The List: 10 Favourite Songs of All Time

Girl With Guitar. Drawn for Sue, Adik and Kina.

So I was bumming out, painting while listening to iTunes, and I decided to make a list of my favourite songs of all time so that I could pretend like I was multi-tasking, haha.

(In no particular order)

1. Train – Drops of Jupiter

2. Incubus – Wish You Were Here

3. Our Lady Peace – Sorry

4. Bon Jovi – Living On A Prayer

5. Better Than Ezra – Good

6. 311 – Amber

7. U2 – Beautiful Day

8. Tonic – If You Could Only See

9. Lifehouse – Sick Cycle Carousel

10. Switchfoot – You. I remember screaming (or at least attempting to) to Jon Foreman to perform ‘You’ while watching them perform live in KL, but they didn’t; oh well at least I got to briefly touch his hand that night 😀

The Illustrations 8: Mother and Child

This is my second painting on canvas, based on Larry William’s ‘Mother Holding Baby’ photo. Had the urge to do this since finding out that both my cousin and sister are pregnant, two weeks apart.

What I Have Been Up To Recently 4

This is now my main reason of existence.

Or at least, I have to make it as such if I want it to be done by late April. I’m currently still working on the questionnaire design, still fixing it wherever necessary and scratching my head on how to best translate it into Malay without making people laugh or cringe at my mediocre grasp on the language (I got a B4 for Bahasa Melayu SPM, I know, shame on me).

I’m also working on a new painting; here Pretty has unceremoniously made it his sitting pad. I don’t really mind, as long as he doesn’t scratch at it. Anything to keep him happy (he’s extra sensitive now apparently) and off my laptop, haha.

My beloved Moleskines. These two are the ones I carry with me daily; the one on the left is the Helvetica Moleskine and the one on the right is the Extra Small Daily Planner in maroon.

Went to Las Vacas for dinner, and I ordered the lamb shoulder because they had already ran out of lamb burger patties. All together now: OHHH YEAHHH.

The Illustrations 7: In Solitude

So after using acrylic paints for the first time for the birthday box projects, I started getting the impulse to paint acrylic on canvas.

Now I am an extremely impulsive person. Not long after I had the impulse, I was in the car and driving to Weststar even though I was working on a proofreading job at the time (a weakness, I know, but the job was still completed on time!) I don’t know if its a Scorpio thing, but then again maybe its just me.

So this is the first one, which is basically an extension of my Human x Nature series with the foliage theme. Made the mistake of doing the freehand sketch with a 2B pencil; to my chagrin, the carbon rubbed off and mixed with the paint. So now I’m using a Derwent 3H pencil, which doesn’t rub off when I fill in the sketch with paint- 100% win. Lesson learned 😀

 

Birthday Box

It started off innocently enough.

I meant to paint Kuhaz a painting of a birthday cake for her birthday in January. So I went to Weststar looking for brushes, acrylic paints and the all-important canvas, this being the first time in quite a LONG time I’ve picked up a brush. But in Weststar, I became a kid in a candy store. (The same effect happens to me when I am in an actual candy store.) I saw that they were selling unfinished wooden boxes that one can paint, shellac, whatever… and since a wooden box can hold in all sorts of things…

The rest is history.

This is the one I did for Kuhaz:

This is the top view, pre-lacquer. This pattern is kind of my signature thing already, I’ve drawn them in many of my Moleskine sketches (e.g the Human x Nature series).

Side view. The pattern wraps all around the box.

Another side view. The cat subtly wanted to be in the picture, hence why he’s hiding behind the box.

 

And this is the one I did for Hasanah, who is one of my oldest friends in terms of friendship years:

Did a zebra-print pattern for this box, as it’s her favourite 🙂

 

Actually after I finished painting the zebra print, I painted on a latch and hinges with gold acrylic paint to make the box look like a jewellery box. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures 😐 And really, it’s amazing how clear spray-on lacquer could fill in the tiny white dots in the black patterns (as seen in the third picture).

The Illustrations 6: Hanging

I have this replica of a vintage Coca-Cola advertisement on my table, facing me when I’m doing work on my laptop. So as I was typing this, it was a moment of

‘Oh hey I have the glass that the woman is shown drinking from!’

Delicious Refreshing Drink Coca-Cola. Sold Everywhere 5 cents.

But actually this drawing has nothing to do with Coca-Cola. A brief advertisement, if you will, because I’m easily distracted. Anyway the drawing is again drawn in ink in a Moleskine, then quickly scanned and edited with my iPod. I should start saving up for a scanner instead of a bag, bags won’t help me scan and edit my drawings. Though they make me look good.

 

Again, sorry for the crap quality. Might repost this drawing again in coloured form, but that’ll have to wait till after I get my laptop reformatted and get Photoshop installed. Oh and the Sims. Of course.

Words Are Private Mirrors 3

 

It’s easy to overlook many things,

When the ear listens

To only what the heart tells.

Drawn using ink in a Sketchbook Moleskine, scanned using my iPod and quickly edited in Photoshop Express. I NEED a proper scanner and full-feature Photoshop in my laptop, damn it.

 

The Illustrations 5: OCD

For all those who have major OCD.

Lighting was wonky due to my ineptitude in maximizing the use of a DSLR. On another note, I’ve also decided to be less heavy-handed in shading my drawings.

As Kanye West says… #itsaprocess 😀

Words Are Private Mirrors 2

I’m only happy with my happiness

-Jimmy Eat World, Higher Devotion

What I Have Been Up To Recently 3: As A Student

Today, I shall take you past my so-called creative side and show you my reality, which is that of a transportation and highway engineering student. Which is also the reason I have disappeared from the blogosphere for nearly a month, plus proofreading, plus sheer laziness out of not knowing what to write about because it’s also been quite a while since I drew in my Moleskine.

I do have my lazy phases. Anyway.

This is at the platform of the KTM Komuter train I’ve been taking to class for nearly one and a half years now, and still am because my mother doesn’t allow me to drive alone at night Well, except for my classes on Saturdays. And now the train is at the heart of my final year project, for which I had just presented my research proposal. Not too many questions asked, thank God! I was really thanking God that I had decided not to kill myself by doing something that would have required me to utilize statistical models; statistics and mathematics not exactly being my forte. Those who did were grilled mercilessly, hence me thanking God profusely while in the meeting room.

I’m also taking Pavement Materials this semester, which requires me to learn about road pavement materials. Yes, road pavement. That thing your cars always roll over, and which you probably don’t really think about unless there are massive potholes damaging your car suspensions. Also, unless if you’re taking Pavement Materials like me.

So last week we had to do some lab work in designing the mix for road pavements. You won’t see my face, because obviously I was the one taking pictures and anyway, how can one camwhore in a pavement lab?? It somehow sounds silly.

This is the end product. I have the before pictures in my Blackberry… but ah they’re not as clear as these, which I took with Papa’s DSLR. Don’t they look like sticky black cakes? Albeit made out of stones.

Heating up the pavement samples as part of the testing procedure. Half an hour, 60 degrees Celsius.

The poor pavement sample being subjected to stress so as to check for deformations, to see the pavement stability when subjected to traffic loads.

Deformed black sticky cakes. Those stains on the floor are asphalt stains; they’re on the floor, on the table, in the ovens and even on the walls. Don’t ask me how the asphalt got on the walls, I find it weird myself, I don’t know if anyone had a ‘throw asphalt to the wall’ competition or something.

And there you have it! My rather unsexy reality of being an engineering student.