TIS THE SEASON

Belle, Cut snowflake and watercolor on paper, 2014

Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. Here's a little gift of a dress made of a paper snowflake, for you all mean the world to me and my best wishes back to each and everyone of you!

MISS INDONESIA

It's been raining recently and the flowers are all blooming happily in the garden! It was Indonesia's National Day yesterday. I've known a few great friends from there and I wanted to do a Miss Indonesia for my #missworldseries. Jasmine is the country's national flower, but I have no idea where to find the actual type here! So I just looked around in my garden to see what I could get.

This little white beauty smells so good at night! I picked up some...

And some of these...

And a chrysanthemum garland.

My sketches are turning simpler nowadays and I tend to change the draft in mind along the way. But the sketch suggests how I started everything from scratch. I've been to Bali once and I fall in love with their traditional dancing. The costumes are extremely intricate and complicated. It usually comes with a huge headwear and the main colors are gold, yellow and red. 

I'm trying more varieties of color combinations and different types of flower for Miss Indonesia. So before heading down to the real work, I'll play mix and match with the colors and forms of the flowers to imagine how the dress will eventually turn out to be. 

I'm using both real and artificial flowers for Miss Indo as I've run out of champagne and red roses. Hence the skin and hair are cut outs from foam roses. Usually I'll start with the head and upper body to get a balance of scale of the entire artwork. 

I personally adore the exaggerated headwear. It's made of a half chrysanthemum and the stamen of a hibiscus. Initially, I had a hard time forming the skirt. It just doesn't seem right in any way. But after everything else failed I tried using the white tiny flowers to form an escalation down the edge of the skirt, and it's perfect! 

And here's the finished piece! I use acrylic paint to complete the facial feature. I hope you've enjoyed Miss Indonesia and you can definitely try it yourself! 

Love, 

Limzy 

FLOWER DRESSES

 

Miss Marmalade dancing in the rain 

  

Peekaboo of the full bloom underneath (oops!)

  

Purple Nutcracker.

  

Aristocrat Lily, made from a dying pink lily.

  

Ballerina Warming Up, made of a wilting red rose.

  

Punk Prom Queen.

  

Parade Day, made of two wilting pink carnations.

 Konichiwa from Miss Japanese, made of a chrysanthemum, its wilted leaves, some leftover carnation and rose petals. Chrysanthemum is Japan's imperial flower. Would love to try cherry blossoms one day. I just dare to dream of that!

Work and Instagram are officially killing my old Blogger buddy. I really really hope to post more here, but if you're interested, join me at Instagram anytime!

EVEN MORE FOOD

16. Faraway Forest. Made of popiah wrap, muesli and Nutella. Future house maybe?

17. Cherry Berry. Sakura/cherry blossom and butterfly are made of strawberries (sequel again), branches and chinese ink landscape made of Nutella. First time trying out food dye too!

18. The Proposal. It's a gift for my best friend Clayrene, she said YES! to her now fiancé under the Eiffel Tower last winter. And she had Ladureé before the surprise! Hence macarons balloons!

19. Red Riding Hood in the Rain. Funnily, it rhymes! I was eating watermelon in the afternoon praying that I won't get stroke from the merciless heat and that it will rain real soon!

20. Happy Healthy Meal! Ok really, no pun intended. My girlfriend Cas showed me a pic of apple fries, and I made a set meal out of it! Watermelon coke, orange onion rings, apple fries and mini burger made of oat bun and veges. Maybe you can try this on kids who don't like fruits?

21. Visiting the Pollock Museum! I never really understand abstract paintings, but it's always the best way just to admire the formal elements of visual arts. Inspired by Ida Frosk, Jackson Pollock (of course) and Norman Rockwell's 'The Connosieur'. The painting is made of white bread with mustard, mayo, ketchup and mushroom sauce spread. Man made of white and charcoal bread. Floor tiles made of cucumber, just the perfect way to make a gravy-ish sandwich after that!

22. Earth's Child, in celebration of Earth's Day! Made of charcoal soba noodles, parsley, thyme, cherry tomato and mushroom sauce. 

And yes, the weekend is coming! I hope you'll have a good one!

MORE FOOD ART

09. Fruit Platter Parrot. I figure that it's a good thing to sum up what I've used for the previous creations,  so here's a miscellaneous, which happens to be a fun fruit platter! Strawberries, apples, kiwis, bananas, purple cabbage and a tiny raisin for the eye.

10. Van Gogh's breakfast. My first time trying foodscape for Easter. Inspired by his signature complementary colors and post impressionistic strokes, I was imagining Van Gogh eating this hearty meal before heading out to paint. 

On a later note, I should put a bird or two on the sky!

11. Malaysia in a Durian. Have been wanting to do something with this gentle giant. So let's vote, eat durian and make it a Bersih and fair election!

12. Vege Farmville. Previously I challenge myself using only one or two relevant materials, but this time round I'm trying more, or just anything I can find around me. And this is made of all sorts of mini veges I could rummage out from my fridge.

13. Swiss Roll Snail. I totally screwed up plan A that day, so here's an impromptu creation using my mini bites takeaway from a meeting that afternoon. Something simple and lighthearted. Made of sesame/pandan swiss roll and glutinous kuih (tart).

14.Nutty Squirrel. A warm up trial with herbs, spices and dried stuff as suggested by my friend Tony. I was admiring Kathleen Lolley's forest illustration that evening, hence the inspiration source. Made of dried longans, roasted cashew nuts, cinnamon, mini dried mushrooms, red dates, and 'liang teh' grass which I have no idea what to call in English.

15. Roseberry. Suggested by my sister Caslin. For you and all my loved ones. Each rose is made of a single strawberry. Wanted to try something translucent for the vase, but the nata de coco is not obvious enough!

Hope that you enjoy these eye candies!

MORE FOOD ART THE FOLLOWING DAYS

05. Golden Tree. Made of cornflakes and Nutella. I guess it was too hot here and I was dreaming of sitting under a maple tree with Ken during fall.

Just a proof that I finished all the food, with the help of my family! And somehow after finished eating the 'leaves', the plate turned into another scenery- a bald tree!

06. Panda Onigiri. Made of rice and nori. And seal made of ketchup sauce! The next day the pandas and bamboos became fried rice.

07. Orange Goldfish. made of orange, seaweed and raisins.

08. Salad Peacock. Made of purple cabbage and raisins. 

Now I have a week of purple coleslaw to eat!

A FOOD A DAY

Finally I got some time off to join #creativemarch on Instagram and play (or eat for most of the time) with the food, though my mum never taught me that that when I was young.

01. Banana Bird.

2. Frogs in Pond. I always thought the plants by the pond are sausages stuck on grass stems, I still don't know what they are! (Can anyone tell me their name?) Made of kiwi, kiwi skins and raisins.

03. Love is budding under the Broccoli Tree. Made of broccoli and mushroom sauce.

05. (Sequel with the Broccoli Tree) Finally the boy got the girl and love is in the air! Made of strawberries and Nutella.

And of course I get to indulge in some serious Nutella dips after that!

P/S: All foods are not wasted. They're all in my tummy now.

P/P/S: I'll be busy with my day job and will be neglecting CGV for a while, apologies for any trouble caused! But I will still try to update here as often as possible!