After two hours, I made two hair bands with recycled ties.

Scott happily modeled for me in an Urban Outfitter fashion.

I looked at the empty room with nothing inside, but a large bay window, framing the view of a playground w/ palm trees and top of the Bay Bridge in a distance. It gave me a refreshing breezy feeling. CN and I repainted the room with four different colors, because I don’t want to be “color-ist” in a way that discriminates towards colors. Lemon, pumpkin, bright pink, and purple! They don’t quite work in harmony. I had to unlearn everything I learned about color theory in arch school to make such bald decision. Yet the eccentric color combination reminded me of a child’s painting, without wanting to have mastery of technical knowledge.

A child pours out, onto the canvas, very precious things, her innocence and zeal. I really admire a child’s relation to his/her artwork is so pure and joyful. They are not referencing themselves to pop/high art, or other cultural precedents, which often turn people into self-critics and take them away from truly experiencing art making itself…

I want to draw like a kid again, with pure joy! Tonight, while painting my room, such a simple act, I found that feeling! It was like finding the hidden treasure I hid when I was a little girl that I forgot about.

Empty space, sometimes, is a great thing. It invites one’s imagination of what it can be instead of what it was. A place to meditate. A room of my own.

The rain is so beautiful tonight.

I feel taken care of, thankful and peaceful

I drew this illustration, responding to a prop “What Have I Gained” at the open workshop that I go to at UCSF on Weds. Art making on Wednesdays has been a very meditative and spiritually uplifting experience for me. I feel safe and comfortable among a creative community, sharing ourselves with one another.

As I closed my eyes, a sense of being grounded, and warm feeling rose in my chest.
I felt at peace, quietly happy, and connected.
And this image was what I saw with my mind’s eyes.

I appreciate you being in my life!

Comics about the simple moments in life

As a child, I wanted to be a cartoonist, because drawing gives me a lot of joy. I remember, during the pre-Play Station and Nintendo era of my childhood, it was reading and drawing comics (plus eating watermelons) helped me survive the notorious hot summers in Wuhan. I used to draw comics based on events happened around my friends and me. “Cartoonizing” moments of life has given me a unique perspective on life, people and events – simultaneously living fully within the social context, and also observing life as an outsider.

I like comics, not only because of its artistic expressions, but also, the spirit it reminds me – never lose the ability to laugh at oneself; it’s about having a sense of humor that makes us laugh, and often, even on those days that we seem to have no reasons to be cheerful…

I haven’t had a chance to draw comics for at least 10 years. I had a bit of a drawer’s block. Thanks for the encouragement and support from many great people, now I’m picking up my childhood passion. I’ve started my very first visual diary since the end of March. I’ve been sketching comics almost every day. But I’ll choose only one of them per week to update on the website. You will see the 2nd Comic in a week.

Keeping a visual journal makes me more reflective and perceptive about the details of my experience. Every day is different: our personal experiences are shaped by our social interactions, and observations of the physical, cultural, and political environment. Sometimes, there’s a punch line or two. Sometimes, I just honestly keep track of the conversations and actions of myself and people in my life. Hopefully, collectively, they will become more vivid portraits of the individuals that are growing, evolving with time.

(I hope I can keep this up for at least a year. Jia you to myself!)

I opened up an old sketchbook and found some figure drawings I did back in 2004 with the Charlottesville art community. We had weekly drawing sessions with interesting models and other artists working with various medium. I always learned so much from observing different approaches to the same model. My favorite models are dancers and theater actors, because I like their exaggerated expressions and gestures. Their bodies are unique and very elegant. I’d like to capture figure in motion in my future drawings.

I have a rare opportunity to be working with a theater group as an understudy for a minor role in the past few weeks. I get to observe closely how a theater performance come into being. In the director’s words, “the birth process to a performance”. After knowing that I am an architectural designer, the director asked me to bring my sketchbook and drawing tools to respond to whatever resonates with me in the rehearsal process, choreography, dance, characters,etc. The main dancer Tom is also a sculptor and writer. During the scenes that he’s not acting, he sits down as an audience and makes clay models of the characters in the play, while carefully observing the rehearsal. I feel very inspired by the free flowing and open process of performing, and reflecting, people feeding creative energy off each other…There are many great dancers in the crew. I’m mesmerized by the spontaneity and the elegance of the main dancer who plays a spirit. His dance feels light as feature, yet filled with energy and tension. It’s definitely a great place for me to explore my ability to draw figures in motion. It’ll be a great opportunity to exercise how I see things, too.

The Anytime Anywhere Clown

The Kite

Out of Space

The following is a character I made up when I was with the Chens. Her name is Alice.

Birth

Life is interesting.  It seems throw things at us at weird times, often times without asking us for permission or giving any warning.  Most of the time, we don’t seem to have a choice.  As a new born, we don’t have a choice in terms of when to be born, where to be born, who our parents are, or our culture background…

Choice

But later on, as I developped a sense of my self, I’ve learn to fight for my choices – to study in different cultures, to pursue my passion in art/design/architecture,  to relocate to a city where I had no connection, to love and to let go…

I like to go beyond what’s known and comfortable, and choose paths that’s unknown.  Admittedly, it’s not easy to live overseas without my family around.  It’s been almost seven years since I packed my luggages and left home for the first time.  I have led a nomadic life, physically and spirtiually.  First several years in the ivory tower in the South, ocassionally traveling to other countries, then relocating to a modern city where I hardly have any connections.  I had to make big leaps to adapt, from a homogeneous culture to a cultural melting pot, from a conservative environment to a place where everything-goes.  The difference between the 18 year old girl who left home for her dreams to the young woman I am now is perhaps more experience of combating with reality, still stubborn and idealistic.  My heart, fortnuately, survived many challenges and still perseves the same sensitivity and passion for life.  I’ve also learned to become more tender and kind to myself and others.

There are at times that I look back, esp. seeing my friends from childhood getting settled and leading a comfortable life (at least it seems),  the could-haves and would-haves come across my mind.  If only I chose an easier path, I would have a stable and comfortable life.  It only takes a few seconds for me to realize that I would never give up what I already have experienced for anything.  There is no short cut to the life that I aspire – a state of being that’s not easily defined by words.  It’s like a painting – only through layers and layers of delicate strokes and ocassional accidents, the substance and form emerges.  I am the artist of my own life. If it’s already well planned for me, I wouldn’t have the opportunity to practice to be good.

If I didn’t do anything, I wouldn’t be anybody.

(To Be Continued. Although having a lot to say. I have a small surgery tomorrow morning. So off to bed now.)