Seminyak Beach, Bali, January 2012

but i am so happy here, bali has a momentum that suits me – slow bossa nova in afternoon cafes, acoustic guitar riffs on the beach, laughter and pulsating music as night breaks, there is a space for every kind of beat that you feel like and good people who dance and laugh and sing like their spirits are on fire. bali rewards those who love life and camaraderie, freedom and change, it is the lightest place i know and i am here for the good times.

1. Origami paper printed with foaming paint
2. One can always trust the boys to think up legit monster plants
3. While the girls decorate theirs like charms

In the studio, it is always a pressing challenge to strike a balance between imparting skills, and nurturing their imaginations. On one hand i need to teach them to paint a perfect leaf, draw perfect circles. On the other, their mottled purple leaves and wonky circles can turn out to be just fabulous. There are many ways to hold a brush, to subvert drawing techniques to suit your purposes. I encourage good techniques whenever i can while they make me understand that art is more encompassing and expressive than the carefully structured lists in my manual.

Along the Amalfi coast, en route Amalfi town from Positano. The blue SITA bus will shuttle you along the drive (7.2€ buys a 24hr pass), holding you captive to beauty and exhilaration because this journey is a mere foot away from a sheer plunge into the rocks and ocean. I ignored my screaming mind and leaned across Sheena to film.

See, the road is a lover of the mountains, hugging them with sinuous lines and meanders. Each concave turn reveals resorts hidden in unique rocky coves, nestled within the folds of the valley. As it curves out, the expanse of the Mediterranean is startling and wonderful to behold, waves hurtling themselves against the cliffs, crests flecked with froth. The sea is so deeply azure it feels viscous, like it’s got density and strength. If i were to hold it, it would stain my fingers blue. It is liquid sapphire.

Where i always feel belittled before nature’s magnificence, here i felt a delirious sense of possibility. The world is so pulsating and tremulous with beauty and i cannot wait to take in more. I have never seen anything like this.

Imagine easy conversation, brushstrokes and the tincture of paint, understanding subtleties like the exact amount of water to cut the paints with, knowing a myriad ways to start but lingering, never too willing to stop.

Art Improv is a bespoke creative event that, after a lot of niggling, we summed up into an equation : free flow paints, space and inspiration + YOU = Art Improv, a painting experience which is social, accessible and addictive. It is a social situation catalysed by the meditative and bonding nature of creating art. Art Improv is an idea slowly achieving fruition that i am doing with JOANNE and TIFF for ARTBUG. Our maiden session was fun and by raucous consent, extended for an hour longer than it should have.

It was ironic that in making this “art” event happen i needed to be speedy and chatty and concise, a sharp contrast to my self-indulgence in artist mode where movements are slow, tactile and rhythmic, languidly folding brown pigment into pink to make salmon. On busy days like these i would like a big picture brain, i want to be in perpetual motion, an adult.

For a tropical island, this country faces a shameful dearth of palatable seasides. Even the sand is imported sniffed Joanne derisively. As much as Coastes is a consolation for my beach-deprived soul, along Singapore’s shores is no water i wish to touch. Longing to be in Positano so much right now, i do not think this compulsion will ever leave me.

Quarter life brings an ennui of sorts. Hazel urges me to get contracted, find employment. AM tempts me with a life in publishing, J insists i only need work on marketing while much of my energy is taken up by ARTBUG. Like a boat tugged in opposite directions, i am restless yet stagnant. Tiff told me in passing that love inspires. The topmost picture incidentally, contains the things i hold most dear – the sea, drawing, french fries, the sun-drawn flush of youth. I am armed with pencils, paints and a steady hand. So.. onward then?