M Series

A friend showed me some of Ryuichi Ogino's work today and I was simply amazed when I researched more of his work online. I like these pieces particularly because it breaks the stereotypes of how Japanese females are portrayed. I've also always admire the casual style of how the younger Japanese woman dress over there, maybe we can learn a thing or two from the people who live across the seas.

Ogi's work sort of reminds me of the stuff Stell Im Hultberg does except her work is a little bit more subtle and ethereal. I don't know but I've always had a thing for simple portrait illustrations.

Always..

I don't think my eyes have ever seen anything as beautiful as these paintings by Stella Im Hultberg*.

"Always"
Oil and ink on tea-stained paper

"Lovely Day"
Oil and ink on tea-stained paper

Fantasy worlds

Haven't updated in a while..so I'll leave you with some intriguing paintings to look at while you're here. The artist is Jacek Yerka, by the way.

Dream

Tower of Subconsciousness

Hydrotherapy

The City is Landing

Cathedral

Painting on a canvas

My first time painting on a canvas..and painting like I actually care. :p It was tough but not as tough as I imagined! Probably because silhouettes are easy to do..but I had a lot of fun. Painting is so much different from graphic design and drawing with pencil because it's hard to erase. But from this I think I finally faced my fear of painting.

Happy birthday again, Phungtien! :)

Gift bags can be cute but show someone you really care by putting some thought into how you want to wrap a gift. Even though it will probably take less than a minute to unwrap..a good first impression lasts a lifetime.

Advanced Glow Effect

I learned some new Photoshop tricks at work today and I'm very excited to show it off! If you'd like to learn how to do this..click here.

Beautiful word clouds

Wordle generates "word clouds" for the text that you provide. The words that are generated are words that are used frequently in the source that is provided. This is a fun Java application, and above is the one I created using the link of my blog!

Create your own.

Things that helped me clear my mind

1. Coffee & tea
2. Sweets (candy, desserts, etc.)
3. Shopping
4. Church
5. Studying (for once..)
6. Facebook's Graffiti wall application (similar to the Paint program you have on your computer, refer to pictures below)

Some of my lovely artwork that I would like to keep to remind myself that I can be just as artistic on the computer.

The beauty of it all was that these were free-handed.

Keep Calm

Art from Keep Calm Ltd

Winter Break

I'm so sad that winter break ends today. I'm going to miss working long hours everyday and coming home afterwards to a home-cooked meal and falling asleep while watching Turner Classic Movies late at night. Turner Classic Movies is one channel that I will tolerate watching late at night because everything else that is on is just weird (paid programs and scripted reality shows on MTV). My mom claims that the reason I like old movies, tea, and French pastries was because those were the things she enjoyed when she was pregnant with me. I don't know if that's true, but it's interesting. It was hard for me to request to work one day on the last week of winter break because I enjoy making money. But I think it was a good decision considering the amount of work I had to do to prepare myself before school starts. And I used the rest of my free time to do nothing, which is a total waste of time..but I'd have to admit that it felt good.

Time to part-tea

Screen print was made from Keep Calm Ltd.

It sure does. I'm one of those people who strongly believe that my system can be cleanse by a cup of tea. Also, if you're going to drink tea, please don't rush it. Each sip should be cherished to your enjoyment.

Green Garden of Eden
Sinfully delicious sencha blended with chamomile, hibiscus, calendula & purple mallow flowers reveals a hint of cinnamon spice.

I received a belated christmas gift from one of my favorite people in the world, thank you theresa mai! :) This is one of my favorites at Dandelion Communitea Cafe! If you also share a love for tea, then I strongly suggest that you pay a visit to this delightful cafe. What makes this cafe unique is that the store originated from a home. There are many rooms to seat yourself comfortable in, and if you're with a group of friends then you can play one of the many games they have for their customers. I've never experienced a bad time when I go there, the cafe always had a pleasant ambiance.