Saturday 29 January 2011

Day 217- Whodunit?



4 Pillows


&


A Temple


Her work populates blog posts and is well known in blog land amongst our community. I am sure some of you already recognise her signature pieces like these gifts I received on 21/12/2010, just before Christmas.

And here, you can see she has made them specially for my India

Thank you, my sweet friend!

Kisses and Hugs
Kisses and Hugs
Kisses and Hugs
Kisses and Hugs

Friday 21 January 2011

Days of Convalescence


It's been 10 days since my last post. I haven't been busy, in fact, it's quite the other way around.


For the 1st time in my life, I am on extended medical leave that could go beyond  a month. Lucky me and  I mean it .  I am not seriously ill . I have just undergone a procedure which required a  period of convalescence, that's all.


So I am now the envy of all and sundry, alright, maybe just my sisters. I get to rest at home all day and only wake up to mum's gentle voice urging me that I must eat so that I can take my pills. My dear sweet mum, who is already well known on this blog, brings me her comfort food in the green enamel tiffin carrier every day, twice a day. As a special treat today, she prepared cut fruits in plastic containers  wrapped  in a kerchief which I gobbled in 1 seating. And of course, her endless supply of ginger date tea which eases my troubled tummy.

Details from tiffin carrier

I always thought that if  I were on medical leave, I would  have some quality time to spend on my minis. Alas, this is not the case so far because of the lethargy. I could only stitch and only a little.  But today, mum and her food warranted some pictures and a post.

And so I finally open my laptop....


...and it was especially nice to  read that my ribbons have arrived in various parts of the world . When I read your posts or your emails telling me about the ribbons, it's like receiving bouquets of flowers  from you.Thank you, my friends. I just want you to know that you have been very good company for a convalescing me today.

Tuesday 11 January 2011

Day 218-219-Burlesque Boudoir


There is a small corner of my world few have seen. It is a place where I let my hair down, a space where I allow chaos to reign and  a home I built for the other me


This space is riotous, messy and whimsical. It is pink, loud and showy. A niche for a nautch girl, the boudoir of the burlesque, needless to say, I love my little corner of the world.


All the personality of this room is contained snugly in what I call my dancer's dresser where I lay some of my most outrageous accessories.


There is the tribal necklace I bought from Pakistan


and the matching bangle with attached rings for each finger.


And then there's  this dramatically risque choker from Rosanna for the last Christmas. Imagine wearing nothing else but this around your neck.  Is this what they call Neo-burlesque? Whatever it is, it suits my room to a T.


Just like the mesmerizing necklace I won at Eva's giveaway. I can just imagine using the blue swirly circles to hypnotise my prey.


Then there's the girly side of me that I don't even show myself....


YET, I just can't stop it from surfacing


again


and again.


This is the place I keep the things I love,
store the memories I treasure


dream my impossible dream.

All the places  I want to go


All the things I want to see


My excesses


My indulgence


All here in this little corner for a dancer.


The Showgirl In Me

Ever since I was little, I had performed, be it acting, singing or dancing, sometimes all three. My very 1st was in kindergarten when I played a little cat in a Chinese musical. I remembered asking the teacher for the lead role, the chick, but she said no.


This picture was taken when I was 11. It was my first big performance because it was inter-school, meaning we got to perform in a public theatre, attended not only by our parents, but  other important people. Of course, it was an Indian dance. Again I got a role I didn't want. I played  a boy because I was tall when all I wanted was to wear the pretty sari. I was the last girl-boy on the stairs with the blue bandana that look kind of greenish in this picture.


I finally took control of my own dancer destiny and became a choreographer when I went to university. Ewa, this is Big In Japan, an item I choreographed for the hostel Talentime. I was the center girl with long hair, playing the vamp instead of the demure, partnering who I wanted and wearing what I fancied.


Here is us again, minus all the glam. The trophy I was holding led me to believe we won a prize, probably 2nd but I really cannot remember.



This is a newspaper cutting of an article on Beauty World, the first homegrown musical production in  Singapore  back in 1988.  My biggest break in showbiz and I played a cabaret girl from the 60's. This  was the best role for loads of  fun and laughter because being in the chorus meant you have lesser pressure and way more friends. This production went for 5 runs and I was in 3 of them, including the one where we toured 4 cities in Japan. In this picture, I was the 2nd girl from the right with a pink kebaya top and an orange sarong plus a matching kerchief covering my mouth.

Chinese New Year is round the corner and of course, I did some spring cleaning. This year I decided to work on my dressing room, dusting forgotten corners and an almost forgotten past. Thanks to Ewa, I am sharing a small part of this past with you.

Wednesday 5 January 2011

Day 193-From India With Love


I rarely post or even photograph  things I made for friends so I don't really know why I decided to do it for the things I made for Flora. I guess I was flattered when Flora asked me to make her some rusty tin cans. It was  at once strange but exhilarating to know that someone actually might really  like MY trash.


I was in a bit of a conundrum as Flora and my style appears to be diametrically opposite. She is delicate, fine and aristocratic whilst I am rough, old and tribal. Flora assured me however that a Victorian kitchen can also be grimy and filthy.  That's where this 3 cans would  definitely belong.


I also decided I should make some cans with  flowers in as Victorianly Indian way as I could make them. So I added some antique Flora prints to the cans and put in some dried  flowers sprayed in french blue.


For good measure, I added baskets of coal and wood and a stacked pot of almost dead plant, hoping to marry my Indian with her Victorian in even more ways. And as I shot these pictures in late September 2010, I finally discovered, after almost 2 years of photographing my minis, I could take ambient pictures just by placing a white light in front of the subject matter. 


I was so excited at how much my  pictures have improved that I have been wanting to post these pictures since that day in September . These gifts however decided to arrive in Italy only in January this year. Flora made them her 1st post for 2011. And so shall I, albeit with far less poetry.

To make up,  I shall leave you with one of my favourite sayings about gifts. 

Yesterday is history.
Tomorrow is a mystery.
And Today? 
Today is a gift, that's why we call it The Present. 
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