Visual Arts
I think this one might be pretty obvious from the website in general, but I like painting and drawing. My parents have saved drawings that I did when I was 2 (no, you don't get to see), and I've been drawing since I could use something that made marks on paper. My formal education in art didn't start until I was 9, though, when I took a class at the weekly Chinese school. I still remember that particular drawing, and wonder whether I still have it. It was this pot with this pouring lip (the triangular extrusion that lets you pour without spilling), and it came out pretty bad in retrospect. But I was proud of it then, and I'm glad the adults around me faked some appreciation so that I didn't drop out right then and there.
I continued studying pencil on paper under different teachers with different styles, and at some point threw painting into the mix (maybe around two years after I started drawing?). I remember that at Chinese school (this was in Montreal), I was more about the social interaction than about producing good art that I was proud of. Maybe that's why all the work you see on this website was actually done towards the end of high school or in college, when I had no one to chat with while I was drawing or painting them. I still do my best work when I'm feeling a little contemplative and anti-social. I've come to believe that when you wish (because you're down), you see; and when you see, you can draw. It's good in the sense that I know what to do when I'm feeling down--I just draw.
The only painting I've ever done is acrylics on canvas or--a personal favorite--acrylics on watercolor paper. Recently, though, I've only been drawing and my last painting was in the summer of 2005, after graduating from high school. I haven't felt the inspiration to pick up a paintbrush again, but maybe that day will come. For now, I just enjoy the simplicity of pencil on paper.
