Bottled Sky

I love owls, cats, tin lunch boxes, storybook illustrations, and biscuits on their own. Put them all together and I start hyperventillating with joy. Literally. Oh, it was quite the scene when I first laid eyes on Artisan’s limited edition Two by Two biscuits, 16 owl- and cat-shaped organic butter biscuits stored in a tin lunch box covered in illustrations inspired by the classic Edward Lear poem, The Owl and the Pussycat. I went stupid — there’s just no other way to put it. For two whole minutes afterward all I could say was “WAAAANT”.

I bought mine from Jones the Grocer at Mandarin Gallery in case anyone’s interested. I must admit though that, as wonderfully presented as they were, the biscuits tasted average.

When I was seven, my homeroom teacher called my parents for a meeting to discuss my apparent lack of sociability. Here’s a random scan from my doodle journal that shows exactly what I think about that:

Whenever I come across beautifully packaged food, a battle wages inside my brain. The side of me that loves to eat has to duke it out with the side that appreciates good design. Whichever side wins gets to decide what to do.

Yogurt biscuits. Verdict? Eat.

Blackcurrant candies. Verdict? Keep.

Last June my friends and I went on a trip to Cebu, where we jumped off waterfalls and took naps on the beach. The post-vacation high somehow managed to seduce my web design muse out of wherever the hell she’d been hiding for the past year.

When I got back to Singapore, I started working on a remake of the summer-inspired layout that I created back in 2006. (Translation: I was too lazy and not quite inspired enough to start from scratch.) Unfortunately real work got in the way and sent my muse packing. I never got around to finishing the layout.

Well, not until now! You see, I went on another trip recently, this time to Batam, Indonesia with two of my fellow slaves colleagues. We went cable skiing, gorged on surprisingly fantastic pizza, tanned poolside, and spent hours being massaged into blissful, boneless relaxation. The trip gave me just the right amount of juice to finish what I started months ago.

I’m kind of in love with it, if I may be so immodest. I found a few bugs just now that would have normally sent my anal side on a rampage, but I’m just so happy that I don’t even mind. Take that, obsessive-compulsive tendencies! Let me know, if the layout isn’t working right on your end, though. I’m not too far gone to not care about that.

Continue reading Summer Makes a Comeback »

This website used to have an Extras section, where I stashed all kinds of odds and ends that didn’t fit anywhere else. I dropped it during the last redesign, so now I’ve moved a few of the aforementioned odds and ends here.

The following wallpapers and LJ icons, which feature some of my illustrations, are free to download for personal use only. As long as you don’t sell, distribute or make derivative works out of them without my permission, we’re cool. Enjoy!

Continue reading Whimsical Desktops and Icons »