Easter with 桜子: Schwebebahn (feat. Iva)

When I heard that there is a town in Germany where, instead of trams, they use a monorail as public transportation, I was ecstatic! Meet Wuppertal, a small town so close to nature located in North Rhine Westphalia. Having heard of this place from Firu when he first visited the town's flea market, I knew I was going to visit this place eventually. But then I heard that my good friend, Iva, was going to go there to visit a friend with her sister and friend. It was definitely meant to be! You see, Iva lives in Nürtingen in Baden Württemberg, which is in the south. She has only gone out of that state a handful of times. And Wuppertal is located a little bit on the north side of Germany too. So her showing up on this nape of the woods was close to miraculous. We immediately made plans to meet up. And that's how this whole trip started.

This day was freezing cold! Firu, Saku-chan and I took off from Mülheim just in time for lunch. We went to lunch and to the flea market. It started to snow but the flea market was still going on. On Easter too! We all snatched up something for ourselves. I got myself a pretty long pleated green skirt, Saku-chan got herself a small retro '70s jar/chilli container while Firu gladly purchased a brand new water heater. Afterwards we headed to the main train station to meet up with Iva and her friends. We went there by the monorail. The kick is, the track runs over the train instead of under it, leaving the train hanging whenever it comes to a stop, thus the name - "schweben" means hang. It got me a little dizzy.

All the seven of us then boarded the train again to its terminal. It feels so nice being able to catch up with Iva again. Though we haven't seen each other only 2 months. We talked a lot I barely noticed we were there already. The terminal was like a show. The way the train swerves the track to turn back. Only in the terminals you can see the gears atop the train. There is a tale of the train among the folks. Once a long time ago, this train was used to transport an elephant from the local zoo. It was put to sleep but woke up somewhere along the way and thrashed around. It made the train unstable and fell down. But it was kind of incredible to know it can carry an elephant. There wasn't much else to see out here except for a three-wheeled clock which chimes at 4 o'clock. It is said to do a performance of Chronos and Death when it does but I missed it. There was also a population counter next to the clock, counting current world population. It's gone past 7 billions!

Easter with 桜子: Zeche Zollern

The trip continues in the morrow. While the previous day was devoted to Saku-chan, this day was more or less about me. At the very least, the whole reason we went out of the house at all on this day was thanks to me. When I was researching for my paper last month, I stumble upon some photographs of this place and was smitten to visit. So here we were in Zeche Zollern Industry Museum. Back in the days, this place was a mining factory. They deal mostly with coals. The museum shows us many things about life back then. Starting from the miners' daily life, cultural aspects, scandals - there were underage miners and many deaths during the mining process. There was even a whole exhibition about the danger of explosions inside the caves. The display was so realistic and highly believable, it gave me the chills. I adore the architecture of the buildings in this complex. They were all something from the early 20th century, which I love.

What attracted me to visit this place in the first place was the machine hall. It has this terribly huge gate in an art nouveau style. Too bad, at this moment, the hall was renovated and repainted that people could only go in at certain dates. I misread the information and came at the wrong time. Oh, but what the heck, so long as we were there, just enjoy the moment. The green lines around the door used to be cream coloured. Personally, I think it was better in cream. There were also all these train cars parked just outside on the train tracks. It was all very pretty and I wanted to hop on but it was prohibited. Too bad. Just next to the tracks, there was a huge contraption which played a role as a sort of elevator to transport the miners down to the mining site. It was mighty huge and I imagine down there would be so scary. There was a small art exhibition at the end of the tour, portrayals of miners and the mining industry. This opened my mind to what this whole industry was all about and all the downside to it. By the way, we saw a model of a transport system that played a huge role to our next trip. Stay tuned!

Easter with 桜子: Düsseldorf Donnerstag

Hello, everyone! Happy way belated Easter! How was your Easter weekend? It feels like such a long time ago, doesn't it? It does to me. We've done a lot this past week and everything happens in a whirlwind. Something came up, though, and I had to go home sooner than I'd hoped. The fun started on the Maundy Thursday, when Sakurako missed the train we were supposed to board. The train departed without her, taking me away from Kassel at the same time. I ended up going to Mülheim to see Firu first. All three of us then met up in Düsseldorf, boarding the same train but it was too crowded to meet up in.

As we were starving when we arrived, we headed straight to Takumi Ramen. Fun fact: Saku-chan's boyfriend is also called Takumi and, much like the noodles in the restaurant, comes from Hokkaido. The waitresses talked to us in Japanese, German and English. It got my head spinning. Even Saku-chan was a lot confused, in which language she should be speaking. It felt like I was transported to Japan for a little bit. The noodles tasted awesome as well, even better than the ones in Bonn. It kind of reminds me of a small ramen place back home, Ramen 38, at least before it became a franchise and lost its authentic Japanese touch.

The whole reason we went to Düsseldorf was because Saku wanted to see the Wolfgang Tillmans exhibition at K21 Ständehaus. Of course, it was always art with that girl. Haha. I wasn't going to go in when I knew how much it costed but somehow we all got in. Complimentary to the tickets, each person is allowed to bring home a catalogue of the exhibition. It was well worth it, although I can hardly understand Tillmans' works. We also checked out the art of the permanent exhibition and I have to say I love Juan Muñoz's Plaza - a set of sculpture of asian men, standing in a circle and smiling. Afterwards, we went to Kunstpalast Museum to check out another Picasso exhibition and some Japanese artworks. There were Japanese paintings, emblems, katana and mini sculptures. They were incredible and I kind of wished I could take them home. We were going to visit yet another Boesner store here and buy takoyaki in a Japanese supermarket. Due to the lack of time and bad timing, we didn't get to do those things. I went home kind of disappointed and exhausted but I'll be back here again. More on that later.

P.S: If you don't know much about Tillmans and would like to know more about his work, you can visit Artsy. If you sign up, you'll be the first to know if he (or any other artists you like) creates new pieces.

Illustrators Arise: Raindropmemory

Good morning, everyone! I'm here to bring to you all this month's Illustrators Arise feature. Unfamiliar with it? Well, basically, it's a feature on this blog where I'll be interviewing one of my favourite illustrators from anywhere in the world once every month. This month I will be introducing to you Teekatas Suwannakrua a.k.a. Raindropmemory. Please welcome him to the stage!

A: Hello, Teekatas! Thanks for the opportunity. Firstly, could you please tell our readers a little bit about yourself and what you do?

T: My name is Teekatas, artist name Raindropmemory. I was born and live in Bangkok, Thailand. Right now I'm in the final phase of my Masters degree in Creative Arts studying, which will  finished very soon. I also works as freelance Illustrator and Graphic designer (mostly print design, like publication, poster, etc.)

A: What first got you into illustration?

T: I began drawing when I was 5, well, if you can call it 'illustration' I took several art course since I was young till high school and entered several national art competition. I was young back then, both body and mind, so I don't even know if I 'love' art or not, I just...draw. My mother and my art teacher that I learnt from are the most important people who encourage me to keep drawing. Without them, I wouldn't be here today.

A: What are your most prized works so far?

T: All artworks that I've drawn/painted/created especially for my friends in special occasions, such as birthdays and graduations. The feeling that I poured all my heart into it cannot be found in other type of my work like commissions, which is a job to do, or work that I create to satisfy only myself. It didn't have to be a masterpiece, sometimes it's just a simple painting on a small piece of paper.

A: Do you usually work digitally or traditionally? What kind of tools do you usually use?

T: I have a background in traditional media, drawing and painting watercolor and poster color, and the reason is back then there is no Photoshop or any digital painting available. I began the transition to digital tools around 10 years ago and continued to keep going further because I see the vast possibility it can create that traditional media can't or hard to do. But since I practice in traditional media since I was young, it become my nature eventually. When I want to create something quickly, traditional media is always my choice and you can't beat the sensation of pencil drawing on real paper, the ability to control your hand as precisely as you wish, that pen tablet cannot give you, the friction between pencil and paper, nothing can replace it. My tools for traditional work are : pencil, watercolor, sometimes acrylic.My tools for digital work are : pen tablet, Photoshop, and my crown jewels of all digital art painting tools, PaintoolSAI, No softwares can beat its lightning fast speed and silky smooth blending

A: I've been following your deviantART for a while and noticed that you've transitioned from 2D illustrations to 3D ones. What made you decide to go forth with this transition?

T: 1.) I love experimenting. It's my nature. I can't keep doing the same old style for long, even if it can't guarantee the effectiveness  of the artwork I can produce. I'd rather try something different than stay the same in my old footsteps. But then again, I always revisit my old technique for nostalgia's sake once in a while. Part of reason is, 2D still cannot fulfill my need. I love nature, sunlight, photorealism, family photo and the warmth that you can get from it, and the only tool that you can imitate nature to the closest is 3D. Of course, I saw a lot of super-realistic acrylic painting from great artists in the past, they proved that you can create photorealistic with 2D techniques, but you can't deny that 

2.) It takes a lot of time to master. Everything you paint in 2D is not modular, which means it finishes on its own, you cannot use any part of it again even if you want to. You have to paint the thing you need again, even if it is the same object, and it takes time. Now you might argue that you can use 'layers' to separate each objects or use recycleable art technique like vector art. It may be true, but there are several factor that limit its usefulness, like, what will you do if you want to change the 'camera angle' of the illustration? (paint a new one, of course).

A: Which is your personal favourite, 2D or 3D artworks? Why?

T: 2D - My favourite is the calendar I designed about a year ago (2012) because I created it for my beloved friend, and like I said above, I prized this kind of 'gift' work above everything else. In the aspect of art, it is the project that I experiment on using muted, more mature and 'classic' colors (as opposed to being colorful all the time in the past) and I found that really like it to this day.

3D - My first 'serious' 3D artwork (Meeting at Bookstore x Chubby Kitty) I don't know why, but I found that other 3D works that come after this piece feel pale in comparison to it, even if I could produce a better textured, model and lighting. Maybe it's because I put everything and a lot of time into creating this work. It's my first time of almost everything, rigging human charater, model a cat, create a complete scene, etc.

A: Do you have any artists you look up to? Anyone who inspire you?

T: Too many to lists here, really. I admire both new, contemporary artist with funky and exotic style, and also the artists in the past, like Russian war painter or Victorian painting, which is absolutely brilliant. They are all the foundation of the world of art we lived today. It doesn't have to be artist or painter who inspired me, photographer, movie director, computer programmer, videogames, comedian or even ordinary people can inspire me equally. There are so many fantastic inspiration from fantastic people everywhere I look. I wouldn't be where I am without them.

A: What does the future look like for Raindropmemory?

T: I would like to make Raindropmemory into the source of serene, quiet space of art for people to relax their mind, raise awareness of themselves. We live in the world of constant  distractions and loud, stimulating noise for so long that we all get accustomed to it, and forget the importance of peaceful mind. Exciting music or videogames make us jump with joy for a while, but it'll quickly be gone, and we crave for something new. Peaceful mind last, though, because it doesn't depend on external source, it comes from the inside.

A: Thanks for the time, Teekatas! One last thing: What kind of advice would you give novice illustrators out there?

T: You're welcome!

1) The more you read, listen, watch, the more things you can connect together, and enable you to see what others can't, and often leads to experiment and innovation. I think this is really important part of developing unique style of your own. Preferably, consume only the signal, though, leave the noises alone - like all the 'social'-thingy.

2) Respect the practice. Just practice isn't enough, you have to practice with quality too. From my experience, drawing fifty of 5 minutes sketchy doodles doesn't increase your drawing skill much,  compare to painting an artwork with elaborate details. Sometimes we have a habit of just drawing what we feel fine with. My suggestion, if you want to improve in anything, get out of your comfort zone first. That's the reason of practicing after all.

What I admire incredibly from Teekatas's style: First off, of course the warm feel to all his artworks. It almost doesn't matter where I physically am when I see them, I feel instantly at home. All the perfect little moments he usually portrays are also very down-to-earth and you can stumble upon them on a daily basis. That is not to say that his works are mundane, though. If anything, it just shows how much appeal they have. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of 3D artworks but his works give me a different perspective to 3D illustrations. I just swoon.

Thanks for stopping by! Don't forget to check out his website! Also, check out last month's feature here.

You Know The World Revolves in Reverse?

Happy April Fool's Day, people! I don't think it's a day to be celebrated with cakes and festivities. Ha! But enjoy the day and be careful of tomfoolery, everyone! Guess what? The world revolves in reverse now and that's pretty much why, instead of spring, autumn arrives now. That was a pretty bad lie, huh? But it sure as hell feels like that. The snow has melted away, revealing the heaps of dried leaves under the trees. Gleeful I am, stomping all over them, feeling them crack under my feet. I wish I could just roll around on them all day, embracing the chill and the sun in my face. Weather forecasts have predicted that it was going to be cloudy and gloomy all week but it had been sunny so far. I hope they're also wrong about the temperature anytime soon. These photos were taken before I went to see Firu with Saku-chan. I'm not bringing my laptop with me so I won't be showing up around here for two weeks - except for this month's Illustrators Arise feature. But don't worry, I'll be back with a bunch of new stuff.

Mom's + DIY sweater // self-designed batik dress // Typo satchel // Soho Zoo boots // H&M tights // Primark coat

This is an outfit essentially consisting of items that I made, one way or another. I've probably said this over and over again but this batik dress is something I am thoroughly proud of. Sure, I did not sew the stitches myself but there's just something accomplishing about being able to wear something you've scratched on paper. It was as if a creation of mine was brought to life. It's so special to me that I rarely ever wear it, only on special occasions - this time I made an exception, though. The sweater is a DIY out of Mom's old sweater. It was my first too! To be honest, I'm not much for wearing sweaters so, for the most part, this item just sits in my closet. It probably would've been different if a.) I'd had adorable sweaters - which I do not - or b.) I'd spent all my life in a cooler environment - I've lived all my life in a tropical country. I'm not complaining, though. Plus, I feel like collecting some boots from now on and wanting to throw out my shoes which aren't boots. Oh! Speaking of throwing out clothes, have you checked out my closet sale yet?