• Art Class,  Art Journals

    Wanderlust 2024

    It’s time to book your spot at next year’s Wanderlust! The team of Teachers for Wanderlust 2024 has been announced, and I am thrilled to tell you that I am one of them; my second year. Wanderlust 2024 is 49 mixed-media lessons, all downloadable and yours to keep forever. Plus handouts, a creative community, and a whole bunch of bonuses which are available as soon as you sign up. All this for only $99 US (making each lesson only $2!). It starts on the 5th of January, but it’s worth signing up now as we have this special price only for the first 2,000 Adventurers. Head to the website to…

  • Art Class,  Art Journals

    Wanderlust LIVE! Weekend

    Mark your calendars – 1-3 September!!! I’m super excited to be a part of the big FREE Wanderlust Live event this year, to bring you a rounded taste of what’s in store on Everything Art’s big year long course in mixed-media art journaling: Wanderlust 2024. Join me and an exciting line up of Wanderlust 2024 teachers for 19 live streams, plus interviews, inspirational videos and more in this brilliant 3-day event. Everyone is welcome! We’d LOVE to see you there! Join me LIVE as I share with you how I use tags as instant focal point in my art journal. I’ve used this simple element in my art journal and wanted…

  • Xiaonanmen
    Documenting Life,  Shanghai living,  Urban Sketching

    Urban Sketching: Xiao Nan Men

    Last Saturday, 13 May, the sketching location was around Xiao Nan Men (小南门), which is not too far from my home. We have sketched here in the past but not this year so far. As per Tōnis’ (@vanishing.shanghai) observation, this part of the Old Town stands out as the most “green” with plenty of plants, foliage, trees, and vines hanging down electricity lines. It was great that I decided to venture out early that morning for sketching was a delightful experience, as it allowed me to take in the vibrant energy of the locality. From delivery men in electric bikes deftly maneuvering their way around the narrow lanes to vans…

  • Art Class,  Currents

    Let’s PLAY!!!

    A lot has happened in the last few weeks since the previous post (more on that later…). One of the significant pieces of news I’ve wanted to share is the upcoming Virtual Art Summit 2023!!! Let’s Play! Are you ready to have fun and let your creativity flow? The Summit is open to everyone, regardless of skill level or artistic ability. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced artist, this year’s Summit is so worth attending. You’ll receive valuable tips, inspiration, and techniques from the lineup of guest artists that will help you relax and spark your creative spirit. I am thrilled to announce that I have been invited to participate…

  • Art Journals,  December Daily,  Documenting Life

    Documenting December

    What can I say? December turned out so completely different from what I had envisioned to be and what I had hoped it to be. Things that were part of our everyday almost since 2020 like scanning QR codes, PCR testing at least every 72 hrs, checking of green codes in public places and other restrictions, were suddenly lifted. Suddenly, the COVID virus spread like wildfire and once again, Shanghai buckled down from COVID infections, everything (at least almost everything) went upside down fast. I was feeling like another lockdown (like what happened in March/April of 2022) was happening as the city suddenly went silent by mid-December. Schools had already…

  • Art Journals

    Cancabato Bay Sunrise

    Belated Happy New Year! So, typically, I hardly record my painting process because it always is on the spur of the moment when I paint. This one, I was more intentional, as I was inspired to seeing my process and understand how long it actually took me to “finish”. This below is before I added the birds. So I am sharing the process video of how I painted an abstract landscape for Week 2 lesson of Wanderlust 2023 using chalk pastels (I only have a few) with clear and regular gesso. On top of that, I also used a bit of NeoColors water-soluble pastels and translucent texture paste. This abstract…

  • Documenting Life,  Travel journals,  Travels

    Travel Journal | Holland

    The final leg of our Europe 2019 adventure was Holland or the Netherlands. Yes, it is indeed 2019 because for so many reasons, this journal took longer to finish. Unlike the other 2 journals of this trip, I actually didn’t get any pages done while on the trip. I had ran out of paste/glue by the time we were almost halfway through our Finland trip. And we did try to find stationery stores but either ran out of time or just couldn’t find any. Lesson learned: Bring more the next time we actually can travel out of China again (yes, it’s been 3 years… and counting… since pandemic hit). For…

  • Currents,  Documenting Life

    Join the Adventure!

    The team of Teachers for Wanderlust 2023 has been announced, and I am thrilled to tell you that I am one of the guest teachers!!! Having been a Wanderlust student myself, the year-long courses are truly nourishing for the soul and help me get unstuck with my creative practice. The teacher line up for 2023 is as amazing as the past years. They each bring a unique technique, idea, approach and process to art journaling. These are just some of my art journal pages from 2021 and 2022 Wanderlust classes. It’s literally an adventure! If you have not done Wanderlust before, Wanderlust 2023 is 55 mixed-media lessons, all downloadable and…

  • Art Journals

    Lost & Found July

    Early this year, Shilpa (@nagaonkarshilpa on IG) asked me if I would like to do a collab with her and of course, I say “YES!” Coming up with the challenge was the easy part. The tricky part was the timing especially with lockdown in Shanghai that last 2 months and moving apartment. Finally we came up with our date. Just excited to be on this journey with her as I’ve always been a fan of Shilpa’s style and colours. What is this challenge about, you wonder? It’s all about finding a new use for things we have around the house. Shilpa and I believe in reusing, repurposing, and giving items…

  • Art Journals

    Retrospect: Messy May 2022

    May came and went. In between being in lockdown, trying to stay positive amidst everything and trying to find recipes to match what I had available, cleaning the apartment and work… well it was all happening all at once. This challenge from Get Messy was probably one that made the days a bit better, it was something I looked forward to playing in my art journals. And I even got to take some process videos! So what I used is this small (I think around A6) size old journal/diary. It is dated 2017 but have not thrown it out because I thought maybe I can do something with it since…