Lunch break sketches

This week,  at a rare free noon break, I went out for a all carb + coffee lunch at a cafe near by work with my sketching pal, Sansu. Sansu is a talented lighter at day and an even more awesome talented illustrator/storyteller at night. I love going sketching with her, for she naturally carries this 'relaxed' approach to drawing, the world seems so much fun and full of unpredictable stories through her eyes! 

Like during the lunch sketching this week, as I was struggling to 'relax' to sketch, I set my eyes on this lady sitting at the table next to us, her look attracted me - elegant and delicate face features, long, lean, and straight neck, arms, and body posture, but wearing a very bulky thick wool sweater and a pair of big running shoes.... with all these thoughts, I scrambled a drawing of her .. for a longgg time.... then I looked over to see Sansu's sketchbook, she had filled pages of lovely fun sketches, and, that lady. 

To my surprise, as usual, how she saw her was so differently than I:

Don't you just love it? I am dying to know who this lady is through her eyes, and, that guy next to her, with the super man sign!

More of her sketches from the day: 

and of me!

Check out more Sansu's artwork here and here!

This Friday - Art to Heart: Philippine Typhoon Relief Fund Benefit Concert + Art Auction!

This Friday night (3/21), 7:30~11:30pm, at The Uptown in Oakland,  a benefit concert and art auction will be hosted to raise funds for those affected by Super Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda in the Philippines. The event is organized by a group of people in art, animation, film, and video game industries who care and focus on long-term aid in the aftermath of Typhoon Haiyan.

Many film makers and artists from Pixar have contributed their original artwork to the auction, including Pete Doctor, Ronnie del Carmen, Dice Tsutsumi, Ricky Nierva, Paul Abadilla,...,and many many more! 

And, certainly, ROUND ROBIN - me, Daniela Strijleva and Katy Wu, are back together, contributing our original bookplate paintings to the auction! Please come by and join the fun and help on the good cause!

The event is at: 

The Uptown
1928 Telegraph Avenue, Oakland, CA.
$20 cover (Ages 21+) 

Sea Ranch

The past few years, we've been joining our great friends for Thanksgiving at Sea Ranch. It's a lovely community settled along the coast of the Sonoma county. The style of the houses in Sea Ranch are consisted in bare timber wood frame structures and sidings, with an idea of blending in with the natural landscape. Walking along the coastal trails, you'd see herds of sheep grazing on the yellow meadow, wooden houses hidden next to spots of dark wind-shaped trees, waves pounding onto the shores with herds of sea lions lounging on the rocks, fog moves in and out of the coast...time seemed to be capsuled here,... especially, when there was no phone nor wifi reception. Here are some sketches I did during the last Thanksgiving, and a few from the past years.

Sketches from 2013

2013 felt like a blink of an eye - I had a baby; learning to be a mom; I went back to work, dove in and out of different projects; then, my baby is now becoming a toddler... time flew in a blink of an eye speed. I'm still learning to be a mom, an artist, a responsible person,...my ambitions only filled a few pages in my sketchbooks in 2013. Clearing out my desk, 2014 shall be a fun productive year!

Happy New Year 2014!

Wish everyone a wonderful 1/1 and all the best in 2014!

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to every mum and mum to be!

Only have I had my own child, I've begun to understand how much love and effort had my mum put into raising me...it's definitey one of the most special experience I've ever had so far in life - tough and sweet at the same time. Cheers to all the super mums out there! 

Here are a few sketches I did over the past 3 months.

a Friday tune - heylo belayed 2013!

click 'command' + 

It's been 3 months since my delivery - what a trip to the other side and back! Finally, I picked up pencils and brushes again, tried to get my mind back to the surface. It felt great! This is a painting I composed a while ago with the "One-Maverix Auction" auction piece, but didn't get to finish it until now, it's a little bit different from what I initially planned, but the same idea as a tribute to the California summer fields.