Day 237 of 365 Day Challenge

Roaming the streets of Singapore I quite by accident came across a quirky area that I discovered later was Little Indian. Beautiful old colonial town houses with the top floors in various states of repair - peeling, lovingly restored or often with an over-the-top Indian flavour. The ground floor a vibrant eclectic mix of Indian shops. I spent a good couple of hours wondering around and having lunch. For anybody who is gluten intolerant don't miss out on Jonathan's gluten free restaurant - a rarity in Asia for sure!

So I thought I would take one of the photos of a town house first floor and convert it into a arty painting

Apps: Hipstamatic, Snapseed, iColorama, Stackables 

Some more photos of Little India:

Day 236 of 365 Day Challenge

Singapore - The Marina Bay Sands. Don't miss the evening light show.

Sorry....even Spiders can be Beautiful.

My husband loves spiders and he took loads and loads and loads when we went to the Sungei Buloh wetlands in Singapore.

Their webs were so beautiful I just had to do something with one of his pics:

So, if you can stomach any more look at my Flickr page!

Still Inspired by my Singapore Pics

More Orchids

Singapore - The Old and the New

I love nature but actually I love cities too especially if my aim is to take lots of interesting pictures.  In my art, I use nature as the focus and buildings are just wonderful for backgrounds, patterns and textures.

My favourite parts of the city were the old parts - the old colonial buildings and Chinatown.  However, the new skyscrapers were impressive and in the next two collages this is my interpretation of the old and the new of Singapore.

Singapore - Creatures of the Wetlands

Anybody going to Singapore might not think that much nature thrives on the island.  It's usually considered a shopping mecca.  You would probably be surprised to hear that there are quite a few nature reserves and a wonderful mangrove and wetlands area called the Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve which if you are into animals and birds is well worth the visit.  There is a huge array of water birds as you would expect and mangrove swamps are known for their kingfishers.  However, there is a fair amount of trees and vegetation so there are a lot of other birds too, some interesting ones being sunbirds and hornbills.

Crocs are around at certain times of the year and of course the large monitor lizards.  Spiders are a biggie here too - some beauts! Sorry, had to include one in my pic.  There is also a family of otters although unfortunately we never saw them.

We took a taxi from the centre of Singapore to the Wetlands.  It took about 40 minutes and the taxi cost £12 which in London terms is a steal.  On the way back we caught the shuttle bus which goes regularly from the Wetlands to the metro.

Mornings like this are real highlights in my holidays.

Singapore Botanic Gardens

One of the highlights of our trip to Singapore was a visit to the Singapore Botanic Gardens.  In the centre of the gardens there is an orchid garden which I just loved.  An orchid is the national flower of Singapore.

The theme for Photo Art Friday was paths so I thought I would use the overhanging pathways in the gardens plus the orchids to create a collage:

However, this next collage which I put together using one of the statues in the garden is my favourite:

Singapore - Patterns of Trade Exhibition

I have come back from my holiday in Singapore and Thailand absolutely bubbling with inspiration.  Just what I needed to get me going again.  I took 700+ pictures with my point-and-click and my husband took over 1000 with the DSLR.  Happy Days!

When I was in Singapore the Asian Civilisations Museum was holding an exhibition called Patterns of Trade: Indian Textiles for Export, 1400-1900. How lucky was that??

I was allowed to take pictures as long as I didn't use a flash and I took loads of pictures of the wonderful patterns to use as inspiration.  There was a video playing showing the way the Indians use the large wooden printing blocks and the level of accuracy with the repeating prints is astonishing.  Found the history of printing fascinating too.  The exhibition is on until June.