~ Wanderlust ~

All the great memories - 2014

2015-01-18T09:18:00.001-08:00

A quick recap of my amazing 2014 :

April:
-I got featured as one of the artists in their art issue of the online art&photography magazine - PAPERCUT magazine !

-Finished my first one-month artist residency at the lovely Cykaida Art Center in Hasting, NE.
They wrote a wonderful review of my experience here :)
I finished 4 mini-size woodcuts and 1( and my first ) wood engraving ! :D

May:
-The prints from Nebraska residency got selected into 34th Miniprint exhibition in Barcelona, Spain ! ( official link here )
They toured and exhibited in 4 different places : two in Spain, one in France and one in UK.

- July :
I did a crazy intense 10-days woodcut BOOTcamp with the great master Tom Huck, in St.Louis, Missouri. We each finished a 32 x 24 in woodcut ! It was one of the most amazing art experience I've ever had. The final work you can see here : The Departure

Oct:
-Elizabeth Foundation of Arts Open Studio as part of the 2014 Garment District Arts Festival in NYC - My mentor Kathy Caraccio kindly offered to host my open studio at her lovely space. The event went very well-received and I sold two prints :D My image is used in their pamphlet on page 7 and 14 :)
-Robert Blackburn Printmaking Workshop 2014 annual member show

Dec- wonderful artist residency in Italy ! I will post more photos. :)

HAPPY 2015 ~ !!!

2015-01-18T07:16:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful year of 2014. I will catch up on posts about the amazing art things that happened to me in 2014.

From Nov. 27 , 2014 to Jan 3, 2015, I had been at an artist residency at Scuola Internazionale di Grafica in Venice, Italy. It was a truly magical experience. I will upload the woodcut that I did there soon.

For now, a quick sketch of the happy 2015 new year card ! ( inspired by what I saw outside my window in Venice, Italy. )

A cold Morning in the airport...

2014-05-30T14:17:00.001-07:00

everyone feels like a ghost.....

a small sketch while waiting to board the plane ~

some more of Beijing

2014-03-23T22:34:00.001-07:00

Finally scanned some more pages of my sketchbook , of Beijing :)

Some haunted feeling house that I always pass by in the southern part of the hutongs (Alley ways)

24 hours - Started with a Belgian Film called "Approved for adoption" in 798, a girls' night out followed by lunch by a lake, then an Austrian film "Museum Times" in 798 again, then a walk in the hip Wudaoying Hutong outside Lama Temple, finally, ended the night in Temple Bar with an awesome band from Shanghai.

the lovely Xishiku Church ( Catholic headquarter in Beijing ) , and a chat with my friend in the nearby 1901 Cafe :)

I frequented Yugongyishan, one of Beijing's most popular live music houses beside a beautiful colonial buildings which was used by a war-lord during the Republic Period.

I spent my last Saturday night in Beijing on a nostalgic The Cardigan's concert :)

Beijing post

2014-03-23T21:42:00.001-07:00

I drew some postcards with Beijing scenes for my friends , more are in the making ~

I thought it looked quite nice in Invert mode too :P

Beijing Sketches - Jie Tai Temple

2014-03-23T21:30:00.000-07:00

I went to the beautiful and very peaceful Jie Tai Temple in October, 2013. It was constructed in Tang Dynasty, with major modifications in the recent Ming and Qing dynasty.
Here are some sketches of my impressions :)

Roaring year of the Horse !

2014-02-20T22:49:00.001-08:00

May everyone have an awesome, SUPER , successful and roaring year of the Horse !!!

<3 br="">

Ukraine trails

2014-02-20T22:41:00.001-08:00

Arriving to Kiev, Ukraine after Sweden in June was the true sign for me that the Summer is finally here. It's a beautiful and quite romantic city.
I kept their Bus tickets. They seem to work so well for this sketch of St.Sofia church / square.
We visited the solem WW2 Museum, and then walked around the area and went down to Kiev Fashion park area, saw a lot of lovely contemporary sculptures.
St.Andrew's Decent is one of my favorite places in Kyiv, it's like the Montmartre of Paris.
There's a super adorable museum called "Museum of one street", which houses many of the historic items of the Andrew's descent, containing more than 7000 exhibits. They include information about the Saint Andrew's Church, the castle of Richard Lionheart, and the many other buildings of the Descent. The exposition of the museum is filled with historical documents, manuscripts, autographs, antique postcards, photos, and a great number of fascinating objects of the antique interior.
I liked seeing faithful believers in the Orthodox churches in Ukraine.
I also got to make a day trip to the beautiful and historical city of L'viv in western Ukraine. This is the view from on top of their city hall.
After we got to L'viv in the morning, we were just wandering around the streets in this city just waking up. One old man kindly invited us into an amazing old building, with gorgeous architectural details and decors, however curiously deserted....It turned out he wanted us to take photos and donate some money. Hehe, we enjoyed the building nonetheless. I particularly enjoyed one room - an empty crimson ocean of wooden conference chairs :)
L'viv has a thriving cafe scene. One of my favorite coffee houses is called The House of Legend. Their rooftop is amazing, you can sit in a car that has an oar on its door handle. People are also making a wish by climbing into a chimney and throwing a coin into the hat of an old guy's sculpture. :)

Sweet Stockholm

2013-11-21T22:46:00.001-08:00

I somehow have an interesting pattern in my life -- I visit Stockholm every 5 years.
I love the Swedish Daim candies, their wrappers looks great too ;)
The plastic bags from the Royal Palace was so pretty, I couldn't throw it away without cutting off the palace first :P
quick sketch outside the Palace ~
quick sketch outside the palace, facing the National museum of art.
lovely Stockholm
Stockholm is a cute city :)

Dubai impressions

2013-11-21T22:35:00.000-08:00

I was at the Emirates for a short 5-day trip.

Our first day was to visit the AbuDhabi's grand Mosque. It was truly gorgeous and gigantic. We were given black clothes and head-scarves to cover ourselves from head to toe.

on the last day, we took the water taxi across the little river to go to Spice Market in old-town Dubai.

Animals in NYC

2013-05-15T19:40:00.001-07:00

Somehow I've been seeing a lot of animals lately in NYC ... ;) Inspired me to do some quick sketches :)

Happy Year of the Snake !! :)

2013-02-09T00:14:00.000-08:00

The year of Snake is here !:)
I felt I should have drawn something Chinese, but this time drew something I liked very much from my trip in Cambodia... a Naga -- the multiheaded, hooded water snake that is central to Khmer mythology, controlling the rains and bringing prosperity :)

Wish everyone a prosperous Snake Year !

Norway in a nutshell :)

2013-01-06T12:10:00.002-08:00

This summer I was very lucky to have spent a few days in the magical Norwegian Fjords.
So I did an etching print as a little tribute to her beauty :)
More details are on my Behance page :)

The final print :)


Close-up ...Vikings ! :)


The stavechurch in Borgund was really impressive :)

I really liked the buildings in Bergen.

Trolls....Trees....things I miss from Norway :)

My try at Anthropomorphic Taxidermy :)

2012-07-02T03:40:00.001-07:00

A night of Anthropomorphic Taxidermy :)
This past Tuesday, I took a 4-hour beginners workshop of Anthropomorphic Taxidermy in this really fun studio in Brooklyn called "Morbid Anatomy".

Anthropomorphic taxidermy–the practice of mounting and displaying taxidermied animals as if they were humans or engaged in human activities–was a popular art form during the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The best known practitioner of the art form is British taxidermist Walter Potter who displayed his pieces–which included such elaborate tableaux as The Death of Cock Robin, The Kitten Wedding, and The Kitten Tea Party–in his own museum of curiosities.

The instructor was a famous taxidermist, tattoo artist and educator Susan Jeiven.
(Don't worry, all the mice were disease free and already dead and would literally be discarded otherwise. They were not killed for this class. hehe)
We each got a little dead mouse :( ....mine looked like he/she ODed...hehe
Then we had to skin it and take out all the insides.....that was the sad part :(
After cleaning the interior and took out the brain / eyes...we sew it back together with stuffing inside.
Then I chose green eyes, the cloth and accessories for my little friend.... :)
My little snow queen.
close-up

440 Gallery-From Mice to Monsters

2012-07-02T03:27:00.003-07:00

Yayee ! One of my pieces of Wanderlust series got selected by the Juror into 440 Gallery's Annual show ! "From Mice to Monsters"--Illustration for Children !

Below is what I found on their official site :

440 Gallery presents Mice to Monsters

June 28 - July 22, 2012. Opening reception: Thursday, June 28, 6-8 pm

This exhibition will feature children's book illustrations, published and unpublished, and any work which focuses on children as an audience. The 41 artists selected for this show are from all over the country, and Brooklyn is well represented: Tenaya Anue, Tatiana Arocha, Susan Blanchard, Bonnie Branson, You Mee Cho, Jeffrey Chuang, Theresa Coulter, Kristin deNeeve, Nancy Doniger, Missy Hammond Dunaway, Lisa Falkenstern, Michelle Farkouh, Magge Gagliardi, Sarah Gramelspacher, Melissa Guion, Abigail Hanlon, Kievan Havens, Eri Honda, Allyn Howard, Michelle Kratchman-Garcia, Boris Kulikov, Joyce Leipertz, Kelly Light, Li Ma, Sine Morse, Kristen Orr, Kristiana Parn, Edie Pijpers, Carolyn Schallmo, Corey Solinger, Christine Staehelin, Mariko Suzuki, Hala Swearingen, Peach Jin Tao, Cathie Urushibata, Ani Volkan, Sara Woolley, Junko Yamada, Bill Zeman. The juror is Buket Erdogan, a Park Slope resident who has illustrated children's books for Orchard Books, Simon and Schuster, and Harper Collins. Three of Buket's "Mouse's First" series were New York Times Best Sellers.

I missed the Reception because I am currently in Kyiv, Ukraine. But I found this photo by Artbonnie on Flikr where you can see my work is hanging on the wall right under the guy's hand ! haha.

http://www.440gallery.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12

More Rhino doodles :)

2012-04-30T20:50:00.003-07:00

This time, it's not so Dandy Rhinos like previous ones :P
I don't know why but I just did these doodles while watching 30rock and Mad Men :P

reading is good for you :)

Don Draper's Family time :)

Nerdy ?

We all more of less had a teacher like this ;P

My feauture on TheyDraw&Travel :)

2012-04-30T20:07:00.000-07:00

This is a bit late but yeah...I submitted my illustrated map to the wonderful website of "They Draw and Travel". It's a brilliant website where you can submit hand-drawn maps of your favorite places:)

My entry is taken from my etching series "Wanderlust" and is a hybrid world of Rome and Siena.
Click for the original link and see more brilliant maps !


From Rome to Siena :) Ohhhh Italia....molto bellisima...

Abu Dhabi Mosque sketches

2012-04-16T11:42:00.002-07:00

I went to Abu Dhabi and Dubai for 5 days with my parents as a Chinese New Year celebration trip in Feb 2012 ~!
Just scanned a few sketches of the majestic, magnificent, absolutely gorgeous Sheikh Zayed Mosque.

A bit of Singapore

2012-04-16T11:29:00.000-07:00

Visited Singapore for 2 days in Jan.2012 :)

Had some fun with monoprints:)

2012-03-27T14:04:00.001-07:00

I've never really done monoprinting before until mid- February when I took a workshop with the awesome instructor Bruce Waldman , and had great fun with it actually !! :D

hehe....rolling ink onto the plexi glass, I feel it looks better here than the final product haha....

the print ~ showing my fondness of the large mosque we went to in Abu Dhabi :P

seems still some ink left !

our instructor for the workshop :)

ghost looked not bad ! just wrinkled. :P

I don't know what I was doing -.-"

Some random sleeping Chinese puppets ! :P

2nd Engraving ---Tango II

2012-03-23T17:05:00.001-07:00

I just realized I never posted the Sequel to my Reflection Engraving of Animal Tango....
So here it is !!haha :)

This time is a deer and a peacock diva :)

Dandy Rhinos :P

2011-12-23T17:10:00.000-08:00

Been doodling a lot of Rhinos recently. I dunno why....

I did this last year, never put it up here ? Oh well :P

Or Maybe I just like to draw Horns instead of Noses ? :D

November Laundry day

2011-12-23T17:05:00.000-08:00

One day in a laundromat on a Rainy Thursday morning on 9th Ave and 39th St, an old man walked in with an Eye patch, and started talking to me in a language I didn't understand... It was the first time I saw a person wearing eye patch when it's not Halloween :)

Nov.'s news

2011-12-18T11:13:00.000-08:00

Hehe this is old news, but I guess I still put it up here.
My brilliantly talented roommate Sumie Garcia and the crew she belongs to -- The Manship Society who are consist of fellow awesome SCAD alumni, directed MOBY's latest music video "The Right Thing" and I was in it !!! For like 5 seconds hahaha !!! The video was beautiful, visually and conceptually :) I'm very happy and proud for my intelligent ex-roommate and her friends.
I'm posting a few still shots of the video here :)

And here is one of my shots !! haha, I'm sitting with Justin Parker's(one of the Manship society founder) uncle :D

Click here for the full video...ENJOY : )

Reflection Portfolio 2012

2011-09-21T23:26:00.001-07:00

I was selected by the wonderful curator Melanie Yazzie to join the portfolio show in name of "Reflection".
The size was 8 x 11 and edition was 20. So this is my reflection from daily life.
I like to dance Tango and this summer I had an accident so I haven't been able to dance. But I love to observe all those wonderful dancers at Milongas. I love how diverse they are -- in race, languages, body types etc. And how graceful they dance. I somehow always see animals in them. So this is my first Animal Tango Engraving print. I'm currently working on one more :)
So the group show will be held in King Space Gallery in Boulder Colorado in Spring 2012.

And it has been confirmed that the print will go into the collection of Univ. of Colorado, St.Lawrence University in NY, Polytechnic Institute of Technology in New Zealand; ProyectoA'ace Print Collection in Argentina :)

my lovely tools

what it looks on the plate

the final print !