little miss may

 

 

I’ve always been fascinated by the traditional Irish Claddagh ring, with two hearts clasping a heart and surmounted with a crown. The expression which was associated with these symbols in the giving of the ring was: “With my hands I give you my heart, and crown it with my love.”

This Christmas I decided to paint the symbols that formed that ring, as a gift to myself, and a gift to all of you.

For there is no greater gift than love.

 

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Ahhh, Spring is almost here.

Almost.

One more day, and it’s officially end of Winter.

The beginning of warmer days and colourful blooms.

So what else is new?

A friend got me started in painting with acrylics. Not little tubes of watercolour on a plastic palette and art block, but fully propped with an easel, canvas and all sorts of brushes. There were so many things I could’ve done as my first piece. I don’t know why, but the tiger caught my attention the most.

See? Tiger.

 

 

Maybe it’s to do with Malaysia’s Independence Day.

Maybe it’s the versatility and cunningness of the animal out in the wild.

Maybe it’s just the adorable white patches behind a tiger’s ears that I just can’t get out of my mind.

Crouching Tiger,
Happy Merdeka.

What shall I paint next?

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It was wet. It was gloomy. It was a public holiday in Australia.

What better thing to do than bushwalking in the rain? A few slippery rocks, splashy streams and persistent drizzle didn’t stop us from seeing Nature at its best.

I don’t know most of the names of the fungi and flowers I took pictures off, I hope I made the right guesses based on searches on Google…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Spring is in the air!

After seeing a beautiful shot of peach blossoms on one of my colleague’s computer, I just had to squeeze in a bit of time this morning before a big lunch (that’s the next post). Despite a marathon event held in one part of the Botanical Gardens which overcrowded the area, flooding the greens with runners, families and port-a-loos, I was determined ignore the noise and excess bodies to look for those blossoms before they wilted away.

The Royal Botanical Gardens in Sydney covers quite a large area. Much as I’d loved to have browse the entire place, I was pressed for time. After half an hour of hunting, and just when I was about to give up, I came to where it all bloomed — the Middle Gardens section.

My, oh my… What beautiful flowers there were, all lined up along this little lane! Peach blossom trees a plenty, lovely tulips, bright red poppies, white daisies, loads of purple and blue and yellow flowers I didn’t know the names to… I was in flower heaven.

Oh, before I continue — did I tell you I had the best hand-me-down ever from my elder brother? He recently bought a new DSLR and offered to pass his Nikon D50 on to me instead of selling it. Woo-hoo-hoo!! And that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to snap a few macro shots with this “new” baby of mine, just to see the difference between a “big ass” camera vs my little compact digital.

I absolutely LOVE the zoom. Zoom-zoom-zoom! I could see the smallest flower up-close and personal. Caught a few bees in action, even. I’m so loving my baby! I still haven’t quite figured out all the funky settings, so everything I shot today was on Auto. Yeah, these could’ve been better, but hey, I’m not complaining; even on Auto, I’m so impressed with what this camera can do.

I just absolutely love Spring. Might take a trip down to the Commonwealth Park in Canberra and see the Floriade, if I have the time. Or just poke around the gardens a little more.

Peach blossom for you, darlin’?

*twirls under the trees… a-la geisha-style…*

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