Haystacks in Late Summer c.1891,Claude Monet (1840-1926)
Lammas marks the midpoint between the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox. A festival of the summer harvest, it is often celebrated on August 1st.
We're observing Lammas by eating white corn from our friend Astrid's vegetable garden.
Wishing you a happy harvest time!
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Photos of my studio in the Tower Grove East Neighborhood-- St Louis.
I have been in the studio for 5 years now...and loved every minute.
these photos were taken by a great photographer -- Jamie Harmon. Jamie is from Valdosta, GA. He visited St. Louis this past week with his wife- Danielle and kids -- Gus and Hopper.
I had a wonderful time showing them my space and City Garden downtown.
The exterior and interior of my space make it look larger than it is... but it suits me fine.
The bottom photo is the back of my easel... with my collection of toys..........
Most of us have bought stuff from Watsons before and now we are about to be rewarded when we do so!
Introducing the launch of the new Watsons card!
The picture above is of the Watsons card itself as well as the welcome pack, which includes:
A guide to your new card, as well as $150 worth of vouchers!
To get your card is incredibly simple.
Just buy your card at $5 at any Watsons store, and this gives you:
- A lifetime membership! No renewal costs!
- $150 worth of vouchers
- And 20 bonus points in the card upon online activation!
Here are 2 examples of the vouchers found in my thick stack:
And many more! I especially like the discounts on products that I regularly buy anyway such as make-up or shampoo. From ZA to Maybelline to Gillette to Pantene to KFC rebates and deals, this is definitely not a voucher book that you'd toss away.
How does the card work?
It works based on a Points system. The more points you earn, the more you get in cash rebates!
Not only that...
2x points whenever you purchase any Watsons' house brands,
and 5x points the first time you shop at Watsons during your birthday month!
5x is damn ridiculous lah! At this rate I'm going to do all my shopping during that one day in April only.
Once you get your card, it's important to remember to activate it, otherwise you won't be eligible for the 20 free bonus points!
In this new painting above I have tried to capture the essences of earth, air and water. I have used my much loved tree-of-life to suggest a vascular energy within what appears to be an ambiguous landscape. The vibrant red 'clouds' spill red and blue 'rain', both woven into the fabric of the 'sky' in a startling pattern. I like the idea of a sky revealing its elemental energy normally unseen by the naked human eye of eye ball and pupil. My mind's eye always 'sees' the normally unseen. To wonder is the spark which ignites the imagination. Maybe viewers who look at my work will wonder and come up with their own mind's eye 'sights'? As I have written before on this BLOG I do not believe I complete my paintings, because I know every conversation a painting stumulates, whether with others or with oneself, provides a completion. Hence there is the possibility of multiple completions.
In a way I have to distance myself from my work ...and I am comfortable with this. I also believe that by distancing myself from 'owning' a completion, I just might save my work from the perils of didacticism. One of these perils is the blinding of the mind's eye and thus the death of wonder. I have previously writen about wonder @ http://kathrynbrimblecombeart.blogspot.com/2009/03/after-couple-of-weeks-not-painting-i-am.html
I chose red for the clouds and the strips of 'rain' to indicate a potency, not just in the obvious benefits of rain and water to the Earth and its inhabitants, but also in the rich metaphor water provides for us. This is where my interest in the vast/intimate-global/local-macro/micro enters the painting. Water has an ability to exist in a vast mass, but also to be reduced to droplets, mist, steam. It can seep into intimate spaces where space does not seem to obviously exist. It flows and its 'currency' is a metaphor for concepts of movement and progression, but also value in all of its conotations. I believe fluidity is an important aspect of perspective in this increasingly globalised world in which we live locally.
How about doing something fun and also ultra good for you, like a FACIAL MASK??
I hate to sound like one of those girls who are always going on about skincare, but it's really time to start. :(
And yes, I regret not putting in more effort when I was younger.
I've heard so many aunties say that sentence to me when I was a teen and it irritated me so much that I vowed never to repeat that. But here I am, repeating it! Golden advice!
Nowadays all my girlfriends who are about my age are putting on face masks all the time! After a mask, skin feels hydrated, rejuvenated, and well... it gives me the illusion that I'm 18 again. Except ironically when I was 18 my skin was damn shitty. But that's not the point.
I'm constantly on the lookout for better skin care products because the technology is always improving anyway!
So. I got sponsored 3 new skincare products and I'm gonna introduce them to you!
Available at SA SA outlets:
Beauty Talk's OxySolution
Beauty Talk's OxyMask
Beauty Talk's OxyAqua
Maybe some of you have seen, heard of, or even used these before.
Afterall, they have been featured on Taiwan’s hottest TV programme 女人我最大 before!
So what's so special about Beauty Talk's products?
As is obvious from the product names and my blog title, the answer is OXYGEN.
Did you know that even if you keep a stringent skincase regime, your skin can still appear yellowish and dull if it doesn't have enough oxygen in it?
"Oxygen is important for our skin as it renews skin cells, promotes metabolism and provides energy to the skin.
Without fresh oxygen, blood circulation is slower and unable to detoxify, causing dark and dull skin."
Well. That's kinda lousy news.
So now we know that on top of moisturizing and hydrating, sunblock, and an amass of other things we need to do to keep looking young, we can now add "giving skin OXYGEN" to the list.
But no worries, I'm gonna give my skin oxygen if that's what it wants. It's like a demanding girlfriend, never stops requesting for stuff.
First step is to use OxySolution!
Give the bottle a little shake to make sure it's mixed well.
Prepare a cotton pad
SQUEEZE!
So cute :D
When it's drenched in OxyGoodness, gently tap on skin!
This mousse is actually a multi-functional toner. It moisturizes and even cleanses while firming up your skin!
And it can even double as a make-up remover!
Eyeliner and eyeshadows easily rubbed off.
Now for the stellar OxyMask!
Pardon me I'm trying to take artsy shots of me squeezing my mask out.
Here it goes!
For demonstration purposes, I shall only do the mask on half of my face:
Massaging OxyMask into my face in a circular manner as instructed.
This exfoliates dead skin, treats clogged pores and whitens!
And I must say I never expect a mask to be so fun! After mere seconds the seemingly boring mask starts to FIZZLE!
Many many bubbles start surfacing, giving me a tickling sensation! It's so amazing!
I even hopped into Mike's room and told him, "See? It's has bubbles!! Can you see?? Can you see??"
Until the poor guy says "Oh yes", I go back into my room, still amazed. The bubbles popping excitedly
Here's a close up of the bubbles...
The mask stops fizzing after a short while, forming a cooling gel mask. I suppose they finished their job of giving oxygen to my skin.
It's now time to wash!
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
The mask is supposed to have lifting purposes and make your lighten your labii folds. These are the creases at the sides of our mouths when we smile.
That is not obvious in the photo I took but CHECK OUT HOW MUCH FAIRER I AM on the right side of my face where I put the mask!
I won't believe it but I really look brighter and much more radiant on that side! Granted, my left side still has blusher on (strictly no foundation), but you can see that even my forehead lightened!
Not only that, my skin feels super soft, silky and supple!
If you think I photoshopped the effects in, do watch this clip and you will be thoroughly convinced:
Super amazing isn't it?
Polish off the routine with OxyAqua: Intensive Hydrating Essense and you are done!
This gel cream moisturiser is water-based and not oily at all. The perfect companion for the toner and mask!
Celebrate good skin with Camwhoring!
Here's me with some blusher put on. I can't live without blusher, sorry.
It's Beauty Talk's 1st BIRTHDAY!
So to celebrate this successful 1st year anniversary, you are given discounts!
OxySolution + OxyMask + OxyAqua used to go for$195.70, but now they are selling for $138!!
Almost $60 off the usual price for the 3-pack deal!
Old customers must quickly grab a spare set and new customers should try it now while it's so cheap!
Beauty Talk products are available at all SA SA outlets.
p/s: Just to reillustrate, I didn't put foundation for all these pictures, though I did apply some blusher. Tiny blemishes or zits are also smoothed out, but I definitely did not use photoshop to create the lightened effect on the after photo!
Randomly decided to fry rice that day and it turned out really muthafucking yummy so I cooked it again and took some pictures to share the recipe!
Cooking is definitely not one of my stronger suits**, so if I can make it nice so can you! **Although my maternal grandpa and uncle were both chefs. I guess the gene didn't pass on to me.
Here are the ingredients:
White rice: 2 cups full
Coconut milk, half a packet
Eggs: 2
Taiwan sausage: 2
Spam luncheon meat: Half a small can
1 can 3 layered pork, also known as Kong ba (Hokkien) or Kou rou (Chinese)
UPDATE: After cooking this many times I've decided that a full packet of coconut milk and THREE eggs is the way to go! Definitely no mushrooms though.
You may notice that I left out the shiitake mushrooms. That's cos I think the fried rice actually tastes nicer without the mushrooms.
I only added them in this time round coz I had them in the fridge and they looked like they are about to go bad. So it's your choice if you wanna put the mushrooms in!
First sort out your rice... 2 cups full cooked in rice steamer with 3 cups of water.
While rice is cooking you may prepare other ingredients, though there is not much to do:
Dice SPAM and Taiwan Sausage into little cubes.
Here's the 3 layered pork. It looks FUCKING gross with loads of opaque white fats in it which I already fished out. But it tastes sooo good.
Slice the pieces and keep the brownish oil.
Dice mushrooms. I guess if you are a big fan of mushrooms you can add them in.
Crack eggs.
I added in about 1 tablespoon full of light soy sauce to the mixture for taste.
Froth it!
Here's my favourite bigass frying pan which BFF bought for me.
Add in oil from the 3 layered pork can!
I strongly believe that how yummy fried rice is is directly proportional to how much oil is used so be generous!
I poured half the can in and added a bit of sunflower oil. I already feel damn guilty about using the unhealthy oil so I tried to make myself feel better by mixing in normal cooking oil.
Frying the mushrooms first... They don't take to frying that well as they keep leaking moisture and making the oil hop like mad. And also sticks to the pan. But oh well.
If you are not using mushrooms skip to next step.
Fry the pork cubes!
When they are sizzling...
Add in rice!
After frying for a bit, add in...
Eggs!
AND half a packet of coconut milk.
I know it's unconventional but what doesn't taste good with coconut milk? Ok fine, many things, but generally coconut milk is awesome!
Frying
Frying
And done! Worthless self-shot with half of my face in it!
Elemental Oil on linen 50 x 95 cm 2009
this is a large scale watercolor -- in the works.... 
