三民主義

三民主義

Auntie Bao could not believe the effect her goddaughters had on her rabbits. When the three sisters came to visit, they had immediate good effect not only in her barn, but on her general outlook about the family’s future.  The next time she saw their father, Bao Gu Gu punched his arm and made tsk tsk-ing sounds with her teeth and then said loudly, “Wa! Lao Bao, you so triple lucky! Your daughters are such good credit to the family. They are helpful and look after each other very well and all while each one is so unique and independent. Three such good daughters are better than three dozen sons.  Ai Yo, even better than San Min Zhu Yi for the Republic.”

This is for my beloved goddaughters....Rylee, Kasey, and Jamie

~from Victoria

Romance of the Three Kingdoms

The Romance of the Three Kingdoms

Uncle Tu gave his maid, Li Mei Hwa,  a scholarly work bound by course strings that and  silken papers. In the evenings the old man tried to teach the young girl to read and write all with the intention that this would lead to her ability to recite poetry from the Tang dynasty poets to him in the evenings. Little Li had never been to school a day in her life but this did not deter Uncle Tu from jumping right into the classics. The book was his treasure and sharing the stories within to such an eager student, was his pleasure.

Origins

 

I met this little sister, Shaio Wu in a temple; a place of worship in a large city in Jiangsu Province.  We made small talk as we waited for the ceremony to begin.  She asked me many questions about my travels around China. While we waited for the musicians to tune their instruments and chanters to begin singing about the origins of mankind, Shaio Wu turned to me and said.  “You know auntie,  I am adopted. I know nothing about where I was born.”  She paused and listened to the chanters warming up and then asked me.  “By looking at my face, can you tell what province I am from?”

~from SuZhou

Drying out

 It is hard for me to believe that it has been six months since I posted on Wu Fung Road and  even harder to admit that in as much time I have not worked on a single painting.  In the past six months I have only been home  a total of 21 nights. I have never been busier or traveled more in my whole life!  But finally,  four flawless sunny days in a row to paint.  I have 11 boards drying in the sun. I have to carve my paintings first in order to paint them and to carve, I need DRY HOT SUN!

The most ambitious  painting is one I have been trying to complete for 10 years now of my three god-daughters, Jamie, Rylee, and Kasey Boyle, who happen to be triplets.  We share a last name and family history rooted in Taiwan. Their baba has been my good friend since high school.  I have started so many carvings of them only to come back to the work to find it so hardened I couldn't finish. In Chiang Mai, the roof of my water pump house is stacked with unfinished triplet carvings now hard as rock.  But I am determined to see this one through. The delivery of this picture is now a standing joke between us.

The studio below is not mine. It is in Dong Guan China, an area I go for work and not a place one ever expects to see pockets of beauty.  But this studio is in a refurbished and preserved old village and sitting at the calligrapher's table last month, made me realize how my arms and hands ached to hold a brush.

I also got to visit my brother YS Lin's ancestral home in southern Taiwan...in Wu Feng, not to be confused with Wu Fung. He took the photo of me in the doorway of his house.

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
                                                                       


                                           

Ah Gwai's Love Birds

On December 14^th Ah Gwai’s father passed away while running around a public track.  In a single day, the young 23 year old Special Education Major, learned that not only had she just lost her beloved father, but that another family with aunts and uncles and a half brother and sister existed; a huge extended family existed right under her nose, hidden from her.

Still, Ah Gwai knew only love.  In her short sheltered life, all she had known was love.  And that was enough.

~True Story

Mrs. Ma's Houseboy

                                                      Ma Tai Tai's houseboy was very clever,
                                                      but it was clear to everyone, except Mrs. Ma, 
                                                      that her kitchen cleaner was capable of so much more.


                                                     ~for Ranjan

Shiao Jen Decides

Little Jen visited her NiNi, a days journey by foot from home.  Her granny kept chickens and lived alone.  On the morning Shiao Jen was to return home, she thought long and hard and decided to stay and live with Granny until time to go to high school.

~these days I am in Chiang Mai, Thailand trying to relax and paint.  It is raining hard here in Mae Rim.  I have been traveling all over Asia since the beginning of September for work, and I am not done.  I return to Japan next week.  Hopefully I will get back to my mountain top retreat soon to finish what I have started.