self portrait painting

Many famous artists have painted self portrait paintings..

Forms of expression of how they see themselves and how they may think the world sees them...

I never thought I would do a self portrait. But I think I have without realising it.

About a year ago now I did a painting of a woman's face in about 3 hours and gave it to a friend of mine. I didn't think much of it, but after visiting my friend's house several times and looking at it, I actually think it's a self portrait I did without realising...

I don't have a picture of it but over the next few days I will be visiting my friend again, so I will take a picture of it and put it up here...

In the meantime, here are some examples of self portraits that some famous artists are done. You will find it interesting how they are all so different. One artist may do several self portraits and all will have a different look and feel, depending on how they feel about themselves and how they view the world at the time..


Rembrandt


Matisse




Van Gogh



Munch




Frida Kahlo

This woman suffered lots of personal emotional trauma. She suffered very severe injuries in a bus accident which left her unable to have children. Her self portraits have a lot of depth and some are really quite shocking...

I would have put some of her more shocking self portraits here, but some of you may find them offensive....

For those who are interested, please go to this site to have a look

http://www.fbuch.com/fridaby.htm



Picasso

One of my favourite artists. I love his work in cubism. Very interesting to see how he represented himself in different self portraits.





Monet

Beauty Secrets from the East - Holistic Healing - Episode 6

Beauty Secrets from the East
Monday 23rd of July
7.30 pm
Only on TV3

ning and omar's engagement

As I'm writing this, I am still wearing the baju kurung I wore to Ning and Omar's engagement...

And for anyone who logs onto this site starting from 1.30am, 20th July until the time the newspapers hit the news stands, you will probably be the first few people to see a photograph of the man who has won the heart of Malaysian diva, Ning Baizura...



Sorry Vernon (aka Mr Manager), I beat you to this one this time..... :) But you still love me.....

It was a beautiful event...



Not too big, with all of Ning's family and close friends there to support her and Omar on this special memorable occasion.

Ning was absolutely glowing... obvious that she is a woman in love....



Of course there was plenty of press there to cover this special night....



Plenty of pretty dayang - dayang......


Mr Manager with two of his darling dayangs, Maple and I... Doesn't Vernon look so sweet in his baju melayu? :)


The bride - to - be and I....



Ning and Omar, I wish you both the best....

I am so happy for you Ning..... You deserve to be happy.....


Vernon will also be writing about this auspicious occasion on his site, so do go by and have a look at www.mrmanager.blogspot.com

and Maple's site at www.mapleloo.blogspot.com

aaaaaaarrrgghh!

as I was driving home from work today.... this is how I felt...


AAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!!!!

Above is a painting by Edvard Munch titled 'The Scream'....

Perfect representation of how I felt...

I was disappointed, angry, upset, hurt..... some things I am hoping for haven't been happening and some other things I am hoping won't happen are happening.....

At first I thought of going for retail therapy..... bit hard when I have limited funds.... so no point going to a shopping centre..

Then I thought of going to have a nice big piece of chocolate cake at Bakerzin, Marmalade of Alexis.... But for some reason, I just don't feel like eating...

I don't drink, smoke or do drugs so the only thing left I could do is go home and do something a lot less self destructive....

I did a painting...

And this is the result of 2 hours of just sitting in front of an empty canvas....



I told myself "do WHATEVER you want... no rules.. no restrictions.... no need to justify to anybody why..."

Something I don't understand about myself though is everytime I do a painting when I am upset, the end result of the painting doesn't look like it's been done by someone who is upset...

actually, when I look at it now, I feel quite free.... the little abstract figures look like they are floating away....

I don't have a title for it...

You got any ideas?

Sex and the City movie

Various sources on the internet claim that there will be a Sex and the City movie which should commence shooting within the next year...

YAAAAHOOOOO!!!!!!

I'M SOOOOOOOOOOO HAPPY!!!!

Really hope it happens...

victoria beckham aka posh spice

I'm not exactly a big fan of victoria...

I find her accent a little annoying, I really cannot stand her current blonde hairstyle....

Sometimes she looks like she's trying too hard.. like here!



her long hair extensions always looked fake....

but... i do really love some of her clothes and given the opprotunity to raid her wardrobe, i would take it in a heart beat.. though I'm SURE NOTHING will fit me... I really wonder what is it she does, or does not do to to get that thin....



I personally I think she looks best like this...



Easy and natural....

The way all of us look our best....

Beauty Secrets from the East - Hair Care

Shiny, healthy hair... Soft to touch.... Long and flowing.... Every woman wants beautiful hair... In this episode I try various hair treatments, all made with natural ingredients... To find out more, tune in to TV3, Monday, 7.30 pm, 16th July.

gwen

So Gwen Stefani is coming to KL...

Cool....

I don't exactly like all her songs and do sometimes think to myself "apa bendalah budak ni pakai?!" when I see some of the 'clothes' she wears...

But, I nearly died of envy when I saw her video " What Are You Waiting For?"

Those clothes she wore!!! AAAAARGH!!!! I loved them all!!!

Such a fantastic interpretation of "Alice in Wonderland"

Sigh...... Wondering when I will get a chance to wear bigger than big statement making clothes like that....

also made me ask myself, "what am I waiting for?"

Malacca

some pictures to share with you from when I was shooting in Malacca last week...

The photo above was taken at the Puri Hotel where we did some shooting. I'm wearing a vintage kebaya loaned to us from our contact in Malacca. If you want to experience staying in a Peranakan style hotel while in Malacca, I would definitely recommend this hotel. I loved every minute shooting there cause it was just so nice....

I REALLY DID NOT want to hold this Iguana! But my director INSISTED that I do it!

So I did... (obviously!)

And still managed to smile for the camera...

And despite the Iguana smelling really bad, it was actually well behaved. Didn't scratch me... as long as I didn't move, he didn't move either!

During Explorace I had to hold frogs and snakes too...

Again, I didn't really want to but hey, if the contestants can do it, so can I!

And it's funny how once you've done it, it just doesn't seem so bad anymore....
And how could I not have a ride on one of these super colourful beca!

The episode on Malacca will shown on air in August... I shall keep you informed!

Everlyne Tai

While I was walking around in Malacca while shooting last week, I just happened to walk into a shop selling a variety of things as I was going to the Puri Hotel to shoot... When I saw these paintings that just made me stop and stare...

As I just stood there staring at all these beautiful paintings, a sweet girl comes up to me and asks, "Hi Miss, can I help you, are you looking for something?"

"Yes, I'm interested to find out more about the artist who did these paintings. Is he/ she local? Where can I find this person?"

"Actually, I'm the artist...." she replied...

"Wow! I REALLY love your paintings! There are so beautiful and detailed!"

"Oh thank you..... there are more.....want to have a look?"

"Of course!!!"

So I looked around the shop at her paintings... and spent some time talking to her asking about her inspirations and the content of her work...

This painting has many layers of meaning... the woman is holding a flower of paradise which relates to the background of the painting. In search of a new paradise, Chinese merchants (among others Indian, Arab, Portugese and Dutch) came to Malacca in the 15th century in search of trade. They came by the sea and traded by barter system on their boats in the river. Some of the Chinese merchants ended up staying in Malacca and marrying locals, hence creating the Peranakan culture. The background represents the ideal life these merchants came in search of and found in Malacca. Of course it's every womans dream to find stability complete with a safe home...see how the clouds cover her head a bit and the water effect to the left of the buildings? this is what it all means.... also, the flower of paradise only grows in tropical climates, referring to the climate in Malacca..

not just a pretty painting... it all has a symbolic meaning to the artist...

This one, though not very big, has beautiful fine detail...She told me it took a long time to do the details of this painting. I believe her. Just look at the panel that the woman is leaning against...so intricate... it reminds me of the work I saw in the Baba Nyonya Heritage Musuem.

I began to ask Everlyne, why does she like kebayas so much until it plays such a pivotal motif in her paintings?

When she was young, her baby sitter, mother and grandmother always wore beautiful kebayas with matching sarong batik. She always loved looking at the clothes they wore and admired them... such admiration has been carried through into adult life and influenced her artistic expression.

I adore the jewellery detail on these abstract portraits of nyonyas....Everlyne told me that she actually researched details, patterns, designs and motifs of antique and vintage peranakan jewellery in books to inspire the jewellery these ladies are wearing... these portraits have such strong character to me.

As Everlyn put it best "Why wouldn't anyone be inspired by the beauty of the kebaya and jewellery?!"

I totally agree!

The way the faces have been abstracted has been inspired by the make up worn by Chinese opera performers and Classical Indian dancers.

Everlyne once had an Indian teacher who taught her how to put on eyeliner the way the classical Indian dancers. Obviously, it's a lesson that has stuck with her...

To see Everlyn's enchanting paintings, you can go to

Earth Collections

64 Jalan Tun Tan Cheng Lok

75200 Melaka

Phone Number - 06 286 1210

Prices range from RM 800 - RM 2500

It's always a joy to see beautiful art........

Beauty Secrets from the East - Episode 4 - Traditional Bath

Monday - 9th of June 2007
7.30 pm
Only on TV3

Happy canary dress... love it or hate it?

For my regular readers, you may remember that I wore this dress to this year's Cameronian Arts Awards.

Just last night, I wore it again to two different functions in the same night...

Every girl/ woman/ lady who saw me wearing this dress said to me things like
"Oh my God! I love your dress! It's so cute! It's so pretty! Where did you get it? Can I get one too? I wish I could wear something like that!"

Pretty positive reponse....

Every man who saw me wearing this dress though, if they knew me, looked at me like I had lost my mind and if they didn't know me, gave off this vibe that I must be insane cause I'm wearing this dress....

This dress fascinates me now...

Never have I worn something that has received such a vast difference in reactions from both sexes...

Women seem to love it.... and men just absolutely hate it!

But on both nights that I wore it, I felt very happy.... because it is such is such a fun unusual dress!

That's why I've named it my 'Happy Canary Dress'....

And gentlemen, I will wear this dress AGAIN!

Malacca

go to

http://www.melakatoday.blogspot.com

see a picture of me at a place I visited in Melaka yesterday...

Sarawak and Kebayas

About 10 days ago I was shooting in Sarawak...

So of course, I was dressed up as Puteri Santubong.... the legendary Sarawakian princess immortalised forever....


We shot this scene at the Cultural Village...



And my goodness, did everyone there know what we were doing...

Just as we were setting up to shoot, a group of people on tour arrived and most of them watch 'Beauty Secrets from the East' and the rest knew about it or knew me....

Suddenly, I was posing for pictures with over 50 people and my director had to stop shooting...

A Mat Salleh couple who witnessed this little circus asked one of the Cultural Village staff "Why is everyone taking pictures with her? Is she famous or something?"

To which the man replied "Yes! she's a host with TV3!"

Of course that information didn't really have any significance to them but they took a picture with me anyway!

We shot in many locations and one of them was at Tribal Remedy...

I tried the reflexology.. I love reflexology and there it was one of the best reflexology sessions I've ever had.... though at some points I was in so much pain!



At tribal remedy, they also had a really nice section selling kebayas...



I can't remember if I've mentioned this before but I absolutely love kebayas....

And Aunty was wearing one of the most gorgeous vintage kebaya's I've ever seen...


Animal motifs are not that easy to find on kebayas so I wished I owned this kebaya! I would love to have one with a peacock or phoenix on it!

Of course I looked at every Kebaya in the store...

I was very proudly telling the crew earlier that I have been very good about saving money, but when I saw these kebayas, I totally lupa diri!



So I got one for myself and one for my mother cause she always said she wants an embroidered one and she doesn't have one.. well, now she does!


If you're ever in Sarawak, visit them there or have a look at their website www.tribalremedy.com

A good friend of mine gave me 3 totally vintage kebayas that used to belong to her grandmother. I couldn't believe it when she was actually thinking of throwing them out!!! Thank goodness she gave them to me. I plan to display them in my room....

Embroidered kebayas are really little works of art, so if you have any, passed down to you from aunties/ grandmothers/ mothers... don't throw them out!!!! Display them in your house as they really are nice to just look at.... or just send them to me at TV3....

Footage shot in Sarawak will be shown on 'Beauty Secrets from the East' in August...

My crew and I were really well received and looked after in Sarawak. Everywhere we went, people came up to us and said how they watch the show and even asked me questions about the beauty treatments I talk about on the show... We love it that you watch the show which is the results of a lot of time and hard work..Thank you for your support...

And speaking of crew, here is one of them...

His name is Zul. He smokes a lot. Keeps the microphone for my shoots in a 'Beauty Secrets of the East' make up (I host the show and even I don't have one of those make up bags!) and has no problems carrying my gold show girl like shoes... And here is proof that he can do all of it at once!


More behind the scenes stories of 'Beauty Secrets of the East' coming soon!