New painting

I'm not sure how I feel about this one yet but it was fun to paint.

Dragon Fruit

I tried dragon fruit for the first time this weekend.  I'm a fan.  I think I prefer scooping it out with a spoon rather than cutting up pieces.  I also made some spring rolls with curried chicken, sprouts, and other veggies.  I will eat anything wrapped in rice paper.

I have deeper thoughts to share, I promise. 

Art for Japan

A friend saw my previous post where I dedicated a drawing to the earthquake victims in Japan and connected me with a relative who was actually collecting art work and notes to send over to people.

So in addition to my peony drawing, I created this:

This was an old print I created from a linoleum block I carved a while back.  The design and red ink reminded me of the Asian signature stamps (hanko seal?) I used growing up and saw my aunt use on her paintings.  I looked up the spelling for 'hope' in Japanese which shown here is 'kibou'.  I grew up painting Asian calligraphy with sumi ink so it was fun to get back into it, although I'm in need of a better brush to make the letters (the ones shown in the picture are done in marker).

I hope my drawings can bring a few people some comfort.

Bird Internet

Perhaps it's because all the birds are back from migration that I've had birds on my mind these days.  I never paid much attention to them living in Irvine until recently because there are so many pretty, bright-colored birds in my neighborhood.  I even went bird watching at a nature reserve this weekend.  You need lots of patience to bird watch . . .

Sometimes I wonder if I'm turning into an old lady.  

The ducks are back in Irvine and enjoying the sun Socal style.

It's hard to tell in this picture but this bird has the brightest blue coloring.

The rabbits are always around.

I liked the red and green contrast.

Finer lines and details

I've found myself working a lot with acrylic paint, oil pastels, and paint markers these past few years.  Some of the reasons for this were these were the materials I had on hand, all three mediums work well on wood, canvas, and cardboard, and I preferred creating abstract, graffiti like work with bright colors (street art is a source of inspiration for me).  Here's an example of something I created last year:

Lately I've been using pens and colored pencils to create more detail-oriented pictures with finer lines.  My materials of choice have been Prismacolors (the best colored pencils you can get), and Micron pens from Japan (also really good pens for drawing - I absolutely love these pens).

I worked on this picture last night inspired by a drawing I saved from some nice packaging:

As you can see, I love flowers.  I didn't realize how much I loved drawing and painting flowers until I started this blog. 

I dedicate this drawing to all our friends in Japan.  May hope bloom amidst the chaos, may new life thrive and grow, and may peace be restored.

Spring is here!

Creative use for frames

I saw something like this at an antique store for $35 and thought it was the coolest thing but a bit pricey.  I decided to make my own with an old frame, some twine (you could also use wire), and clothes pins to display my random bits of paper and old cards.

Before:

After: