Photos: Singapore Watercolor & Lettering Workshop 2016

Can’t believe it’s been 2 weeks after the workshops in Singapore! :O So many months of anticipating & preparing for this & it just flew by so fast. I still miss my trips to the Hawker Center with Abbey. Haha. I’m also still grateful for all the opportunities that came this year! Finally, still LOLing at how this workshop was executed without extra help in SG. Abbey & I were our own assistants from preparing kits, lugging around stuff, being our own photographer / videographer….all that while holding a workshop as well! 😀 Hahaha.

I told myself that I will try doing a vlog during this trip. I didn’t know what I would end up producing but I just knew how to operate a DSLR just because I love taking photos. While we were thousands of feet above the air plus while stuck in transit on the way home, I just felt like editing and putting everything together.

I just went ahead and took a few shots here and there not really noticing that I actually went home with more videos than photos from a trip for the first time in my life. I didn’t know what my output would be. While the hubby already knows how to edit videos, I only tried my hand at it this year because I wanted to compile Riley’s videos.

I may be far from expert mode at vlogging or creating videos in general but I realized, I can just learn along the way just as I did with graphics and motherhood. You see, moms aren’t really equipped with manuals. I had to do a lot of reading about babies especially during the early part of the year. I swear, I can already give you facts & trivias about pregnancy & babyhood! Haha. Aside from mommyhood, there are also things to “study” like how to fold a stroller, how to operate a sterilizer, milk pump et cetera. I guess being thrown out of my comfort zone every day has probably made me scared about learning new things instead of just delegating anything mechanical to the hubby. 😀

When I went to SG last year for a couple of workshops, I didn’t know if I will still be able to have the opportunity given that I have a family now so thanks to all those who came & thanks to all those who shared their energy.

Above is the output of Charlotte Lee, one of the participants who also joined last year’s workshop in SG. Abbey & I did our fair share of shopping too and we’re both so proud of ourselves for not hoarding art supplies this time. We only got what we need. *Tries to recall everything that we bought and wonders how we both earned our Art Friend membership card.* *Clears throat.* Yes, we only bought what we needed. 😀

If there’s one thing I indulged myself in though, I tried to immerse myself in visuals. When I travel, I can go home without buying a piece of clothing but my luggage will always be heavy with paper which could be:

(a) notebooks, sketch pads, watercolor paper
I remember that during my 2014 trip to Italy, people were asking me what signature bag I bought & I told them I just bought paper & they can’t believe me.

Above are leaflets from Singapore’s National Design Centre

Still LOLing at how much time we spent looking at these stickers by the gallery entrance. ? ICYMI, I uploaded a sneak peek of my @visit_singapore vlog in my previous post here on IG! Hope to finish editing my trip with @abbeysy soon! ?? ?#ShareTheMoment with #HuaweiGR5 #GGxABC
A photo posted by The Googly Gooeys (@googlygooeys) on Nov 14, 2016 at 6:59pm PST

Okay. If I can’t bring them home, I can at least take photos of them. This was at the museum’s entrance & people were wondering what we were taking photos of. Haha. These are stickers and we just love how it has spontaneously turned itself into a form of abstract community art of sorts just by encouraging visitors to leave their stickers there. 🙂

(b) leaflets – Wherever I go, if a leaflet is for free, I would save a copy for myself. I do buy design books on a regular basis but I just feel that the designs on leaflets are “freshly baked” before the artists around the world even get called to submit their work for it to be published into a book

Above are some books & products from Joanne’s studio. I just had to take a picture because the palette speaks to me! 🙂

(c) books – You guessed it: these books have more pictures than words. Growing up, my choice of books were always frowned upon as I really loved those with visuals than words. Older kids are supposed to be reading more words & using their imagination to recreate scenes in their mind but my heart just really skips a beat whenever I see pages and pages of design.
Most of the books here are from Basheer. When I was younger, my family and I would stay along Orchard road but during my past two trips, I always find myself staying in the heart of Bras Basah where there are a lot of art stores, bookstores and exhibits. The studio where we held our workshop in, The Untitled Space, is only a couple of blocks away as well! 🙂 Okay. A couple of blocks with kilos and kilos of luggage is a whole different thing but it’s good exercise too! 😀

I have a new guilty pleasure though. I really like buying children’s books more than ever ~~just because I like the visuals~~ for Riley. 😀

What are these you ask? A sweet memory of our daily trips to the Hawker Center in Bras Basah. I would have two cups of Kopi C (i.e. coffee with condensed milk) every day. Hahaha. I also miss my roast duck & hainanese chicken with noodles. Huhuhu.

So, at the National Design Centre, there’s this store Kapok. I was really supposed to go to Sephora for errands but I had to stop here. *Oopsies* It was my mini break before my workshop and I only had a couple of hours to do everything: oggle at design work, take photos, have lunch, conserve energy for the Sunday workshop. :)

I just have to post this here (even if my lipstick has faded from having potato chips…lol) as this is one of our rare formal photos. Abbey & I rarely have formal photos together as we’re always busy talking and accidentally brainstorming. Exhibit A below: our desperate attempt at having a decent photo together. Chances of getting into fashion blogging? Very low. Hahaha.

Also, just really happy to repost Abbey’s SG vlog here because this is probably the only decent proof that I was in SG. Hahahaha.

I always love to play the role of one woman documentation committee. Next time, I should probably learn how to take photos of myself too such as set the camera timer and step into the frame! Hahaha. *Writes a mental note. Repeats it 10 times.*

Thanks too to Jim, the owner of The Untitled Space for taking this precious photo above as well as our Letters & Colors group photo below.

I know I’ve said this one too many times but the year is about to end and I’m just overwhelmed while recalling everything that has landed on my lap. I’m just really grateful to everyone who came! Thanks too to Pauline of Happy Hands Project for helping arrange my workshop! 🙂 Thanks too to Jo of The Letter J Supply for that wonderful dinner & ice cream as well as my cousins & friends who met up with me during my stay! (I don’t usually get to share personal details on this blog but I got to meet my three week old niece Pennylane!) I was quickly reminded of how time flies. Riley used to be that baby just some months ago.