Go Places / Make Things

Fall schedule: go places, make things. Rinse and repeat. I've been reading Jessica Walsh and Tim Goodman's super interesting social experiment/blog 40 Days of Dating so I felt like doing some hand-lettering myself.

Print of Go Places / Make Things is available on my Etsy shop, go have a look!

How to Make Better Art: 10 Ways to Develop a Creative Routine + Get Better

Say Lou Lou. 2014.

Pencil and gouache on sketchbook paper. Made just before bed, my most creative time.

The only way to get better at something is to practice it, and to practice regularly you must create a routine and stick with it. During the last year or two working as an artist and illustrator these are the top 10 habits I've learned so far to help me develop my craft.

1. Don't apologize for your work. I know its tempting because your work won't be as good as you want it to be yet and you don't want anyone thinking that's all you have inside you. You have so much more you want to express, I know! But fight it, if you don't believe in your work how can other people? If it's not as good as you want, re-work it until you can accept it. Share it and then leave it at that, don't make any excuses.

2. It's OK to make ugly stuff. Experiment in your sketchbook or scrap pieces of paper for even less pressure. It keeps your work fresh and you can find and explore new directions. Continually experiment. Try something that might not work, that's what making art is.

MORE AFTER THE JUMP.

Thoughts / On Turning 26 and Not Being Afraid To Go After What You Want

September 1st is the first day of school here in Hong Kong and it is also my birthday.
First day of school is kind of a shitty way to start all your birthdays but it is also exciting to open up all your new textbooks and use your brand new stationery, it's a chance every year to begin anew.

This year I turned 26, and that's how I feel about it. It's a time to begin again.

I don't usually feel different "more grown up" after a birthday, I mean it's not like our brains are tuned into this arbitrary date where our subconscious magically changes after the stroke of midnight. Or I dunno, maybe it does, someone call VSauce.

But this year was different, the week before my birthday I started caring less about looking foolish and caring a lot more about going after and getting the things that I wanted. I felt more determined.

 I thought about this Steve Job's quote a lot.

"All external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure — these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." - Steve Jobs

I had just gotten back from a trip from Beijing with my parents with gave me a lot of time to think. My talented fashion designer friend Cristina Sabaiduc messaged me to encourage me to submit my fashion history comics to big online publications and I timidly did. And surreally I got a response.

But this is just where it begins.

I'm at a point where it feels like things that were once my wildest dreams can happen, but only if I grab those faint mist of ideas, shake them away from the foggy surroundings of my erratic brain and then work relentlessly at it and not let it go and not get scared then maybe I could have those things that I so desperately and so secretly want.

*The story behind that silly cat desk picture at the top. But whatever, I'm not gonna apologize for it, it's cute and I'm standing up on my baby deer legs now.

The Artsy Guide to Hong Kong: Fotanian 2013

When you move to a new city it can be hard to find pockets of cool creative people and fun alternative things to do. When I first moved to Hong Kong two years ago I thought it was a cultural wasteland, I hung out in Lan Kwai Fong and I was so unhappy.

Obviously I was wrong, Hong Kong isn't a cultural wasteland it actually has a very vibrant creative scene, you just have to look a bit deeper and I was about to get a taste when a Couchsurfing friend suggested I visit the Fotanian Open Studios.

This January the studio will again open to the public during the weekends of the 5th to the 20th (2pm to 7pm). You should go and get inspired, especially if your New Years resolution is to live a more creative life, who knows you just might make a few new analog camera toting hipster pals.
 

Nestled between the lush hills of the New Territories, Fotan is mostly an industrial area but with many factories moving north to China the buildings have been reconverted to spacious studios to local artists. While not technically legal, a lot of the artist also make their studios their home sweet home, so in addition to seeing some cool art it's also a real treat to check out the artists' living spaces as well.

After visiting all the printmakers, painters and artists, I'm sure you'll be feeling most inspired, but more urgently really hungry, so grab some dinner at the Dai Pai Dong down on Shan Mei St. and fill up on chicken congee, octopus mouths, Tsing Tao beer and fried oyster pancake.

There are over 250 studios open this year, it'd be insane to see them all (or maybe you're just insane enough to try) so in order to make your visit more enjoyable I've compiled a list of some must see artists for FOTANIAN 2013:

·  Wilson Shieh
Wilson Shieh is a painter whom often works in a modern reinterpretation of gongbi. This year the artist is giving out an extremely cool free posters for visitors to his studio featuring costumes worn by the late Hong Kong music superstar Anita Mui in the 1980s.

·  Au Hoi Lam and Qiang Studio
Qiang is a multidisciplinary studio featuring 5 women artists. This year they have also invited artist Carment Ho (何寶容) to exhibit alongside them.

·  Rental United

·  Drawing installations by Cath Brophy

·  Painter Wong Chun Hei, Steven

Special thanks to artist Sarah Lai for helping me with this list.
Photos 1-4 taken by me on a Minolta SRT-303.
Photos 5-7 are courtesy of the respective artists.

If you liked this post please SUBSCRIBE or consider sharing it on Twitter, Facebook & Google+ using the buttons below.

Team SEE-ZOO - HK's not-so-secret Secret Garden

On Saturday my friends Belinda, Helene and I packed our art-making supplies and headed up to the hills to a (not so) secret little park in the middle of the city. Nestled in the hills above admiralty the Hong Kong Zoological & Botanical Gardens is an oasis that plays host to over 500 animals, though buffered by the surrounding trees the city's signature tall buildings could still be seen and I felt like we were in NYC's Central Park. 

Before our sketching adventures I devoured a ridiculously delicious brie & roast beef sandwich from Habibi Cafe at Pacific Place. Then, we found a little fenced in area with some animal benches and a table and this is where we set up camp for the day. It was strange little enclosure, surrounded by a fence and we felt like the other animals on display.

Thanks to my friend Belinda Love Lee for photos 2 through 4, she's a wonderful graphic designer and photographer, you should check out the blog she runs with her British boyfriend, Digital Dating.

What are some of your favourite places to bring your sketchbook in your city? Show us!

Growing Up in Hong Kong

I could kiss this baby, but I don't. I'm so happy to be finally done my DETOUR 2012 piece. After a mini breakdown and a forest of paper I'm ready to pack and deliver it to the HK Ambassadors of Design tomorrow. There are a few pieces in the installation and I hope people will take the time to explore the different objects when they see it in person. Most importantly, I hope the piece inspires a sense of delight and nostalgia when people recognize objects from their own childhoods. I wanted to share with you some of the different elements:

• the child: the paper mache figure is in 'Nian Hua' style, images of these chubby kids would have been ubiquitous during Chinese New Years. The school uniform was inspired by a photo from a childhood birthday party.
• airplane badge: replacing the school logo on the uniform, the airplane symbolizes the 1997 mass immigration rush that affected a lot of Hong Kong families, I distinctly remember  tearfully seeing my cousins off at the airport and in a few short months also moving away with my mom to Abbotsford, BC.  
• test papers: clenched in the child's hands. Excessive school work is a part of the reality of growing up in Hong Kong and one of the major reasons why my family and I emigrated.

So, that concludes my first foray into the art world. I really enjoyed working with all the different materials and had a lot of fun fooling around with the finished pieces. How real does the 'gai daan jai' look? It's almost good enough to eat. 

If you are interested in my earlier process with this piece, check out these posts. And if you're in town make sure you check out the DETOUR show in November which will be held at the Former Wanchai Police Station. x

Girl Stays Home All Month, Makes Baby.

 I've been hanging out at home all month listening to Fever Ray, watching Bones and putting together my paper mache project for Detour 2012. It's been slow going and I never go out, choosing instead to call up my friends and sob about how I never meet anyone cute to make out with; this is my life. It started out rough, had a breakdown after the armature I made with cardboard, masking tape and scrunched up paper ended up looking horrific, snapped out of it (thanks mom!) in time to realize I only had 2 weeks left until I had to deliver the baby to the organizers. Since, I've been crafting hard, paintbrushes blazing, leaving trails of paper mache lumps and the living room too scary for visitors.
 

After making the armature, I made some paper mache clay, this place has a good professional recipe, but what even is joint compound? So I just used toilet paper and the worst smelling white glue, using the back of a spoon I spread it over the taped foundation. Then I very poorly and impatiently sanded the dried structure smooth less lumpity-dumpity.

Next, I painted her body and hair. Put together the cake with painted paper, plastic plates and scrap plastic. The candles are a favourite, made with rolled up cardboard (I had fun posing with them pretending they were real cigarettes), then I painted them and added embroidery floss for the wick. The icing is piped paper clay from the Jusco $12 plaza. 

Making her outfit: I actually really liked this part, I stayed up all night sewing the little embroidered patch to go on her uniform. I used a back stitch for the border and a satin stitch for the airplane, this place is awesome for embroidery stitch tutorials.

 

There's still more paper to be mached, stay tuned to see how it goes!

  

How to get your work into Detour 2012

What's in this moderately heavy box?

 I've been entering contests and competitions like a madwoman this year, living on my desert island slipping messages into bottles and right now it's starting to feel like a few of them have been washing back each filled with a little bit of love and I'm so so grateful. Last week I got a call from Ambassadors of Design letting me know that my proposal had been nominated!

My installation along with the other nine winning pieces will be displayed at DETOUR 2012 this November. In case you didn't know DETOUR is Hong Kong Ambassadors of Design's 17 days flagship event and it's pretty totally sweet, held at the Former Police Married Quarters last year, it was one of first things my friend Wing Sum and I did together, the art was cool but really at that time I was more excited about finally having found someone in HK to go to designy things with.

Yesterday, I went to the Ambassadors' office and lugged a huge cardboard box home from Wanchai wearing totally inappropriate clothing - namely a Pierre Cardin top that I got at HK's creme de la sleaze thrift store Mee & Gee (secret: my favourite one is the one on Fa Yuen St, Mong Kok. But, please don't go there and buy all the cheap nice fringey things because that is not nice and I need them for my body).

Below is my proposal, the theme of the competition was Growing Up with Hong Kong:

My nominated design! You go Glen Coco!

"A Celebration" is inspired by imagery associated with growing up in Hong Kong, created in the style of traditional Lunar New Year posters, the child is riding triumphantly atop of the crocodile, clad in her school uniform and clenching test papers. The airplane badge on her dress symbolizes the pre-1997 immigration rush, which affected most children whether directly or by seeing their friends and family move away. The child is surrounded by treats from her childhood: birthday cake from the local bakeries, egg waffles and tea eggs from street vendors."

A photo from my elementary school days that I used for inspiration.
I love how the 'treats' were hard-boiled eggs and apples.
Also, is it irony if you put an Instagram filter on an old picture.

DETOUR 2011. Photo: Ambassadors of Design

This little guy was inside the box "Decorate me. Rawr."

The installation will be made mostly of paper and paper mâché along with some embroidery and found objects. I was thinking of doing the figure like those Chinese funeral paper dolls, but I'm not so sure about the connotations with that since it's supposed to be about celebration. Anyways, stay tuned this month, I'm going to be blogging about the process.