girl with cat

 

Girl with Cat, acrylic on paper

O my stars

 I made some water colours for my cover of Michael Hurley's O My Stars.

Josephine's keys

Nurse

Words

Josephine's key

we are all animals

I was raining. I played my ebony baritone ukulele and sang this song by Kimya Dawson. Laurie added harmonies over. I made the drawings in a cold room that smelled of disinfectant. When I looked in the mirror later, I saw an eyelash on my face.

There's Someone Outside My Door

I got inspired to write this song after reading a short story about an old lady who kept hearing voices outside her flat, often to find out that there was no one there. This started to happen after the death of her husband. One day, however, there WAS someone outside her door....

There's Someone Outside My Door by Sia Joo Hiang, 2015 

There' someone outside my door 

There's someone outside my door 

Always at night, since my baby's gone. 

I can hear his heavy footfalls 

I can hear his heavy footfalls 

There's someone outside my door. 

My neighbours, they like to whisper 

My neighbours like to whisper 

They say: There's no one outside her door. 

The police boy gave me a look 

The police boy gave me a look 

It said: It must be DEMENTIA. 

My children, they all think that I am mad 

My children all think that I am mad 

They say: It's time to call the doctor! 

I may be old, but I am not mad. 

All my teeth have fallen out, but I am not mad. 

I am telling you, there's someone outside my door! 

There's someone outside my door 

There's someone outside my door 

Right now, outside my door! 

I played concert ukulele and sang, and made the illustrations using ink with brush, and pen.

glitterbread

a poem by Brian Moses that I put to music today. Banjo ukulele, voice, wooden frog percussion, laundry scrub, crows' noises, drawings

I'm so bored with pitta bread I want glitterbread. Bread that gleams when it catches the light, bread that glows like the stars at night, Bread the sparkles then starts to shimmer, bread that dazzles and never grows dimmer, Bread that lights my way back home, bread that shines like a precious stone I want glitterbread all the time, something new that's totally mine.

nothing

 

maggie and milly and molly and may

I was thinking about partings and loss today. While reading, I came across this poem by E. E Cummings. It describes what I feel about loss and partings. I put it to music and made the drawings. i used a plastic uke to make that beat. 

here is the poem: 

maggie and milly and molly and may 

went down to the beach(to play one day) 

and maggie discovered a shell that sang 

so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,

and milly befriended a stranded star 

whose rays five languid fingers were; 

and molly was chased by a horrible thing 

which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:

and may came home with a smooth round stone 

as small as a world and as large as alone. 

For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) 

it's always ourselves we find in the sea.

a cup of tea

some cartoons and an original songlet about my love for tea

an imaginary bird + an English ballad

 

what are you reading today? DAY 12

 

Cat reads Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni

what are you reading today? Day 11

 Today I read several children books at the library. Loved all of them! Here are 2:

Joo reads Sam, Bangs & Moonshine by Evaline Ness

Sam, Bangs & Moonshine is about a girl who tells lies like her life depends on it. And as you can see from the cover, there is a cat in the story. Not all stories with cats in them are good, but this one is.

What makes this an even better story is that there is a boy who BELIEVES everything the girl says.  Yep. Sweet...? Or... sad? You decide.  Anyway, so one day something happens, and the girl never lies again....well, not the bad sort of lies! This is a great book, with absolutely wonderful illustrations from the great Evaline Ness. 

Joo reads The Snow Maze by Jan Mark

A boy finds a strange-looking key which unlocks a gate that makes him see what others can't. Because they can't see what he sees, everyone laughs at him, except one friend. I made this drawing based on the book cover, and added myself standing next to the boy. Yep, I really got into the story. :--) A wonderful book. Nice illustrations too.

asleep

 

Monk

m a m a

SUN-day

 when it is SUN- day, we do the Calico Dance!

It is basically playing a song that has 3 chords and then you dance to it with 3 simple movements. And repeat. It helps if you wear 3 colours.

Calico Dance

Bird

After that, you can start painting! There is no need to make any sketches or plan anything, nor do you need any concept or meaning, just take a few colours, and apply random lines and shapes on the paper. We recommend not more than 4 colours. If a bird comes walking into your painting, you can decide to ask it to leave or let it stay.

Earth

Then we recommend you go out and get your hands dirty. Dirt is good for you.

Going For A Walk

Go for a walk somewhere. Anywhere. If you have a place that you wanna get to, it DOES NOT count. You gotta just walk for the walk itself.

Benny

Meet up with a friend. Even if it is IMPOSSIBLE to do so. Find a way. 

Walking Stick

It's A Good Life, If You Don't Weaken.

it's all in your mind

 Today I walked out and saw the sky.

Then I saw the bird on the building.

Here is another "thing" in tight spaces. The wolf doesn't mind so long he is wearing his favourite clothes. He reads a book called Wolf by Gillian Cross. It won some prize, that was why he wanted to read it. (I have read it and found it boring. But the cover painting was beautiful. I checked out the guy who painted it, and sadly could not find any more of his art. Makes me think there must be so many great painters out there making paintings no one sees. The wolf, however, doesn't give a damn about paintings or unknown painters...)

Anyway.

Those book prizes...every kind of work seems to need some sort of valuation or validation or award to be recognised or appreciated.....This is the wolf's living room. Cool, huh?

I was looking at a book on butterflies today....they are amazing....the world we live in is amazing

I was also thinking about that thing about Val thinking that she was imagining the vibration in her boots. when there was INDEED an insect trapped in there....and it occured to me that most folks around me think of Imaginative as a negative quality to have when you are an adult. When you were a little kid, being imaginative was OK. Well, I think it was a natural thing for little kids. Perhaps that was how they try to learn and cope with a confusing, scary world - they IMAGINE.

(and we continue to do that all through our life...)

I am not imagining it, but did you know that the vulture can blush? Yep. Their skin becomes pink when excited or angry.  

I think that is a lovely pink colour on that vulture. This same book describes them as "ugly". I think this is not the best book for a child.

Speaking of colours, I was eating a piece of crushed raspberry Dragon fruit while looking at butterflies and vultures and -  I stained my clothes. 

And I had to make this for J. D., my eating buddy who knows my hearty (messy) eating habits.

and then of course many other words came to mind when Stain happened....

And, because I was thinking about J.D. and his incredible endurance for my messy eating habits, I made another comic so that those stains won't happen in vain!!! HAHA!

To end the day, here is the REAL calico cat sleeping outside the tennis court. Everything is good.

something that was REALLY there

 So it had been trapped inside her socks all this while.

How did it get inside her boots?

How did it feel being squished against the clammy foot for 20 miles?

Does it have something to do with that giant Naples Yellow calico cat?

WE HAVE 20 SECONDS TO WORK THIS OUT.

she drove for 20 miles thinking she was imagining something that was REALLY there.

THINGS in TIGHT SPACES

Insect

The artist as an insect

Clammy foot

Perhaps the cat has the answers to these questions?

Imagination

 " Val felt something vibrating in her boots. She thought it was her imagination, and continued driving for another 20 miles. When she finally removed her boots a huge stripey yellow and black insect flew out."

the observer is the observed

 

Portrait of Krishnamurti

calico cat

 

nest

 

monoprints

 I had some fun making some prints the other day. Here are a few of them. You can see more in the video Will It Overturn in my previous post.

Man and Dog

Giant Head 

Aggressive and Passive

An Intense Conversation

Hungry Dog

Happy Dog

Laughing Dog

Wil It Overturn?

 A video I made for a song by my friend Kelvin Tan.  You can listen and buy the track here https://open.spotify.com/track/0bJyDvqdeC5Zs2JFEOeVbc

I used some simple animations and monoprints to create this video.

freedom

self portrait

 

self portraits

 

Birbs