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A pictorial essay about what I did today (sunday 21/10/07):

went to Ikea immediately after opening to buy a picture frame, to frame an oil painting bought yesterday:

the one on the right - the left one has been around for some time - a nice contrast. Then went to see a carpet exhibition:

then went to the former Hill Street Police Station, now an art gallery arcade:

and quickly went through two exhibitions:

Later returned to the carpet event to briefly see some of the items being auctioned:

Despite the number of outlets visited, I was home by 2.30, to finish the framing of the painting and photograph it, so that I could finish this webpage by 4pm when Jay Leno comes on TV. 

Later I thought I would download some other Miao maiden paintings for comparison, but curiously all those I could find are half body side profiles; seem dull

In mine, the girl is praying before a candle in a boat on a river with modern looking houses on the shore, under a full moon which presumably means she is praying for love. Surely many varieties of themes could be found? In the old communist China, one had to be very careful with art themes, but minority race depictions were safer because they were supposed to be a kind of compliment to multicultural national unity. Today I guess the market dictates, but I have no idea what the newly wealthy Chinese consumers considered to be "good".

back at the same gallery on a different sunday, now with another artist's exhibition - actually bought a picture, the small one he is standing next to - the previous exhibition also had a south of Yanzi canal country picture, but too big (physicall as well as financially) for my needs, and a bit too dark for my taste.

28/10/07

went to vivo city; I guess no one need me to tell them the place is huge

 yet I found it hard to keep myself occupied there. There are hundreds, maybe more, shops but none I was motivated to linger and see. I felt like saying "it's not you; it's me".

This is my 4th visit since it opened earlier this year, 2nd on a sunday; on both sundays I was afraid there might be long queues of cars going into the carpark and endless searches for a space, so took the MRT there after leaving the car in a HDB carpark along the route - the other two times, an evening dinner on a weekday gave no problem, and a saturday afternoon visit to buy a cheap laptop advertised that morning, had me driving all the way to level 7 of the carpark, quickly finding a space there but at the opposite end from where the shop elevator is - on a very big floor.

As usual I read Straits Times over coffee, then wondered what to do next, and decided to look for a camera tripod - the existing one had developed a crack though remains usable. There are just two shops that had tripods, one did not have the type I wanted, the other had the right type but it was a professional model to lug around heavy video cameras or telescopic lenses. I then took the MRT to Plaza Singapura and found a cheap one in Carrefore.

Plaza Singapura used to feel very big to me, as did the old World Trade Centre shopping arcade, now known as Harbourfront. Both now look small.