Work Related : Mini Paintings

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Hello,

After a couple of months of delaying on posting on of my latest project,

here I'm going to share with you :

Original mini paintings on wooden block.

They are up for sale!

Mainly themes were based on several random interest of mine at that moment.

Sparks of ideas.

Size : 100 x 100 x 6 mm

Material : Wooden block & Ink

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1 . Super Mario & Giant Mushroom

*remember those days when we played Super Mario on ancient TV console? :D

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2. Lost in Dream of Love

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4. Listen to the Nature

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6. I'm a big Flower in the city

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7. Liesel & Death from The Book Thief

*one of my favorite book, must read

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Work Related : It's.Raining.Now

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My little naughty Awan, some wooden discs doodle

& and my big book of designs.

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What do you do on night like this?

Watching TV? Doing your homework? Stalking friends in FB?

I miss my uni life

*Convocation soon*

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Why you don't need a dSLR?

Before you buy a dSLR, you should consider these :

Your opinion might be different, but I just wrote this according to my experience only. We can agree to disagree on any matter :)

1. Size & weight.

dSLR is big and bulky. It is definitely not an ideal camera to bring to your friend's wedding or a reunion. You need to bring it everywhere. You can't leave it on the desk, you can't keep on asking your friend to hold it for you while you want to take some food. 

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2. You love to travel.

Travel light, pack everything up in small potions, only bring what's important. Why bringing all 3 lenses and extra batteries and external flash in a huge bag?

Last year when I went to Universal Studios with my siblings, like everybody else, we queued for a ride in one of the roller-coaster. Guess what? No bags or camera were allowed. So, where should we put our bag & camera? The bag's compartment was full. We wanted to take that ride together. The queue lasted 45 minutes. 

Solution : We left it with our aunty whom apparently had to wait outside with her baby. 

Traveling with a tour is a fast-paced activity. So, you better think of something convenient to use. *I high-lighted the word 'tour'. May not be the same as traveling solo or with your friends & family :)

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3. Long learning process

Having a dSLR won't make you a better photographer instantly. If you are really interested in learning the technical process, know about the aperture, shutter speed, composition, lens and any other things professional photographer loves to brag about, then it should be okay.

Because it is a continuous learning process. Your picture might still be the same. As dull as before. Or worse, you photoshopped every piece of your picture taken by your dSLR. What's the point?

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4. The Reason

If you want to snap a good photo of your product, you DON'T actually need to use a dSLR. I frequently come across peoples who are planning to buy a dSLR for their investment in taking their product's picture. You can buy a good compact camera with the same macro, filtering function that is far much easier to use and pain-stakingly as beautiful as dSLR photo. 

If you just want to share your activity. Fast and easy? 

Use a smartphone eg : iPhone 4. Post it on instagram or facebook right after you snap the picture. 

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5. Money

It would be appropriate to plan ahead! dSLR is not a cheap device. With all those accessories eg: lens, filter, memory cards, external flashes, tripod, battery grip, cleaning equipment, this and that. Oh dear.

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Other alternative :

Panasonic Lumix LX5/GF3

*this is a super awesome compact digital camera. You can change the lens if you insist on changing it, but with the lumix adapter. It is super easy to use. It is super small. The video quality is awesome, in HD. Hang it on your neck and it won't bother you. The macro function, oh, just fine. I'm currently using LX3, and I'm not regretting anything since I sold my dSLR d40. Oh, and you should buy GF if you want to spend more!

Olympus PEN E-P1

Sony Nex-3/Nex-5

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Loving high quality point & shoot camera

Pure satisfaction.

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9th.week.of.Awan

Hello Friday.

Did you kiss your mom's forehead this morning?

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That's naughty Awan,

aiming to bite my hand while drawing.

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What inspires me to draw?

Nothing really.

It's just music and my imbalance emotions.

I can almost read my doodle by looking at it.

What inspires you?

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Post on :

Why you don't need a dSLR?

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checker.shirt.

A sudden realization when I saw my reflection this morning while walking :
I look so skinny in this shirt.

But it's my favorite purple checker shirt. My very first buttoned checker shirt that I bought as I started working 10 months ago. It's the smallest size.

Not a strong point.
I'm just bored stiff up to the point where I made this pointless post on my checker shirt. Or was it on me being skinny this morning? Is this even considered as an issue? Wow.

Blame this on my hormonal imbalance.

Rejection.

It's hard to expect people would accept you for who you are, fully.
I am so aware when I'm being myself, for fear of rejection.

There is a little nudge on my heart whenever I see my friends are getting married without mentioning it to me that I found out later via facebook pictures. Somehow I never thought it would upset me.

Plug in some music and walk away.

Black & White

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Making WIP video on huge canvas.

*soon*

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It's okay if you can only see

black & white in your life.

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Huge.Canvas.

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WIP : on really huge canvas

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It is interesting to experiment.

Up until today, my favorite surface to doodle is on wood.

Several months ago I come to 

the liking of doodling on canvas.

Well, depends on the canvas's type of course.

Currently I'm doodling on a huge canvas.

It takes time.

Spontaneous doodle do take a lot of time when it comes to ideas.

Sometimes, it rains heavily, sometimes it won't even peek.

Slowly, I doodle,

searching for a peace in my soul.

Rest rest tired soul.

Artworks increasing.

Should prepare for a small exhibition.

Any suggestion?

I'm turning 25 in 2 months.

My clock is ticking.

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Winner!

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Hello!

I'm terribly late for the little doodle contest winner announcement! 

I'm so sorry, I've been busy with works.

Well, thanks for all the doodle submission,

keep on doodling for fun!

And the winner goes to :

Rebinabiru!

Please email me Mr.Rebina : 

azreen_31@hotmail.com 

for your small prize :)

PS :

I like his stroke and style of doodling.

:)

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Imitation.

Case Study 1 : Imitation

There are many ways of learning, you can learn from observations, studies, practices, workloads and such. I tried one few months ago : imitation. Completely imitate other artist's artwork to challenge myself, and I was curious to know how well I can imitate a person's work. Well, I think imitating one's work is pretty easy, creating something out of your own imagination with your own style and stroke is harder. Usually people are easily inspired by other's artwork.

Here is the link to an artist called nidhi chanani.
Credit goes to her, of course.
I really like her soft pastel-colours mixture.

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Her work ( left ) + mine in progress ( right )

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Result :

* Imitated *

Same? No? Almost?

:D

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Of course you can learn other's tricks & skills, but be reminded not to be them, find yourself. You can experiment, improvise, and learn other's technique. Don't copy. And I know it's hard not to imitate especially when you are inspired by looking at other's artwork, but you can't live in other people's shadow forever, right? So find yourself.

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The beauty of life is we are all interconnected,

but some people take it in negative ways,

so you need to set the limits.

Don't copy, don't imitate.

Some artists are very particular about that.

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Have fun learning.

:)

Open.Air.

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When visualizing on open air is no longer sufficient.

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Hey ho Hey ho,

How's your Raya weekend?

A lot of open houses & food fiesta?

Mine was packed with interesting activities :D

Wedding, open house, outings.

Managed to finish off the 7 wooden plates,

now I'm counting on next new 6 pieces.

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Cool stuffs are going to happen next month!

Graduation day, Pipit, Big Bad Wolf, Hajj, my mom's birthday.

Yeay!

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and, and, and...

:D

Have a nice working days!

*slowly smelling nice hot milo aromas

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Little.Doodle.Contest!

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Little doodle competition!

Send me / link me to your latest doodle and

win RM 5 celcom top-up!

Don't forget to link it to this blog back and inform me in the comment box! 

:D

Ends : Next Wednesday (14th Sept 2011)

Winner Announcement : Next Thursday (15th Sept 2011)

Have fun doodling!

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Life.lessons.

Well I love a good reminder of things that I usually know but often forget.

Leo Babauta post on 38 life lessons learned in 38 years.
These were extracted from the post, you can read the whole version here.

2. Possessions are worse than worthless — they’re harmful. They add no value to your life, and cost you everything. Not just the money required to buy them, but the time and money spent shopping for them, maintaining them, worrying about them, insuring them, fixing them, etc.

9. The only kind of marketing you need is an amazing product. If it’s good, people will spread the word for you. All other kind of marketing is disingenuous.

11. You can’t motivate people. The best you can hope for is to inspire them with your actions. People who think they can use behavioral “science” or management techniques have not spent enough time on the receiving end of either.

12. If you find yourself swimming with all the other fish, go the other way. They don’t know where they’re going either.

14. Mistakes are the best way to learn. Don’t be afraid to make them. Try not to repeat the same ones too often.

37. Fear will try to stop you. Doubts will try to stop you. You’ll shy away from doing great things, from going on new adventures, from creating something new and putting it out in the world, because of self-doubt and fear. It will happen in the recesses of your mind, where you don’t even know it’s happening. Become aware of these doubts and fears. Shine some light on them. Beat them with a thousand tiny cuts. Do it anyway, because they are wrong. 

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Ideas.to.doodle

Doodles means you spontaneously and absent-mindedly scribble or draw anything, nothing serious. Just for fun. You don't have to sketch it first, and later do the inking process, that in itself is not a doodle. That is more to an illustration or drawing, perhaps! :)

So here is a list of things, people, characters, that you can doodle :
(Pictures are taken from my previous doodle works & links are from available blogs I found)

• Animals ( done )
• Imaginary Creatures / Monsters : ( done )
• Stina Jones Project

• Movie characters 

• Your friends : ( done )

• Your family
• Your drawing tools ( done! my favorite things to doodle )
• Your random thoughts ( done! ) :
• sabilablabla

• Your perfume bottles collection
• Your favorite items ( done )
• Your clothes ( done )
• what I wore today
• Your pet 
• Your favorite quotes ( done ) :
• notebook doodles 

• Your things : 

• Your past/funny incidents 
• contengconteng
• Your shoes collection :

• Your favorite music line :

• Devices
• Machines :

• Places 
• Buildings

• Types of flowers : 

• Foods & drinks
• Book Covers
• Items on your desk
• Funny incidents
• Body features
• Random people in the train
• Bottles
• Candy and sweet and everything nice

There are so many other items that can be doodled. Do you doodle for fun? Give me the link of your works in the comments below and I'll add it here in this post :) 

Have fun doodling!

Holstee Manifesto :)

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Wear your passion guys!

Keep making your first step.

Make today better than yesterday :

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Later :

I'll share with you ideas to doodle 

:)

Books.to.Share.

Books are meant to be shared

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Dear Readers,

I am the Messenger by Markus Zusak

I bought this book about 3 weeks ago, for RM 48.50.
I was thinking of sharing this book with other people, so I'm going to sell it for RM 15.
It's new, plastic wrapped, not normal brownish paper-back paper, the paper quality is much better. I bought it because I loved The Book Thief and I want to read his other book.

It is a story about sending messages in our lives that we can't see even though they are there in front of you. Showing you that anything is possible, if you choose to let it be.

:)

I loved it.
Do email me : azreen_31@hotmail.com if you want to buy.
Free postcard from my doodle.

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Awards :

• 2007 Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis
• 2006 Michael L. Printz Award Honor book^[3]
• 2006 Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book
• 2005 Publishers Weekly Best Books of the Year-Children
• 2003 Children’s Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award^[4]
• 2003 New South Wales Premier's Literary Awards Ethel Turner Prize for Young People's Literature

Some favorite quotes :

"Sometimes people are beautiful. Not in looks. Not in what they say. Just in what they are." 

"Maybe everyone can live beyond what they're capable of." 

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Salam Aidilfitri!

Confronting Your Allergies

What are you made of? 

Here is some ways of learning about allergies and ways to reduce or avoid them. 

Be informed that I'm not a doctor and this is only from my experiences.

You should seek for professional advices if necessary.

Allergic :

1. Allergic to prawn

Unluckily I am allergic to prawn, mainly certain kind of prawn. I think I can die if I eat a huge lobster (like, seriously). Normally, if I really want to eat them, I'll eat 1-2 littlest prawns after finished my dinner/lunch. It will usually take about 3-5 minutes, before my throat will start to swallow? (that's how I imagine it would be), I'll feel itchy, and a little bit hard to breathe. Next, the back of my tongue will feel itchy. It will usually take about 20 minutes or so. I'll take antihistamine if it take longer than 20 minutes. I'll feel nauseated too :)

Other sign is marks like a map or spots on my body. Usually my hands & thigh, the worst is when it spread to my whole body including my face. It will be a little bit hot and super itchy, that's when I need my injection (occurred once, thank God). And yes, the worst of all is when I'll start to breathe heavily, making weird sounds while breathing and feel like dying, and start to promise to myself that I'll never eat prawn anymore. Aha. I lied, I will still eat them, I love seafood too much, I can't bear not eating them. 

What you should do (if you love the foods that you can't eat) : 

• Eat antihistamine before you eat those killer food 
• Eat moderately, please. Don't ever eat like you are a normal person, because you are not, and it can kill you. You don't want to die because you eat prawn, don't you? 
• Try and error, usually, you are not allergic to all type of prawns, so, you can try and see the effects! 

And no, there's no cure. 

2. Allergic to dust

You thought you are having a flu. But alas! No, it is just an allergic reaction to dust. How to differentiate them? Im not a doctor, but here I'm just talking through experience. Hope it helps :)

Flu, you will usually feel a bit drowsy, and feverish. You will feel tired and the back of your eyes burn.  A bit sluggish and tired. Usually occurred for days. What you need is normal medication for flu.

Allergic reaction usually starts with several unstoppable sneezes. You will need a lot of tissues, you will feel tired for sneezing too much, it will usually take a couple of hours to calm down. 

What you need to do :

• Make sure you know what causes it. Old cloth that you choose to wear that day, dusty bedroom, etc. Wash or clean them, take a long breathe outside *clean environment, wash the inner part of your nose, and drink warm water. I don't know scientifically it is right or not, but it works for me :)
• Avoid dust! Clean up your room, and wash up your clothes frequently.

3. Allergic to sweat

Allergic to your own sweat (yes, seriously). If I sweat too much, I'll start feeling itchy on my neck, shoulder, hands, chest and then it comes the rashes and the burning feeling, it sounds stupid, but unfortunately it happens. I met several dermatologist before, and they gave me several creams and prescriptions, well in the end, I found my own cheap solution. 

What you need to do :

• I avoid direct sunlight especially on hot afternoon. 
• If I sweat, I'll make sure it will dry fast. 
• Don't ever scratch the itches, or it will become rashes almost instantly. 
• Who ever said put lotion will help, well, they lied. Ditto talcum powder.

4. Allergic to skin products 

Make-up, lotions, soap, cleanser, any products will do.

Usually it starts with itchiness, also pimples/rashes *a great indication that you should stop using the product. Simple. If you feel itchy, then stop using it. Yes, it is a little bit hard to take a good care of  sensitive skin. You will probably avoid using any make-ups like me! 

Soaps & lotions? Well, no other way, try and error. If you feel itchy after you started using it, then you should understand that it is not meant for you. Alright? :D

So, there goes my allergies list :)

Salam.Aidilfitri.

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Hello, hello,

Salam Aidilfitri everyone :)

It's been 2 weeks, more? 

Joy!

I got a booth for the 2nd Pipit this year, how lovely.

So, take this chance and meet us :D

I'll be giving free gifts for 5 earliest buyers.

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Pipit Wonderful Market

on 29th October 2011

at Annexe Gallery

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I'm taking orders again :)

Another 2 wooden frames, before I stop taking orders for frame.

Alright? 

And I also take orders for digital buttons :

email me , azreen_31@hotmail.com

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