The Gift Of Time(Shame)

Half way there

I've been working on this for a while, the preparatory sketch, preliminary studies, reference, etc...Strangely I haven't grown a bit of fatigue over the subject. Whatever it is keeping me going is forcing me to deal with issues, painting issues, anatomy issues... If I choose to escape the problems, they will pass on to the next generation of problems. I wish I could just go out and buy a sports car whenever there is a problem, take the easy way out. Unfortunately life doesn't work that way, and even if it does for some people, can you imagine the kind of coward, lazy, spoiled, crippled minded weak creature we would become in the habit of doing that?

If we all get to choose...

Some parents prefer not to know the sex of the baby before it's born, some can't wait to find out. What if we get to choose the baby? What if the baby get to choose between us and "Fairy Odd Parents"? As much as I don't want to say this, it would be REALLY cool to be raised by "Fairy Odd Parents" :)

They say "This version of the Jingle Bell will MELT YOUR mind"..

Watch it with a good posture so when you mind melts it doesn't spill :)>

Good Radiance! Alcoholic Primates Are Wild!

In the Caribbean, Vervet Monkeys have developed a taste for alcohol and can regularly be spotted stealing cocktails from humans on the beach. Brilliant wildlife video from BBC animal show 'Weird Na... Have to see this, this is hilarious!(thanks BBC!) It's strikingly similar to the alcoholic people in our society, except these primates don't attend meetings or pretend to feel ashamed, they love slurping that Rum&Coke and Caribbean wine. It's so funny to see a family of them getting trashed and tumbling around, great role models:D

"向红色敬礼" (work in progress)

One week from Christmas time...

Best wishes to all and hope life is better next year!
The best gift to me, of course, is from those who unintentionally gave and made it impassible to take it back. I will most certainty cherish and make the best of it alone :>

Have you SUFFERED any of these? LOL!

Saw this on the inter-web...Thought it's pretty funny")

The Newborn

I am in love with Earthy Palette now!:) As much as I hate dealing with local colors (and the fact that they are utterly confusing) I am learning to build the logic of paint without trying to carry reality onto the canvas.

Recent Ink Wash Works

Bei-Jing roasted duck, the conspiracy theory...

PETA should definitively be investigating this.

Going green!

Graduate School--Huh?

While there are many great schools and great MFA programs in the States, (here's a list of the popular schools that offer MFA in painting, and have great gallery connections).
PAFA/Tyler/UPenn/UD/Yale/Chicago Art Institute/Indianan School of Fine Arts(SOFA) There are also excellent MFA outside of the country: SLADE, Chelsea College of Art & Design , Royal Academy in England, Beaux-Arts in Paris.
In addition, I recommend to check out this if you are planning on applying for Tyler School of Arts.
Life may sometimes slow you down, but it should never stop one from pursuing dreams:) I will expand the list as I come across more information.

Au revoir, cadmium! Au revoir, Turpenoid!

My palette is undergoing a slight transition (behold-) from orange-cadmium to umber-earthy. Frankly I am not use to it; I love cadmiums:( I am also banned from using any Turpetine or similar product, no big deal. The final painting is going slow but steady, still having lots of questions and areas waiting to be resolved. I like painting on the bigger plane scale, but they make such a headache to care for during any move (Can't wait to deal with it already, Alas!)
For anyone who's looking to apply to grad schools, I'm writing a little something about local grad schools and some foreign MFA programs, portfolio requirements, deadlines,etc. I will post it soon. Since grad school is no longer on my primary agenda for the time being, I can at least contribute some effort by putting together a bulletin of information to help some of you out there, confused and frustrated.

Sorry if I lost it, but you'd understand, wouldn't you?

There is just nothing else more difficult to come up with holiday gift for the mother who never needs anything. Thank god we won't have to worry about it this year, she's already happy as a clam for what we've gotten:)

Master Class with Odd Nerdrum: The Secrets Behind the Painting

Odd Nerdrum is visiting PAFA again next year. Odd's works can be seem as reflection of him and his state of mind, (not literally, maybe?) I met the Nerdrum's and some of his proteges while attending the Kitsch Biannual in Munich. It was an interesting encounter, I was able to do some fast sketches of them, if I can just find the sketch book now...

Recent Window Sketches

PARADE TIME!!!

I hope this answers all the question you have regarding the Macy's parade:D

NYC PARADE ROUTE


PHILADELPHIA PARADE ROUTEPrepare to walk the fun! See you there :)

A new way to use baby strollers

If you want to stop that taxi from rushing though the red light, stick your baby stroller out! It's totally effective! No one wants to injure a baby!

Yes, they can be traced back to the Stone Age!

Expect small bundle to bring joy

Life sends little packages at a person's most unexpected times... Some I wish to share, some I wish to embrace. Well, friends, this time around, the pure joy is for two. November is the month to acknowledge and celebrate our thanks for giving; it is now the most magical month for us, in an anxious and exciting way. I am looking forward to the New Year and the new adaptations. Joyjoyjoy!

WATER-SPASTIC=HYDROPHOBIC

Don't we all love inventing our own words? I do it all the time! (Someone had to invented Latin! Well in my case, Chinese...!)

I recently saw a play about Edgar Poe in Hedgerow theater, I was REALLY scared when "Red Devil" came on, no joke, it was SCARY. Good job though!

Old Project

I found a still frame of my old animation project. The subject, which I have always been very passionate about, is life, death and loneliness. This particular project is about a lonely old woman who suddenly passes away, her only companion- a black cat is quickly put to euthaniznation by her children because no one wants to spent their own money to take care of it - they had been waiting anxiously to receive their shares of her estates. Despite the effort, the children can't seem to find anything valuable in the belongings that their mother had left behind, so everything was disposed. The most precious belongings to the old woman were the old photos that recorded her life, they are the only reminders of her existence. Now the photos are gone, it's like she never even existed.

Err, isn't this just so depressing? It was a good animation though, if I can find the rendered version I would sure put it up to share with you :)
p.s: Dear Stephanie, if you are reading this, are you ever going to return for Thanksgiving? You said you were coming home for the American holidays, well, there is one next week! :)

Things I have said that made someone's (or my own) day

I am sure you have also said something hilarious in the past;) That's why we are human")

Movie of the month: The men who stare at goats

The Men Who Stare at Goats (2004) is a book by Jon Ronson about the U.S. Army's exploration of New Age concepts and the potential military applications of the paranormal. The title refers to attempts to kill goats by staring at them. IT IS BASED ON A TRUE STORY, THE GOVERNMENT SPENT TAXPAYER'S MONEY ON THIS HIGHLY EXPERIENTIAL PROJECT IN THE LATE 60'S AND IT WAS CODE NAMED "Code Name-PSYops". Thanks to this operation, the present day Hollywood movie producers were able to create another epic movie in the history of "cute" movies. (By "cute" I mean we smoked a bunch of weed before going to the theater and totally passed out in the movie.)

Creepy church Ink Wash

2009 VILLAGE PARADE BEST IN COSTUMES (PART I)

I don't think there was another 1/2man 1/2 woman or CC in the parade, feeling perrrrty good being one of a kind;)

Moving on to the bigger picture.

Finally, the artist of this draft painting is ready to move on to a new stage, without (hopefully) the old baggage. Hope the new beginning would allow honest and fair judgments and inform mistakes made in the past, (leaving the mistakes on the canvas will only make it more obvious) as without such ability, no amount of time would fix the damage, if any, it only increase the damage. And finally, congratulations, it's finally happened!

Halloween- The sharings of the forbidden...

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Happy Halloween!

It's always going to be in progress.

Head, plaster.

Portrait in progress - Does obscurity make everything look better than they really are?

Act your age!

Sketch of A view from a rooftop garden in the evening

We were invited to a artist's house for some tea and chat. The couple has the most exquisite, relaxing sanctuary like rooftop garden that over looks the center city. We sat in the garden, having tea while the sun was drifting away, watching the layers of clouds changing from red to yellow, and to bright orange pink. While we can experience so much in life- good, bad, sorrow,happy, grief... We will all eventually be forgotten and become simple organisms, rejoin nature and its endless journey to provide for new lives. With this thought, I feel truly fortunate to live a life that gives me enough time to treasure what people took for granted, loved ones, career, friends, and to create a family of my own. Now I think I can begin to understand and appreciate the color of her paintings.

You know who you are :) Thanks for joining us, and thanks for the gifts. It's been an exhausting, cozy and fun night for everyone, now some cuddle time for us, good night.

The kind that worry about the legacy.

Tale of Roasted Chestnuts (2)(3)-end