Ztampfilicious

I just wanted to share with you all the thank you letter I wrote for the Freeman Foundation who has funded my Artist in Residency at Vermont Studio Center. I had such a wonderful time there – far beyond my expectations…

Well… time sure does fly fast! Here I am in Toronto, last leg of my trip! New York was great – especially since my darlingest man came and met me there ;). We had a wonderful reunion after almost 2 months being apart! My first three days I was staying with an artist couple that I met during my first month at the Vermont Studio Center, Ken Jan Woo and his wife, Cheng Zhong Qi AKA Camille. They are painters – great ones too! They are so generous and kind to offer me to stay in their place in New Jersey – about 20 mins bus ride to Manhattan – before my husband arrive in New York. Ken is a very rare kind of artist. He paints icons for churches – it’s just amazing. One of his works can be seen in the Church Of Our Savior, New York – it was mind blowing and humbling to witness it with my own eyes when I attended the Sunday mass with them. Check out his website at http://www.kenjanwoo.com.

In New York, I got together with some fellow artist residents from both March and April – it was so fun and we missed each other already! Me and TEO we mostly walked the art museums: The Met, MOMA, Whitney Biennial and P.S. 1 – trust me, it is a hard work to be cultural tourists in NYC! We’re exhausted at the end of each day but we didn’t regret it, of course! TEO gave me a couple of surprises too! Wednesday evening we watched a play by an Irish theater company, Druid of Galway and it was very very good: “The Walworth Farce“. Thursday evening it was Philip Glass’s “Satyagraha” at the Metropolitan Opera with director Phelim McDermott and designer Julian Crouch (artistic directors of London’s provocative Improbable theater company). It was very impressive and I love the visual too… especially the ‘puppet’ made using newspaper held by several people in certain configurations. It was so clever! Very effective and artistic! Simply amazing! I only wished that we weren’t so tired already – I have to admit that we nodded off to sleep several times during the 3.5 hours performance. Philip Glass’s music was mesmerizing but sometimes the repetitive parts of it could work like a lullaby! Especially for people like us who were very tired already. But I’m so glad that we experienced it. I found it so inspiring!

Well, that’s it for now… Here are some pictures taken in New York and Brooklyn:

So I’m back at VSC from the laundromat now. I have less than 15 mins before lunch so I’m just gonna post some photos for now…

Sparkling Gihon River under the afternoon sun – last month is was frozen!

The first sign on Spring… in Louise’s garden…

My favorite spot just behind the Schultz Sculpture Studio. Great for thinking and sketching.

Beautiful sunset over Johnson

The Gihon River is now rushing with very strong currents…

Oh boy… the last few weeks flew by so fast! Lo and behold… today is my last day at VSC! All the residents are leaving tomorrow morning! It feels so weird… especially for those of us who have been here for almost 2 months. We’ve made wonderful friendship with many and we’ll miss each other’s company. It’s all good though – we are ready to get back to the ‘real world’ out there. VSC is an ‘alternate world’, an ‘all-positive bubble’ where everything and everyone is good – a truly great place to be, but we can’t stay here forever.

So I have posted all my art supplies and tools in 2 heavy boxes back to Hong Kong by post yesterday. 1 box filled with my canvas and small copper wings was also posted to Hong Kong. I won’t need them for the rest of my trip. My paintings and the big copper wings will be shipped by UPS to Jakarta – for a group show I’ll be in in late June there. Right now, I’m in the laundromat – doing my last laundry here. Later today, I will have to pack the rest and the clean up my studio…

There are so many things I would like to share with you all! Where to begin…
Last previous Saturday, April 12th was a very special day! First, me and Thu, another Freeman Fellow artist are having a work-in-progress show and the opening was on the evening of April 12th, right after dinner. It was exciting! We both dressed up a bit to appear a bit different than our daily shabby-artist-look. Dessert and wine along with some fruity snacks were provided and everyone seemed to enjoy both the show and the food :).

Here are some photos from the opening – there are more in my Facebook Photo Albums:

Oh, my laundry is done now… I gotta run – will try to post more later today!

Well, things have been extremely hectic! I’ve finally managed to get my packing about 85% done… but I’m worried that it might still excess the baggage allowance limit. It’s so tough because I need to bring my art tools and some materials… Hmmm… we’ll see…

This post was supposed to be about the Beckett’s play I saw… when was it… feels like ages ago! So.. the play is called “Fragments” – it’s a series of 5 short plays done consecutively, directed by Peter Brook who is Beckett’s long time friend and is a renown director. The short plays are: “Rough for Theatre I”, “Rockaby”, “Act Without Words II”, “Neither” and “Come and Go”. We’re very lucky to be able to see the play! It was very funny and very good. The actors were simply amazing – there were 3 of them: Jos Houben, Kathryn Hunter and Marcello Magni. It’s hard to say which one is the best – they’re equally excellent. My favorite piece is probably the simplest one – it was actually a poem recital, but it’s done in such a way that it stays with me long after. It’s called “Rockaby” and performed by Kathryn Hunter.

At first I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t catch the spoken dialogs/monologues well – English is not my native language and when watching DVDs I would prefer to have subtitles – just in case. But in this case, I’m happy to say that I did understand what was said! I was so relieved to be able to fully enjoy the play without any problem :).

If “Fragments” is playing where you are, do go see it! Even if you didn’t know Beckett’s work, I’m positive you will find it thoroughly enjoyable. It brings heavy matters in such a funny, light-hearted way – without undermining its deeper meanings.

Last night my husband treated me to a Björk Concert! YAY! My first ever major concert! And I was such a fool – I didn’t know about the no-camera rule and I was carrying my DSLR camera in the open so I had to put it away at the concierge (and paid for it too! Ugh!) while other, more-experienced concert goers had their cameras safely hidden in their bags. We managed to get some low-quality pics and video using our mobile phone, though. So at least there is some memento! LOL! Although the stage design was quite a disappointment… We expected something more artistic and other-worldly from Björk – naturally. But her singing was fabulous, of course! And she sang my favorite piece too: Bachelorette.

And tonight, we went to see Pina Bausch dance performance – another treat from my husband before my departure. Though the timing is too tight, we had no choice. “Vollmond” (Fullmoon) was a powerful performance – it’s amazing what you can do with your body. The movement of the dancers and the water element widely used were just fantastic!

Now it is 3 a.m. – I finally finished packing and copying files from my iMac to my MacBook Pro. My flight is at 11:40 a.m. I will stay overnight at Burlington first, then they will pick me up on Sunday, March 2nd to my final destination: Vermont Studio Center. My internet connection will be quite limited while I’m there – but I’ll check for emails etc. at least once a day – or I will try too anyway – we’ll see! I will try to regularly post at my Ztampf! blog about any Ztampf-related news and about my stay in VSC too – so drop by often :).

That’s it for now… Wish me a trouble-free journey :).

I hope you are having a lovely day – whether you’re celebrating Valentine’s Day or not! Personally, Valentine’s Day is not a big deal for me and my husband. He did get home early and is now busy in the kitchen cooking a special feast for me ;). So I guess we’re sort of celebrating it. Either way, it’s always nice to get some extra chocolate or TLC pampering – anytime :). We have decided not to get any flowers though. It’s simply a rip off – the way they hike the prices for fresh flowers around this time of year. It will cost you at least three times more to buy a bunch of flowers today! Crazy!

Time seems to fly even faster these days. There are still so much things to get done before my trip to Vermont… I’m started to feel a but panicky. Just to imagine the packing up I will have to do soon is enough to get me worried. Deciding which tools and art materials I should bring with me will be very tough. But at least I have got my passport back with the US Visa in it :). Yay! Next is to get the visa for Canada as I want to visit my older brother and his family in Toronto on the way back from Vermont. And then… well… endless this and that to do which won’t leave me much time for anything else.

Oh but I do have something for you! Take a peek:

Yeah, I know it should be ‘are’ and not ‘is’ – if you even noticed it at all :). Anyway… just click the image to get this China Blue Gift Set. The entire China Blue Series will be available from Ztampf!Shop by Feb. 15th. If you haven’t signed up for the Ztampfever Newsletter, please do so as I will tuck in something that I’m sure you wouldn’t want to miss ;).

That’s it for now from the cold Hong Kong. It is 9ºC which is unusually cold for Hong Kong in mid February. Those is cold places, keep warm!

just Click to see the larger version

I hope all of you have a lovely holiday season and a wonderful new year with your loved ones :).

And Congratulations to Lynn Zant! Her layout is the most voted in the Ztampfans Challenge #4 so she is receiving $15 Ztampf! GC and 25% Off Discount Coupon that she can use up to 3 times during the month of January 2008! Enjoy your prize, Lynn :).

That’s it for now! Cheers!

Back in Jakarta again after spending 2 nights in Puncak with my parents, my older brother and his 11 y.o. daughter, Olivia. It’s good to be here in my childhood home spending time with my parents and my brothers. Especially my older brother whom I haven’t seen since 2003. I love spending time with my only niece, Olivia too! She has grown so tall and she talked a lot after the initial shy period. I think this is the longest period of time I spent almost constantly with a child. I must say I did enjoy it although yeah, it felt good to be left alone for a while! LOL!

Oh have I told you about the bummer I made? I was so busy prior to my trip to Jakarta this time and things were so hectic I left all the chargers in Hong Kong! So I have to be very selective in taking photos because once I ran out of my battery, that’s it! Hence I haven’t downloaded most of the photos I took these past several days. I’ll just download them all at once when I’m back in Hong Kong.

Anyway, here’s a couple of layouts I quickly did using the new “Through The Year” QuickPage Album – just click to see the larger versions and to read more detail:

The layout on the left is about Olivia – she had a blast playing with my Mac’s PhotoBooth. What’s best is that they’re taken with the built-in camera on my Mac so there’s no worry about battery life or anything like that :).

Well, I hope you all have a lovely time with your family too! Cheers!

Yeah! I’ve finally got this done and now it’s sitting pretty in my CafePress Boutique :). I had this idea for months but it’s not until recently that I managed to work on it and yesterday, I’ve uploaded it! What is it?

Well, it’s an actual, physical Wall Calendar that you can order from my CafePress Boutique. So… what so special about it? Well, it IS customizable! How? The concept is similar to that of QuickPages. The top part of the calendar which is usually a finished image/photo is instead a QuickPage! But of course there is not ‘transparent window’ to insert your photo as in the digital version. This paper version provides a Photo Space instead: a framed matting in a scrapbook layout setting. When you received your calendar, you can then add your own photographs on it by gluing (or using double-sticky tape or glue-tape runner) them on the provided Photo Spaces. Because of the beautiful matting, it doesn’t matter if the size or the proportion of your photos is not exactly the same with the provided space. It’s designed to even allow you to be playful by tilting your photos inside the Photo Space if you wish! There are spaces around the Photo Space to add your title or notes i.e. date and occasion or even a short journaling in some cases.

This provides a super quick and easy way to create personalized gifts for your friends and family! You can even send them blank without photos for them to put their own too! And of course, you can always added more actual embellishment if you wish! I think this will come in handy when you are pressed for time or simply don’t like to do any paper crafting and yet wanting something with a more personal touch. What do you think?

Ztampfabulous Customizable Wall Calendar specs:

• Each page measures 11″ x 8.5″
• Measures 11″ x 17″ when hung on wall
• Full bleed dynamic color
• 100 lb cover weight high gloss paper, wire-o bound
• January 2008 – December 2008, 2009 preview, US holidays marked

Oh! And my own CafePress order came in the post today! Yay! A customer who placed an order a while go also got hers today! And she told me how she loved everything she got – mostly apparel. And as for me, I got the Black Pondering T-Shirt and the two A Perfect Blend Mugs, plus the Vintage Clock! Love them all! Now that I have the ‘Seize The Day… and digiscrap it!’ Collection, I want them too! Ha! I’m rushing out now – leaving for Jakarta the day after tomorrow. But I’ll try to get some pics taken with them and post them!

Some previews of the new designs uploaded yesterday:

What do you think? There are more there… just take a look :).

I still have to finish one Mini Crafty Calendar and one Half-Legal Size Crafty Calendar by tomorrow, my last day in Hong Kong before going to Jakarta to see my folks for 2 weeks. I’ve printed all the pages – will trim, make the covers and bind them tomorrow. Oh and I still have to wrap some Christmas presents too… and the cards to be mailed… among other things! And now it’s already 3 a.m.! Where have all the time gone?

Oh before I forget… The posting period for Ztampfans Challenge #4 is through Dec. 13th. Post away and who knows… win the prizes :).

My new Z!Girl, Donna B. Miller informed me about a wonderfully inspiring and heart-warming blog by Patti Digh: www.37days.typepad.com If you have never been there, I encourage you to do so; her essays are well written and, I say it again: Inspiring and Heart-Warming!

Anyway, to continue with the story: Donna sent Patti an ATC card she made inspired by one of Patti’s essays and Patti was just so delighted and in turn, inspired by it! Wonderful, isn’t it? Now, a publishing company is going to publish a book featuring 37 essays from Patti’s blog and Patti wanted to involve her readers in the book. So… she came up with the “37days challenge cards” project, inviting her readers to create a set of ‘artist cards’ based on her essays. Those participated are then assigned 1-3 essays from which they created their own personal visual take on each of the essay.

Well, here are mine – just click on the image to see the larger version with more detailed information:

The publisher team is now choosing which cards will actually be used in the book… I sure hope that some of mine will get chosen :). But even if any of them didn’t make it, I am glad that I have done the cards. Among other things, I got to meet new interesting people at the “37days challenge cards” group @ flickr where the participants uploaded their work for others to see. Feel free to browse there… a lot of wonderful works to inspire you :).

While you are there, feel free to browse my flickr account too. I’ve uploaded my non-Ztampf! works there; mostly done before I got into digital scrapbooking: my CraftWork, ArtWork and Snapshots.

On the side note, my allergies seem to make a comeback just when I thought they are finally about to be gone! *sigh*

Well, that’s it for today :).

Ztampfans Challenge #3
Congratulations for Carin, the winner of this challenge :). A $20 PayPal cash have been sent! Enjoy!
Thanks for every one participated :).

Ztampfans Challenge #4 will be announced here on Thursday, Dec. 6th.
Posting period will be from Dec. 6th to the 13th, with the voting period from the 14th to the 20th. Winner will be announced on the 21st. This will be the last Ztampfans Challenge for this year since I won’t be online much in the later part of December. I’ll be visiting my parents and old friends in my hometown, Jakarta, Indonesia!

So… what’s the update! Nothing much on Ztampf! front except that I’ve started working on an Album Set! If everything goes well, this album set will be available at the shop by this Sunday ;). So stay tuned.

Meanwhile, on the allergies: My condition continues to improve! Hooray! Perhaps the new medication regime is working for me! Or perhaps… it’s just about the time the allergies are taking the turning point. Either way, I’m getting pretty good long sleeps these nights. Blissful! Hopefully the allergies will really go away for good soon! Thanks for all the well wishes sent my way :).

Oh I’ve made a couple of early Christmas things. One is for my step-daughter who is in exchange program in France now. I tucked this into her Xmas Gift Box :). The other one is for my only niece who lives in Canada.

Made using 2 of the 3 sets included in my own Seasons Delight Mini AlbuMail, can be found at Ztampf!Shop and at my SBB Store.
Instead of just using eyelets like I did last year, I used Lil’ Davis’ ArtHooks and MM’s Jewel Brads for hanging :).
The layout is done with my Journalicious Accent Pack. Fonts are Packard Antique and FG Cheryl.

Back from the specialist! His diagnose is that my allergy is not caused by anything I ate or get in contact with. It is internal. I was born with a predisposition for allergies which manifested itself as I grow older and probably triggered by changes in my life style or by stress or lack of sleep. But I’m not particularly stressed out or anything. I have been in a much more stressful condition before. And there has been no changes in my life style recently either. And as for lack of sleep… well, the itch does that to me. In fact, I didn’t sleep last night because of the itch. I fell asleep for about an hour or so before the itch woke me up. But anyway, he will give me another medication – I am to take this medication for 20 days. If this doesn’t help, then we’ll probably have Skin Prick test… Oh well, we’ll see. Hopefully the medication will give me some relief this time.

But because we’re using the University Health Service, I couldn’t get the medication straight away. I have to make an appointment with the University Doctor first to show the ‘specialist report’ to her, and then she’ll issue the medication. Bureaucracy. But financially it is a big help. So!

And…. I did something daring afterwards! Well, I have been thinking about it for the past few days. And once it got into my head, it wouldn’t go away. I just got tired of my hair and my hair styles for the past years. Plus with the itches my hair gets irritating sometimes – even short as it is. So! I have decided to just shave it all out à la Sinéad O’Connor! My husband is totally cool with it too! I have made a simulation with Photoshop last night and I liked the result.

So this afternoon, I went to Toni & Guy Academy in Wanchai. You can get a full service haircut for just HK$50 (US$6.5) there. Of course, it’s done by the students but there are supervisors so it’s safe. I have never been there before and as usual I took a wrong turn and had to make a pretty long detour. But the weather was nice so it’s all right. When I got there, they’re having their lunch break so I had to wait for quite a while. The place was pretty fancy, all sleek and stylish. There were a couple other guys waiting to get a hair cut as well.

When my turn came, I explained what I wanted and they were duly shocked. haha! They asked if I was sure I wanted that. I said yes. The tutor ran his hands on my thick black hair with a sorry look: a good material wasted. So I told him, okay, the student can practice with my hair first. He could cut my hair in any style he wanted, before finally shaving it all out. They were very grateful and they told me that I got an hour to reconsider about shaving my head. But my heart was set and I just couldn’t wait to have it done. I felt almost sorry to let the student do the practice on my hair because he was apparently a true beginner; he was so slow and it took him longer than I expected to finish the practice haircut. But I was happy to be of help too. And finally…

What do you think? I like it! It feels so refreshing and light. I brought a hat with me just in case I’d feel too self-conscious or didn’t like the result. But I really like it and I walked out just like that! And it didn’t feel as weird as I thought it would be although a lot of people did stare. Haha! Now I’ll have to keep it regularly trimmed!

Oh and TEO loves it too! He thinks I look good with it :). Funny thing is, I look even more like my youngest brother now! See?

Sooo… yes, I’m still itching and somehow it got worse again the past couple of days :(. Like now, it is 5 a.m. and I’m up because I couldn’t sleep thanks to the itch! I did fall asleep for maybe a couple of hours before the itch woke me up. Rather than tossing and turning and scratching in bed and accomplish nothing, I decided to just get up. So here I am!

One of the most annoying things about this allergy is it how disruptive it is to my work. I just can’t do any designing work properly. I tried. I started. It seemed to be all right for a short while, but then when the itch attacked… it was just too much. It’s not just the itch, but the overall ‘not quite well’ feeling as well… I have to let you all know that Ztampfever for this month will be coming a day or two late – I’m hoping to be able to finish at least 1 new item that I have been working on since before the itch started. Hint: It’s a Christmas-related stuff! So please be patient just a bit longer :). And again, many thanks for your many heart-warming emails – they really cheer me up amidst this itchiness.

So what I have been doing then? Well, little things like uploading a couple of iPhoto movies that I made to YouTube :). It didn’t require much concentration nor time! Here is my YouTube channel: http://youtube.com/profile?user=freefiresparkz (In case you’re wondering, freefiresparkz is my online nickname for ages – before Ztampf! came along). For best result, watch the movies in smaller size by clicking the button right beside the volume button.

Here are the movies:

Korean Twins

Hong Kong Skyline

That’s it for now, folks :).