Painting / Botanist

The Unhappy Botanist, 2015.
Gouache, acrylic, pencil and paper collage.
39cm x 54cm

I always paint ladies but I'm really into the idea of painting some feminine fellas these days. I like how this portrait turned out a little bit androgynous. I was also inspired by this photo and from the anthurium flowers I took home after attending 'poon choi', a traditional Chinese New Year eating feast, at my friend's home village. Those flowers with their phallic baby corn stems always reminds me of Japanese minimalism in the 80's - my mom had all those flower arranging books in our basement.

And now let us zoom up and in enjoy his chic and high as a kite expression for a second (that fitting description thanks to DK!).

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Sketches from LFW | Driving Miss Kelly to Eudon Choi

Eudon Choi. Pencil, gouache, Photoshop. 

We've been on the run/Driving in the sun
Looking out for number 1/California here we come

I almost can't even listen to that Phantom Planet song anymore, you know when something brings back so many powerfully happy memories it almost makes you sad? Like you'll never be that young or have that much fun again?

Listening to that song reminds me of being 15 and watching the first season of The OC with my best friend and spending a very unsupervised summer in Ontario discovering for the first time what it felt like to be thought of as pretty/popular/bad. And also of the the summer after highschool when my friends and I drove down to California for Coachella where we played this song on repeat and I insisted on eating nothing but powdered donuts the whole way.

Stealing citrus fruits in Indio, California. 2005.
That's me on the left, can you even recognize me?
Polaroid from my friend Crystal. 

Day 3 of Drawing Fashion Week. The headscarves at Eudon Choi reminded me of Grace Kelly driving in cars which then reminded me of road-trips. I drew this girl with only one eye because it just didn't look right with two.

This drawing isn't really my favourite but I still kind of like it. Lately I've been thinking it doesn't really matter, since I've drawing so much it's okay if sometimes things turn out kind of ugly. We're just experimenting here, gotta give yourself room to fail and room to grow.

"Don't worry about genius and don't worry about not being clever. Trust rather to hard work, perseverance, and determination. The best motto for a long march is "Don't grumble. Plug on." You hold your future in your own hands. Never waver in this belief. Don't swagger. The boy who swaggers - like the man who swaggers - has little else that he can do. He is a cheap-Jack crying his own paltry wares. It is the empty tin that rattles most. Be honest. Be loyal. Be kind. Remember that the hardest thing to acquire is the faculty of being unselfish. As a quality it is one of the finest attributes of manliness. Love the sea, the ringing beach and the open downs. Keep clean, body, and mind."- Sir Frederick Treves

Eudon Choi photos from Style.com

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!