monna's hair

Ting yelled at me for my last post. i sheepishly felt loved again. A couple months ago, while getting my studio space in order, i came upon a newspaper bundle. I opened it and saw two ponytails of Ting's hair. scared the heck out of me. Quickly remembered that i had found it at home last year and secretly took it back with me. Isn't it so beautiful? i am torn about returning it (so it can be donated as it was intended years ago) or keeping it for myself...

So i've been taking it easy with studio work. making more wimpy starts and not finishing much still. I don't like it at all. I decided i need to treat this whole process as work that i have to do regardless if i feel like it or not. EveryDay. well, except for Mondays, cuz the full-day studio weekends are more exhausting than day job work and i'll definitely need a break in the evening. and Thursday evenings cuz we have to watch Survivor (and a movie). And probably Fridays since that is usually our clean-up day. Well. that aint so bad, is it?

Tea time!


pencil and acrylic on paper, 12.7 x 10.2 cm

A drawing done earlier this month. One thing i'm happy with that came out from these few weeks of take-it-easy studio time. But i know i can do more so i will I Will.

sketches

sleeping heads, on plane to Hawaii 3.31.09, pen drawing in sketchbook,19 x 25cm

Also, overheard on the plane ride:

Little boy who eats nonstop with his mother:
When are we going to blast off?

Minutes later, we hear two other kids up front counting down to blast off as the plane is taking off.

Same two kids, as the beverage cart starts to come down the aisle -

Little girl: I want juice.
Little boy: I want coffee.
Little girl cracks up and then: I want BEER.

ahhaha. makes me think of Ting and Baby. I wish i knew to jot down their dialogues then.

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Happy to be back. Finally cleaned up my studio and ready to continue with some works. A sketch done shortly before i left:


pink underwear, pencil and acrylic wash in sketchbook

color me a clementine

My little uncle gave me a bag of clementines to take back with me when i was home for the holidays and this here is the last one of the bunch. I took it to work for lunch and noticed how cute it looked sitting on my shelf. It is even cuter in person, not your typical round one. This got a slight slant to it. I had to resist eating it. Made me think of a tiny little breast.



Maybe a series of prints of these? hmmm.

and other observations

pen, acrylic & collage on altered book, book dimensions 6.25" x 4.25" [started in 2003, came back to it and reworked it end of 2007]

The book started out more as a collection of sketches, quick discreet sketches made while riding the bus. This was when i was still living in NY and the bus commute was about an hour to/from the subway. Some pages had paint laid out first before the sketches were made and others had color/texture added afterwards. I love the looseness and spontaneity of how the pages came about. It/I was not trying to make it become more than what it was, which was simply to observe and capture, take in and sketch, and let some pink help tie it all together.

I came back to it a couple of months ago, thinking i just need to touch it up a bit here and there before posting it up. Well, that was not the case.

I have kept almost all the pen drawings made in 2003 with only 4-5 small new ones created but the whole mood of the book has changed since reworking it. Almost all the pages have been retouched a bit, some with layers of new paint or paper, and a few completely reconstructed. I still miss before because it was more simple and just is what it is. Now, i see there is a trying to tell a story, maybe wanting/needing to be more connected and complete somewhere? Found myself consciously keeping some words on the page because they now have a more personal meaning to me than before.

View book as slideshow @ Flickr: redredday

stuck stuck stuck

Drawing drawing the same old lines again.

But finally, i am breaking through my pen & paper sketching block. Made these two sketches yesterday of my paper wings.

The one below came first. Hated it. Went to do another one (above). Okay with that one but still could not stand this first one:


So i torn up the back side of it and the paper becomes a very thin single-ply sheet...


And look...look how the lines are bleeding through the back...
________________

Today, on the trails, i got lost again and saw the most glorious yellows. I only had to look up and there i am taken to a world where it only matters to be alive and breathing. Felt so good, and so free.