I have been working on a series based on the Lais of Marie de France. Who was she? No one knows much about her, besides that she wrote down these charming Breton narrative poems, or “lais” as they are called. She wrote them in the 12th century, approximated between 1155-70. She was writing during the dawn of the courtly romance. Her twelve lais revolve around the love relationship. She writes about relationships that work, those that don’t, and loves that never even got off the ground.

Guigemar hunting the White Hind (acrylic)

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For weeks I had been looking forward to “Figure in Costume,” a painting session at Arte Verissima. It was my first time visiting Oakland-based Arte Verissima, a studio space/gallery/school in conjunction with Golden Gate Atelier, all keeping with a realist way of painting. The rooms were full of sculpted skeletons in the process of being muscled and painstaking charcoal drawings made from plaster casts. Most exciting to me, though, is that I got to paint my esteemed colleague Colin Nitta as a cowboy!

Painting based on a 3 1/2 hour pose

Last Saturday I saw The Wild Bride at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre. The play had interested me because I knew it was a fairy tale retelling, and featured blue grass music, but probably the thing that convinced me most was the lettering of the title. Just from the looks of it, I could tell it would be a play I would enjoy. For the most part I did enjoy it. While the story and message left me wanting, I am still thinking about the imagery. It provided great fodder for some sketchbook experiments. The show ran January 26 to February 17 and was directed by Emma Rice.

A page in my sketchbook, inspired by the cover of the playbill

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I’m ashamed to say that I have not read Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice yet. I have made several attempts and I’ve loved the first 40 pages, but something has always come up to put it on hold. Now that one of the most beloved novels of all time is turning 200 years old, it’s finally time. And I’m doing penance by participating in a year long challenge by Austenprose, to make up for the sequels, spin-offs and analytic essays I’ve missed. I’ll also be including film adaptations, which I’ve seen, but they’re too good to leave out.

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I have created a new paper doll, and her name is Melinda Mink! Just for the holidays, her first set of paper clothes is inspired by the Twelve Days of Christmas. By the way, she also has a pet corgi named Douglas, and he too comes with changeable collars. Everything was painted in acrylic.

Melinda and Douglas bases

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Last weekend was APE–the Alternative Press Expo in San Francisco. It was my first time attending, and exhibiting! I shared a table with fellow illustrator and CCA graduate Colin Nitta. It was my first time really selling my wares, so it was a great learning experience. Special thanks to Jackie Lo for taking pictures at the event.

Me at APE on the second day

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I love stories, especially ones that requires cartography. Over the years, I’ve made a handful of maps. Some are based on stories I’ve created, and others on books and legends. Here are some of my favorites, all done in different mediums.

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School is starting soon for elementary kids, which brings an end to my summer season of teaching art camps. Each camp is a week long. I did four weeks of Cook n Art camp, and one week of Comprehensive Painting, along with assisting at some drama camps earlier in the summer. I documented most of the projects we did, which I will showcase in this post. It took some creativity planning these projects. The first week of Cook n Art involved a circus theme:

Trapeze acrobats at our art show

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I recently took a three-day vacation with the family, and I thought it would be cool to share what I did in my sketchbook. We went to California’s Eastern Sierras and Western Nevada, and the theme was searching out ghost towns.

First two pages of sketches, done in gouache and colored pencil

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For the past couple of months, I have been teaching a class on mural painting. I got to work with four great ladies, and we produced a mural in Fremont, California, on a historic property called Shinn Park. It’s 5′ by 4′ on canvas mounted in front of a fireplace that was boarded up and not being used. The project spanned some seven weeks and took an estimated 25 hours.

A gouache maquette painted by me, 9" by 12"

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