A Dull Blade

I am in Chiang Mai, Thailand getting some much needed rest and sharpening. I am painting again after months of moving around and  not having any time in my studio.  I am feeling dull.  I have two works underway today and this one is not finished, but is of Little Gung's Grandfather.  He had a stall in the market at the end of our lane, where he sharpened farm tools and kitchen knives while also trying to look after his grandson. His grandson is Chen Wei Jung, who is now in his fifties and an engineer for one of Taiwan's large electronic firms. I ran into him recently in the Hong Kong airport as he was returning home after a long stint in China. We chatted for awhile about how we were both feeling dull.

But a good rest will sharpen us both up.

Happy New Year

The Bath

Han Zi Ming loves his son very much.  But like a very good Taiwanese father, he has never told his boy  how proud he is or how much he admires him.  When his son won second place in a class essay contest, Mr Han took him to the surfer pits where they enjoyed a good scrub and relaxed in the hot warm soothing waters that spill out of Taiwan's guts.

静静

All was quite and calm after Jin Jin’s cousins had gone home following the hot noise of the Autumn Festival family feast. Alone in her courtyard, enjoying the warm autumn night, Jin Jin relished a rare moment of peace. 

Sailing Away

   I am seven and crossing the river at Stone Turtle Creek.

A New Brother

New Work--work finally

It has been a long time since I have painted.  It's been a rough year.  Recently, my husband and I moved.  Downsized.  Empty nest.  So it has only been really recently that having finally gotten a studio put together, I took up two commissions that have been on my list...long overdue.  The top one was for a birthday.  The bottom  one for a wedding.  Feels good.

Double Happiness

This past week, I spent the day with our four year old twin grandsons, Neko and Finn.  We spent the morning playing "traffic" which means grandma is instructed to write tickets for tricyclists who are "peeders."  The afternoon was spent playing hide and "peek".  They have trouble with esses.

I had made this painting when the twins turned one and now it hangs in their home.  While they ate their lunch I photographed it for my records. They came along side me as soon as I started clicking.  Unaware that I had painted it for them, they felt it needed some explanation,  "Dhat one is Koko and Dhat one is Sinn and that is Shy shy, our dog. And Dada and Mommy.

Neko and Finn are twice the joy.

Fast Food

Chiang Kai Liang is nervous and usually in a hurry. In all the years I have known him, I have never seen him sit down to eat. It was therefore not surprising to learn that when his wife turned up for an impromptu visit from the far provinces to the north, she found him devouring his lunch.



~participating in the art walk the first weekend in June in Anacrotes@ Ryan Chanel

and for more fun(my latest project in Taipei-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GWP5YiB595M

Maggie Catherine

Maggie Catherine Brantingham

Maggie with her best friend (from Bunnies by the Bay) and here with her Papa, my brother Jonathan

Flying High

Yu Sheng was flying high. In a short time, many things had changed in his daily routine.  He was excited.  He also felt terrified.  He was soaring.

Getting Ready to Sell

Ah Sai was very busy.  Her husband had put their home up for sale and there was a lot of cleaning to be done before interested buyers came to inspect her rooms. Ah Sai always felt these invasions were like having stranger go through your laundry.

Double Happiness

When Little Lin 小林 had finished all her work, she would rest in the doorway, wondering about the house across the street and the people who lived behind the gate.   She wondered if they were happy.

Everyone was surprised, when she later married the son of the family who lived behind the gate. His family said, that having Little Lin join their family made them very happy.  In fact, they were double happy.

  for the 小 林's and the 林's of Japan
  Congratulations Mie

Heading Home

Gong....Gong.....Gong....Ah Song had been planting rice all day.  The Pong Yang temple bells  began to ring just a few minutes before six.  All the farmers of the Mae Sa Valley understood that this low metal vibration, echoing through the fields, meant work for the day was done.  If the exhausted laborers gathered their tools and headed home when the last bell sounded, they would reach home before dark.

For Ah Song, her work would not be done.  There were still children to tend and men to feed once she trudged up to her mountain top home.


~Painting and posting from  Mae Rim, Chiang Mai
Where I have been watching Ah Song from my veranda for several years.

林嘉生

Lin Chia Shen and Lin Yu Shen left their home in Chung King by train, traveling overland to the big city of Shanghai.  There, they were to board a boat to KeeLung, a small harbor on the northern tip of  Formosa.  They had never met their large extended family in Taiwan and their father had not been home since he was a youngster.  Now that the war was over, they could at long last go to meet their long separated family.

But on the way, their  mother fell ill and died. Mr. Lin decided to continue the journey home to Wu Fung in central Taiwan.  The journey, once started as a joyful reunion, now became a trip of necessity.  He needed a haven, a home to raise his two grief stricken sons.  There, he knew they would all be loved and well taken care of.

Once inside the courtyards of the Lin family home, two year old Yu Shen refused to eat.  He cried for his Mama.  It was only his brother who could get him  to eat, and only if he fed him himself.  Yu Shen would also wake in the middle of the night, calling for his mother and that is when Granny Lin began leaving a light burning in the boy’s room while they slept so that Chia Sheg could comfort his little brother in the middle of the night.

When Chia Shen passed away at the age of 71, he still slept with the light on.

 

Together At Last

Shaista Tayabali  and I met in Kuala Lumpur.  I met her adorably lovable parents and one newly wedded brother and sister- in- law too. Wonderful!  Now,  suddenly, after a full night of talking,  I can't find any words. 


Well, maybe these words...


"A red thread connects your heart to mine.  We are together at last."


~Jeanne-ming
   Kuala Lumpur
  Jan 1, 2012