Going to America...

Yes, my art cards are... not me. I just came back from dropping Tone and Iris for USA. trip at the airport. Iris is a world - traveler trooper, fluently dragging her pink "Fabi Girl" roller suitcase around the international airport. She is 3.8 year old, and this morning is her 4th trip to the US.!!! What did I do when I was her age ??? ... Yes, I will be home alone for three weeks. So I guess I will have plenty of time to paint, and cleaning the house. I have some Univ. business to attend to and cannot take a long leave abroad this year. I will take a four day painting trip to an island in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand next week though. In the mean while, Tone will be helping me mailing these art cards out from his home in the US. to 9 US. and 1 Canadian destinations. Enjoy the sneak peek at them.

Iris

Here is my today Daily Painting, "Iris", a 11x10 inch watercolor from a Flickr Creative Commons Ref. image by Clearly Ambiguous. Enjoy !!!

Transquality court

This is the Transquality Court, a zen garden by the beach at the Hyatt Hua Hin, Thailand. We went there for my Univ. seminar. I found the place in the evening so I try to catch the last light of the day in this plein air. This is about 9x12 inch NuPastel. I can sit at this place forever. The next morning I took a yoga class there. I felt so happy.

Lotus -- Plein Aire

Well today is my lucky day. Yesterday we went to a restaurant in the neighborhood and see that the lotus in their pond are all blooming. So I asked the restaurant's owner to come back in the morning to do a painting. He said yes... Thank you sir.

So this morning I did a 6x8 inch watercolor of them. They also have geese to guard the property. At the end of my paint out, the geese were making loud noise and walking closer to me. I was nervous a bit but things turned OK. I have fun before going to work.

The Scorpion

He is from the Thai mountain jungle. I saw him coming out to taste the morning dew in the mid of the mountain road in Lumpang province, north of Thailand. I put him as one of the Ref. photo for the Weekend Drawing Event this week on Wetcanvas. So I have to give him a try.

It is about 10.5x15 inch OP. I am still struggle with OP but I am sure the more I do it the better I learn about this medium. In this piece originally I mess up the top left background by adding a bright orange in a big blob that does not add anything to the whole. So I crop my painting a lot more out on the left. and here it is. Who would have thought that a "flower" lady like me is doing a piece of a scorpion.

Thai fruit tree flower -- Chom-Pu

This is a bit of a challenge for me in oil pastel, which is not the medium I am most familiar with. This is about 10.5x15 inch, done in 1.5 hours. It is too bad that this tree may bloom only 3 days of the year. I was glad I get to capture its opera color in full bloom and get to paint this.

Canal biking...

I am very busy this weekend, having fun hosting both Wetcanvas Scavenger Hunt and Weekend Drawing Event. However, we are lucky to have a little break this morning. Today it was cool, no hot sun, and good windy day, perfect to go biking around our orchard neighborhood. We got our nanny to watch Iris. So Tone and I hopped on our bikes and did a nine Kilometer trip. We went for a total of 3 hours because most of the trip was on narrow walkway along canals, which cutting through orchard green zone of Bangkok. We discover many unique ways of Thai life. For example, the first photo shows the canal-side gas station for long tail boats. Some photos show the local convenient shop along the canal, in which they do carry a pulley system that you can yell at them such as the drink you want. Then they will put your drink can into either a basket, or some kind of container hanging from the pulley. Then they will reel the merchandise to you in the air across the canal. Then you put your money into the basket and then they reel the money back to them. One of the photo you will see me standing with my bike along the canal walk way and on the background there was a giant net with bamboo frame. That was a Thai traditional way called "Yok-Yor" to fish in water way. When they want to harvest the fishes, they will lower the net under the canal, wait for a while, then pull the bamboo frame up to lift the net in the air. If they lucky, there will be some fishes at the bottom of the net. Even I am a Thai but I hardly encounter this type of traditional Thai life. Tone and I have fun and love our mini adventure today. We feel very blessed to get to do this.

Harar Market -- Ethiopia

This is a 8.5x7.5x8.5 gouache painting of Harar market, Ethiopia, using the ref. photo from Flickr creative commons by Ahron de Leeuw. It is good to be back to painting again after 5 days of hectic life and dormancy.

Feeling French !!!

Today I join a weekend drawing event (WDE) on Wetcanvas. The theme ref. photos are all from France. Here are two of my results. Next week, I will host the WDE for photos from Thailand. So pls. join me on Wetcanvas.

"French Daffodils", a 3.5 x 6.5 inch watercolor.


"Bell Tower", a 6.5x10.5 inch watercolor with a touch of Stabilo pen.

After Van Gogh#1

This is a 10.5x13 inch watercolor. I painted in a hurry and briefly use my left hand to help in some flowers too at the same time as I paint with my right hand. I normally paint with right hand and lately I did one flower painting with left hand and people thought that may be I am a two hand oriented person. So I give my left hand some more practice. I will keep you post on my left hand painting experiment.

Beach Gossip

This is a watercolor 4.5x10.5 inch done from a Weekend Drawing Event on Wetcanvas. I am glad I have some art energy back after a few days feeling under the weather and exhaustion from work.