Live Floral Painting in Chinese-Style at Rolex’ CNY Gala Dinner

It was such a lovely experience painting these peonies for Rolex at the beautiful St Regis’ Caroline’s Mansion.  The CNY celebration dinner had a chinoiserie theme and hence the blue peonies. Though peonies are usually painted in red and pink in Chinese paintings, blue is a rather rare choice but I love how they turned out.

Considered by many as “the king of flowers”, the peony (牡丹 mudan) is one of the most prized flowers in the Chinese culture for its beauty and its representation of wealth and honour. This was painted in the 寫意 (Xieyi) Chinese painting style which is more freehand and expressive.

For those of you who do not read Chinese, the character above is 福 (Fu) which means “Good Fortune”. It is one of the most auspicious Chinese characters you would find being displayed or used frequently during the Chinese New Year celebrations. So when 福 is featured together with peonies, it is an even greater blessing.

Other than Peonies, Chrysanthemums are also very popular during the Chinese New Year celebrations. Especially the multi-petal golden hue ones which represent abundance of wealth and prosperity, joy and optimism. So how can I not paint them too for the CNY Gala Dinner.

It is said that if the Narcissus 水仙 blooms on the Chinese New Year Day, you will have wealth and fortune the whole year through. So I just had to include this auspicious flower in my repertoire of Chinese painted flowers for Rolex.

Calligraphy for Piaget’s “Sunlight Escape” Private Dinner

These iridescent invitation cards were one of the most beautiful ones that I have written for.

Do you remember me posting about writing some really small dinner place cards? Well, you can see how small they really are on the table setting in the last image below. Sophisticated, stylish and elegant - exactly the Piaget way.

Calligraphy of Personalised Names and Monograms on Leather Card Holders for Piaget

Nothing is better than a unique gift that has been personalised just for you. 

I have been asked by Piaget to write names and monograms in gold on their beautiful leather card holders. Just as how the foliage prints on each card holder is different, the names and monograms were all uniquely handwritten.

Thank you, Piaget, for entrusting me to help create these truly thoughtful gifts this festive season.

Live Digital Fashion Illustration at Singapore Tatler X Dolce&Gabbana Private Event

Drawing elegant ladies in their fabulous outfits while seated on a plush velvet sofa surrounded by the most sumptuous clothings and accessories may sound more like a fashion illustrator’s sweet dream than a job. Well yes, you got that right!

A huge thank you to Dolce & Gabbana for having me at your private event with Singapore Tatler. Though it was almost non-stop drawing for the two days, I had a most wonderful time.

Do you remember how the Dolce & Gabbana Devotion Bags made their debut being flown in by drones in their Fall 2018 RTW show? Similarly for their recent private event with Singapore Tatler, fashion portraits were done with the most advanced digital drawing gadgets - the Apple iPadPro and Apple Pencil. This hardworking drawing tool served me well for 7-hours of non-stop drawing.

Here are some of the fashion portraits that were sketched and printed out on the spot, much to the delight of the guests during the 2-day event.

I couldn’t help but have also included a couple more shots of their beautiful boutique in ION Orchard. The space is just simply beautiful!

Live Calligraphy on Clé de Peau Beauté’s Radiant Cushion Foundation

It was an evening of happy smiles and glowing faces when Clé de Peau Beauté introduced their new Radiant Cushion Foundation to their media and makeup artist friends. 

Huge thanks to the Singapore team for having me at their new beauty counter personalising the Radiant Cushion Foundations with calligraphed names of their guests. I couldn't be happier to have this opportunity to share this timeless artistic expression with everyone.

Writing calligraphy on these luxe Radiant Cushion Foundation takes a delicate hand. I know it would not be easy when compared to writing on paper and it would be much more challenging writing on the mirror smooth finish of the casings.. But it was all worth it when I saw the delighted smiles of the new owners of these coveted foundations. 

Live Art at Apple Orchard Road

Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought of presenting at an Apple Store in front of a hundred over people. Oh what an incredible experience that was!

Thank you to all of you who signed up or just dropped in to join me for the Live Art session on that 10 December afternoon. Hope you had enjoyed it as much as I had. I would also like to say a special thank you to Erika and Larrison from the Apple team who helped made this happen. You guys have been the most wonderful!

Do you know what is the most challenging part of fashion illustration? Yes, you got that right. It is the rendering of the various types of textiles!

Apple and I thought it would be a good idea to share my techniques of doing so during the Apple Live Art event using the iPadPro and Apple Pencil. So I did a live demo of a beautiful runway look from ELIE SAAB‘s FW2017 RTW Collection which featured lace, sheer chiffon and a fur coat.

I have to admit that it was quite a challenging piece to illustrate given the short time. But kudos to all the participants who did such an amazing job rendering their runway looks. Well done!