Day 366: People

And here we are. The last post. (And it's one day early!) It's also inspired by Charles Reid. Lose sketch and painting is what I would like to get better. 

Thank you everyone for visiting. 

Happy New Year!

Day 365: One More Leaf

We need one more leaf project! :)

Day 364: Still Life

Here we go. The last three posted. This one is inspired by Charles Reid. Let's start with still life.

Day 363: 52 Projects for 2013

Wow, it is hard to believe that I have only 3 posts left for my 365 (366). Definitely a long journey. If you ask me what I have learnt most, I would say self discipline. I have to admit that it's not easy to keep up and produce a good piece of work every single day. Next year I plan to do only one project a week whether it's a drawing, painting or clay modeling. Hopefully the quality of work will be much better. So please stick around. :)

Day 362: Counting Down and New Year's Resolution

It's actually for today. I went back to my piano for the first time in months! Man...it sounds horrible. Looks like it seriously needs to be on my new year's resolution.

Day 361: Captain Caveman and Me

I was told that my character looked like Captain Caveman. Hmmm.

Day 360: Christmas Party

I've never realized how many gifts you can get from a stocking and under the X'mas tree until today. (Thank you!)

Day 359: Toothless

Just like me Toothless likes fish.

Drawing this reminds me of how much I loved drawing characters from my favorite comics and animations when I was young. 

Why not doing it now as well, right? He's on TV at the moment. Good animation. Highly recommended.

Day 358: Gift Wrapping

And now it's my turn to wrap all the gifts. Eeek!

Day 357: Kinder Eggs!

I got a present! It's Kinder Eggs special for Christmas called Adventskalender. There are 24 eggs which I am supposed to open one each day from December 1-24. But even though I got it 2 days before Christmas I am just going to keep the rule. :) I am taking a photo of the toy. Check them out from Kinder Eggs album on my Facebook!

Day 356: Mayan Prediction and Apollo 13

I just thought it was interesting to have Mayan prediction about the end of the word and there was Apollo 13 on TV on the same day.

Sorry for the delay!

Quick Note: I am totally okay! I've just got home from the light show at Bull Run. You know what? I recommend Meadowlark Garden. Looks like I will have 3 work posted tomorrow.

Day 355: Busy Busy Day

This busy drawing represents my busy busy day at work. That's life before holidays and deadline...I guess.

Day 354: 200th Anniversary of Grimm's Fairy Tales

Google celebrates 200th Anniversary of Grimm's Fairy Tales today with an interesting version of Little Red Riding Hood. Check it out! :) 

Did you notice that the size of round shape of grandma's buns, her eyeglasses and the yarn are the same?

Day 353: Holiday Season

We've got bags of popcorns, an enormous cake from the landlord, cookies, more cookies, gingerbread house, chocolate, mint chocolate, US-Capitol-shaped chocolate, pretzels covered with chocolate, grapefruit, oranges... I am sure there are more to come.

Day 352: The Use of Baseball Bat

As shown on the drawing...

Day 351: My First Real Baking from Scratch

If you don't bake from scratch on your own on regular basis just like me, Madeleine is a good start to try. (Pinwheel cookie is easy too. I just like the other one better. I chose to make pistachio cardamom.) Grab a friend to help to make it more fun.

Dear folks at the office, are you ready for my first baked product? Happy holidays!

Update: Out of 30ish pinwheel cookies and 40ish Madeleine we have 3 of the latter one left! Oink Oink

Day 350: Santa on a Fire Truck

I had a chance to see Santa on a fire truck from a distant yesterday...instead of using bells he used a car horn and a siren. 

And if you are in DC area, you might want to see some Christmas light show at Meadowlark Garden. It takes about 30-45 minutes to see everything. I think it's worth $13. :)

Day 349: 20 Kids

Twenty kids from age 5-10 years old were shot at school this morning in Connecticut. And as of tonight their parents are still not able to see them.

Day 348: Playing Pool for the First Time

Today we got a happy hour invitation from the engineering firm we work with a lot. We met at the place called Carpool. It is a rustic-looking bar with games and pool tables. It's quite crowded for Thursday evening. And I learnt to play pool for the first time. 

I grew up watching snooker because we had a world famous Thai player at the time. (You guys in Thailand know whom I am talking about!) So pool wasn't that strange to me in term of the concept. Of course, it's much easier to watch but I surely had fun giving it (well...2 games) a try. 

Thanks people who taught me, gave me tips and let me win the cut-throat game!

Day 347: Magoo

Magoo is (My big boss') Office's bronze statue on a polished wood block. Each year he will be (re)wrapped and treated as a gift for the ruffle at our "White Elephant" holiday lunch.

He has been wrapped in so many ways you can imagine such as in a big pretty box, in a fancy shoebox house, in a cat (stuffed animal) and this year in clay!

Day 346: Rockefeller

Eh...my sketch is nothing compared to the photo and the real place. My coworker just went there over the weekend and the last time I was there during Christmas was ten years ago. Definitely want to re-visit!

Day 345: Democracy Monument

It's Constitution Day in Thailand. 

ummm my sketch is totally out of proportion. 

Day 344: Floating Market

A quick sketch of Floating Market (which I visited early this year) inspired by The Art of Urban Sketching.

And I've just posted two of my painting for silent auction at the office party last month. Check them out. :)

Day 343: New Study Corner

After postponing this so many times I decided to jinx myself to set my new study corner. Right now I have a pile of books,  papers, junk that need to go somewhere.

Sorry for the delay!

Day 342: Street Market

You might need to bear with my pencil sketch for a couple days. I have just got a copy of "The Art of Urban Sketching" and I am in awe.

Day 341: Christmas Market

Have you heard of Christmas market? It looks quite magical. :) 

Day 340: Nobody

Just a rough sketch today. Sorry! What a day. And it will be a longer one tomorrow with an early start downtown.

Day 339: The Ripple

This ripple is created by using masking liquid, lots of salt, foil, brush, spray, blue, red and brown.

Day 338: A Wet Log

Hmm...I think it looks like a wet log.

Day 337: Lincoln

I hesitated to draw this after I watched the movie, Lincoln, over a week ago since he was such an iconic and one of the most respected and beloved presidents of the United States. But after I watched the interview with Steven Spielberg, Daniel Day-Lewis and Sally Field I decided to do it. I would love to have his image on my sketchbook. Everyone basically admitted that they approached this movie with fear but that feeling pushed them to do the best they can.

Great movie with a great message. I have just ordered Team of Rivals which 5 pages of this book the movie is based on.

Day 336: Shoreline

Oops, sorry for the delay. Walking dogs at the shelter surely wore me out.

Please meet Dixie, a sweet 7-year-old grandma, and Bentley and his Princess.

Day 335: Counting Down

It's December already! How about you guys come up with the list you would like me to draw? I'll pick one to paint or draw from there. Make it more challenging to celebrate last month of this project.

Day 334: Canned Meat

I am watching Iron Chef Redemption and they have to create a transformation dish from canned meat. The food looks really good!

Cooking is definitely an art.

Day 333: Nutcrackers

I think nutcrackers are scary. Nuts Nuts Nuts.

Day 332: My Favorite Scene from Up

On Day 7 I drew 'The Adventure Book' which represents what Ellie wanted to do in her life. Today I drew my favorite scene at the end of the movie, Mr. Fredrickson and Russell after they rescued Kevin, the bird. These two finally helped each other, overcame the obstacles and achieved the goal in their lives together.

Day 331: A Pot of Flowers

My plant died so I've filled the pot with new flowers.

Day 330: Fort McHenry and the Star-Spangled Banner

After visiting Museum of American History, watching Lincoln this afternoon I decided to read about US history. Starting with Fort McHenry, the Star-Spangled Banner and Francis Scott Key.

Day 329: A Trip

Another lovely day to be outside. Danielle and I went to FoHA (Friends of Homeless Animals) to drop off the donation from our silent auction at the company party. After she chat with the president of FoHA about fund raising idea we (as in she) drove to Stafford to Rebecca's house to see her jewelry (but mainly to see her and her place)!

By the way, Thai Chicken Salad at Panera Bread (with a lot of talk) is really good. :P

Day 328: My First Thanksgiving Dinner

I had my first Thanksgiving dinner with an American family for the first time yesterday. My friend's parents hosted it. We started with veggie snack (you have to try pickled brussels sprouts and half-cut celery filled with peanut butter!) then we had the turkey, mashed potato, stuffing with sliced apple and sweeten dried cranberries, baked bean, squash (which I thought it's a mashed sweet potato at first), bread and butter, cranberry sauce and the best was a dessert, vanilla ice cream on a baked apple sprinkled with nuts. We also had cider and ice tea. :)

Yummmm. (and thank you!)

Day 327: A Thank You Fruit Basket

An early post for Day 327 since I am not sure I will have time to do this tomorrow.

I've got invited to go to a Thanksgiving dinner at my friend's parents' house. (The dinner will be at...well...2 pm because there is a football game at 6 pm.) This will be my very first formal Thanksgiving dinner with an American family. So here I am trying to find the best way to say thank you to the host.

Even though my friend told me not to worry and it's the thought that counts I decide that a small fruit basket is the way to go. I got this cute little basket from Michael's, a craft store, and several types of fruit and a bouquet of filler flowers from WholeFoods. Ordering a fruit basket from a retail store here is very pricey. I am not a millionaire and I always like to arrange or make a gift myself. I hope it will turn out well. 

Oh shoot...I still need to make a thank you card.

Day 326: Mission Accomplished

I promised you to talk about our "Hugs" mission last week. When you greet someone with a simple question like "How are you ?" and s/he is suddenly in tears, you know that something has gone wrong. And we should do whatever we can big or small to make them feel better.

Since last Friday we have been giving Karen one or two small little (cute, naughty, funny) gifts everyday along with a brown-paper tag with our own decoration and our favorite quote to go with the gifts. The goal is just to make her smile, to tell her not to worry about work so she can spend as much time as she needs taking care of her family.

Today is the last day of our mission and we gave her a book called "Everything is going to be OK" which Danielle and I found at Paper Source store. Today tag doesn't contain a quote but we ask "Would you like to have lunch with the hugging crew?" (Hey, we haven't heard the answer!)

The best part for us is her smile and our own feeling after giving.

Day 325: Black and White Leaves

Eww 1am.

Day 324: Eating with Chopsticks

Chopsticks can get anything! Highly recommended.

Day 323: In One Purse

Hard to believe I carry all these everyday!

Day 322: Mosaic

I had a chance to be at a new mix-used complex, Mosiac, today. The whole complex filled with very modern-look buildings and a lot of well-decorated retail stores. Check it out. Sorry my sketch is not that great. I shouldn't attempt to draw this when my eyes half-open.

http://mosaicdistrict.com/

Day 321: Four Months ahead

I know I should be grateful that I am busy and will be. But knowing that there are big deadlines months ahead without feeling any excitement makes me questioning about myself sometimes. Maybe I just need more inspiration. Oh, well. Have a good weekend.

Day 320: Hugs

Have you ever looked around and noticed that there is a person next to you either at home or at work might need your hug or just a simple question like "how are you ?" ?

I'll tell you about the mission my friends and I are working on when it is completed next week.

Day 319: Turkeys and Santa

That's what I feel when the stores start selling Christmas decoration before Thanksgiving. Give turkeys a break!

Day 318: Santa and a Turkey

Heh ?

Day 317: A New Pile of Books

My new pile of books to read. The other three are still on their way. :)