The Design Files Open House

So, if you don't already know, The Design Files Open House is this super huge crazy mega pop up. But wait, it's not just like any other pop up. You see, Lucy is this amazing wonder woman. Do you think superheroes would settle for a random shipping container to host a pop up? No. They have standards and Wonder Woman Lucy got herself a HOUSE. Yes. You heard me! A real house! One where people actually live in?! And Wonder Lucy basically took over, along with partner in crime, Esther and her team of superheroes and together, they transformed the entire home into one's dream land. Talk about crazy! EVERYTHING in the house is for sale. Including tap fixtures. I was soooooo lucky and was invited to be amongst the bunch of 75 awesome makers. I contributed 4 original artworks for the event. They're hung with lots of love in the kitchen!

I wanted EVERYTHING in the house. Including the house itself. Actually, on hindsight, I'd be more than happy just having only the toilet and the couch and maybe all the Jardan furniture and a few paintings, and lamps and bed linen. Oh and please how about adding in the very awesome 24k gold bin and baggu bags too? Please Santa, pleeeeeaaasssseeeee! I am definitely allowed to dream and wish right?

My theme phrase for the night was " OH MY GOD. I AM MELTING!!!! MELTING AND DYING AND MELTING INTO THIS ROOM.. LOOK AT THE BED.. OH MY GOD.. SOOOOOO NICE.. I WANT!!!!!!!!!!! " Yes.. I think I repeated that every time I turned a corner. Even if it wasn't a bed that I wanted to melt into.. it was the couch, the chair.. Even the toilet bowl looks nice to me! I got lucky and got to use the toilet for a few minutes. It totally put my own home toilet to shame!

Sorry I couldn't really be bothered to fine-tune my images and just shot them any-o-how, without adjusting my camera settings.. Hahah.. It was all TOO COOL FOR SCHOOL and I had so much fun! Thanks LUCY FOR EVERYTHING!!!! Drop by if you can! Warning, you might leave feeling like your house totally sucks. ( That happened to me! Haha. But only for a while. Don't worry, all my second/third/fourth-hand broken student furniture, we're still best friends. Just maybe not for life! )

More pictures on Lucy's blog here! If any of you make it there and if you've got extra time on your sleeve and a camera in hand, PLEASE take a photo of my work and send it to me if you can! I did not have time to go take photos in the day today ( the only day I can make it before I leave for Sydney tomorrow ! ) and it was way too crowded and difficult to photograph it last night. Thank you so so much! I will be really grateful if you can help me out!

Oh and on a totally different note, I'll be away in Sydney tomorrow till next Tuesday! I'm going to be at Finders Keepers! Along with my trusty elf/ man friend Darren! : ) We'll be there selling my art and wares. I am really really really excited about the market! It's my first in Sydney! Come say hi! I'd LOVE to meet all of you Sydney friends! It's always nice to meet new faces and know the lovely people who read this little blog!

See you if you can make it!
Take care and have a nice week!
PS: I was having lunch at a cheap Japanese place today and read this post on TheThousands. I burst out laughing! So funny!

Mega Update

Oh. It's feels like a week's passed since I last updated! I have so much to show and tell you guys. So here's a nice long little post on what's been happening. Basically all the pictures from this post, were all from the week that's just passed. I had quite a few notable fun things happen. First up, home art classes with Hugo! I introduced Hugo to the Japanese carp kite last week and talked to him about being brave and strong. ( If you read more about the history of a carp kite, you'll know why! ) and we did our very own Hugo version! Cool beans! As usual, my Wednesdays are always filled with so much fun. I teach Hugo in the morning, then head over to Do Re Me for class with my funny girls.

My girls did an awesome job last week and made large aboriginal paintings on fabric offcuts. We were going to turn them into bags this week, but unfortunately, the cruel rain came down on all their lovely handwork and washed the paints all away. BIG SIGH! But thank God the girls took it all in like champions and were in fact really excited they get to start over again on nice canvases... on their own at home. So, good on you girls! I'm proud of you all for thinking this way and having such positive art-making attitudes! And just look at what they did yesterday! This was AFTER I actually broke the bad news about their ruined work. See. They just love art. They can't stop painting! So so sad it's the last class for this year. But yup, look at their fun pieces!


Mini-me packaging drawings! Hahaha. It might look so easy and simply nothing but did you know these kids actually did not use any pencils or pens first? They went straight into their paintings by painting blocks of colour, then working around it to bring out the image? It's a great way to introduce packaging design to kids, at the same time, train them to observe and colour-block, instead of just drawing any-oh-how. Like my kids said to me " Sure looks easy but it is not! "

Apart from all my fun with kiddos, there was also the dog-friendly Design Files 2012 Calendar launch! I didn't end up taking lots of photos that night, but my good friend Madeleine Stamer did! And she's so graciously posted them up on her Facebook wall! Go have a look and at the same time like her page! I am a big fan of her work. Really cool stuff she does : ) It was such a nice laid-back night, with beautifully illustrated calendar pages to look at. Lucy has been nothing but so kind to me and asked if I could contribute a page. So yup I did! A little birdy told me I'm Miss February! Haha. Click here to get yourself a calendar!

Now, before I end off this already seemingly long post, I still have one more thing I promised to show! Pictures from my Sunday at MARKit! Yup, I had a market stall where I sold my art and wares. Thank you so much to those who came and said hi! How packed was that place! Ah! But yup, for those of you who couldn't make it down, here are a whole lot of pictures I took.


Phew! That's a lot of pictures to show. Sorry! I can't help but show you all the goodness. There were more but no, I don't want anyone to complain. Haha. So yup! These will do : )
From top to bottom: My stall, Cat Rabbit, Able and Game, Swiden, Betty Jo, Blank, Lark, Beci Orpin, Poppies for Grace, Simply Pheobe, Spin Spin, So Little Time Co.

Actually, I am going to be honest. I did have another exciting event happen during this same week. I know I know! It was none other than The Design Files Open House. I went last night to the launch and took lots of photos. Well, I think I drooled more than I took photos. But that's not the point. The point is, that place is AMAZING and you should go if you can. I think Lucy and team have done an amazing amazing crazy mega job and it should be appreciated so yup, do drop by if you can! I want to show you pictures, but I will hold myself back and post it in another post. In case you happen to be so sick of reading this ultra-long post already. Haha.

Ok. Byeeeeee!

ΔΔΔ Giveaway!

Hello and good Monday everyone! How was your weekend? Good I hope! I had a long and tiring but fun weekend. Ironic I know. But it was cool. I got to hang out with Darren and we went to our favourite ( or rather, my favourite ) hang out place - Misty's Diner! I set myself on fire with their triple xxx spicy sauce and ended up gulping down 1/2 my cup of peanut milkshake to save myself from crying. Let me just say, peanut shakes and super hot sauce, together, they taste really funky. Haha. Anyway, that aside, I spent Sunday at Markit selling all my cups, plates and art. I caught up with So many of my ex students from my adult watercolour classes, friends and more friends! I also made a few new friends and met some blog crushes for the first time! It was so much fun! I took quite a few photos and I'll post them up soon! Anyway, to thank you all for your continuous support, for coming down to MARKit, and buying my stuff online, leaving me awesome comments and emails all the time, I'd like to do a little giveaway!

As we all know, I love my food. And I love cooking. And I always try to make my kitchen a little bit more colourful, by hanging pieces of art and having different colourful veggies displayed in a basket. I know! I'm lame that way. Haha. I recently even got a bright yellow ice cream maker for our kitchen! ( Seriously, it's one of the best things ever! ) So anyway, see those super cool colourful knives up there? They were given to me by the awesome team over at OZKitchenware! I know. Just look at those colours. I practically squeal in delight every time I use them! ( For now at least ! ) They make me happy. And guess what, apart from these cool knives, I was also gifted this bright red knife block. Okay. I can officially camp out in the kitchen forever. Good food + happy knives = happy me. Haha.

So, basically for those unaware, OZkitchenware is a new online store that sells lovable kitchenware brands like Chasseur, Global Knives, Scanpan, Cuisinart, Mundial, Joseph Joseph, Tamahagane, to name a few. They are a fun, young little office - all foodies who love cooking! And apart from their pretty competitive prices, they also do free shipping for all orders above $100. Cool!

Anyway, the point is, OZKitchenware has very generously offered 2x$50 gift vouchers as a special prize for 2 very lucky readers of mine! Each winner will win a $50 voucher for spending at OZkitchenware!

I know $50 might not seem that much, especially if you're thinking of getting a fancy Chasseur pot. But still, it's $50! I'd love it myself! So, how do you enter this giveaway? Really simple!

All you need to do, is head over to OZkitchenware's site, pick and choose one item in which you'll most likely purchase if you win and leave a comment below, saying which item you chose, and why. Oh and very importantly, leave your email address too! So I can contact you if you win!

Perhaps you might like an ice cream maker, so you can combat the coming warm summer months? Or maybe you'd like a fancy new crockpot for some Christmas cooking? Ooh. Now I'm hungry.

Unfortunately, because OZkitchenware only ships within Australia, this giveaway is sadly only open to all Australian residents. Sorry international readers. I promise another giveaway soon! But for all Aussie residents, this giveaway will end Wednesday midnight next week, and I'll pick 2 lucky readers at random!

Now good luck and here's wishing you lots of happy foodie thoughts! x
Thank you!

Market season!

Hi everyone, just a quick little update... I'm going to be at MARKit, Federation Square this coming Sunday. I'll be there, along with my trusty, loyal and ever supportive side-kick, read boyfriend/manfriend- Darren! Special shout out to him for always being so willing to help out, do lunch runs, man my stall while I shop, etc. He's awesome! Anyway, come on down, it's going to be fun and twice as big as before, with over a 100 stall holders. I'm going to be located at the Foyer level of the BMW Edge Theatre. Come say hi if you can! : )

And for all you Sydney readers, I'll be at Finders Keepers next week! Hooray! You can take a little look at my profile here! Oh and the awesome ladies from Finders Keepers recently did a feature on this little humble blog of mine, which you can read here. Thank you so much!

Well, hopefully I'll see you at one of these coming markets!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Illustration I did two weeks ago, for The Big Issue. The issue came out this week. I've yet to see it in person. But I'm pretty sure it'll look nice paired with the beautiful thanksgiving story. ( Of which was inspiration for the drawings ) I think what The Big Issue does is really awesome, providing opportunities for homeless, marginalised and disadvantaged people to make positive changes in their lives. Authorised vendors buy the magazine for $2.50 from The Big Issue and sell it on the streets for $5, keeping the difference.

I think it's really nice to know your money's well spent and that it goes to someone in need.

As Christmas is fast approaching, a lot of us think about gifts, holidays, feasting. I myself do too. But perhaps this Christmas, we can all start by making a little change by donating or helping the less advantaged. There are so many people out there with no where to sleep, no home to go to, let alone even have a proper meal. There's lots which we can do. Oxfam for one, has some really cool Christmas gift ideas.

Perhaps this Thanksgiving and Christmas season might be a reminder for us to reflect on the good things we have in our life and how we can share it with others who might really benefit and appreciate it?

PS: In the spirit of sharing, I will be giving a free surprise print along with every order from my shop. This week only! I know it's totally somewhat different from donating. But I'm just big on the idea of buying something for yourself, and having something to share with someone else.

•••••

Something super exciting is in the works. I don't think I'm suppose to say anything yet. It's top secret for now! Haha. But yes, all I can say is... I worked with a full class of 25 kiddies today and we made lots of drawings together. Veggies and fruit galore! The kiddies were SO adorable. One even came up to me after class and said " I really like you Dawn Tan. I really think your art is really nice. I think you should take part in lots of art competitions so you can win them all. I wish you can be my mum! "

HAHA. Kids! Not so sure about the mum part!

Oh and I have some awesome news to share today. I just found out, I got into the teaching course I applied for at Uni next year! Ah. I am going back to school. Again! Though I'm totally dreading it! But you know what it means? It means, if I get through next year doing my one year diploma in Secondary education ( which I hear is really tough! ) I get to be a fully qualified teacher! Can you imagine me working in a school for real? I cannot believe it myself! AH! I loved every bit of my experience this year working in awesome schools, teaching art and painting to so many kids. The thought of being able to do it proper, full-time... imparting what I've learnt from my teachers and passing it onto the younger generation.. Ah. I am smiling just at the thought of it! Hooray! I get to be a REAL SCHOOL TEACHER! YAY! : )

Residential Kitchen

Darren and I discovered the joys of having brunch at Residential Kitchen over the weekend. We ordered the Linguine Marinara which came with lemon, chilli, olive oil and herbs, the Pancetta and broken broccoli taleggio pizza, Shoestring fries with homemade relish, and of course fresh summery juices. The food was so good and we were pleasantly surprised. We ate so much, it kept us full till dinner time. Mind you, Darren gets hungry every 2 hours! He likes to think he's still growing! ( But he never does. Still as skinny as ever! ) But yes, we'd definitely be going back there again!

I was watching this little video last night. I would really like to have some place out there, in the countryside, where I can be alone sometimes and just work on nothing but art. It's not that I don't like company. But sometimes, being away from the hustle and bustle of the city, people and life in general can be really rewarding. I often dream of living in a forest. With a little wooden hut as my studio. Wooden floorboards, just a simple table and chair with a throw for colder days. Floor to ceiling glass doors and windows. Lots of sunlight and green all around. Perfect. One day I will make it happen.

My Ultimate New York Burger and Fries!

Hooray! Guess what's finally here! Made in collaboration with Melbourne's Douglas and Hope, my limited edition melamine range is now available in my online shop! Along with all my other prints and stock! Christmas is coming! Hint hint! : ) I will be selling my plates and prints at a few craft markets in the coming weeks. Once they all sell out, that's it! No more re-prints, re-makes. I'm thinking new things for next year. So stay tuned!

Now hop on over to my shop and see if you fancy anything. Thank you!

PS: I understand shipping is a little expensive for these items. Sorry! But it really is, as with all my other stock. I always try to absorb as much shipping + packing costs as I can. But these, due to it's weight, odd shape, they are slightly more expensive to mail as they're impossible to mail flat like any ordinary letter. Thanks for understanding!