I love to give gifts–not just any gift, but gifts that touch the heart.  Finding the perfect gift for someone is not always easy.  Often it requires a little more effort on the part of the giver.  Making a gift is a guaranteed way to give someone a one-of-a-kind present.  When we give someone something we’ve made, we not only give them the tangible treasure, but also the gift of our time that we gave to create the precious gift.

I come from a long line of women who were incredibly gifted at creating things with their hands.  I have a lace doily that was made by my great-grandmother; both of my grandmothers made beautiful quilts to give their grandchildren for weddings or graduations.  My mom passed down the value of creating things for others.  She sewed the tiny clothes she took to baby showers and crocheted clothes for my doll for Christmas.  Deep in our hearts I believe we want to make things with our hands—even if we consider ourselves challenged in skill or in time available!  Unfortunately my skill level and available time have been in short supply for many years, so for years I have searched for the simple, the quick, and of course the relatively inexpensive gifts that would be special to my family.  Here are some gift ideas for Christmas or any time of the year.

Cradle and Blanket
When Victoria was two, her Christmas present was a homemade doll cradle.  It is a treasure that has found its way to Victoria’s corner of the attic, saved for the next generation of Moore’s.

1.        Purchase an unfinished wooden cradle from a craft store and paint suitable for wood.  You could spray a coat of polyurethane, which would make it last longer.

2.       Sand the cradle, especially the edges.  Then paint the cradle with two coats of paint.  You can get fancy and paint flowers or even get rub on transfers.  Victoria’s cradle had a heart cut out on the headboard portion, which was decoration enough for me.

3.       Purchase two different coordinating cotton fabrics.  I chose one fabric that had lines so I had help in sewing straight lines on the quilt.  (Look in the quilting area or remnants for an even lower price.)

4.       To make the mattress, cut two pieces of fabric.  Each one should be the measurement of the bed area of the cradle plus 1 ¼ inches extra in width (the narrow side) and 1 ½ inches extra in length (the long side) which allows for the batting and for a half-inch seam allowance.  With wrong sides together, sew around three sides.  When you turn the fabric inside out to show the right side of the fabric, it will look like a bag.

5.       Insert a piece of batting the same measurement as the bed area of the cradle.  Take the remaining unsewn edge at the top of the “bag” and fold it down twice, so the raw edge is not showing.  Pin the folded edge and sew the bag closed.  You’ve finished the mattress!

6.       Next, make a “quilt” by sewing two pieces of fabric together with the same process as above, except without the batting.   These fabric pieces should be the same length as above (cradle area + 1 ¼ inches extra) but the width should be 2 times the width of the cradle area, plus 1 inch extra for seam allowance.  Before you sew the “bag” closed, iron the seams to make it lay flat.   Stitch “stripes” across in both directions, making it look like a checkered board, which gives it a quilted look.  (If your fabric doesn’t have lines, you may want to make your own lines with chalk.)  You have finished your quilt!  Congratulations!

Fleece Blanket
Directions at:  http://www.fleeceblanket.org/No-Sew-Fleece-Blanket.html

This is so great because you don’t need to know how to sew, only how to cut a relatively straight line.  The basic idea is that you have two pieces of fabric, cut fringes around the edges, and tie the fringes together.  I used prints for each girl based on their interests.  I even found fabric that coordinated with the comforter in one girl’s room.  Be sure to watch for sales at your local fabric center.  They often run fleece for 50% off.

Fleece Poncho
Directions at: http://www.ehow.com/how_2049852_make-fleece-poncho.html

A few years back, ponchos were all the rage.  My friend Theresa and I got together to make these ponchos for our girls, who were then 7-10 years old.  I then used the extra pieces of fabric to make ponchos for their dolls and my little niece.  I ended up knotting the fringes, simply because I liked the way it looked.

Red Colonial Cape
Directions at:  click here

I’ve made capes for our two younger girls, but I’ve also made this cape and given it as a gift.  In fact, as I’m writing this, we are returning from celebrating our friend Brianna’s 12^th birthday in Williamsburg.  She was thrilled with the cape.  The pattern requires very little sewing, only connecting the hood to the cape and sewing on the ties.  (I suppose you could pin the ties on, if you had to.)  The fabric I use is red felt instead of wool and I take two small tucks near the center of the back.  You don’t have to take the tucks, but I found I liked the look better.  I use 1 yard of 1 inch red grosgrain ribbon for the ties (cut in half) and a ton of zigzag stitch to attach them since there is a lot of stress on the ties to hold the cape up.  The hood is a little pointy at the crown, but most of the time the girls keep it down anyway.  The capes have been a big hit at our house!

Pearl and Heart Necklace
Directions at: http://www.jewelrysupply.com/index.php?main_page=1/vid_tech_crimping.html

I saw a picture of this necklace in a magazine and it caught my eye.  This is a simple project for those who are already beading or who are interested in starting a new hobby.  (The pliers are a minimal investment of about $8.)  Choose glass beads or other beads to create the look you want.

1.       Purchase, crimping pliers, pearls, 2 or 3 mm silver beads, one clasp (I used a lobster claw),  one “o” ring, 2 crimp tubes, 2 crimp covers, a heart pendant, a length of wire four inches longer than you want the necklace.

2.       Watch the video from the above link.  Attach one half of the clasp using the technique from the video.

3.       Divide the pearls and silver beads into two separate piles.  String half the pearls and silver beads on the string, alternating.  Add the heart pendant.  Continue the pattern with the remaining piles of pearls and beads.

4.       Repeat the crimping step from the video above.  This time, weave the extra wire back through several beads and trim the excess with small scissors.

Since I made an identical necklace for each girl, I added a 4mm Swarovski round crystal birthstone bead as the last bead before the clasp so the girls could tell which necklace was theirs.  No one would ever know that these necklaces were homemade!

Keepsake Cookbook
Recipe Template: click here

Again, there are no directions because this is so simple—time consuming, but simple.  Several years ago I took our favorite family recipes (from moms, aunts, and grandmas) and decided to turn them into the cookbook I always wanted.

To assemble:

1.       Purchase a large three-ring binder (with a pocket to slide in a cover), plastic dividers with pockets (from an office supply store, plastic sleeve pages, and cardstock.  I coordinated the cardstock with the color of the binder.

2.       Enter the recipes into the computer in a standard form.  I saved each recipe under its own name, but all in one file folder.  If the recipe is short, you could add two on a page.

3.       Choose names for the dividers.  I copied the dividers from my favorite cookbook.  Handwrite the name or print if there is a template included.  I used a Dynamo labelmaker.  (Now there’s a great gift idea!)

4.       Print the recipes on cardstock, one side only.

5.       Slide the recipes in plastic sleeves, back to back, one on each side of the sleeve.  The two layers of cardstock make the pages stiff.  I love the sleeves because if you drop food on the recipe, you can easily wipe it off!

6.       File the sleeves in the notebook according to the divider title.

7.       Add a personalized cover.

It was a ton of work to do the first time, but I love having the recipes.  When someone asks for one, I can easily email it or print it out.  One year I printed some of the recipes and bound them in a small cookbook to give my friends for Christmas.  Best of all, when I wanted to give my second daughter a cookbook, all I had to do was print.  It’s a great heritage to pass on.

Name Frame
For a template: click here

Many times in scripture the introduction of a character includes the meaning of their name.  I believe that when we name our children, it is a spiritual act declaring who they are.  Every time we speak our child’s name, we speak who they are.

I was particularly moved when I looked up Victoria’s middle name, LaNelle, her grandmother’s middle name made up by Victoria’s great-grandmother.  From my French studies, I knew “La” means “the”, but I wasn’t sure of Nelle.  I looked it up and found it means “witness.”  Pretty cool for a girl who has a heart for missions!  I stood in the store and cried.  God knew our daughter and put in our hearts the perfect name for her.  She, and each of our girls, have a name frame in their room to remind them of who God says they are.

Instructions:

1.       I bought The Name Book, by Dorothy Astoria, at a local Christian bookstore.  It has meanings of names including the spiritual connotation and coordinating scriptures.

2.       Purchase inexpensive 4×6 or 5×7 frames.  Keep your eyes open for a good deal on frames.  I even found some lovely gold-leaf frames at Dollar Tree—really!

3.       Purchase paper or cardstock in the color of your choice.  This should be based on your recipient.  I often use parchment paper because it looks so nice.  I found a mixed pack of parchment paper (pink, blue, grey, and natural) at Walmart.

4.       Using the template, fill in the blanks for name, language of origin, spiritual connotation and scripture.  I change the font based on the recipient—a fancy script for my dear friends, a more juvenile font for a baby’s room, a contemporary font for a dear friend who likes things a little more simple.  Mostly I use a black font on the parchment, but a colored font on plain white paper/cardstock.

5.       If you aren’t great with computer margins and settings, use the paper in the frame as a guideline for sizing your name page correctly.  Be sure to center the guide paper, trace around the edges, and then trim the name page to the correct size.  Place it in the frame and admire your work!

There are so many ways to customize this gift—frame, paper, font and for whatever style of person you’re giving to—masculine, juvenile, formal, contemporary.  The name frame makes a great gift for a baby shower, if you know the name of the little one.

Small Scrapbook
Capturing and documenting life is important to me and there is no better way than through pictures and videos.  About ten years ago, I made my first scrapbook—which was nearly the last!  It was something I really enjoyed, but my busy schedule wouldn’t allow for such a time consuming hobby.  Two years ago, I discovered a great alternative in Walmart’s scrapbook section—a scrapbook kit: a 10×10 scrapbook with  pages, background paper, precut coordinating paper designs, stickers, and detailed instructions for how to create each page, all packaged in keepsake box that matches the finished scrapbook.  The kit lacks only an adhesive and can be purchased in either a red-or blue-colored theme.  In about an hour your scrapbook can be assembled and ready for your pictures.  It’s a perfect gift for grandparents!

Share Your Ideas
So now you know some of my gift-giving secrets.  If you are confused by any of the instructions, please post your question to this article and I’ll respond with a post so it will benefit everyone else, too.  I know these aren’t the only great homemade gift ideas out there, so post to this article and share your own homemade gift ideas!  May these ideas inspire you to make some of your own gifts, if not for Christmas this year maybe for celebrations in 2010.

SUNFLOWER Shiny Leather Luxury Clutch
A Little Shine For Winter!

Available at my Etsy shop:
Magic Laboratory of Fashion
All designs are © Tatiana Agapcheva, please do not copy my work.

On Saturday I presented a new work at the Stanley Picker gallery during the Writing Exhibitions symposium. Here’s an outline of my work, which I called Genuine Smiles:

A sheet of paper is attached to one wall of the gallery, and attached just below it is a long piece of string with a sharpened pencil fixed to the other end. Visitors are invited to hold a pencil and do whatever they need to do to muster a genuine smile. As soon as the smile is on their lips and before it vanishes they should begin to draw a line from the smile to the piece of paper, without allowing the pencil to leave the surface, until the line from the smile reaches the most convenient edge of the paper.

The picture above is the piece of paper, which I removed from the wall and kept. Below is the paper on the wall of the gallery, continuous with its lines which also continue onto the floor:



Genuine Smiles follows on from the book of line drawings I made over the summer (more here) in which I recorded places and times by drawing lines from the pages of the book to nearby things. Once a set of lines has been drawn and the book has been put away again, the objects, furniture, walls, floor are still marked with lines, all of which converge about a single rectangular gap.

There are lots of these rectangular gaps lying around the house now. The gaps mark places in the room where the book can be reinserted, with the appropriate pages spread open, to reconnect the detached elements of the record.

The lines drawn in the book are like deictic words, which have a fixed semantic value but a unfixed denotative value (words in English like ‘you’ or ‘here’). The semantics of each line is the way it looks and the way it runs off the edge of the page, and the denotative value of each line is the thing it points at. Taken as a self-contained book, separate from the pencil marks drawn around the room, the references of the lines on the paper are frustrated. You don’t know what they’re saying other than that they mean to say something. Not waving but drowning.

The book that fills all the gaps is safe drowning on a shelf in the hallway at the moment. But even if it returns to one of its rectangular gaps and connects up to each line correctly, the other ends of the lines – the lines touching the objects I wanted to record – are still precarious. As things get rearranged, put away, tidied, nudged, so the lines that reach them splinter and rotate and move until they are pointing somewhere else, or end abruptly, or dissipate in angular ways through the house.

This dissipation returns as the failure of writing as witness that led to the biro line I drew in September, and it comes up again in a different way in Genuine Smiles.

In Genuine Smiles people are invited to draw a line from their smile to the piece of paper on the wall, using a pencil attached by a long piece of string to the paper itself. The line should be drawn continuously along whatever surfaces it takes for the pencil to reach the paper without ever leaving some ground or other. I’ve written before about my intentions for this work, and another day I look forward to writing more about how my intentions affect the work and its participants. But for now I want to focus on the movement of the line itself as it is fractured and carried apart.

I want to think about the line as a visible rendering of the relationship between a word and the thing it describes. The line is constructed from the same stuff writing is constructed from, and because of this the line feels something like an unravelled word. But it stretches and attenuates the possibility of being a word: it doesn’t occupy the same space as a word because it travels to and touches its object, and travels to and touches another object too, which is the piece of paper. At the moment the direction of travel seems less important than the fact that movement takes place. I’m not sure what to make of the piece of paper yet.

The piece of paper stuck to the wall at the Stanley Picker gallery was the place people were asked to draw their lines to. As a result it felt as though the smile was only ‘written down’ once it had touched the paper, and indeed people generally stopped their lines as soon as they’d passed the edge of the page.

Once the line was on the paper the smile was ‘kept’, and while the line was just on the wall, floor, foot, trouser leg, arm, chin or mouth, the smile was still precarious and at risk of evaporating. The line doesn’t change in quality when it reaches the paper, but something changes.

The paper is special because it is temporary and is removable and is the one part that can be kept once the event is over. The wall will be washed over, the people will go home and the lines will be cleaned from their skin and clothes. Perhaps the paper is special because pencils go with paper, so a pencil line is resolved when you conclude it on paper. It’s special also because it’s shared between all the smiles: all of them end there, and so the paper is where all the smiles go to be collected up.

I want to think more about what’s left in the gallery once the people have gone and the paper has gone too. The pencil lines remaining are tethered neither to their endings on the page nor their beginnings at our lips. Just the middle part of the deixis – the blank fact that something’s referring to something. Just smiles in passing.

產品編號:89(SY_PF03)

產品名稱:男女相架

產品編號:88(SY_PF02)

產品名稱:魔鬼天使相架

產品編號:135(SY_PF08)

產品名稱:相架樹

產品編號:96(SY_PF07)

產品名稱:長方木相架

產品編號:90(SY_PF04)

產品名稱:粗邊相架

Meu sangue anda coagulando mais rápido por conta de Nine, musical que estreia em 2010 e tem no elenco a maravilhosa Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, Fergie e Marion Cotillard.

O trailer já está correndo a web e só aguçou ainda mais a minha curiosidade. Be Italian!

PS1: 15 de Janeiro. Preparem-se.

PS2: Segundo a Ana Maria Bahiana, que já teve a sorte de ver, “num ano paupérrimo é um prazer ver um tributo a um cinema feito com a alma, num tempo em que cinema valia a pena”.

PS3: Na próxima quarta-feira, o GNT exibe o encontro da Oprah com todo o elenco de Nine. Tô em B-O-L-A-S!

PS4: Elas também estão na capa da Vogue.

A picture frame is a container added to a picture to enhance it, make it easier to display or protect.

Construction

Picture frames have traditionally been made of wood, which is still the most common and most prestigious material, although other materials are also used, including aluminum, plastics or polystyrene, even sea shells. A picture frame may be of any colour or texture, but gilding is common, especially on older frames. Some picture frames have elaborate mouldings which may relate to the subject matter. Complicated older frames are often made of moulded and gilded plaster over a plain wood base.

The picture frame may contain a pane of glass or a plastic glass substitute such as Plexiglas, to protect the picture. In some instances where the art in the frame is dispensable or durable, no protection may be necessary. Glass is common over watercolours, rare over oil paintings, except very valuable ones in some museums. Glass may be treated with coatings, the most common being UV filters. Some glazings such as Denglas, Optium, and Museum glass have a coating which makes the glass partially nonreflective and practically invisible under ideal lighting conditions.
The elaborate decoration on this frame may well be applied plaster pieces stuck to the wood beneath

For pieces to be framed under glass, except for the most disposable and inexpensive posters or temporary displays, the glass must be raised off the surface of the paper. This is done by means of matting, a lining of plastic “spacers”, shadowboxing, stacking two mouldings with the glass in between, and various other methods. If the paper (or other media) were to touch the glass directly, any condensation inside the glass would absorb directly into the art, having no room to evaporate. This is harmful to almost any medium. It causes art sticking to the glass, mildew, and other ill effects. Raising the glass is also necessary when a piece is done in a loose media such as charcoal or pastel, to prevent smudging. Care should be taken with these works, however, if Plexiglas is used as a static charge can build up which will attract the pigment particles off the paper. Using real glass helps to prevent this.

Certain kinds of pieces do not usually need glass when framed, including paintings done in acrylic or oil paint (the former is usually waterproof; the latter actually needs to “breathe” due to the decades-long drying process), stained glass or tiles, and laminated posters. These kinds of pieces are still sometimes put under glass though if for example, they are framed using mats, or (in the case of oil paintings) they are kept in a carefully climate-controlled environment.

The frame along with its mounts should complement and project the artwork, art work framed incorrectly will not be shown to its full potential.

History

One of the earliest frame examples was a discovery made in an Egyptian tomb dating back to 2nd century A.D. in which a fayum mummy portrait was discovered at Hawara still within its wooden frame. This finding suggests the mummy portraits may have been hung in the owners’ homes prior to inclusion within the funerary equipment. The portrait and its frame were most likely preserved by the desert climate, according to frame historian and installation expert Marilyn Murdoch explained in a historical talk to museum docents.

Although framing borders in ancient art were used to divide scenes and ornamentation by ancient Egyptian and Greek artists in pottery and wallpaintings, the first carved wooden frames as we know them today appeared on small panel paintings in twelfth and thirteenth century Europe. According to a historical series published in Picture Frame Magazine, these early “framed panel paintings were made from one piece. The area to be painted was carved out, leaving a raised framing border around the outside edge, like a tray. The whole piece was then gessoed and gilded. Painting the image on the flat panel was the last thing to be done.”

When it was realized this method of producing a frame and the image within in one slab of wood was too costly, “a more efficient method was eventually developed which used mitered moulding strips. These strips were attached to a flat wooden panel which produced a similar result to the carved panel, but were more cost effective. This type of frame is known as an engaged frame. The early ones were made of simple wooden moulding strips attached to the outside edge of a wooden panel.”

Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, most European frames were church-commissioned and largely unmovable as they were altarpieces and a large part of the church’s architecture. The frames were ornamented with architectural elements mimicking the exteriors of the great cathedrals. However the Renaissance of 14th and 15th century Italy saw the rise of arts patrons extending beyond the church. Wealthy nobles such as the Medici family could now bring art and frames into their estate by commissioning allegorical, devotional and portrait paintings.[4] This was the advent of the portable or moveable frame.

Styles

“L”-style frames are a simple variety that are constructed with a single L-shaped border of wood, with the bottom part of the L, or rabbet, at the front of the frame to hold in the glass, object and backing, which are secured in from the back.

A photo cube is a special type of picture frame, often used to show members of a family, a vacation, or a timeline of someone’s life.

Other styles are clip frames(not really a frame at all) , box frames and shadow boxes. A digital photo frame is an example of the changing technology of the 21st century.

Macaroni picture frames are a popular craft project for children. Uncooked pasta in various shapes are glued to a frame in a pattern. Sometimes the entire frame is painted.

Once again, fine details are pronounced.

As discussed in Art and Detail, your compositions may be unusual for your age (or indeed any age).

Pieces like the one above may languish hidden in your home for decades.

Yet there’s power and satisfaction to be derived from rescuing your art, framing it nicely and displaying it with pride.

Chances are you’re going to be ‘odd’ for the rest of your life.

Why not revel in your special gifts and enjoy your time on earth?

I went to Houston a week or so ago and stumbled across PH design shop while I was there. What a great little store! I just wrote them a glowing review on Yelp because I thought that some of the reviews were a bit off putting and didn’t reflect the marvelous selection of great designers they have. Here’s what I bought:

Anyone who’s ever met me knows how much I love a good letter set and this set my heart a flutter. (No pun intended). Five beautifully designed sets of paper and envelopes and a nifty little box to store them in by Grady McFerrin. (Top image by Ph Design Shop, bottom image by yours truly-forgive my atrocious photography skills!)

It took much self restraint not to buy absolutely everything by Linda & Harriett including their gorgeous 2010 calendar. (Beautiful colors. Simply stunning in person). I’m also the biggest sucker for thank you cards because they’re so “practical”. (Image by Ph Design Shop).

I’ve always loved Yee-Haw Industries, but I’ve never gotten a chance to see their stuff in person. This letterpress frame is just gorgeous (I think I may have blogged about it before?) and just had to come home with me.

I have a serious crush on Mr. Boddington’s Studio and on this visit I think I converted my sister to the cult. They’re another brand that I’ve been following for some time, but have never seen their work (or their occasion cards) in person.

Last but definitely not least, I found these lovely holiday cards by Parisian based artist Nathalie Lete produced by Paper Prince. They’re are another example of paper goods I love, but can’t find anywhere on the web. It’s also precisely why I come to small boutiques like Ph Design shop.

There was more (so much more!) that I wanted to buy and blog about, but somehow I managed to only come home with the above. Suffice it to say, if they were to open a branch in the SF bay area, I’d be a regular customer!

RED AND BOW Pure Luxury Handmade Dupioni Bridal Silk Clutch Wrapped w

Available at my Etsy shop:
Magic Laboratory of Fashion
All designs are © Tatiana Agapcheva, please do not copy my work.

Some doors are left wide open for anything to happen…

order of flowers on a cloudy blue sky background

flowers,frame,backgrounds,spring,nature,nobody,floral,petal,yellow,beauty,pattern,day,horizontal,color,bunch,summer,blossom,colored,beautiful,space,multi,freshness,meadow,abstract,blue,sky,bunch of flowers

Links

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Peacock Feather BUTTERFLY Pure Luxury Handmade Dupioni Bridal Silk Clutch

Available at my Etsy shop:
Magic Laboratory of Fashion
All designs are © Tatiana Agapcheva, please do not copy my work.

產品編號: 196(SY_PF17)

產品名稱: 摩天輪相架

產品編號: 95(SY_PF06)

產品名稱: 木相架

*Vivi Yip Art Room, 28 May 2009

Oversized doll heads of little girls dominate the canvas, surrounded by vertical and horizontal lines, and graphic shapes that seep and melt around them. Whimsical creatures who seem to stem from childhood fairytales, peer out of the crowded background, inhabiting the frame. The palette is subdued, with regular sweeps of muted brick reds and matte mustard greens. Part comical, with strains of anime, Badruzzaman’s creations deconstruct human interactions and personalities, always with the slightest dash of discomfort for the onlooker.

On canvas is where Badru plays with elements to adorn his paintings, such as foliage and snaking lines, creating a more tangible impression of space. Extensions of the artist’s graphic design background is apparent in the cubic shapes, hexagons and squares, and tiled spatial details of his pieces. The 27-year-old Yogyakarta-based artist, with his clean and defined lines, is inclined to provide the two-dimensional impression of a sleek graphic novel rather than a work of brushed acrylic upon canvas. But Badru, a native of Lampung, was never predisposed towards comic books or the like, his main influence being the street art that run rampant on the walls of Yogyakarta.
“Our attitude, our instinct,” he said, “was just to paint.”
The artist rarely displays his works, this being only his third exhibition. Though when he does, he prefers to express himself on a larger scale, saying “It seems such a waste to place my themes on a small canvas.”
His paintings veer more towards female characters, whose visages he bases on young women who enter his reality. While his male figures, possessing clown-like features, originate from the playful experimentation of his imagination. But these are not pictures of mirth. There is a sense of melancholy behind the children’s faces and, though resembling jesters in a royal court, Badru’s men hold something sinister behind their smiles.
“People have their own characters, I paint them accordingly,” Badru said.
Though the characters who appear to menace his central characters and invade the background change with each new canvas, one makes a routine debut – a bile-green rotund shaped critter with sharp, eager little dentures. Badru has no name for his creature, simply calling it is a symbol of egoism.
“I feel free to criticize people on canvas,” he said,” without them understanding that I have criticized them.”
His themes, Badru explains, all stem from personal experiences. Life’s daily fluctuations, minor joys, tediums, aches and interactions all play a part in Badru’s final pieces. He dips into his past and uses the memories to actualize his canvas. “I find more satisfaction with personal themes of love, friendship and day-to-day life,” Badru said.

Of a painting entitled “Girlfriend: Saving My Dog”, Badru had drawn on his experience with a former lover, depicting a beautiful woman-child with crimson pillow lips and sad bedroom eyes. In a larger  ontext, Badru does touch on universal themes, such as the desire to be accepted. “Hi…”, one of his earlier works, is a painting of a red-headed girl-child with an unadorned background and Badru’s personal favourite.
“She is a person who is lonely at heart, not accepted by the society around her,” Badru explained.
“I see myself as this newcomer, in a strange place, looking for someone to befriend,” he continued. He offers hope for his protagonist in the shape of a little bird that flies above her, playing with a strand of the little girl’s tresses between its beak. Although there remains some paintings that Badru considers too personal to be displayed for the public to scrutinize or enjoy.
“There are pieces which I’d prefer to keep for myself,” Badru said. “It is similar to how some people keep diaries, except mine is on canvas.”

Badru’s pieces can take up to 2 weeks to complete. Concepts, colours and timing are all swayed by the artist’s moods.
“Emotion plays a factor,” Badru said. “If I am feeling emotional, I tend to use warmer colours.”
With each piece, Badru begins with a rough sketch on paper before spilling his images on to canvas.
“I feel the power [on the canvas] to be more creative. I can add and embellish,” said Badru, who never limits himself to adhere to the original sketches he draws.
Badru has simple ambitions – to introduce his art to the public as he utilizes the canvas to release his past experiences and emotions. What he strives is to maintain a style that is unique to him.
“It is hard to accept comparisons to other artists because I try so hard to create my own style,” said the artist.
Badru, who has no formal training in fine arts, continues to develop his art, finding new techniques, adding and playing with dimensions to add to his eccentric tableaux. When he first started painting, his works were plainer, focusing only on the main characters. His backgrounds were rarely garnished with the detailed landscape and cacophony of critters as they are now.
“I feel I want to try something new, to change the composition, the layouts,” Badru said of his newer pieces. He surrenders to the process of creation, unburdened by style trends or themes that are popular in the art market.
“What is important is to be as creative as possible,” Badru stated. “As for the art being good or bad, that is up to the public to judge for themselves.”