Instagram story viewer> @twolilcheeks> Posts

TwoLilCheeks🇸🇬

@twolilcheeks

2K

followers

3293

following

SG illustration hobbyist
Fully human-made illustrations & text
Mum & Former Early Childhood Educator
Bookish account: @kiwimamareads

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

Throwback to the memorable Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations at the Chinese Garden and the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre. Featuring beautiful artwork and installations by @lichun_art_studio and @chan_siu_kau 💖.

#reunion #midautumnfestival #chinesegardensingapore #中秋节 #lightsbythelake taken in Singapore by @twolilcheeks

3

2

11 days ago

I decided to pay a visit to Basheer during lunch two days back, thanks to the first edition of the Singapore Indie Bookshop Day (“SGIBD”). Something stirred inside me and I felt inspired to pen some thoughts down.

I recall first stepping into Basheer when I was a part-time graphic design student during my younger days. I told Mr Nasser that day that it was more than 10 years ago. But you see, for a grown woman, anything way more than a decade ago… “remains” a decade ago (🤫).

During those days, there was still Macromedia Freehand (before Adobe bought over Macromedia in the early 2000s). Then I shifted to Adobe Illustrator after Freehand ceased to exist. Basheer was probably the first independent bookshop I ever visited to purchase design books on my teacher’s recommendations, although I didn’t have any concept of what an independent bookshop was back then.

Well, I didn’t end up as a graphic designer. But that’s a separate story. Fast forward to the present. It had been quite a while since I stepped foot in the bookshop. The “right at home” ease I felt the moment I started strolling inside the store that day was unexpected. Probably, I recalled a younger self full of drive and dreams.

I returned to the bookshop later in the day after work. Nightfall came pretty quickly and it was quiet. My heart bloomed when I saw names of iconic artists on book-spines stacked next to one another. Fully coloured Studio Ghibli titles in editions I had not seen before. Large format Yoshitomo Nara books. Cutesy Mofusand titles. Endearing SingLit. Architecture. It was pretty hard not to find treasures in this cove.

True enough, I landed my eyes on two beauties from “The Illustrator” series by Thames and Hudson, with the help of Mr Nasser. It was late but Mr Naseer was really friendly and spirited. We chatted a bit and at one time in time, he turned and grabbed a SGIBD “Bookshop Passport”, intending to share it with me. I thanked him and said that I already collected a copy. He then gladly stamped on the “passport” before generously posing for a fabulous shot for my phone camera, on my humble request (thank you!).

My day ended on a warm and memorable note.[Cont’ in Comments] taken in Singapore by @twolilcheeks

3

12

16 days ago

It’s the Mid-Autumn Festival! What better way to celebrate the occasion with a book-loving child than to read to him/her a classic story about the festival!

In “The Moon Rabbit”, we revisit the legend of Chang’e and Houyi on the night of Mid-Autumn through the eyes of Meifung and her mum. Eva writes beautifully, perfect for that cosy story time before the gentle moonlight and Jason’s flowy, oriental illustrations with intricate details are a delight to look at. It was in fact a pleasant surprise to see a forlorn Houyi in an unshaven look to depict his longing for Chang’e (those details!).

Title: The Moon Rabbit
Author: Eva Wong Nava
Illustrator: Jason Chuang
Publisher: Walker Books Ltd

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival, friends! It’s my most favourite festival other than the Lunar New Year and I guess it’s the same for many of you! Wishing you guys a lovely reunion with family and friends and happy feasting too!! ☺️🥮🌕

(The photograph in the next swipe is that of a Chang’e lantern installed at the Chinese Garden as part of the Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations this year)

#bookstagram #picturebook #bookcommunity #bookswelove #midautumnfestival taken in Singapore by @twolilcheeks

3

13

22 days ago

那天把刚买回家的《人间小满3》拆封。翻开封面，引入眼帘的是竖着的手写大字：平安喜乐，下边则是作者姑苏阿焦的签名和盖章。原以为只有作者签名的我，见着那四个大字，是又惊又喜，还连带些感恩，感恩宇宙的聆听。

最近周遭发生了些让人失落沮丧的事情，很庆幸接触到这些抚慰心灵的作品。发现阿焦老师这位中国著名插画家，是因为他的《人间小满》和《人间小满2》。后来入了他的《时间一晃，人到中场》，更是爱不释手。阿焦老师的插画风格属水墨国风，暖心质朴，舒心治愈。翻在手里，郁闷的心情会瞬间消散。

爱了爱了，又多一位绘本创作者作品可以收藏了😇。

#中文图书 #绘本 #疗愈 #bookstagram
#chinesepicturebooks taken in Singapore by @twolilcheeks

3

3

2 months ago

So the other day my boss smilingly said to me，“今天妳的头发很乱…”🥲. The reality of it lol.

#illustration #drawing #badhairday #goodvibes #illustrationart taken in Singapore by @twolilcheeks

3

4

3 months ago

It is Grandmama’s birthday! Young Orangu Tan was assigned an important task by Mama and Baba to deliver tutu kueh to Grandmama’s house. But Orangu was very afraid. It would be his first time embarking on a trip all by himself. He needed to know what being brave meant. Fortunately, Orangu met Zoe the Otter, Benji the Oink and Lotso the Chicken along the way and they taught him how by pursuing a dream, having a good friend’s support and facing challenges made them brave. Would Orangu complete his errand successfully in the end?

If I want to highlight one aspect that fascinated me about “What Makes You Brave? Orangu and the Tutu Kueh”, it would be the poetic prose for the entire story. The prose flowed so beautifully that it seemed effortless, at the same time delivering a rich, engaging story with themes such as courage, friendship and kinship. If aesthetic language is typical of poetic works, then I was impressed that language befitting that of a children’s picture book was used, sans bombastic vocabulary that sometimes would backfire for trying too much to impress.

The beautiful writing is without doubt, reflective of the exceptional artistry from Laura Jane Lee @laurajaneleepoetry, who won the Sir Roger Newdigate’s Prize in 2020, a prestigious award presented yearly for the best original poem by an undergraduate from the University of Oxford. A debut children’s picture book with a grand entrance indeed :).

In a research article, “The Case for Children’s Poetry“, published by the University of Cambridge, it explained that children are innately responsive to “musical language” like poetry. It follows then that children would be more engaged reading or being read a book written in rhythmic text. So there you have it, a delightful addition to the bedtime stories for your children or as a daytime read-along, and definitely an equally enjoyable read for the young-at-heart braving the little adventures in life as we know it.

Thank you @armourpublishing for sending me a copy of this gorgeous book.

#kidsbookstagram #picturebooks #sgbookstagram #supportsinglit #booksforkids taken in Singapore by @twolilcheeks

3

20

4 months ago

Visited the Japan Creative Centre last Friday for an AFCC (“Asian Festival of Children’s Content”) Special Exhibition. The show, titled “Peace and Friendship: An SJ60 Picture Book Exhibition from Singapore and Japan”, celebrates 60 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Japan.

As photography of the exhibits is not permitted, I took the liberty (well, I had a bit of time anyway) to note down the names of all 18 Singaporean and Japanese illustrators and their beautiful works (from their picture books) on display. So glad to see some of my favourite dudes’ works.

So here it is, in no particular order but more in the order of my walk around the event space (swipe to the left)…

The exhibition currently runs until 20 Jun 2026. Admission is free.

Venue: Japan Creative Centre
Address: 4, Nassim Road
Dates: 23 May - 20 June 2026
Time: 10am to 6pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays)

(Photographs taken on 5 Jun 2026)

@singaporebookcouncil

#afcc2026 #artexhibition #SGart #SGevents #ThingstodoSG taken in JCC (Japan Creative Centre) by @twolilcheeks

3

6

4 months ago

This meditative piece left me in awe 🙏🙏🙏.

“Brush Impression, Heart Sutra”
- Hiroshi Sugimoto
(Singapore Art Museum, 2 Jun 2026)

#hiroshisugimoto #singaporeartmuseum #exhibition #FormisEmptiness taken in Singapore Art Museum by @twolilcheeks

3

5

4 months ago

我有位朋友，住在海的另一边。他经常以各种方式照亮他认识的人。我就是其中一位受益者。

前几天知道他这阵子忙坏了，我就想把自己的一个想法赶紧给它落实了，借此给他打打气，也谢谢他的友谊，和一直以来给予的鼓励和关照…

画个小插画给他？他可是专业插画师耶… 我也不知道哪里来的勇气… 但我想，用心做的东西，不管好坏，都胜过任何昂贵的礼物吧…

谢谢你一直“代替星星照亮”我们（我），给我们带来光和力量🙏☺️！也希望星星同样照耀着你！大家一起加油！☺️💪🏼☺️ @ironloi

#pencildrawing #drawing #illustrationlovers
#illustrationart #positivevibes taken in Singapore by @twolilcheeks

3

9

5 months ago

I was late to the scene and missed Siyuan’s “Oneness with the Timeless” exhibition in 2024/25, which showcased his paintings that would later form his debut picture book “Our Wings as One”. It was, nonetheless, never too late to be enthralled by a mesmerising book.

“Our Wings as One” puts together Siyuan’s fascinating real encounter with a young hunter, Bekku, from the high mountains of Western Mongolia, and it centres on Bekku’s extraordinary bonding with his eagle.

Siyuan’s paintings were beautiful and his text, heartfelt and contemplative, almost to the point of being meditative. I felt myself slowing down when I was reading the book.

The first word that came up in my mind when I wanted to describe the book was “authenticity”. And when I gently asked myself what other 2 words had I felt, “love” and “loss” emerged in my mind. Intriguing it is, that one would experience the themes of love, courage of letting go, grief, healing and humanity’s connection with nature all in one book.

Based on the background story, Bekku did not have much education. Yet, he seemed pristinely tuned in to nature. It then set me thinking whether for city-dwellers like us, our senses had been unwittingly (or unfortunately) dulled by technology and progress.

I felt my heart soften when I was watching the actual footage of Bekku’s eagle touching his nose with its beak, an intimate moment captured on film and beautifully sealed on canvas by Siyuan. From the article “Whispers of Our Soul” that Siyuan wrote for the “Lost Magazine”, I came to understand as well that there was in fact a part of him coming in terms with his own grief embedded in the story towards the end. This stirred me.

This is a moving story based on real characters that gently requests us to slow down, contemplate quietly and in that silence, we may perhaps hear something coming from deep within our hearts.

“Our Wings as One” is shortlisted for the Hedwig Anuar Children’s Book Award (HABA) 2026 under the Picture Book Category. @afccsg

(James Quinn’s music played in the background while I was writing these thoughts. An apt music complement, I would say.) taken in Singapore by @twolilcheeks

135

15

5 months ago

Grief really does come in different forms.

Jiwon’s mother passed on 7 years ago and the doctor she saw was unable to understand why she had not gotten over it. At this moment, the Gieok Bookshop (Memory Bookshop) appeared in front of her.

“Do you regret the life you’ve lived?”… “If you could travel back in time, which moment would you want to return to?” ~ Manager K

Jiwon was offered 3 chances by the mysterious Bookshop Manager K to return to her past, in exchange for her time in the future. It turned out that Jiwon had regrets when her late mother was ill. She felt that she did not do her dues as a daughter and she could not remember her mother when she was healthy. She wished that her mother was healthy again and by her side.

I was swept over by emotions and totally lost it during Jiwon’s last trip. Without revealing too much, I will just say that I have had new perspectives on why newborns cry at birth. Perhaps there are reasons more than biological ones as to why they cry.

I love the storytelling. It was engrossing from the beginning. Kudos definitely also to the beautiful and heartfelt translation by Shanna Tan @2eightytwo, without which non-Korean readers like me would not have been able to enjoy this mesmerising work.

I believe readers at different stages of their lives would feel “The Memory Bookshop” differently. As a mother and a daughter who was bereaved of the mother, this was a deeply moving story and felt emotional and personal to me in many aspects. And just as Jiwon was healed at the end of her journey with the Memory Bookshop, readers may find parts of themselves soothed at the end of the story.

This book goes into my list of most favourite healing fiction titles, alongside titles such as “The Lantern of Lost Memories” (Sanaka Hiiragi), “Before the Coffee gets Cold” (Toshikazu Kawaguchi), and “One Hundred Flowers” (Genki Kawamura).

Title: The Memory Bookshop
Author: Song Yu-Jeong
Translator: Shanna Tan
Publisher: HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

#healingfiction #bookstagram #bookreview #translatedfiction #comfortfiction taken in Singapore by @twolilcheeks

3

1

5 months ago

(swipe to the left)无厘头。纯属跟风。纯属好玩。🤭

#illustration #procreatedrawing #illustrationart #武安侯 #pursuitofjade taken in Singapore by @twolilcheeks

3

7

6 months ago