Not sure how many scrapbookers out there who still do Project Life but over the years, my experience with this project has been mixed… It has been rewarding big time and at times, draining. These past few years, I’ve stopped buying or subscribing to kits because I feel the key is to: Use what I have on hand Focus more on the stories and document it Importantly lessen the consumerism aspect Anyways, the #shanghailockdown2022 has certainly given me time to finish up this 2021 album. This is a 6×8 album compared to the 9×12 that I have had the past few years (I do have 12×12 in the beginning). After…
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May came and went like a blur, between the dullness of our days, to creating some sort of routine to not spiraling mentally… basically a cacophony of emotions and ups and downs. We have been given some more food rations from the government ranging from toiletries, condiments to veggies and meat. There were still constant testing between antigen test kits and the PCR tests. An excuse to go out, rain or shine, but also too much of a hassle, trying to spray/disinfect where we went. Have been baking a lot since there’s no way to buy bread. And with shortage in yeast, had to jump into the sourdough starter adventure.…
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Sketchbook all filled up! I started the this class during my trip to Taipei, Taiwan, late last year. This was a really good class especially when I spent a lot of days in hotel quarantine. I continued filling up pages when I was in hotel quarantine again in Shanghai. And now, I finished as we are surpassing the 1-month point of this whole lockdown. For this project, I was excited to find out I can order on Tools to Liveby and they could deliver to the quarantine hotel. So I ordered the Midori Spiral Ring Notebook B6 (watercolor paper) along with a couple other stationery. The paper was just thick…
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Spring time in Shanghai is looking so different this time. Varying forms of lockdowns are going on around the city as the local government tries to find ways to curb the rising number of COVID-19 infections from Omicron. We have also done several nucleic acid testing within our apartment compound as well as antigen tests. Kids have gone to virtual learning and are past the 1-month mark now. My office have switched to working from home almost the same time as my kids did as a precaution. Fortunately, we did so at the right time because some colleagues were on swift action lockdowns. I cannot help but look back and…
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Art journaling has been filling up my time these days that a lot of my other projects have been on hold a bit longer than I had planned. Just thought I’d share some of the Get Messy art journal pages I’ve been working on and these has been quite uplifting and fun. First up are my pages for the Season of Courage. Here are my pages for the Season of Enough. And then finally, the March season. Get Messy is more than just art journaling. It is a community of artists who support each other. And it is a fantastic community to belong to. Check out the Get Messy website.…
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When I started with this project, I was raring to go out and do quick sketches. Little did I know that I was going to end up with a bad cold that I couldn’t stay outside and sketch as what I had originally planned. So my progress ended up slower than I had anticipated. I decided to change my approach starting from changing the hashtag to my project. The other change I made was taking photos of subjects I wanted to sketch and sketch these at home. This is not my preferred way of urban sketching because I tend to sketch slow, taking more time on the details. Whereas when…
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Literally I have to find a new space for the 2022 of December Daily because I have ran out! The only year I did not do any December Daily was 2019 because I decided to take a break and do art journaling instead. This album is actually handmade using leftover binder D-ring and chipboards I had in my stash. I bought these Tim Holtz fabric from the Yuletide collection from a local seller (which I cannot find on the FreeSpirit website anymore. When I flipped through the 2020 album, I noticed that a lot of the stories were mine and not as much of my kids. I think that time…
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Perfect weather means sketching outdoors is even more exciting and inspiring. After days of dreary cold weather and plus being sick with a bad cough for over a week, I was just dying to get out and do some sketching. The venue for our sketching group was at the Duolun Culture Street, more specifically the old Protestant church called Hongde Church, formerly known as the Fitsch Memorial Church. The interior has been mostly been renovated as most of the church was damaged during the Cultural Revolution. Actually I did a warm up sketch inside the church (above), before moving outdoors to sketch the exterior; well, at least, part of the…
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An exciting news to share is that Suzanne of Strawberry Moon Magazine interviewed me to be one of the featured artist in the upcoming second issue of her magazine. I am totally humbled, honored and so blown away to be asked and this has left me speechless for days… and when the cover was announced, the feeling of awe came flooding back. I’ve always been a fan of Suzanne’s art on Instagram. We both have twins and have pet cats. And her passion extended to the Strawberry Moon Magazine. Definitely a one-of-a-kind. A magazine by an artist for an artist. Issue 1 is a wealth of inspiration and features a…
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Exciting news to share! During the time I was in quarantine in Taipei back in October, I received an email from Get Messy inviting me to be invited as a guest teacher for 2022. OMG! I decided to say “YES!” My class will air in November and it is perfect for Season of Slow. So truly humbled to be part of this community again after having gone off for a few years. As you can see below, all these amazing artists who are part of this year’s line up are all AMAZING! Get Messy is more than just art journaling. It is a community of artists who support each other.…
