So It Began →

My first portrait "Raquel With Wings" which I painted almost 2 years ago was the starting point of my journey on painting.

You see, I am a pragmatic person, everything I do has to serve a purpose. I used not to give much thought on painting maybe because I was never exposed myself enough to be inspired by one. 

I preferred an art that not only was beautiful but served a practical purpose, but painting to me was to decorate a surface........until I painted her with wings.

My college friend passed away the day after I last saw her. Never in my life I thought of her leaving the world the way she had left it. I was compelled to continue her story with new life and with the smile I had always remembered her with. I only had one blurry picture of her face when we were kids and I've never painted a portrait before, but I was determined to continue her story. 

On my canvas I gave her wings, dressed her in white, gave her sunshine and floated her above the clouds. She was as light as air, and as free as a bird. She was strong, radiant, beautiful, youthful, and full of life. She was happy to watch her kids growing up from above, protecting her love ones who she will be waiting to unite one day. I wanted to remember her this way.....

While I was painting her, my sorrow for her left me, I was filled with joy for her new life. And at the end when it was gifted to her family on earth, it gave them a lasting moment of transcendence.

It inspired me.....a painting, it served more than just beautification of a surface. It took me 6 months after to really take in that experience. 

Art could be anything you decide it to be, but mine will always carry the very heart of me and hopefully it will trigger transcending moment for those who come-across it.

Inspiration

People often asked me how do I come up with these crazy ideas on canvas?

I mostly stare at something that catches my eyes or thoughts long enough and then let the imagination take over the rest....

Process

The most challenging part of my creative process is always the investigation of an idea....

Every project is mentally exhausting until I know how I want to see it on canvas, the execution then becomes the therapeutical part.

My Philosophy in Art

I believe Art is the language of the soul. I was never good with words growing up, but I would always use art to express myself....it's the primitive gift in a child that I have never lost.

I think people have a tendency to follow another more inspiring figure, and "inspiration" is quite subjective. I often find myself being inspired by someone's way of working, way of life and way of belief instead of one's creations or accomplishments. I appreciate all forms of art whether it's realism, hyper-realism, renaissance, impressionism, abstract, mannerism, expressionism, contemporary, modernism....etc. I don't believe in limiting myself to one style of art, which in a way could be my own bias. 

Some people see one style as sacred and another as an abomination. But there's a story behind the creation of every particular style of art; I often wondered if a "master" living in renaissance time would just be doing modernism if given all we have in the modern world and vice versa. 

I remembered the observation after having my own child. My toddler communicated his feelings and views first with drawings before he learned to communicate verbally. It was quite an enlightenment to realize art comes much like a birthright to a human being. At the same time, it was a sad realization for me how little value we put on it. This primitive gift was mostly enjoyed at a kid's age, and then it was quickly replaced by other more productive and measurable skills.

To me art can't be judged, and it has to be more than beautifying an object, proving a way of craftsmanship, or mastering an old technique. It has to serve as a means of communication; it might be a thought that can't be adequately stated with words, a feeling that can't be described with languages, or a story that can't be narrated by sentences. 

When you see a child's drawing, you might see a circle for the face of a person and sticks for the limbs, because those are the easiest shapes his/her eyes could associate with the human anatomy. But the shoes or a bow he/she drew might be more realistic because there wasn't a simple shape that resembles the object. There are all styles mixed in a child's art, because art is the means for conveying the message, the feelings, and the thought. 

There's no particular style in my art, in fact I would pretty much like to learn every style and use whatever is effective in a project. My practice in art is the meditation of how to preserve that most primitive gift. 

Pre-history of my pursuit

I've always wanted to be an artist since I was a child, even though my interests had swayed from one thing to another growing up. I spent my childhood in Taiwan where being an artist with that generation was discouraged, for lack of better reason - art had no prosperity. Even though my raw talent in it was evident to most, to fit in the society's measurement of success was the priority in my family. 

"Boys are better than girls".....that's the message you received everywhere growing up in Taiwan. My mom had 5 girls, and that was partly the reason why she was looked down on within my dad's family, and among other superficial reasons being deemed as "less" in the society. As a child I've seen injustice, prejudice, racism and discrimination up close and personal, naturally my experiences pushed me to live by "I'll prove girls are better and make you(my parents) proud". And that sentiment put me on the road of an overachiever who was always trying to prove her worth.

I have always excelled in school academically, because that was the one thing I believed I had control of making my parents proud. I was accepted to pursue Architecture at Berkeley but went for Business School at USC instead.....because my father's wish was that one day I would carry his torch as a businesswoman.

I ended up in Information Technology field, climbed my career ladder really well, so well it was almost 20 years later I gave up my career to preserve the most primitive gift in me.