This Month I've Been: Banana Leaves + Art in the Flesh November

This Month I've Been: Exploring.
Since I spent my wonderful October travelling all over Canada when I got back to Hong Kong I didn't want to stop. Seriously, Hong Kong is a paradise, I always forget this. This banana leaf forest was off a side trail on Lamma Island, just a 45 minute ferry ride from Central Hong Kong. 

Eating herbal jelly and having drawing dates on the rooftop by myself before the winter turned too cold.

Spending my last month in Toronto amongst friends has inspired me to go out more. Snapping a selfie in Wanchai before meeting up with my new illustrator friend Pearl Law, check out her amazing work. Yay to Twitter for connecting people.

A WIP shot of a painting of Shu Qi I've been working on from a series called "Women I've Wanted to Be" which I'm also hoping to turn into a little mini zine. In gouache and pencil, as always. I'm so into painting hair lately.

More work in progress. Another piece from the "Woman I've Wanted to Be" Series. This one is of Kate Moss.

When I was in Toronto I went to the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) three times and I realized how much it inspired me to see art, not just scrolling through images on Tumblr or Pinterest, but really nose-pressed-to-the-glass-security-guard-death-stare seeing it in the flesh. So since I've been back, I've made a point to go to more gallery events and see more art and I think my work has already improved for it. There's more to life beyond the safety of the computer screen glare. This was at the fantastic Carne Griffiths show at Above Second. The photo of the dog and me is courtesy of the photographer Jordan Joe.

Checked out the Little Thunder exhibition and book signing at Rat's Cave. I'm such a fan, her work is so sexy and intricate.

A quick little Marilyn Monroe sketch in pencil and gouache which initially inspired the "Women I've Wanted to Be" series. Marilyn is the number one person I wanted to be when I was little, I watched all of her movies and memorized her lines when I was in elementary school. I still sometimes watch How to Marry a Millionaire and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes whenever I'm not feeling well.

Getting my products ready for the Tangram Christmas Edition Pop Up Shop. It's on until this Sunday, December the 22nd at Little Square in Hong Kong. I have postcards, prints and original paintings for sale. It's full of beautifully curated stuff and perfect for X'mas shopping.

And lastly, my most recent illustration for Hong Kong Tatler on an article about produce diversity by the wonderful food writer Janice Leung Haynes. Thanks always to editor Charmaine for the project. See the full piece here.

Taking a Detour This 2012

Photos:
1. Wearing a vintage dress, a belt I got at a clothing swap, H&M ring and MAC lady danger lipstick.
2. A reaaally cool crocodile design by London/HK illustrator Kristopher Ho.
3. Taking a photo with celebrity guest Joe Ma at the Crocodile x Detour event.
4. Here I am with my nominated design 'A Celebration' on display!

I'm back with a new blogpost and this one concludes my Growing Up in Hong Kong project! Thursday before last, my parents and I headed over to the Oasis Gallery (that should really be in quotation marks because we all know that 'gallery' is really the hallway in front of the Central escalators) to attend the Crocodile x Ambassadors of Design x DETOUR opening ceremony. There were lots of celebs, models and designers in attendance, including Lisa S., Amanda S. and Joe Ma.

An aside: as a thank you gift for the nominated designs Crocodile gave us all gift certificates and I took my dad shopping for new shirts and then I felt really validated as an artist or whatever (I'm being silly and that sounds pretentious but I was just really happy and excited that some art/craft/thing I've made could be turned into something tangible I could give to a loved one, so thank you Crocodile!)

After the ceremony my parents and I had a delicious lunch at Green Waffle on Graham Street. And then I headed over to Wanchai to meet my friend Phoebe for the Detour opening night party happening at the former Police Station.

1st row: Checking out the Instax Love display by photographer Rraay Lai. / Inside the prison of the former Wanchai Police Station, although now a heritage building we heard there were still cops working upstairs.
2nd row: Relaxing on the grass balcony art installation looking out onto Gloucester Rd.
3rd row: A selfie from the Crocodile opening. / Beautiful illustrations of really good looking Hong Kongnese hipsters by the illustrator Little Thunder seen at DETOUR. She also painted the beautiful Virgin Suicide leather jacket I've been lusting after ever since I saw it at Rat's Cave.

Speaking of shoppables, I also recommend you check out Mutt Museum's little stall of vintage fabric cheongsams at the DETOUR Maker's Fair.

Polaroid taken at the Hawkerama stalls at the DETOUR exhibition opening.

To see some cool art and to visit my little crocodile make sure you go check out DETOUR on until Sunday December 16th, at the former Police Station in Wanchai and the Oasis Gallery in Central, the latter being where my crocodile will be displayed.

And, if you've missed any of my previous posts about creating my installation for the Crocodile x DETOUR event you can catch them in the A Celebration in Process blogposts.