Day 60: Spring is here

I drove down the road back home and saw that young leaves already came out. It just made me happy!

Day 59: A Beautiful Story

A beautiful story I came across today.

But I didn't mean to change a horse into a pony. /..\

Day 58: An Old Lady

Phew~! I finished this in one hour. Not too bad heh ?

Day 57: Tonight Sky

It's actually a pretty night here. But my watercolor is a bit scary.

Day 56: Good Saturday

It's nice to start a day seeing favorite things. And today turned out to be a very productive day for me. Starting with my neighbor drove his Mini Cooper by with a kayak. (Giving me a hope that I can find a kayak to fit on my Volk Golf.) Seeing a doggie yawning from the back seat. Just like human. Walking 4 dogs at the animal shelter (Though I fell on my butt I learnt to put a harness on a dog for the first time.) Got yummy healthy food and snack for a whole week and spent only $60. Cleaning my restroom until it sparkling clean. And now I am watching the show "Too Cute" for the second time. Nothing can beat a wet Persian cat.

Day 55: The Lake House

The weather is getting warmer in DC area and I can walk around the lake nearby my place after work again. It is just so nice to be out there. And I happen to have The Lake House soundtrack in my car. So I guess it is an opportunity to draw the house the movie. :)

Do you know this house existed only in the movie ? The local code doesn't allow any house built at this part of the lake. It had HVAC but not the toilet. :) I guess sewer line is pricey!

Day 54: Chocolate for Girls

I totally forgot to express my gratitude to my boss on Valentine's Day! He decided to give chocolate to every girl in the office this year. :) Three Hershey's milk chocolate wrapped with a neon-orange rubber band (available at the office's production area) and a "Happy Valentine's Day" message on a yellow square detachable card (aka post-it).

I just finished the second one after my walk around a lake nearby this evening so that reminded me to do something about it.

My Hershey's looks chubby though. Don't you think ?

Day 53: Food Drive

Such a long day at work. So I just grabbed my abandoned sketch for a food drive event and painted it. Hmmm my watercolor looks like marker!

Day 52: Personal Appreciation

My thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes, cards, gifts, flowers and ice cream! I am also adopting office's Peace Lily which we suspect it triggers our security alarm in the middle of the night several times.

What's with those sparkling teeth ? Yes, I scheduled routine cleaning today at 7 am! It's good to start new age with clean teeth, wasn't it ?

*Oops, I forgot to draw the butt-shaped balloon from Karen!

Day 51: Chamber of Secret

From Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secret. In my opinion the sword is way too small in the movie. :P

Day 50: Phoenix on Fire

I am watching Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix on ABC channel.

Day 49: Birth-week Dinners ?

My friend took me out for an early birthday dinner. (Thank you! and thank you for the watercolor-related gift as well!) We ordered the restaurant's "Meal for Two" package. But we both agreed that it for 8 people rather than 2 as you can see on my sketch. We were pretty much full after finished appetizer and salad!

In case you want to know what are included in this package...there were one appetizer, 2 classic pasta dishes, 2 classic pasta dishes to go, and one desert. (We ordered salad as an addition.)

We ended up splitting every dish in half so we can try everything. And probably take a whole week to finish them. Well I think I have enough pasta for the rest of the year. ha ha.

Day 48: Snow on a Log

If you notice, there are a lot trial and error here. wet on wet, dry on wet, wet then dry, etc. I think I need more practice on this. Not sure what is best to paint tree trunk. Sorry about the image quality.

Day 47: My Messy Desk

Can I still blame jetlag ? ha ha. Anyway, here is my desk at current condition. I know it's embarrassing.

Day 46: Birch in Fall

Watercolor mood is still going strong.

Day 45: Winter Rose

Happy Valentine's Day! This painting is 6"x8". I seriously want to learn how to apply masking fluid.

Day 44: Washington DC Skyline

Day 43: My Painting Tools

Looks like I still have some painting mood left. So here are my painting tools. Oh, I didn't use all those colors on my palette on the previous painting. It's just da leftover from months ago.

Day 42: Danielle and Diesel

Phew, I made it and I am going to deliver it now. I'll post a better shot and the story after the birthday girl gets her present. :)

*Ok. Here is the story. This is my second commissioned work. It's watercolor painting based on a photograph. My coworker would like to give this as a birthday gift to his fiance, who is also my coworker. It's an image of her and her dog who just died last year due to genetic disease. He was only six years old. It's very tough time for them. Diesel was at our office from time to time. He was such a sweet dog. Danielle is the one introduces me to FOHA, the animal shelter I am volunteering at the moment. So this painting is very special to me as well.

How long did it take to finish this painting ? I would say about 2 days (with a lot of sleep in between hee hee). I finished the sketch long time ago and it took me about one day to paint. But half of the time was spent to determine the color schemes, what to paint first and how to. The size is about 11"x14".

I hope you like it as much I do.*

Day 41: The Thumbnail

Shhh...This is a thumbnail of the painting I got commissioned and I need to deliver it by tomorrow 9 pm. It's a birthday gift. And it will be posted tomorrow night. Right here. Wish me luck!

Day 40: Day 40 ?

After I count days on a calendar...I think I missed a day somewhere. It must be because my traveling across the world got me confused. Anyway, here is Day 40.

Day 39: Books on My Wish List

While I was wandering around Narita airport waiting for my flight to DC I found Squeamish about Sushi by Betty Reynolds. Who would have thought about drawing and coloring sushi ? (The book also illustrates Japanese culture.)

* Ugh, I missed Tokyo on Foot by Florent Chavouet.*

That book reminds me of a book I found early this year for pre-order on Amazon, The Art of Urban Sketching by Gabriel Campanario. It's now available!

And the last one, Everyday Matters by Danny Gregory. I have Creative License which is very inspiring and encouraging.

The similar thing about these three books is they are imperfect color drawings inspired from everyday life.

Day 38: Sisterhood

We were sitting on the same couch. I was drawing my 365 while my sister was on her back with legs over my lap.

Day 37: My 365 Drawing Tools

Here are my main drawing tools on this 365 project. A sketchbook, pencils, a pencil, an eraser and an iPod Touch (to take photos and post my work online).

Day 36: Brunch on a Boat

On Saturday we went t0 Damnoensaduak floating market. And here are the food we got during 1-hr boat ride, fried egg with oyster and bean sprout, fresh coconut juice, noodle soup with meat ball, guava soaked in plum juice, coconut ice cream top with peanut served in coconut shell and coconut sugar juice. Photos from the trip will be posted soon.

Day 35: My Sister's Friend II

Day 34: My Sister's Friend I

Day 33: A Gondola

I am watching a tv show called "How They Do It" on Discovery Channel and today it's about a gondola. It's such an art to make this boat even just a forcola itself.

Amazing.

Day 32: The Front Yard

Right outside our living room there is this swing which has been with us forever at the old house, current one and will be at the new one as well. There were photos of my family sitting on this swing when my sister and I were still in pre-school, elementary school. Looks like we need a new photo shoot soon.