Pole Dancer

My mother used to drop me off at school very early on her way to work. Being the strange child I was, I actually loved that whole hour of quiet and solitude on the empty campus (with a few staff members present).

Then one day, I noticed I wasn’t the first student on campus anymore. I saw a girl dancing in the courtyard, so I came closer to take a look who it was. It was a schoolmate, Sheila. As time went by, it became an unspoken competition between us – who would be the first to arrive on campus? I got up earlier and earlier each day, determined to beat her.

But no matter how early I arrived to school, there she was -- Her long legs wrapped around the pole, dancing, and silently mocking me.

Damnnnn youuuuu, Sheila!! (shaking my fist).

Gym Uniforms

 

When I was in school, the girls in my class designed a gym uniform for us to wear. The design was simple: to have our individual names printed on our t-shirts (oh, how original). But, since we were given the liberty to do this, we were so excited! Our own personalized gym tshirts! Wooohooo! What a novelty!

We submitted a list of the girls’ names on a piece of paper to the local tshirt maker. When the finished tshirts came back… instead of seeing each personalized names on each tshirt, we saw the entire list of names printed in a single row. Eh??

We had to wear those tshirts for the entire year.

Peep Show

One evening my mother came home from work saying that we must be living in a “questionable neighborhood” because she saw a “questionable business” close by to our home. (Back story: we had just moved to Los Angeles, California). My brother asked her, “What questionable business are you referring to?”
Mom: There is a business down the street named Pep Boys!
Brother: What’s wrong with Pep Boys?
Mom: That’s where, you know, men look at scantily clad women through keyholes!
Brother: Huh?
My brother finally figured out that my mother innocently thought PEP BOYS was a PEEP SHOW business.

Charlotte's Dream

 

My husband and I welcomed a healthy, beautiful baby girl two months ago. This image kept popping in my head and I wanted to draw this.
My daughter is wearing a dress, a cashmere sweater, and standing next to a John Deere tractor. A rather strange imagery, one would say. My interpretation is as follows:
It is my dreams that she can enjoy the finer things in life, symbolized by the cashmere sweater/pretty dress. But she is also not afraid to roll up her sleeves and handle a manly equipment (the tractor). The tractor symbolizes the realities of life – the hard work, dedication, and perseverance required to make it far. The vast farmland symbolizes my desire to raise my children in a big, safe open space where they can run and explore. Most people would associate the thunderstorm with scary, negative feelings. For me, it is quite the opposite. I find thunderstorms to be soothing, relaxing, and the perfect time to curl up inside a house with a good book. I want our daughter to know that she can retreat into the safety of her home and her family whenever she needs to.

Ahead of her time...

 

This was one of my mother's favorite stories about her mother (my grandmother): As a schoolgirl attending a predominantly Chinese school in Indonesia back in the 1950's, it was common to see her classmates' immigrant Chinese mothers wearing their traditional (dull) grey/blue outfits. My grandmother, on the other hand, was raised under colonial Dutch rule in Indonesia. She would pick my mother up at school wearing lipstick, full make up, and a beautiful dress that showed a hint of cleavage. My mother recalls being embarrassed and wishing her mother would dress like her peers' mothers. I think it's actually awesome that my grandmother stood out so beautifully. Cleavage? Whoo hoo! Way to go, grandma!

Paper Cut Artwork - Sofia & Eva

Another paper art work! I combined the client's two little girls into one design. The photo on the left is the concept sketch, the middle photo is a close-up for details, and the right photo is the finished product. If you are interested in having one made for your child, please private message me.

Farrah Fawcett Afro

 

Salon story continued since the last post... At this same salon, I swear the owner must have hired untrained people off the street to work on her customers. My mother came in asking for a Farrah Fawcett hairstyle (she even brought in a photo of the actress) -- and they ended up giving her an Afro. What. The. Hell? I don't know how that place gets any business at all.