emptynes(t)

hair, paper & wire, 8 x 5.8 x 1.6 cm spoon dimensions

i like my bad haircut

acrylic and pencil in sketchbook, 10" x 7.5"

John tells me to stop cutting my own hair. Is it really that bad? looks pretty cute to me. I think i am a pro. it's just a little strange that except for one other person, nobody else seemed to have noticed. hmm.

So anyways, the other day, it occurred to me that i could be whatever i wanted to be. like if i wanted to be a doctor, i can go ahead and really do it. It's all just a matter of time and training. I don't know why it was such a revelation but i seriously believed it like i never knew before.

Lately, i've been approaching every little task with the Chinese proverb of moving mountains, one stone at a time in mind. The dishes, the scattered tools, the laundry, tiny bits of styrofoam - picking them all up nice and easy. Not sure where all this is going.

Studio update: a big mess, a drawing here and there, torn prints everywhere, crocheting more bowls to be felted, thorns waiting, spoons cold and neglected...

monna's hair

Ting yelled at me for my last post. i sheepishly felt loved again. A couple months ago, while getting my studio space in order, i came upon a newspaper bundle. I opened it and saw two ponytails of Ting's hair. scared the heck out of me. Quickly remembered that i had found it at home last year and secretly took it back with me. Isn't it so beautiful? i am torn about returning it (so it can be donated as it was intended years ago) or keeping it for myself...

So i've been taking it easy with studio work. making more wimpy starts and not finishing much still. I don't like it at all. I decided i need to treat this whole process as work that i have to do regardless if i feel like it or not. EveryDay. well, except for Mondays, cuz the full-day studio weekends are more exhausting than day job work and i'll definitely need a break in the evening. and Thursday evenings cuz we have to watch Survivor (and a movie). And probably Fridays since that is usually our clean-up day. Well. that aint so bad, is it?

Tea time!


pencil and acrylic on paper, 12.7 x 10.2 cm

A drawing done earlier this month. One thing i'm happy with that came out from these few weeks of take-it-easy studio time. But i know i can do more so i will I Will.

i think i'm going somewhere with this

an old print torn to strips

So this weekend i have started printing again. Took out some old plates from college years and also some more recent ones that i started last year a couple of years ago. Look how neat my table is. No nasty hair.



(before)

Cat, your hair is everywhere here.

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And this print i thought was horrible is okay after all...

black spoon

thread over wire, paper, hair & wax, 6cm hollow





I thought that i would keep on wrapping it up, leaving strands and strands of thread hanging down, like that of a black widow in mourning. But what is a name for a mother who lost her child? I accidentally burnt the center when trying to smooth out the wax surface. I think i will melt some more away and start over.

fill me

Except for these clay pieces, nothing much is going on in studio right now. I haven't painted or printed anything at all these past few weeks (months?!). I'm about to burst.

This past weekend, i was home with the family, hanging out mostly with my sisters and cousins. Still so happy that Michael suggested going to the museum, which i totally did not know he would be interested in doing. You're my new museum buddy forever now, Mikey. None of us who went (me, M, and F) to the Whitney Museum were crazy with the current Biennial show but it was good just to have gone together. We all did like one wall drawing by Sol LeWitt and an installation by Carol Bove (okay, just Michael for that one; Francis doesn't like it and i would have liked it more if you could run through it).

Ting and May looking older, more grown-up, so beautiful and alike in ways i had not notice before.

The next day, May gave me a short short haircut that i've been wanting. In the middle of the haircut, the parents' visitors came and i quickly tried to hide and clean up. Saw how nicely the fallen hair got clustered together when i started to pick it up. And before anyone could catch what i was doing, i stuffed it in a bag for me to take back with me. Look where they are now:





Wish i had collected more.

hair

etching, drypoint & mezzotint on arches printmaking paper (cream color), image size 36 x 41 cm on 56 x 66 cm paper size










back of print showing the impression of the little plates printed together.