First year into the Master's

For the final crit I brought in all of my 5 self portraits and 12 still lifes, plus the final painting that yet needs to be finished. The final critique day is always very very long, and fun (Honest). I have come to really enjoy and appreciate my peers and teachers. It's been a great year. And I know for fact, that next year is going to be crazy- As I am now an official cast member of " The Magic Flute" by New York Opera Studio (to know more about "Die Zauberflot" ,go to my recital blog)My husband will be volunteering with the stage work during the rehearsal and the show period. It would be great if we could be in a production together, I will be the tree and he'll be the flower (or vice versa),all is good.
I think I've posted majority of my painting projects during the year, there might still a a few missing, I shall post them later.

This is the last painting of the 12 still lifes, a bit smudged cuz I dropped and stepped on it :(
I call it "The Sleeping Head"

Quick oil sketches of the model's hands at the crit day.

Man In Cute Hat

Life is an endless source of inspiration.
I still remember my childhood, I couldn't blend in with other kids, because I would doodle on anything anytime- books, papers, walls...Boy didn't I have fun :) Well, call it "a very productive childhood with advance drawing"...if you would. Funny thing is, what seemed to be a great waste of time, turned out to be the best skill that happened to me. Had I followed others for fear of being "different", I would have grown up the "normal" way, the "accepted" way, the "way" some see as "boring but right". I guess I have grown up use to being "unaccepted". If life has taught me anything so far, it is to never be a "push over", and never look down on myself. No matter what others may think of me or have to say, I plan to make the best out whatever gifts life handed me.
The painting is of someone very special and dear to me. It is also a parody of many classical Renaissance's portraits:) The hat, which is definitely the focus point, was bought as a birthday gift...But we just couldn't wait :)

Master Copies

Oil on canvas

This was a school project turned out to be a lot of fun. I had always considered doing master copies a "dreadful" chore, but it truly is a very effective way to learn from the masters in the most direct way. The three artist are-Odd Nerdrum, Titan and Rembrandt. For each painting I picked one section mostly interesting to me, and painted them on individual panels. Through this exercise, I realized that there is no short cut, in constructing flesh and bones.,though I'm sure Titan could render a face in a very short amount of time, he still had to start from the basic form-flesh and bones. With that in mind, I will explore more master copies in the future.

Happy holidays 2010

Ahoy! Happy Holiday Every Body!

We would like to make a toast, for this great year coming to an new beginning:D

Study of A Seated Woman

Study of A Seated Woman
20 x 30 Pastel

A little bit holiday melancholy:)

A Cartoon About Children and Parents

I'd like to share this cartoon with you, unfortunately the artist's name is unknown, but the cartoon is very touching. Translating English to Chinese is easy but in order to convey the perfect sentence, a short phrase can turn out to be a long paragraph..Well, I did my best:)

Cadies in a Jar

Happiness is like Candies in a Jar, you have to reach it yourself :)
Since we found out about the babies, time suddenly stopped, and the world became so focused and quiet :) Although there are still some unfinished matters, we no longer have the desire to push or take initiative,but letting it settle itself. Things will settle when it wants to settle.

Self Portrait In Progress (Yet another)

How do we multi-task in life? When it seems impossible, sometimes- juggling between completing my Master's degree(almost there, thank god!), preparing to be a new mom, and beginning rehearsals for my Opera debut in W.A. Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" in New York next year... And an invitation to perform in Scotland -- There's not even a second left to stop for a cup of decaf! :)
Now some art talk --
A self Portrait is about capturing a visual recording of one's momentary feeling. My portrait depicts the spatial relationship between a ordinary domestic setting and my own figure. The environment is distorted, as well as the perspective, creating a sense of surrealistic detachment to the reality to the scene. For this project, I am again using a "dead palette" (Blue Black + Flesh Ocher + Yellow Ocher ). These three colors are very important to me, as many Italian and Dutch old masters such as Rembrandt included these colors in their paintings.

Thanksgiving Table Chart :)

Just saw this from some web, have to share this with you! Again, happy Thanksgiving!! <:-D

Meow~! (In Progress)

Meow! Happy Thanksgiving! (:D

A few more days then we are on top of the calendar again!

And remember, avoid places like hospitals, museums and shopping malls at this time of the year!

Sex & Humanity by Milo Manara

Many people aren't familiar with artist Milo Manara, but if you have read "Gulliveriana", you are not a stranger to his work. Manara's works often depict various types of young female and male figures in a fantasy set up, with his Legatto like ink strokes and elegant rendering of figures, Manara is one of my favorite cartoonist (RIP Frank .F), I absolutely enjoy his loose, watercolor like style, and humorous disposition as an artist.

Milo Manara doing a headshot at the SCC 2010

Below is a cartoon on "Sex & Humanity" composed of several comic strips, which I thought is a perfect reflection on human history. The artist is capable of composing each individual strip using a limited, horizontal space, ensuring the viewers to follow his direction, as well as the progression of human history, thus making us the witnesses to the greatest crime and victory ever committed to our history, and that is, Sex.

In the modern world, "sex" no longer needs to be carefully implied or hidden behind doors. Everyday, we experience endless sex-related material on TV, radio, internet or public AD venue. These messages do a great job compromising our own judgment on individuality and self confidence. Whenever we turn on TV, there's always the cosmetics commercial, persuading you to purchase their product, then only to test on yourself. Women who are motivated enough to use expensive cosmetics, even though the chemical level is probably doing more harm than good to the skin, is more likely to go under needles and knives because the thought of a wrinkled face is more horrifying to anything else that might be equally wrinkled, since we can manage to cover our body but not our face (maybe when Burka becomes the next biggest fashion). Starting from a very young age, we begin to learn "what looks good" and "what is ugly". However we always consult others to reassure ourselves on whether our judgment is out of line, then most of us go through many phases in life searching for "the better". Women are always looking for ways to stop time. The scene of little old ladies spending hundreds, if not thousands of dollars on expensive facial creams, "rejuvenating syrup", is just hysterical, nothing is going to reverse time, and why should it? When someone is vein enough to accuse others of stealing their expensive make up with the underlining reason-if it's expensive then everyone must want to steal it. Funny reflection on the accusers, funny how they often act exactly as they accuse...Oy, women!

Found some funny stuff on how vain we are as women :) Especially the "Lip stick on a jeweled pig", just love it! Too bad I couldn't find a "Lip stick on bulldog" cartoon without breaking my political neutrality, darn you S Palin!

Another thing has been on my agenda, which I may post something about later. Here's a little hint--Inappropriate and sexually suggestive videos posted by teenage girls are slipping through Youtube's policy gaps, any comments are welcomed!

MUSEUM LECTURE DAY

Our lovely neighbor gave a interesting and passionate lecture at the Met last week. I know this is not the good time to expose myself to germs and virus in public areas, but they are so nice to invite us...I was also aching for some random sketching opportunities, at the end it was a very rewarding time! Next year I will be inviting them to attend my casual recital, then then can invite us again, and so on...Life!

Museum Crowd 1

Museum Crowd 2

Museum Crowd 3

Museum Crowd 4

Museum Crowd 5

Museum Crowd 6

Museum Crowd 7

Figures Speech & Donations

Drawing with a left hand proven to be more difficult than teaching someone to play piano with their left hands :( I find it once the "leftie" has to deal with shades, it is much happier...Whereas the "rightie" is more attracted to shapes.

Left hand exercise-Warm up

30 minutes Left & Right Hand exercise

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Giving is more than receiving.

In our lives we donate in different forms. whether it is money, objects, or time. I've come to know a person who cared selflessly for a injured friend in a hospital who suffered a devastating accident, providing comfort at the most venerable and darkest stage of his life. I've seen students formed a foundation to raise money to help a ill instructor, and there are plenty more cases where people donate their time and expertise to help others.

Why do we donate? We do so not because we have to, it is because a greater cause that motivate us to give to others is more important and satisfactory than the mere possession of things. It makes us feel great to help others unconditionally. We can choose to hold on to materialistic things that are accessories to us, that might otherwise be necessity to others, or we can give them away knowing someone, somewhere can make the best out of them .

I've given a portion of my scholarship to help a young talented struggling musician , it wasn't much money but I am sure it was well served. The proceed from the opera "Sephro" I volunteer for was donated to a cancer research center. We've ran marathons for breast cancer patients and Alzheimer's disease. It has been a significant part of our life to help others. And we are proud of being part of that culture.

This fall we will be making more donations to various institutions. We spoke with one of the institutions about how a potential donation will be contributed. The staff member responded that all non cash donations will be auctioned off and the proceed will be directly divided between the research department. With great gratitude, they ensured us that our donation will help accomplishing some very important experiments and tasks. However in a slight depressing tone: there are less donations made to them than before, for a institution that heavily relies on major government funding, they are now having to make calls to ask for donations, in order to continue their researches. I'm not surprised, This nation is coming to face some most critical political and economical challenges...because of this, we need to continue donate to the society.

This year, why not make a donation in lieu of gifts to the family? Whatever your cause is, let's work together and make it happen.

siLilY cAtS!

Cats are well known for their notorious curiosities. It's hard to relate them to their other famous feline families(pumas, for example),because they are usually so cute and cuddly :) My grandma always says that cats have 9 lives, Shalom! (She also says if you crave for sea food then your will have a boy; if vegetable,you'll have a girl, well, what if you have the crave for both?? )

OUCH!