little sketches in every pages, but the problem is i don't know if I'm committed enough to do that EVERYDAY. Take a look at this online blog for proof, I'm already guilty as charged for not updating it frequently *sigh*

Travel Sketch :: Kita Kamakura

Few months ago, I was browsing through photos, looking for something inspiring to draw. Then I stumbled upon this one *I dunno what it's called; temple, shrine?* Especially love the way it looks kinda deserted.

It was one day in Autumn'08 when we set off to Kita Kamakura for Momiji hunting slash tracking. The sun shone bright enough to warm the cool autumn day. Well, exactly the perfect day for our outing. Me & Ria met up with the boys on the station's platform.

The photo itself is courtesy of Adi, our photographerAnyhoo, I enjoyed drawing this. And one thing that I do remember well about that day; I wore the wrong outfit! On my defense, I didn't know we were going to do tracking. I thought we were just gonna find someplace under the tree to chill out, take photos like.. a lot, finding the most perfect spot etc. well basically Momiji hunting things only, you know -  But... ぶっぶーっ no, we went tracking too!! and I wore boots, high heel ones!! geez... luckily the scenery was amazing, worked like a charm to ease the discomfort huahaha

Hmm Japan really has something to offer in term of uniqueness, unlike... well, unlike *really, pardon me*  Singapore - okay I know, shame on me. I don't know what to sketch here, um buildings, malls?? yeah right. Except maybe Chinatown. You see, Chinatown at night is something you should see here. Lampion's everywhere. 

Atashinchi no Danshi

このドラマ大好き！This 11-episodes story is about family and I absolutely agree on the message they want to deliver; that a family does not necessarily have to be blood related, instead, a family is about getting to know each other, laugh and cry together and... protecting the same precious thing which is memory and time shared together.

This one definitely goes to #1 spot in my most fave JDrama list. What not to like? You'll get your fair share of enough laugh and tears. Actually I got annoyed every time the pre-aired trailer appeared on screen while I was watching Mei-chan no Shitsuji (Mei's Butler). After I finished watching the whole episode of Mei-chan no Shitsuji, I ran out of movies to watch *yeah I know, I got a LOT of free time*The trailer kinda stuck in my head, not that I wanted to watch it but it was just pure curiosity. So I searched and decided to watch the first episodes and... tadaa... loved it loved it and LOVED it. They only uploaded the 5 episodes or so *at that time* on the Internet. Luckily, I can watch Japan's tv channels so I got to watch Atashinchi no Danshi on regular basis hoho...  

Mini tulips and roses clay, and oh... some bread too

  Having one month of free time in Bali really left me with choices none other than window shopping, food hunting, and art to keep me occupied. And out of the questions really, to not hold yourself back on the first two options. Too much window shopping, and it can hurt your bank account... well, in my case at least. Weak at temptation *grin* Food hunting was another challenge. My, those spicy, rich in flavor Balinese food, mouth-watering steaks, and behold... the evil in disguised, CAKES! I didn't want to gain extra weight and it left me with the last option here. Art.

I did spend the majority of my time engaging in either doing oil-painting or sketching. Sometimes during the second week in February, I saw small children making pottery out of the clay. Well, I did want to try it too, but there is something about pottery that screams "sacred" and that makes me feel I either learn it whole-heartedly or not at all. So I thought maybe next time.

Anyway, that basically led me into another type of clay which is less serious, much more fun and most importantly no need of an oven, it's air-dry. I dove headfirst looking for air-dry clay without knowledge whatsoever about any specific brand or characteristic, and I ended up buying the wrong one. Luckily my aunt still had half the clay given by my dad's niece who owns a clay store/studio in Jakarta.

And so... the creation began. I was experimenting; making tiny croissant first, then flowers and baskets filled with twisted candies. Stuffs from bakery are pretty easy to make. I think you can make them in one go even if it's your very first time ever to touch clay, like yours truly. Flowers are a bit tricky tho. I did fail a couple of times to get the result I wanted. I made some tulips and roses. But um.. those tulips do look like roses, don't you think?? hhh 失敗～

Finally, you want to give it some color too. You might want to leave the molded clay a couple of minutes so it can get hard first before you paint it with acrylic. In my case, since I'm not a really patient person by nature, I went straight into getting it painted after I got the shape I wanted. Either way is fine I think.

I searched in art & craft stores everywhere but they don't sell it in Bali, this kind of clay. In Singapore, air-dry clay in a size of a brick costs for about 4 dollar, if I'm not mistaken.

Well, if you like mini stuffs, maybe you can consider playing with clay. It's a lot of fun.  

Orchid Sketches

:: Watercolor ::
~May 19, 2009~
.: Wedding Anniversary Present :.

Today's post is about orchid. Anggrek tuh bunga kesukaan papa, keknya dari aku kecil, first impression and image papa itu pertama: anggrek, kedua: bonsai, ketiga: kaktus. Soale waktu kecil kan tinggal di Lombok, nah di rumah Lombok dulu, papa punya buanyak banget anggrek, bonsai n kaktus. Waktu pindah ke Bali, trus pindah lagi ke Jakarta, papa uda ga ngurusin bonsai lagi, tapi anggrek?... teteeeppp. So whenever I see him tending orchids, it feels so natural. I'm not exaggerate thing when I say orchid is his passion.

Nahhh... waktu tgl 14 may kemaren ini aku balik Bali, kaget liat di kantor bawah kok ada pot anggrek 2 biji. Ternyata itu mama yg beli buat papa, kado wedding anniversary ktnya huehehehe... it has story, so I decided to sketch it. Pertama kalinya gambar anggrek, ga bisa pula bikin daun huks...

About those two pots of orchid, lucu aja liat mama sm papa. Mama yg ga tau gimana ngurus anggrek, kasian liat daunnya ada yg kering, trus potnya jg kering. Judging that they need water as much as human does, mom poured a bottle of water into the pots. Trus papa kaget liat potnya kok basah banget, hihi so they were fussing over it for a whole day. Mama yg nuduh papa ga peduli-in anggrek yg mama kasih, papa yg bilang klo tuh daun emang uda waktunya kering, klo disiram banyak air malahan jd busuk akarnya. Pokok'e lucu ja ngeliatnya, ampe karyawan2 jg pada ketawa hoho

:: Watercolor ::
~May 21, 2009~
Orchids in the Backyard

Klo angrek2 yg ini juga aku baru pertama kali liat pas pulang kemaren. Ga tanya sih dapet dr mana. Papa taruh di halaman belakang deket dapur. Bunganya buanyaaakk banget, jd gatel pengen aku cabut

Abba's Love Letter

I chose you when I planned creations.
You are not a mistake, for all your days are written in My book.
I determined the exact time of your birth and where you would live.
You are fearfully wonderfully made.
I knit you together in your mother's womb and brought you forth on the day you were born.

I've been misrepresented by those who don't know Me,
I'm not distant and angry, but I'm the complete expression of love.
And it is My desire to lavish My love on you, should be, because you are My child and I am your Father.
I offer you more than your earthly Father ever could, for I am the perfect Father.

Every good gift that you receive comes from My hand for I am your Provider and I meet all your needs.
My plan for your future is always filled with hope because I love you with an everlasting love.
My thoughts toward you are countless as the sand on the seashore and I rejoice over you with singing.

I will never stop doing good to you, for you are my treasure possession.
I desire to establish you with all My heart and all My soul, and I want to show you great and marvelous things.
If you seek Me with all your heart, you will find Me.

Delight in Me and I will give you the desires of your heart for it is I who gave you those desires.
I am able to do more for you than you could possibly imagine, for I am your greatest Encourager.

I'm also the Father who comfort you in all your troubles.
When you are brokenhearted I am close to you.
As a shepherd carries a lamb, I have carried you close to My heart.
One day I will wipe away every tear from your eyes.
And I'll take away all the pain you have suffered on this earth.

I'm your Father and I love you even as I love My son Jesus.
For in Jesus My love for you is revealed.
He is the exact representation of My being.
He came to demonstrate that I am for you not against you.
And to tell you that I'm not counting your sins.

Jesus died so that you and I could be reconciled.
His death is the ultimate expression of My love for you.
I gave up everything I love that I might gain your love.
If you receive the gift of My son Jesus, you receive Me.
And nothing will ever separate you from My love again.

Come home and I'll throw the biggest party heaven has ever seen.
I've always been Father and will always be Father.
My question is will you be My child?
I am waiting for you.

Love,

your Dad
Almighty God

Tulip Garden at Disney Sea ::Winter 2009::

Two paintings below are from photos, taken at Disney Sea, the second time I went there. The first time was with my fullcast friends in Summer 2007, it was a hell lot of fun. The second time was when my mom visited Japan in January 2008. We went there with my brother, just the three of us. Inside, I was so... thrilled to see a HUGE garden full of various kinds of tulips. So amazed *yeah my first time to see so many tulips, my fave flower* that I asked my brother - not really a fan of nature beauty - to take a lot of pics of me with the tulip garden until he grew impatient sheesh... If I went alone, I would love to just stare at those fabulous tulips and... just be there!

:: Oil on Canvas ::
80 x 60 cm
~February 2009~
.: Tulip Garden at Disney Sea :.

:: Watercolor ::
24 x 32 cm
~May 22, 2009~
.: Disney Sea :.

Quick Watercolor Before the Trip

::Watercolor::

.: December 23, 2008 :.
~Snow-covered country house~

I remember painted this in Machida. Too lazy to pack for our End-of-the-year trip to Hong Kong, I ended up picking up my brush instead. 雪が大好き～ Snow didn't fall that day. At that time I was hoping for a white Christmas, and it turned out to be no snow at all in Tokyo . Even if by some miracle it was snowing, all I could do was drooling over it since I was on the plane to HK with friends on Christmas day. Sigh. So no white Christmas for me.

Whenever I see this piece, it leaves me longing for a villa in a remote place somewhere, a huge fireplace, me and the loved ones together gather around bare Christmas tree ready to decorate it. The oh-so-Christmas warm bread ready to tease our taste buds. Arghh stop it! We're not even half way to December yet! *And look, this is what I got by reading too much Jane Green*

::Watercolor::
.: December 23, 2008 :.

My Monet Version

I did these Monet paintings in February 2009 with some directions in brush stroke from my art teacher *well... it's Monet after all, I needed help! *, and moreover, that was my first time dealing with big canvas. Kinda intimidating.

::Oil on Canvas::
90x70 cm

~February, 2009~



::Oil on Canvas::
80x60 cm
~February, 2009~

For me, this snow-scene painting is the most special

Job 42:5

I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.

those are the words Job said after he experienced God himself. 私もそのこと欲しい。To know Him myself so that I could testify with my very own life.

Travel Sketch: A Bit of Japan

::Watercolor::

~February 24, 2009~

Takoyaki Store - Kyoto

aaahh takoyaki I bought from that small store above was the yummiest takoyaki ever so far. I went to Osaka and Kyoto with my family and oh we only spent half a day in Kyoto... HALF A DAY!!! What were we thinking?? hm well, I just have to make sure the next time I go there, I'll absorb every detail of the beauty of the old city.

::Watercolor::
~February 27, 2009~

I forgot when it was when Benny gave us (Tokyo people huehehe ) an omiyage, mochi. The mochi was put in a box with picture on the lid. I happened to be the last one who got the mochi so Inge *or was it Ellen??* gave me the mochi and the box. I love the picture on the lid, very simple, so I decided to keep the box *didn't have the heart to throw it*. I guess you might find one in omiyage stores ^^ *'scuse me, I do some advertising here*.

::Watercolor::
~February 06, 2009~

It is another sakura sketch, in case you don't know what the heck is that pink, tree-like curvy lines. Nothing more to say. I love sakura.

Travel Sketch: A Bit of Bali

::Watercolor and Pencil::
~April 22, 2009~

Aahhh you should come and visit Bali last month. Three big ceremonies (Galungan, Kuningan, Nyepi) were held in succession in only three weeks time. Many Galungan decorations such as tall, curved bamboo pole called Penjor were planted on each side of literally EVERY roads created a festive yet serene air every time you drove pass them. Pecalang (polisi adat - tribal police, is a group of men from Balinese local village that acts as a police, they DO have the right to stop the traffic for ceremony) were everywhere. I always love to see what uniform they wear, you know, as every village has its own Pecalang uniform. They always wear sarong (which is always looks the same for every village. A sarong is a sarong afterall) and a shirt (now, that's the only part where every village can get creative with their own village's logo and everything). For me, only at that time of ceremony is Bali really reveals something other than its commercial face. It was somewhat magical.

In Love

Yep, I'm falling head over heels in love with... my Lord slash my Savior slash my BFF!!! huahahaha Yes I'm still feeling homesick (Bali and Japan T.T) and missing my friends there, still hoping for time when I fly there and meet them, but at the same time thrilled to realize that I'm spiritually blessed here. Ktemu temen2 yg sama2 longing for intimacy with God, radical in a really good way, not what I call *oh pardon me* "annoyingly fanatic". So it's been great so far and I believe the best is yet to come.

Reminiscence

::Wednesday, 25 Feb 2009::

It's been a month and finally I brace myself today to really read what my friends've written on the first few photos they inserted in the frame for me . One step at the time. I haven't fully looked at those photos, mind you. I don't dare, really. Ughh...speaking of having to miss people you care and close enough to you... huhu Miss you guys. We used to meet regularly if not everyday, and now being so far away and all, the simple things like going out for grocery shopping etc, things that I took for granted... I want to give anything just to be able to do something like that again. Geez, this sounds cheesy, but I do love you all. Every single one of you (even the weirdest and the freakiest one, you know who huahahhaa) It's been the best memories EVER in my life, both the good and the bad ones... じゃね～

Sakura

Well, since I don't get to see sakura this year, I decided to paint them. These are from photos I took a year ago in Ueno and someplace I didn't remember where. I went to hanami (cherry blossoms/sakura viewing) with Inge, Ellen, Stivan, Rendy and Teddy - who later joined us. It was so beautiful. Hehe the paintings really don't do justice here. You should feel the atmosphere at hanami. So alive.

::Oil on canvas 60 x 40 cm::
.: Sakura viewing at Ueno :.

~February 2009~

.: Someplace we went to after Ueno :.

::Watercolor::
~February 28, 2009~

.: Ueno :.

New Art Teacher

::11 February 2009::

I have new art teacher . He mainly does oil painting, surrealism style. Wanna know what he looks like? You know Kaka Slank? Yep!! He resembles Kaka a lot! The first time I met him, I had this feeling I saw him somewhere before ... then that evening I happened to watch a trailer of Slank's new movie (Generasi Biru) and I was like... "Whoo that's my teacher there!!" huahahaha

Oh but thank goodness he's done impressionism painting years ago. Surrealism always kinda creepy to me. I guess I made a weird face when he mentioned Surrealism that he said to me, "There's no such thing as a bad or ugly art. It's only a matter of liking or not liking the art object". Whew~ I can't agree more

But overall, I like this new teacher. He's a real artist, so passionate in art and has an art gallery near Discovery Mall Kuta. He's so much fun to be with. And you should see him holding the brush, eyes fixed on the canvas. Ughh it's the same when you see your fave athlete doing his/her things. It comes so naturally. Hope I can learn much from him.

One hot day in Bali

The sky is beautiful today, in a summery beautiful kind of way. We are driving along my most favorite road to the hotel in Kuta now. The road is lined with chest-height statues, varieties of tropical trees in display for sale on the left side, palm trees on the other. Some new fancy cafes are occasionally seen. Wow, here are all my competitors *sigh*. Oh well.

I didn't pay attention at first. As usual when I'm in a car, I either stare blankly at the road or read book. This time, it's the later. I was so into reading my new-bought novel, Twilight. The book is good anyway, and I happened to look up and instantly at awe. The color is superb. The whitest of white from the cloud and the clear sky-blue from the sky. Perfect. The line separating the clouds and the sky is clearly defined, not blurred like any other days in Bali since I came back. Mesmerized by it, I'm looking out the window, absorbing every essence of Bali. The sun, statues, small river, temples... I like the sky the most when it is viewed through branches and leaves, when the top of palm trees dominating the lower part of my view or, *this is the best part* when it's framed by Balinese temple.　最高～

The sunlight's blinding my eyes a bit. It's only a little past midnoon after all.

Not as bad as I thought

Okay, I take my words back. I quite like the book. So it's not the best book and all but I actually enjoyed reading it. It's kinda refreshing. But oh, reading the first few chapters was a real challenge. You really have to suppress those might-come-up urges to just close the book and throw it away, out of your sight. In my case, I found this huge desire to tear it apart *really* and felt sorry for myself for spending over a thousand yen on this book. But once you pass that phase and get used to the author's writing style, you're good to go.

The story begins with Anna Walsh having some serious, pretty gore injuries. She is back in Ireland. Anna has 4 sisters - Claire, Margaret, Rachel, and Helen - each with different, unique trait, and *annoyingly* hilarious mother. I was left wondering for a few chapters in the beginning what have caused Anna those terrible injuries, who Aidan (a man, in case you're asking) is and why she's desperately looking for him (his whereabout is unknown). Despite her family's constant worries, Anna decides to go back to NYC, to her job and *of course* to find Aidan. As the story grows, everything falls into place. Aidan was her husband and it turns out that they were in a car accident that killed Aidan. Due to post-trauma, she still thinks that Aidan's still alive. She keeps calling his cellphone, writing email to him everyday. But at some point, she remembers everything, about the accident that took Aidan's life. From this, everything's centered on her coping with grief.