Study of Bride & Groom

Pen on paper, 5.5 x 8 in

This drawing is a study for a large oil painting commissioned by a Korean couple in the Eastern Washington to commemorate their recent wedding. I love creating pictures of happy moments of people, as well as animals. That's my art is all about.
  I realized how much I enjoy drawing, and I always did. I almost forgot that I used to spend hours and hours drawing with pens on sketch book at night, when I was young and had no access to personal computer or camera. I wasn't very good at expressing my self to the strangers, and drawing was the way to connect with them. Later that expanded to other forms of art, including dance and music. I belonged to the anime club and art at school all the way through high school, and drawing was my way of spending time at home. But now, I can work on drawing and painting, looking at perfect reference photos on my computer monitor, while listening to the Internet radio stations. Not much different, but way more convenient.

Purple Tulips & Peter Rabbit

Pen on paper, 5.5 x 8 in.

It's been very warm for the last few days, and some flowers in the yard are blooming. These purple tulips we planted last year in our Rose Garden, have just joined the party today. The wind was calm, but the clouds were coming and going throughout the afternoon. It's not so great for painting from life when the ambiance, especially the lights, are not consistent. So I decided to draw on my sketchbook. I brought out a little tripod-chair. It took me a while to find a sun hat because I've never needed it this year yet.
  Half way through the drawing session, here comes a wild pygmy cottontail bunny. He moved into our yard a few years ago from no where, and became a good friends with our pet chickens ever since then. I named him (I suppose?) "Peter Rabbit." I've been always a big fan of bunny rabbits since I was very little. The character, Peter Rabbit, was always my hero, beside Bugs Bunny, and I grew up drawing and painting them all the time. It is exciting to have our Peter Rabbit at home. We even don't have to take care of him. He's very self-sufficient, other than taking advantage of our predator-free backyard.
  This time, the rabbit was hanging out just behind the tulips and eating grass. I was wearing dark glasses, and he probably could not see where I'm look at. I pretended I didn't care about him, but kept sketching him as quickly as possible on another page. Then I decided to juxtapose the rabbit behind the tulips to add narrative. I tried not loose track of his move, while moving my pen frantically over the paper. The rabbit also kept popping his head up to keep track of me. It was such a rewarding WOW experience.

Study of Kiki & Shea

Pen on paper, 8" x 5.5"

Since last spring, some of our hens started pecking their own eggs in the nesting boxes right ofter laying. If left alone, some of them even eat the whole eggs. This only seems to happen at the beginning of the spring when most of the hens start laying eggs again after malting feathers and spending short day time during the winter. For the rest of the year, the hens don't eat their eggs in the nesting boxes. So, last year, I figured that the best and only way to minimize the development of this habit was to stay right inside the chicken coop and stake them out, just like a homicide detective. I usually bring my cup of coffee and something to read with me. But sometimes I bring a sketch book and draw the hens with a pen. I never use pencil for sketching anymore, as it makes the sketch book messy over years.
  This sketch is a study of two chickens: Kiki (barred rock) and Shea (golden laced wyandotte). I did this drawing from life in front of their nesting boxes. I've tried oil painting from life there, but the inside of the nesting boxes is usually too dark and too far away from my easel to paint from life. The chickens don't sit still long enough for oil painting. So this quick drawing is as much as I could do.
  After all my daily effort, I managed to make the hens leave the eggs intact. Instead of staking out for a few hours, all I need to do is to pet the hen or greet her when she is laying an egg in the box. Today, I found just one pinkish egg eaten. (It's probably by Bennie who has just started laying eggs for this year.) But one lost egg from at least ten active hens is a huge improvement from 50% survival rate two months ago.