When I started with this project, I was raring to go out and do quick sketches. Little did I know that I was going to end up with a bad cold that I couldn’t stay outside and sketch as what I had originally planned. So my progress ended up slower than I had anticipated. I decided to change my approach starting from changing the hashtag to my project. The other change I made was taking photos of subjects I wanted to sketch and sketch these at home. This is not my preferred way of urban sketching because I tend to sketch slow, taking more time on the details. Whereas when…
-
-
Literally I have to find a new space for the 2022 of December Daily because I have ran out! The only year I did not do any December Daily was 2019 because I decided to take a break and do art journaling instead. This album is actually handmade using leftover binder D-ring and chipboards I had in my stash. I bought these Tim Holtz fabric from the Yuletide collection from a local seller (which I cannot find on the FreeSpirit website anymore. When I flipped through the 2020 album, I noticed that a lot of the stories were mine and not as much of my kids. I think that time…
-
Perfect weather means sketching outdoors is even more exciting and inspiring. After days of dreary cold weather and plus being sick with a bad cough for over a week, I was just dying to get out and do some sketching. The venue for our sketching group was at the Duolun Culture Street, more specifically the old Protestant church called Hongde Church, formerly known as the Fitsch Memorial Church. The interior has been mostly been renovated as most of the church was damaged during the Cultural Revolution. Actually I did a warm up sketch inside the church (above), before moving outdoors to sketch the exterior; well, at least, part of the…
-
An exciting news to share is that Suzanne of Strawberry Moon Magazine interviewed me to be one of the featured artist in the upcoming second issue of her magazine. I am totally humbled, honored and so blown away to be asked and this has left me speechless for days… and when the cover was announced, the feeling of awe came flooding back. I’ve always been a fan of Suzanne’s art on Instagram. We both have twins and have pet cats. And her passion extended to the Strawberry Moon Magazine. Definitely a one-of-a-kind. A magazine by an artist for an artist. Issue 1 is a wealth of inspiration and features a…
-
Exciting news to share! During the time I was in quarantine in Taipei back in October, I received an email from Get Messy inviting me to be invited as a guest teacher for 2022. OMG! I decided to say “YES!” My class will air in November and it is perfect for Season of Slow. So truly humbled to be part of this community again after having gone off for a few years. As you can see below, all these amazing artists who are part of this year’s line up are all AMAZING! Get Messy is more than just art journaling. It is a community of artists who support each other.…
-
2022 #the100dayproject is here!!! And I’m doing urban sketching, finding those places to sketch that are “typical” Shanghai. I actually prefer to do more of the old Shanghai rather than new but I will make some exceptions just like my first sketch. My plan is to do 100 sketches and that may turn out to be in 50 days or more. Don’t want to pressure myself on doing 1 a day. My hope is that I will be more accountable with this year’s project compared to last because it was not easy to keep track of what I was finishing. So I am hoping this year’s will be manageable. As…
-
Freezing cold but at least was a dry morning when we ventured out to the Changning District’s Sieh Yih Chapel. For this outing, I decided on doing vignettes. Brought a new sketchbook from SMLT Art and with the weather, I was fine with just doing a pen-&-ink sketch and alternating between with black and white brush pens. A bit of history Xiyantang, commonly known as “Xiyan Cemetery”, is also known as “The Ascension of the Virgin”, it was built in 1929 for the famous Catholic figure Ma Xiangbo and others, covering an area of 63 acres. The church in the cemetery is used for worshippers to hold burial ceremonies and…
-
Almost 6 weeks spent in quarantine has come and gone. And I can say, “I survived!” Here’s a sort of breakdown of the days: Day 1 – arriving in Taipei, Taiwan Day 2 counts as first of the 14-day quarantine in Taipei Day 16-17 – time spent getting COVID tests to be able to return to Shanghai plus errands and meeting with family and friends Day 18 – arriving in Shanghai, China and first day of quarantine Day 32 – left quarantine hotel to quarantine at home Day 40 – finished quarantine and back at work For the first part of my quarantine in Taipei, Taiwan, all went smoothly. The…
-
“We are tougher than we seem. We are tougher than we think. Our stories will outlive us. Let’s make them good.” ——Neil Gaiman These days I’m trying to take pockets of time to write stories down and do more journaling. You can call it a memoir but I would prefer to just call it “stories of my life” because I want to keep things loose, with no definite timeline or structure but mostly putting down life lived. I’ve always written journals over the years but from all the moves from houses to houses to country to country, some may have gotten lost. I do have a lot of digital journal…
-
Xiao Nan Men area of Shanghai is mostly where a lot of old neighbourhood still remain, a maze of longtangs and old houses, in some areas, some “new” houses have been built. Part of this neighbourhood is up for demolition, reconstruction or in limbo. These old neighbourhoods are my favourite places to sketch because I can record a bit of the local life while sketching; sights, sounds, and smells. For this outing, I decided to stick to pen and ink sketches and journaling on the side. It was tricky to do any watercolour around where we were sketching. Location: Around Xiaonanmen 小南门; specifically Dafufang 大夫坊 and Heshunjie 和顺街 Thank you…
