5 Things I Learned After Visiting "Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience"

Hi Huneybees,

My recent visit to the "Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" exhibition left me inspired and in awe of this legendary artist. Not only did I get to step into Vincent Van Gogh's masterpieces, but through the exhibition, I also learned more about the artist and how each art piece was created.

Never too late to learn and never give up

Van Gogh only started painting at the age of 27 without any formal training, peers around his age would have already been pretty established. But that did not stop him from his passion for painting, through his life (though short span) he painted more than 900 paintings over a span of 10 years, which worked out to 36 hours per piece on average. 

Talented aside, he truly put in a lot of effort to observe and create his artworks. His life is a testament to the importance of following our dreams, despite the numerous setbacks, he never stopped or gave up. This is an incredibly important lesson that we can all take away.

Selfies are not just for vanity

If Van Gogh lived in this era, he might just be a selfie king. Out of his 900+ paintings, 36 were his self-portraits. Not only do these paintings document how he looked, but they also reveal a lot of the environment, and his emotions through the brush strokes, giving us a little insight to observe Van Gogh’s progress through his lifetime.

My favourite piece has got to be "Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear, January 1889". You can spot so many details in just one painting, you can see despite a wound, he still carried on his passion to paint, always ready to create another masterpiece with an empty canvas on an easel in the back. Alongside a pretty detailed Japanese painting on the wall that shows how much he loved Japanese art and where he got his inspiration to create his infamous Post-Impressionism style.

Practice makes perfect

Did you know the infamous Van Gogh's painting - Sunflowers is not just one painting but a series of 11 paintings? They're all painted with different perspectives of the flowers, different stages of flower growth (in bloom, wilting, or even with seeds ready to harvest), and different settings. And not just only sunflowers, he also did a series of irises and roses in vases too! His persistence in refining his art by studying the subjects is definitely something we can all learn from.

Cut out the noises

Van Gogh was discouraged by many in his life to give it up given that he only sold one painting in his life, but he stayed committed to his art form. He did not change who he was or his style in order to stay with the trend, instead, he found his own inspiration and developed all these masterpieces that we see today. Things might get tough at times but perseverance does pay off.

Embracing other cultures

Van Gogh's Post-Impressionism style is very much influenced by Japanese woodwork art. Being able to appreciate others' culture and art, and develop his own style from there is very impressive. In this modern day where there's talk of bias and discrimination, I must say he was pretty forward-thinking for his time. Maybe we should learn from him, see beyond boundaries and create even more beautiful things?

Having once seen Van Gogh's painting back when I was visiting Paris and now being able to have an even more immersive experience through this exhibition has really made me appreciate his works more. 

Oh! Before leaving the experience, don't forget to leave your "masterpiece" too! Pick your favourite Van Gogh painting, fill it up with your own creative colours and upload it to show it off on the wall of fame screen.

After the walk, take a break, chat about the experience, get yourself a souvenir, or enjoy the delicious confectionaries created by our local chocolatier Janice Wong at the cafe space, enjoy a little "Café Terrace at Night" moment.

Tickets to "Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience" are now available for purchase at S$24 onwards for adults and S$15 onwards for children, visit www.vangoghexpo.com/singapore for more information. Enjoy ~~~

Do follow me on my social media for more daily updates...
 Facebook page | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok

Read More

Sweet Festive Joy With Janice Wong This Jolly Season

Hi Huneybees,

This festive season is sweeter with Singapore’s culinary artist and multi-award-winning pastry chef - Janice Wong. Her latest collection - Christmas with Janice Wong features an exciting array of edible creations, including cakes, cookies, box sets, and hampers, just in time for the season of sharing and gifting.

(Left:Box of 25 Advent Calendar | Right: Bean to Bar Advent Calendar)

The new Bean to Bar Advent Calendar (S$98), features 12 different Pure Imagination single-origin chocolate bars and the Box of 25 Advent Calendar (S$107) containing 25 pieces of chocolate Bon Bons in an assortment of divine flavours from the Christmas, Signature Singapore Series and Classic collections. 

Breaking through traditions, Janice Wong’s rendition of Christmas cakes breaks the mold in every detail, bringing a surprise to your Christmas gatherings. There's the white beret-inspired Santa Pom Pom Celebration Cake (S$88) is filled with cherry compote, cherry curd, vanilla chantilly mousse, cherry Champagne mousse, and Champagne mousse in a beetroot sponge. 

The eye-catching 3D Christmas Tree Praline Chocolate (S$228) consists of chocolate balls infused with praline, bringing joy to every bite. The little wrapped presents make it so precious to even bite into!

(From left to right: Pine Cone, Starry Night, Christmas Wreath, Santa Hat)

Of course, for those who want a little of everything, there are also miniature cakes - Pine Cone, Starry Night, Christmas Wreath, and Santa Hat (S$12 each).

Pine Cone is a deliciously chocolatey experience with just a little hint of Christmas spices, featuring layers of Chocolate Cake, Coffee Cremeux, Caramel Bavarois, and Gingerbread Chocolate Mousse. Starry Night is mousse cake with Pistachio sponge, Strawberry Mousse, White Wine Mousse, Raspberry Pink Pepperccorn Jelly and Vanilla Mousse. Christmas Wreath is a Double Chocolate Sponge cake, filled with Vanilla Ganache, Red Current Compote and Bailey's Mousse; whilst Santa Hat is a Pistachio sponge cake with Bergamot marcarpone, Mango Coulis, Raspberry Ruby Chocolate Mousse and Marshmallow.

Perfect for pick-me-up treats are the Christmas Edition Expression Series Pure Imagination Bean to Bar Chocolates (S$12 each) in seven flavours, such as 49% Laksa Leaf Lemongrass Milk Chocolate and 68% Peppermint.

(Left: Chocolate Bon Bons Boxes | Right: Pine Nut Chocolate Cookies & Caramelized Pecan Nut Cookies)

There's also the Chocolate Bon Bons packed in Chocolate Boxes (from S$26 for 5 – 25 pieces) in decadent flavours and the mouth-watering seasonal flavours of the Pine Nut Chocolate Cookies and Caramelized Pecan Nut Cookies (S$28 each).

 

Alternatively, pick a hamper (from S$80) filled with premium champagne and an assortment of her Christmas confections lovingly packed in limited edition festive boxes. 

Visit https://janicewong.online/collections/christmas-2022 for more information and to purchase items from the Christmas collection, or visit her Singapore stores at Great World, i12 Katong, and Paragon, or purchase from Grabmart. Outside of Singapore, Janice Wong’s newly opened stand at Selfridges in London is selling Christmas chocolate bars and advent calendars too. 

Do follow me on my social media for more daily updates...
 Facebook page | Twitter | Instagram

Read More

Experience The Signature of LG Technology At ION Today!

Hi Huneybees,

If you are looking to improve your living experience at home, a visit to the LG Signature Exhibition might just be the trip you need.

Opened to much funfare on 11th May 2017 at ION Orchard Atrium Level 1, with an orchestra, MediaCorp Artistes and two-time winner of Asia's Best Pasty Chef, Janice Wong of 2am:dessertbar, LG proudly unveiled its ultra-premium brand that blends sophisticated technology with modern minimalist designs through a showcase of its stunning Home Appliances and Consumer Electronics.

The key highlights at LG Signature Exhibition, are the two winners of Best of the Best awards at this year's Red Dot Design awards — LG SIGNATURE W7 OLED TV and Smart InstaView refrigerator — for their innovation and contribution to the design community.

LG SIGNATURE W7 OLED TV is simply a marvel, in term of both design and technology, to look at.

At just 2.57mm thick for a 65-inch model, you can just paste it onto the wall using a magnetic bracket! Built with LG OLED revolutionary pixel dimming control technology, which renders perfect black without any light leakage for infinite contrast ratio, you could actually display a high-resolution picture of Van Gogh's The Starry Night on the TV and its amazing ability to reproduce the most lifelike image actually created an impression that makes you feel you actually owned the real painting in your living room!!

While there are increasingly more and more smarter refrigerators been launched recently in the marketplace for Home Appliances, none so far allows users to peer inside without opening the door.
Featuring a 29-inch LCD touch display that instantly turns transparent with just two knocks, and come with a Auto Open Door feature that allows the user to open the door of the refrigerator with the user's foot instead of his/her hand (reminded me of opening the boot of premium cars), LG’s InstaView Door-in-Door™ refrigerator was recognized by Red Dot for successfully combining a beautiful appliance with interactive technology.

I personally like the Smart Tag menu within the LCD touch display of the refrigerator because it allows users to add stickers and tags on the screen to indicate which foods (and whose?!) are stored inside and also offers users the ability to input the expiration date of each item, so the refrigerator can issue reminders when foods near their expiration dates.

Do check out other LG SIGNATURE home appliances such as LG SIGNATURE Air Purifier that allows users to visualize air cleaning or the LG TWINWash™ washing machine at The LG SIGNATURE Exhibition that is open to public from 11 – 23 May at ION Atrium L1.

Don’t forget to stay tuned to my blog / like my blog’s Facebook page / follow me @huney_84 on Twitter & Instagram  for the latest updates!

Read More