Bluebellia

Mưa tí tách ngoài hiên Miền Đồng Thảo Để Du Miên trăn trở nỗi mong chờ Một Bố Già đang ngả người, chao đảo Một Cõi Riêng, héo hắt bụi hoa mờ. Vòng tay ấm, ngọt môi, tim hòa quyện Cảm giác ấy, người ơi, lặn xa rồi Dải cát vàng đưa đẩy hàng chân biển Bởi người thôi, mong mỏi buổi chiều rơi. Tình nơi ấy, còn ta nơi tuyết lạnh Ai bất hạnh, ai chạnh một bên lòng? Trời giông tố, tình rơi không muốn tạnh Như hối hận, như giận một căn phòng. Yêu là khổ, mà không yêu cũng khổ Ta là ai, có phải thuộc về nhau? Ngày tháng trôi, đời trôi, tôi lầm lỡ Còn em mãi đợi, ru hời thương đau. Hỏi thời gian làm chi mà quá vội? Vừa im lặng, ta tạm biệt nhau rồi Nặng lòng nhau, bịn rịn một câu chào Để cuối cùng tắc kè còn níu kéo.

I made this comics as a submission for a Vietnamese online contest. I did it by myself but under the name of "Team OK" which consists of my best friend DO and me (hence "O-K"), and it took me many days and months. One reason was that I could only do it during my free time, and another reason was that I did it using my tablet for the first time so I was learning along the way. The last time-consuming reason was that, well, the comics is in colors! When I was finally done at 3 AM in the morning, I submitted it with full of hope and went to bed. But the next day I woke up and saw that my submission was badly received - possibly one of the worsts. How sad. But oh well. So I finally feel like posting it here. The comics has very few words, so I hope you'd be able to enjoy it regardless of your background. Till this very moment, I still feel very proud of this comics, and like it a lot. So here it goes. (clicking on each page will make it larger to read)

Some time during last summer I completed an artwork for Arwen. When I asked her what she wanted me to draw for her, she said "a horse". Here is what I did: Well, close enough. And here I am showing step by step how I did it. TUTORIAL

How are you doing on your readings in general and more specifically in developing your vocabularies? Recently I started reading a book for my Finance class called The End of Wall Street by Roger Lowenstein. In the very first chapter of the book – a short 6-page prologue, there were many words that I did not know, and I am listing them here: destitute somnolent bulwark scrutinize (to) prick quiescent laudatory salient fervent (adj) frothy parlance umbilical (cord) placate carnage plenitude opiate dictum stupendous I was so surprised to see so many new words in such a small amount of pages! How is this Roger Lowenstein guy? You would think that while reading a finance book, the only words you would stumble upon are technical terms or lingos. Or maybe I am just bad. How many words in the list above that you already know?

It’s nearly midnight right now and I feel bored. I don’t want to do any work; I don’t want to play any game or watch any movie. I don’t even feel like going to bed. What I am to do? It is by no means that I am running low on tasks. Tasks are always there hanging. They keep urging you to prolong this Life and make it perfect. Yet in the midst of all the to-do’s, occasionally I’d feel terribly bored – like right now at this moment. I feel so bored, as if all the motivations and meanings in Life have finally decided to leave me for good, so that I would be lonely and sad. There you have it: I am so lonely and am so sad. I feel hollow and vain like a make-believe fortune cookie, or like a teenager yearning for love and care of a parent. I have been without a family for so long, have been wandering to the point of not having a place to claim my own. Sure, someday I’ll settle down somewhere and call it home. But isn't it extremely painful to have to create it yourself because you...

An Duong Vuong, 2013 by DK-Gm Silk Art My first surreal attempt An Dương Vương was a Vietnamese ancient king (257-207 BC) whose life was eventful and memorable. He built the spiral-shape three-layered fortress to protect the capital city of Co Loa. However, the son-in-law betrayed him, and the king failed to prevent his country to be invaded. This piece portrays the king's tormented soul. I hope you'd enjoy it.

Sorry for not updating for several weeks. Times goes by fast when you don't blog. Here is my latest artwork depicting a Vietnamese soldier. A tribute for the soldiers falling defending our borders in the battle against the Chinese army in 1979. February 2nd is the day to remember.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” - Exod 20:8 (NIV) It was another Sunday, and I was at church when I learned that our study group will discontinue by the end of the month. That’s too bad since it was hard to find a good Bible study group and I really enjoyed this class. “Oh well, what can I do?” - I said. Then after the service, Arwen felt hungry and she was a bit grumpy and I wasn’t very happy about it. Why do we tend to be unhappy on Sundays? While driving home, I decided that if the day was crappy, what I could do was to get many things done. I washed the dishes, and right after lunch I started doing laundry. After all, by the end of the day, maybe I would feel better with myself being productive. The snow just now melted, leaving the soil in front of the laundry place soggy and wet. As I was carrying the huge laundry basket I stepped on this soil and it felt like quicksand. I quickly stepped back but it was too late: my proud Nike shoes got all t...

Here I start a new year with a BAM: A brand new Origami collection!!! The collection this time is about animals, a little bit of this and that. All the models are from John Montroll’s Animal Origami for the Enthusiast (1985). It’s a wonderful book filled with detailed diagrams of models ranging from simple to pretty complicated. Mr. Montroll’s models are all folded by one uncut square, and that’s why he’s my favorite. I really enjoyed folding these models. Bluebell once again helped with the title picture. PART 10: BEAUTIFUL CREATURES FOX by John Montroll – one of my favorites. When I was little I memorized this dude. BEAR by John Montroll – He is all white, maybe a polar bear. SAVE the polar bears!!! OWL by John Montroll – Silent in the dark: are you a dark knight too? WALRUS & SEA LION by John Montroll – I combine these two because they are quite similar. Maybe one has trunks(?) and one doesn’t? GIRAFFE by John Montroll – Giraffes  are fasci...