Let us all sending our positive thoughts and prayers and hopes for those affected by the terrible terrible catastrophe in Japan…
You can make donations to help them through these reliable organizations – every little bit counts:
Medecins Sans Frontieres | The Red Cross HK | The Red Cross US
I hope you all are enjoying your weekend!
We had a nice impromptu Saturday night outing here! Yesterday afternoon we went to see “True Grit” in the cinema (it was a very well made movie, but nothing’s special/new/surprising about it), and then decided to just dine out. We went to this Schezuan restaurant that serves the best “Diced Fried Chicken buried in Dried Chilli and Schezuan Peppers” dish. I didn’t take photo of it last night, but I still have the photo (and layout!) from a while ago that I took at the same restaurant. In case you are in Hong Kong, the restaurant is called “San Xi Lou”, and located on the 7th floor of the Coda Plaza, on Garden Road, just beside the YMCA Building in Central. They used to be located in Causeway Bay under the name “Man Jiang Hong”. I highly recommend it! We usually have the “Fried Rice with Onion and Fried Egg” (one bowl is enough for the two of us) and the “String Beans with Minced Pork” to accompany the Chicken Dish.
As seen in the book “Picture Yourself Creating Digital Scrapbooks” by Lorie J. Davies and Sally Beacham. Created using Year In Revue Kit. Fonts are FG Matilda, Tork and 1942 Report.
We were so full after dinner, and I wasn’t feeling like heading home yet – the night was still young. So we just strolled towards the city. It’s a nice walking weather – clear sky, and pretty cold – almost like winter! We talked about this and that while walking and somehow we got this idea to go to The Peak. The Peak is an area on the top of the Austin Mountain where you can see the magnificent view of Hong Kong from above – when the weather is nice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Peak, and here to see pictures). Last time we went there was in 2004 during daytime – to show Hong Kong around to my younger brother who was visiting us then. As the Tram station was not faraway when where we were strolling down last night, we just walked there and joined the queue – which consisted of mostly tourists from all over the world. We bought the tickets just to get there, not including tickets for the Peak Tower and Peak Terrace.
The tram trip is a pretty exciting experience. The view was gorgeous and the tram itself is an historical, 120 years old tram. When you’re sitting inside the traveling tram, the buildings on your left and right would seem to be leaving at a weird angle – sort of like having Pisa Tower all over you! This is because the tram route is on an steep path, scaling the mountain. When you’re sitting inside it, you’re actually sitting at 90º angle to the mountain path – thus the building outside seems like the ones that are leaning. But when you’re standing up, the buildings would appear upright at normal angle again. This is because when you’re standing up, your body would automatically try to stand up straight – perpendicular to the ground, not to the steep path – and so you would be leaning at the same angle as the buildings! Isn’t that peculiar!
Once we arrived, we’re greeted by a breathtaking view of Hong Kong skyline at night… I took some pics with my iPhone – but the results only look good at small size :). You’d better check the link here for photos that could do justice to the view :). After wandering around for sometimes enjoying the view from various angles, we had a cup of hot tea in one of the restaurants there (well, I had a pot of peppermint tea with honey and my husband had a glass of red wine). Then it’s finally time to head home…
It was a fun evening! Especially because it wasn’t planned :)
I’ve been guilty of many of these! Can you guess which ones are my worst?
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifehack/the-not-do-list-9-things-you-need-to-stop-doing.html
‘Balance’ is my word for 2011. It might look like a simple word, but it is a loaded one – very tricky to achieve, and even more difficult to maintain. Because guess what? It is not a static condition in which once you achieve it, you then could passively keep it. No. It is fluid, always on the move. It is something that you have to keep on nurturing in everything you do.
For myself, balance means to focus more into the process of things – of doing, of working, of creating, of living. That is, rather than focusing on the end result. Which for me means patience and acceptance of my own limitation: I am known to want to do so many things all at once and all has to be perfectly done! I tend to keep on working almost non-stop until the job is done or until I collapse. I tend to spend impractical amount of time and energy on minuscule details in almost everything I do: from washing the dishes to hanging the laundry to designing to creating art. And I do enjoy it too – most of the time! Some would say I am a perfectionist – or obsessed. I won’t be happy with my work until everything is just so – even if it’s only me who notices it. Do people notice it in my work? Do people appreciate how everything is done just so? I don’t know. I hope at least some of them do. I don’t expect them to notice the particulars, but just that they notice that it is very well made/crafted/done. People might not be able to pin point what makes it so, but I hope as a whole my work should be able to speak for itself. Yes, it is important for me to create my work as best as I can make it – spare no efforts. And that, my dear, takes time. Plenty of it. So, I just have to accept that I will always take more time to finish my work. (You would think by now at the ripe age of 41 I should have known this already, wouldn’t you. Well, I am an optimist :)).
Which means, no more letting myself get frustrated when things take much longer time to get done – process takes time. Which means, breaks and rest and play time are necessary: they are to be fully enjoyed without guilty feeling whether I have finished a certain set of work or not. My work is never done anyway: there is always more and more coming. So yeah, take breaks often – enjoy play time. Doing nothing is needed to set the balance. But of course, there are still deadlines and commitments to meet… Now… which way is it towards balance again?
In my effort towards balance this year, I have made a commitment to join the Art Journal Caravan hosted by the amazing super woman designer Tangie McMeen Baxter at SBG! Yeah! I’m starting out late – but hey, better late than never never! In Tangie’s AJC, you can move at your own space, you can start any time and jump around to wherever your inspiration take you. The golden rule is you have to enjoy doing what you’re doing :).
So, this is my first page for the AJC 2011. Balance.
Background paper: Shades of Black (Studio Ztampf!). Fonts: Kabel BT and Lacuna Regular. The picture is of one of my works, entitled Soaring V.2.08 (2005, porcelain and wire). I chose this because the wire that forms the cage and the wire supporting the wings is one piece of wire: it is an act of balance ;).
The Inspiration to ponder for the First Week was Process – which is particularly very apt for me as my thinking of Balance has been closely linked to Process. So here it is, my 2nd page for the AJC 2011. Process.
Background paper: Furnace (Studio Ztampf!) . Fonts: Kabel BT and Lacuna Regular.
This is my latest favorite book! I regretted when I finished reading it because I wanted to read more! It is full of little stories about all those fonts whose name and look are so familiar and yet I didn’t know much if at all about their designer or how they came about into being. It is like reading about your dear old friends – so familiar – that you are so fond of, and yet knew very little about their life and history. It’s like getting to know your friends – that is, your favorite fonts – better. There are struggles, impressive feats and funny bits. You’d respect real font designers even more.
Simply put, it is entertaining and informative, a delight to behold too – set in beautiful fonts! If you like fonts, enjoy working with them, then get this book. You won’t regret it.
(Thanks to my thoughtful husband who gifted this book to me :). He definitely knows me very well!).
I am still amazed that another year has passed by! And the new year is now already a week old! How time flies!
How did you spend your new year’s eve? We hosted a small dinner at our place with some friends, my husband cooked – as usual – and it was good! We were fortunate to catch the ferry to town just in time to watch the fireworks at the pier. Actually, we didn’t know that it was one of the venues to watch the fireworks but when we arrived we saw many people have gathered there so we stayed put. I didn’t bring my camera with me, but I managed to tried the video feature on my iPhone (thanks to my younger brother who gifted me this nifty gadget!). Enjoy:
To see the complete firework display from across the harbor, check this out – it’s pretty impressive!
As many of you must have been aware by now, I just LOVE wings! I have made various kinds of wings from various materials from paper to wire to canvas to porcelain. But I have never made wings that I can wear myself! Not a long time ago I watched The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus on DVD and there I got my inspiration for a wearable pair of wings! So for Halloween this year, I decided to make some with my older step-daughter who was visiting us then.
I envisioned my prêt-à-porter wings to be somewhat steampunkish – with leather straps and brass snap buttons. The wings themselves would be made from wire-mesh sheets that I already have. So one fine day we went to Shamsuipo to get some leather straps and brass snap buttons. Well, leather straps turned out to be a tad too expensive so we got a roll of gross-grain ribbon in nice thickness instead. Then I found this ribbon that has a row of inconspicuous snap buttons already sewn onto it at regular intervals which gave me an idea on how to put the strap together!
First thing is the shape of the wings. I drew a template on a piece of drawing paper, then trace it onto the brass wire-mesh. Next I cut into shape with a pair of craft scissors. The wire-mesh sheet is soft enough so it was easy enough to scissor the shape. Next I took out my tool box to create the embossed ‘feather’ lines. You can use anything with smooth rounded head for this. A tea spoon worked perfectly to create a pillowy embossing inside the lines!
The trickier part is the straps. The black strap is the one with the snap buttons already sewn on it – and I made use of this feature to secure the wings onto the strap, and then inserting the horizontal straps into the intervals between the snap buttons. This way the horizontal straps are still flexible. You put the wings on by inserting your head through the V opening at the top. The horizontal straps open and close with thin velcro snaps at the side. They fit snugly around our ribcage, right under the bust.
Finally I prettied it all up with some jewelery findings and sparkling rhinestones! Phoebe wore the one that I made, and I wore the one that Phoebe made!
And the scary looking guy with her on the right? It’s her father (yup, my darling husband!). For the first time he has agreed to let me transform him into a ghostly, blood-thirsty looking vampire. And he thrived in the role too – scared quite a few people around! No, it was not blood that he was drinking! It’s wine and not even red!
And me? My look was inspired by a music video that Phoebe showed me the night before on YouTube: Jón “Jónsi” Thor Birgisson of arty Icelandic ensembleSigur Rós. I happened to have these black feathers fastened onto a strip of ribbon. And I have this old plastic headband with a slit in the middle. Perfect to insert the feathers in! And voilà! My birdy headress was ready! The make up was supposed to look birdy too – but I don’t think people see it that way. Never mind, I quite enjoyed it myself :). I think I looked quite scary too… especially when I stared hard with my eyes opened wide… It was quite a fun opportunity to dress up and to wear wings! That’s why I love Halloween!
In case you are wondering, the Halloween event we attended was the one in our neighborhood, down at the piazza. This year it was more festive with golf-cart parade (private cars are not allowed in the community, those who can afford it can buy or rent a golf-cart instead!). There was also a Haunted Castle – which was quite fun with kids from a local theatre group playing the ghosts. Some of them were really good too!
I was born in August 19th in the year 1969 according to the western, solar calendar system. In Chinese lunar calendar system, my birth date was on the 7th Day of the 7th Month, which according to a folk legend was the birthday of a fairy, princess of the King of Heavens called Zhinü (the star Vega, literally means the ‘weaver girl’). She was the youngest and most beautiful of the King’s 7 daughters. She was kind hearted and very skillful with her hands. She was the one who wove the beautiful clouds in the sky, often employing the most magnificently colored silk threads.
One day the 7 fairy princesses flew down to the earth to take a bath in a river near a forest. A poor orphaned cowherd accidentally caught sight of them bathing in the river. His name was Niulang and he had an old ox with him, the only worldly belonging that his parents left him when they died years ago. Niulang was a good man, he was hardworking and gentle. He was transfixed by the sight of seven beautiful fairy princesses bathing in the river, like any normal man would – don’t you think? :) But there was a particular fairy princess that he just couldn’t take his eyes off of her. It was Zhinü, the youngest one, the weaver of the clouds.
He hid behind the bushes and kept quiet while the fairy princesses finished their bathing and started to collect their fairy clothes that they left laying around on the rocks by the river. He saw them putting the glimmering clothes back on and how they then flew off to the sky, with their silky garment trailing and bellowing softly behind them. He was mesmerized. That night, he couldn’t sleep thinking about what he saw that day, and especially, about Zhinü. He has fallen in love with her.
Everyday after that he came back to the spot by the river, always at the same time of day when he saw the fairy princesses, hoping to see Zhinü again. Finally they came back for another bath. This time, Niulang hid closer to the rocks where the fairy princesses left their fairy clothes. Stealthily, he crept closer and took hold of Zhinü’s clothes, and moved further away. When the fairy princesses ready to fly back to heaven, Zhinü was left alone because she couldn’t find her fairy clothes. Her sisters had no choice but to leave her there by the river. Niulang approached her and lent her some clothing that he has prepared earlier on and offered her to come home with him. Well, she promptly feel in love with him! They got married and had 2 cute children: a boy and a girl. Niulang worked in the field and Zhinü wove beautiful tapestries to be sold on market days. They lived very happily together although they were not rich.
One day, when Niulang was away at work in the field, while cleaning the house Zhinü found a wooden box hidden in the corner under their bed. Out of curiosity, she opened it and was surprised to find her fairy clothes in it! She was overjoyed as she has been missing her parents and her sisters all these years. Without thinking, she put them on and before she knew what she was doing, she has flown back to the Heavens leaving her children behind! Uh oh!
Up in the Heavens, The King and the Queen Goddess were very happy to have their youngest daughter back and they forbid her to come back down to the earth. Back down there, Niulang was devastated when he got home to find the hidden box was now opened and Zhinü was nowhere to be seen. He immediately understood what had happened. He took their children with him to the river and waited there, hoping that Zhinü would come back. The old ox who was waiting with them finally told him that the only way for him to get Zhinü back was to take off his skin and use it to fly to the heavens. The old ox said that his time has come to leave the earth anyway, and that he has been very grateful of how well Niulang has treated him even when he has gotten so old and useless. He wanted to repay this kindness. And so he requested that Niulang took his skin off. With heavy heart, Niulang sent the children to play further away and gently skinned the old ox and buried him.
Then he put on the old ox skin, gathered the children and flew off to the heavens to fetch Zhinü home. The Queen Goddess saw him approaching and she quickly drew a giant river in the sky with her pin to separate Niulang and Zhinü forever. Neither of them would be able to cross that river. Zhinü pleaded and pleaded until finally the King took pity on her. Every year on her birthday which was the 7th Day of the 7th Month, he let the birds formed a bridge across the river so Niulang and Zhinü could be together again for a night. Once a year, on the 7th Day of the 7th Month.
This fairytale refers to constellations in the night sky. Zhinü is the star Vega in the constellation of Lyra east of the Milky Way, and Niu Lang is the star Altair in the constellation of Aquila west of the Milky Way. Under the first quarter moon (7th day) of the seventh lunar month (around August), the lighting condition in the sky causes the Milky Way to appear dimmer, hence the story that the two lovers are no longer separated in that one particular day each year.
The 7th Day of the 7th Month in lunar calendar is a festival day in China called QiXi Festival, also known as The Festival To Plead for Skills or The Night of Skills and fairly recently, as Chinese’s Valentine’s Day.
Now, some interesting coincidental bits:
In 2006, my solar and lunar calendar birthday were in alignment once again: it was my 37th birthday. But I wasn’t thinking about it then, I didn’t know it! I wonder if it only happens once every 37 years?
So there! A fairytale with nice coincidences :). I hope you enjoyed reading it!
Source: Wikipedia, and similar tales I have heard throughout my childhood – not knowing it was the story about my birthday!
I am officially in my 40’s now! Wooohooo…!!! And look what I got from my darling man for getting into the club:
That’s right! A stylish spiffing brand new Intuous4 tablet!!! Yay!!! Thanks, Darling! I’ve been coveting for a while now since my 5-year-old Intuous2 started showing some aging symptoms lately. The Intuous4 is just sooo… beautiful with its sleek black interface and it is thinner and much lighter than the Intuous2. I can’t wait to explore the new features, especially the iPod-like wheels that you can set for various functions.
And then… the door bell rang! A delivery! Of what?! A surprise!!!
Quite a while ago my artwork was selected for inclusion in Patti Digh‘s new book called “Four Word Self Help” and very recently I heard that the book has been made available from Amazon and that some people have received their copy of it from the publisher! And now it’s my turn and it arrives exactly on my birthday! What a nice surprise!!! It’s a nice little book that I’m sure will help me (and many people) to appreciate life more and be more happy with themselves and their life. So thank you, GlobePequot! Thank YOU, Patti!!!
Wishing you all the best in the year of Tiger!
Quickly whipped this card out with Ztampf! Tiger Rising QuickCards Set :). The jeweled heart is from the Sparkling Hearts Set.
a Wonderful Holiday Seasons filled with Love, Joy and Peace!
Wondering where have I been gone to? Looking for the Ztampfever #51? No, it hasn’t been released yet!
I have just been back to Hong Kong after a 5-week trip to my hometown Jakarta, Indonesia for my solo art exhibition ‘Corporeal Dream’. You can read the review in the Jakarta Post here (in English) and another one in Tempo Weekly here (in Indonesian). To view the exhibition and the works shown there, click here.
While in Jakarta, I got to spend time with my old folks and my old friends too! It was especially wonderful since my older brother and his family who live in Toronto is visiting as well. Oh and my youngest brother and his lovely wife have just been blessed with a super adorable baby boy too. So you see, plenty to take over my life and took away my time and energy from Ztampfing! But don’t worry, I’ll get back to it very soon :).
Until then!
It was such a fine day today… clear blue sky… relatively cool for a Hong Kong summer too!
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