here are the works i put up at my mini show Love is a Dog from Hell at 15minutes cafe in lasalle college of the arts.

don't undress my love/you might find a mannequin:/don't undress the mannequin/you might find/my love. -Trapped

or the terror of one person/aching in one place/alone/untouched/unspoken to/watering a plant.
-The Crunch

I loved you/like a man loves a woman he never touches, only/writes to, keeps little photographs of. I would have/loved you more if I had sat in a small room rolling a/cigarette and listened to you piss in the bathroom,/but that didn’ happen.
-An Almost Made Up Poem

meanwhile I look at young girls/stems/flowers of chance.
-The Crunch

she has saved me /from everything that is /not here.
-The 6 Foot Goddess

there is a loneliness in this world so great/that you can see it in the slow movement of/the hands of a clock
-The Crunch

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andandand: pictures of the zine!

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yeah i recycled some… so what. its ART!!!
(also, i’ve been using the “it’s ART!” statement to defend the pathetic patches of black polish leftover on my nails… it renders most complainers dumbfounded cos they believe me…teehee!)

thanks alice for organizing such a cool event and thinking of me!
special love to dave, stephy and clifton for coming to support.

also, go pick up the october copies of JUICE and CATALOG to see my feature! (i havent gotten my hands on any yet…) (also i know that there was a lil spotlight on my exhibition with a small interview for i-S magazine couple of weeks back, its out of circulation already, imma do a scan once i start being unlazy)

&&& just in the very case anyone is intrigued, here are some interviews/reviews of my solo exhibition available on the World Wide Web: A Lingering Aftertaste by Pat Law for culturepush.com / To Consume Food Like Life by Nawira Baig for youth.sg / Food Obsession! by Pamela of 93.8fm for livingroomscribbles / SCYA’s post exhibition interview by Isk for scya. my show is still running till this friday, october 9th, so go see it if you haven’t yet!

so i’ve been dying to show ya’ll the new pieces i made for my show…

THE KOPI GIRL / SMOKING CAUSES CANCER ©2009, nataliette. digital painting.

an illustration piece i did juuuuust in time for the local art & design competition, Singtel’s Mosaic Project (while still holidaying in germany). will fly back sadly in 20+ hours already boohoo.

they wanted something with a ‘local flavour’ so i did this terribly cliche scenario of a girl in the typical singlet+shorts combo, feet adorned by the ubiquitous chao lao (unfashionable) red clogs chillin’ with a cigarette at the kopitiam (coffee shop). i tried more than 5 different hairstyles and they all just didn’t fit in so i just chopped off her head and made the entire picture a poster for the dangers of smoking. UBER CONVENIENT HUH.

by the way, for my international fans (ahem yeah riiiight) the yellow box marks Singapore’s recent laws against smoking in public. normally in outdoor eateries 10% of the area is cordoned off (marked by a bounding yellow box) for smoking and you are not allowed to smoke anywhere else or risk getting fined S$200. yeah… we’re a Fine city!

hi peeps!
sorry for the quietness on the art front.
busybusybusy preparing for my first solo exhibition.
i’ll be showing several new works as well as some of my old pieces.
i’m VERY excited.
been drawing/painting practically nonstop.
watch this space for more details!

meanwhile here’re a few sneakpeeks at some of the new works i’ll be displaying!

ps. i’m in germany at the moment. the summer weather here is GREAT.
pps. if you miss my absence too much you can always find me posting at randomness at my tumblr. :)

THAT SNOBBY HARVARD COUSIN ©2009, nataliette. digital painting.

see the progress animation here!

THE WARY AND THE THIEF ©2009, nataliette. digital painting.

warning her naughty twin not to steal.
yey another painting! this one is of my original sketchbook drawing, “The Wary and the Thief” (obviously).

its in the bitchy style, so it was really fun doing the faces! adding nasolabial folds¹, sharper cheekbones, stiffer upper eyelids, and best of all, noses and their respective philtrums²! also, this is my first time colouring in a nose, as the girls from my Porcelain series are all noseless.

¹ two skin folds that run from each side of the nose to the corners of the mouth
² also known as the infranasal depression, is the vertical groove between the nose and the upperlip.
see closeup shots + animated gif of my work-in-progress

ABSTINENCE / MY POOR SISTER, PART II. ©2009, nataliette. digital painting.

the shoes she’s wearing is actually modeled after my very own shoes (yes they do have a shiny gold coloured heel!)

i had a lot of fun colouring the wine glass. although that object itself consisted of no less than 7 layers! *obsessive compulsive* yes, this is my biggest PSD ever. and as always i also enjoyed colouring the face (especially the folds of skin around the eyes) and the collarbone (im a big fan of razorblade collarbones). yup i also have a penchant for thick kissable scarlet lips!

ps. i want to thank the few special people who’ve always listened to me ramble on and on about art, and who’ve been encouraging me to colour in my work (lawd knows how impatient i am and these things take CRAZY LONG). yall know who you are :-*

click to see closeup details!

the acidtripped version of MY POOR SISTER part 2.. (see larger)

not very original i know. but its fun experimenting with textures and masks and now its got golden butterflies and psychedelic hair. weeeee!

ABSTINENCE / MY POOR SISTER PART II ©2009, nataliette. digital drawing.

this piece is dedicated to my younger sister (bless her if she sees this) who is 5months pregnant and everyone just only recently found out about it, including herself. the symbolism is pretty obvious but for the oblivious i’ll try to explain…

the kite, whips about, thrown back and forth at the wind’s every whim and fancy.
its unabashed performance of liberation a shadow of her former self.
upon finding out she is carrying new life inside of her, she has to she deny herself of her favourite vices and shoulder the burden of expectancy.
she must cease her slaphappy ways now.
my poor sister.

i went pretty insane when i first found out, but now im rather ok with the fact that im going to be an aunty (despite this illustration’s portrayal… the blame is on the fact that i just cannot draw anything happy/sweet/gushy/lovely ever!). i wish mother and child all the best! ♥♥

people have been asking me what inspires me. i keep saying i simply draw things that i muse about/experience while going through the daily motions. this is one good example! inspired by my sister’s pregnancy. maybe in my other artworks this is not so obvious but they all are really depictions of my daily life experiences. and by that i meant more of short passing occurances than long periods of stages in life.

THE SONGBIRD ©2009, nataliette. digital drawing.

sorry for the art respite… i have been busy bumming around, going for interviews, and working on odd jobs here and there to feed myself!

this piece is for everyone out there who cant sing (like myself)… as well as an indication to the pop artistes out there who use more studio magic than vocal prowess to sell albums… YOU’RE BIG FAT FRAUDS! although i have to admit… some of these ‘frauds’ do end up making incredibly enjoyable music (yay britney). …so who really cares?