Trying my hands on Matte Painting

Hellolo Olala everybody~
I'm taking a Matte Painting class. There's a lot to learn in this class so I don't have much time doing watercolor.

The first image is my first idea for the matte painting, based on a sketch I had before, the back story is, sock monkey is taking a risky trip getting across a big cliff to the other side, where he saw something dreamy and attractive. But when seen close up, the object was actually old and dilapidated, it only looked nice from afar.

In the second one I took the idea further and it looked more like a matte painting. The rocking horse is now sculptures coming out of the cliffs, kinda like Mt. Rushmore.

It's raining man

Pitterpatter hello everybody~

It's been raining for a week. I was supposed to go on a blimp ride yesterday and it was rescheduled due to bad weather. I really like rain though, I especially like falling asleep with the sound of it, for some reason it makes me feel safe. It probably has to do with my childhood memory of typhoons. I always kept wishing it gets stormier so they cancel school the next day. And when that happens it was the best thing in the world.

A very cold lake outing

Hello everybody~

Like I promised, I went back to Lake Chabot, but the temperature had plummeted since my last visit, so this outing involved more sniffling and shivering. I did this one from photo again because the one I did on the spot didn't turn out great cause I was more blowing my nose than painting and the sun inconsiderately went away while I'm half way through.

Bunny's Bao-disaster of 2011

It begin when bunny found Bao in the supermarket.

Bunny took it home and carefully balanced Bao on top of a bowl of soup in the trusty steamer.

And waited...

But when the wait is over and Bunny open the steamer, Bao had fallen into the soup!!!!

NOOOO.....DO.. NOT.. WANT!!!

Conveyor Clouds

Bunny is not exactly pleased with the selection of clouds lately.

The other view

Hellohello everybody!

This was another view of that beautiful lake, I was going to sit and paint this one but my husband was playing Jeopardy with me and said 'are you sure this is your final decision??' so I got weak and I kept walking.. That lake I tell you, I feel like a kid in the candy store, so many beautiful views. But since last weekend the temperature had dropped precipitously, so it's a bit uncomfortable to go out now, so I painted from photo today, in my own very warm and comfortable Hello Kitty pajamas.

Steak steps

Bunny climbs up a set of sirloin stairs.

More Lake

Hello everybody~

I discovered something incredible!!

Recently I'm feeling the more I paint, the more I want to paint... This is a direct violation to my lazy nature! This cannot go on. Therefore I did this from a photo I took last week. Because I'm lazy to go outside today.

I had trouble with the color of tree trunk. It looks like some like of twisty snack I had when I was little. Not only it is frustrating that I cannot get it to look right, also I'm massively hungry now.

Lake Chabot outing

Ohlalalala everybody~

Apparently I wasn't the only one that got sick this time of year, there were plenty of other people sniffing and coughing and generally being miserable. I feel better now.

Today is the first time I went to Lake Chabot and I fell in love immediately. I've lived in Castro Valley for like a year and this is only the first time I visited this gorgeous lake just ten minutes away from me?! *table flip* Mark my words, I'll be back.

I sat on a pretty little dock on the lake and painted with paddles boats and some noisy ducks around me. I kept shooting those ducks murderous glances every time they startled me with their loud and unpleasant vocal cacophony. And two of them have the audacity to approach me with a suspiciously cute look that dogs have when they are expecting food. I told them I didn't have any.

All in all it was a very pleasant afternoon, I hope I get to come back more often if the weather permits. I might need to bring some food. What do ducks eat?

Happy New Year to me

恭喜發財Everybody!!

How was your Chinese New Year? Mine was bad. If your New Year was not exactly going the way you wanted, no worries, mine was worse.

One disadvantage of not being in the Asian continent while the New Year is undergoing, is that you have no idea when it happened. I think I might have slept through it, with my fever from a bad cold I caught couple days ago. My fever was so bad that my eyeballs hurt.

I thought of calling my family, but I was reluctant to speak, because hearing my own nasal-heavy voice alone makes my eyes water. Plus, what if I called at a time when everybody was already off to the joyful New Year family dinner, that would be extremely sad, for me.

I felt slightly better today, i.e. I didn't wake up with a raging headache, so I decided to go to my neighborhood lake to paint during sunset. It was very cold, I forgot to bring my portable seat, my paint brush felt on to the dirt, and the walk from the lake parking spot to the actual painting spot was very long. But at least my nose didn't leak. Small blessing.

So the conclusion is, tonight I'm gonna make myself my favorite soup and watch Drop Dead Diva all night!

Bunyy's random lunch partner

Bunny's lunch date today is randomly assigned.