Mermaid art again~

Another Mermaid painting just done.

It's a 8x10 acrylic on canvas "Ariel and the Seahorse". Ariel is the character - mermaid princess in "The Little Mermaid". In this picture I didn't paint her tail since I was practicing on the facial feature than the whole body structure~ The beautiful red hair mermaid girl~

Finally finished this painting...

This painting took me so long to finish. I started it in May, but was caught up with my day work and night book project. After one month, it was finally done. I love Alice in Wonderland art. It inspires me with lots of things in my fantasy art. This painting is not as dark as I used to paint. Very cheerful and bright. (No blood... XD) A very happy scene. "Tea Party in Wonderland" 12x16 Acrylic painting.

Waiting...

Waiting always make people anxious. Waiting for project to be done. Waiting for reply and respond. Waiting for weekend to come. Waiting, waiting and for waiting... The whole life is composed with lots of waiting stories that it almost like the God is testing you how patient you are and how high your EQ is. Sometimes no matter how much you try, the waiting cannot be avoid. No wonder people say "Patient is a virtue."
By the way, I think I'm almost done with the ABC project; however, the authors had suggested that the texts of the last 2-3 letters may be revised for proper age group readers... I was thinking of adding some extra pictures to fill some pages; it seems that I have to wait till the last 3 letters were done and wait for publisher's responds before I add any extra pictures. Bu almost done luckily...
Since my hubby went up to North for work, I'd been the only labor in the house. Vacuum, cut grass, do recycle and garbage, yell at the kids and chase them around... My back ache... Hope my hubby will be back soon. We really miss him... Another non-stop waiting story....

Turning point?

Life is always an adventure. Along the way, there are many different changes and surprises. Sometimes things happens all at the same time that you have to decide which way to go. My husband made his decision already. He decided to work for a company that is far away with better pay. However, he has to separate from his family since he cannot always come home due to his assignments. That is his turning point. However, it's my kids' and my turning point too. We all hope for the best but sometimes things just won't go in our way. We just have to "go with the flow". I'm currently working on Pam and Cathy's book. At the meantime, I also have to carry on my day job as an administrator in a small firm. And Pam encouraged me to go full-time on the illustration career. It remind me the time when I took Andrew Hamilton's painting lessons back in 2002 or 2003. He asked me why I took his course. And I said I want to be an illustrator one day. Will it be my turning point? We will see...

About Pam and Cathy's Children Book

I was pretty excited to work with Pam and Cathy about the new books they are planning. It's a great opportunities that I can get involve with the kid's book publishing. The only thing I'm concerning about is not having enough time to work on it =) Not because of not enough "time" to do it, but the hours are mostly "broken hours" during the days or nights that sometimes it interferes with the painting flow or inspiration process XD

I guess as a freelancer, time management is an important task to learn in order to make the most use of the time and produce the optimal results in a timely manner. Now back to work again =P

24 hours a day is not enough...

It will be nice to have more thank 24 hours a day... 6-8 hours sleep, 8 hours day work, 1 hour travel back and forth to work, 2-3 hours for eating/showering/watching some TV, 3 hours to get my kids all shower/bath/feed, 2-3 hours for my art porject.... I really need more than 24 hours... XD

Easter gone so fast...

Time flies so fast. Every time there is a long weekend coming, the days are gone before I even noticed it. Life is really short. Got to catch up with the planned schedules. I'd already sketched the Winter Lady in pencil. Just need to color it then I'm done with the 4 season fairies. And then I got to work on Pam's project. Hopefully I'll get all sketches done and approved by the end of the April.... *am I dreaming?* Just have to stick with my plan and work work work!!! Focus and concentrate...

Future plans and new projects on hand...

It's never easy to be a "night" artist~ I got a daytime job that will pay my bills; at the mean time I also got this artist job that will fulfill my dream. (Also 2 kids running around the house that needs my attention...) Life is never easy =P However, the show must go on. Tight Schedule--- Go, Go, Go!!!


Current and Future projects:

- Sketch drafts for approval for Pam K-E for her Alphabet book.

( need to have them all approved by end of April)

- Plan story lines for my witch chef / octopus lady book
(end of April)

- 4 Seasons Flower Lady (end of May) -> Lady of the Spring done.

- Rework on Jordan's Cast story (end of June)

- Dragon, Mermaid, and Fairy Series (Calendar painting) x12 (end of July)

- Prairie Angels (end of December)

Fantasy Character Creating

Creating fantasy character is like writing a story with painting. Maybe it's not in words, but it's in picture. My Lady Water Deep is the first one that I actually giving her a "Name" for the character that I created. It feels like giving a name to my own child =) Water Deep is a character name I usually use in Ultima Online (UO) game I used to play when I was younger. (I don't play anymore because of lots of things to take care in the "real world", but still miss it...) My Lady Water Deep was a female warrior and swordswoman. Now she is a mermaid princess~~~ I still got lots of other ideas about the future characters to draw. Stay tuned!

Starting my documenting book...

Just a thought that I decided to start my documenting book about my paintings now and past so that I can keep a record of them. Often time I put them in my website's portfolio, but I always afraid that if one day I don't update my websites anymore or something happens to the CD or hard drive, I don't have a backup copy. I'd thought of just print out a copy and keep it in my portfolio binder for myself. In another thought, why not make a book out of them?! I'd accumulated some artworks. Maybe at the end of the year that I'm able to finish one and start a new one again XD~ *dreaming mode* (Like with the speed of 3 pages a day! Good thing that self-publishing is very handy)

Hahaha~ So fun!

I'd start to paint my fairytale series. This is a start with one - 16x20 acrylic painting - Beauty and the Beast. It's interesting to try painting in a theatrical way. With the combination of the wild animal and the lady Belle, the composition is fun~

Cannot wait to see the movie Alice in Wonderland

Recently everything is kind of "stuck" again... *sign*
I'll have to say, "Be Patient..." in a lot of things in my life. Things cannot always go in the way we want, and we have to be very very patient. But sometimes the "waiting" is just making my anxiety even worse. And sometimes I'm not sure what I'm waiting for anymore. But, hope God can help me and family pass the difficult period because we do need it.

By the way, the new movie - Alice in Wonderland is showing soon! Cannot wait to see it. Johnny Depp is my all time favorite star since my teens. I'll see you in theater Johnny~~~