Half an hour sketching.......sorry Chris DeGarmo

Not being a laptop owner does have its drawback when traveling. I thought long and hard about what to do at night in my hotel room as I packed my bag on Wednesday.

Thought about bringing some clippings from my old metal mags but decided not to for fear of the stuff losing at the airport. So, I made quick colour copies of the pages I wanted on my printer.

Then, I remember a pencil drawing that my new friend Natsumi from Japan emailed to me. She said she did it in an hour.

My new Japanese artist friend Natsumi sent me this Ingo Schwichtenberg sketch because she knew I love Ingo.
One hour sketching. Wow. See more of her amazing work here.

So, I packed my pencils, sketch book and colour pencil set wondering how close to that could I come up with in 1 hour.

It had been a long time since I last did a proper sketch of anything. It was tempting to draw Ingo but I needed a proper drawing session for him as I want to present him as beautiful as I can. One hour in a hotel room is NOT that time.

So, I moved on to another charming man. Propped on the hotel comfy bed, I sketched the face of a man I have long admired for his distinctively masculine super sharp angular features....Chris DeGarmo.

Chris DeGarmo sketching. I made him look like a girl!
This is 1/2 hour work. Natsumi's is way better.
It's Chris DeGarmo with his old permed long locks. I didn't finish the hair making him appear like a blond here.

Sorry Chris. I'll try to finish that drawing properly. For now, you kinda look a little feminine.

I miss blogging, Maruku recipe and bye bye Deepavali holidays!

OMG.....I feel ashamed looking at the number of posts I have made this month.

At one glance, it looks like I have run out of steam like I have given up on documenting the important moments of my life in the cyber world.

No, I haven't given up. It's just my work hours have taken over my life this month. We have new products starting this month. I lost a member and have to train TWO new ones who may not stay very long because our HR give them really crappy pay. Not to mention Mr.B handing me another letter from the doctor asking to assign him to a dust-free environment. Hello...knock...knock. This is Incoming QC Department where deliveries from our Suppliers arrive. What do you mean dust-free? Maybe he should work in the HR office making tea for the big bosses.

I can't believe I actually had to do OT today and possibly have to work on Deepavali holidays. For the last TWO weeks I was thinking about getting a good rest during the 4-day holidays but it's not meant to be. Hwaaahh!!!

An example of Maruku. This is just one of the many types of shapes.
View photo in its original context here at Resipi.net.

The recipe:

Ingredients A

250gm muruku flour (You may get it from Indian specialty store. Some people use 'rice flour' instead and some others use 'chickpea flour')
250gm glutinous flour
3 tsp sesame seeds (more for decorating purpose rather than taste)
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tsp curry powder
1 1/2 tsp 'jemuju' (A type of herb apparently. The scientific name is Plectranthus amboinicus. Other names I found from the net are Caraway powder, Mexican mint, Indian borage and Cuban oregano. I think it can easily be found at any Indian/Asian specialty shop like this here. Hey, my mother uses chopped curry leaves instead!)
1 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (coarsely ground)
2 tbs margarine / butter

Ingredients B (mixed together)

350 ml coconut milk (Some recipes use only water instead. Coconut milk, I believe, will give a richer taste)
1 egg
2 tsp salt
a bit of sugar (optional if you like a bit of sweetness to counterbalance the spices)

Method

1. Mix all ingredients A in a mixer.

2. Slowly add in Ingredients B.

3. Put the very soft dough into the 'maruku' pipe (one of those multi-attachment cookie makers will do).

4. Squeeze it out into swirls and fry them until golden.

Note : Sometimes, you can also use some tapioca flour just for that variety of taste. However, if using tapioca, coconut milk needs to be added more so that the 'dough' will stay 'pipeable'.

Deepavali always reminds me of my childhood days visiting my uncle in an estate community about 2-hrs drive away. He has an Indian family living next door and the wife would send to his house a HUGE tray of Indian delicacies especially 'maruku'. They were friendly and kind. I remember how life was simpler back then and we were never divided by the colours of our skins or our faiths.

Talking about Deepavali, which is the celebration of the festival of lights for the Hindus, I have always been fascinated by this Art called 'kolam' or 'rangoli' or 'alpana'. Normally made with coloured rice, it never fails to blow me away every time I see one.

I just LOVE the vibrant colours the designer uses here.

For this year, the nearby Jusco shopping centre has this one which uses 'fluorescent' colours such as shocking pink and lime green. Wow! This is just a small one here in the humble tiny city of Melaka. I wonder how are the 'kolam' displays over in Malaysia's capital city shopping malls.

Can I have this pretty screen for my home?



The whole design is based on the peacock.



A closer look at the peacock in the 'kolam'.

Thinking back, coming to work during the holidays mean I can finish my assignments peacefully because the bosses will be missing from the office.

So, this may be a blessing in disguise.

I'm hooked on GIFs and Glitters

A colleague of mine really influenced me into these.

It's quite recent as I wasn't that bothered about those GIFs and Glitter images people send in the emails before.

Then, this colleague asked me to find some for him to add to his collection. Suddenly, I was transferred to another world. It's amazing what creative people put out there.

Today, I found this one I really like. It's the Jonas Brothers GIF.

I like how the creator changed the pictures little by little and moved the writing at the back.

I hope to come up with something like this soon.

Batman and the Dates from Hell

Talking about Batman, I would like to share with everyone a book I bought more than a decade ago called Dates From Hell by Maryon Tysoe (published in 1994 by Headline Book Publishing) which is basically a collection of her readers and her friends/family's accounts of horror dating stories.

Ever since I became a working woman, my attention span has got shorter and shorter everyday. My love for reading is still intact though. Thus, this book is perfect for me.

The following is a story from it which has "Batman" as an unwelcomed character. This is not my story. I didn't write this. My intention is to share an example of how hilarious this book is.

Let's read the story..............

"Nigel was tall, thin and my boss - and not to my personal taste. But when he asked me out to see the newly released Batman I didn't hesitate to accept. After all, a cinema date, if not conducted in the back row, could hardly be a romantic minefield.

He turned up at my flat promptly. When we were alone, he announced that he had a surprise for me but first needed to use the loo. He was in there about 10 minutes, during which I heard a lot of mysterious fumbling noises and started worrying about that.

Finally Nigel called from the bathroom for me to switch off all the lights and turn to face the window. After assuring me it would be harmless, I duly followed. When he told me to turn round, I saw.......

BATMAN.

Nigel stood in the doorway, the only light coming from the street lamp outside. He raised his wings and there he was, fully kitted in a replica of Batman's suit complete with black rubber mask and pointy ears and underwear outside his tights.

He swooped towards me but I was too busy laughing. I jumped out of the way and he almost fell out of the window. When he recovered his composure, he informed me that we were going to the cinema in a hired 'Batmobile'. And no, he would not be changing out of his outfit.

With that, we motored toward the city centre, me with my eyes tightly shut, dying of embarrassment. He drove slowly in an open-topped old black Cadillac adorned with a gigantic Bat motif, acknowledging the very excited pedestrians who surrounded us at every traffic light stop.

We parked 10 minutes' walk from the cinema. I trailed as far behind Nigel as I could while he swooped along the pavement, stopping people and buses in their tracks.

When we took our seats in the cinema, practically the entire audience applauded him. I sank lower and lower into my seat. When the film started, he knew every damn line Batman spoke - and joined in with him, much to the annoyance of everyone within earshot. Apparently Nigel had seen the film 10 times, and it had only been out there 3 weeks!

When we eventually got home, he kissed my cheek and his rubber mask stuck sweatily to my skin. I went to bed shellshocked, grateful at least that The Shining had not been his favourite movie."

While the above story isn't mine, the following picture however is mine.

I drew this inspired by the story above. The colours were painted in using Microsoft Paint. Hope you like it :-)

Dating in a Batmobil!

(Note* Kaulitz twins are here ....wink...wink.....)

Doodling in the Office

Talking about the office, I've been a bit adventurous with pencil and paper lately.

Different people do different things to relieve stress.

I've been reminiscing of my younger days when I was always lost in my own world when I drew or painted.

One day, I was feeling the pressure at work and I started to doodle.

This is what I ended up with.

He just came to my mind.......Bill Kaulitz. I love the fact that he actually looks like a Manga character in real life and I'm inspired to do this.

The most fun part is the hair of course!

I want to do more and more of these. I've been in this Engineering job for too long, I'm missing my arty roots.





Bill Kaulitz in a doodle