One Thousand Paper Cranes

I was inspired to make this small painting by Christian Dior's Spring 2007 Haute Couture collection. His crane dresses reminded me of a famous story from Japan called "1000 Paper Cranes." It was written into a book titled "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes." I read this book when I was in elementary school and thought it was extremely profound. It was one of the stories that really touched me as a child. I will never forget it. This is the kind of book that continues to haunt you long after its put down.

An old Japanese legend said that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes so pleases the gods, the folder is granted a wish.  One of the well know story is Sadako and her 1,000 paper cranes.

Sadako Sasaki (January 7, 1943 – October 25, 1955) was a Japanese girl who lived near Hiroshima, Japan. She was only two years old when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945.  As she grew up, Sadako was a strong, courageous and athletic girl. In 1954, at age eleven, she became dizzy and fell to the ground. Sadako was diagnosed with leukemia, the "atom bomb disease".

Sadako's best friend Chizuko, came to visit her and brought with her some origami (folding paper). She told Sadako the legend of the crane. It is Japanese legend that folding 1000 paper cranes (senzaburu) so pleases the gods that the folder is granted a wish. Sadako wished to get well. So, after hearing the legend, Sadako decided to fold 1,000 cranes.

After she folded 500 cranes she felt better and the doctors said she could go home for a short time, but by the end of the first week back home the dizziness and fatigue returned and she had to return to the hospital. 
Sadako continued to fold cranes. Even though she was in great pain, she tried to be cheerful and hopeful. Not long afterwards, with her family standing by her bed, Sadako went to sleep peacefully, never to wake up again. She had folded a total of 644 paper cranes.

Sadako's story had a profound impact on her friends and classmates. They completed her thousand cranes and continued to raise money from school children all over Japan to build a statue to honor Sadako and all the children affected by the bomb.

The Little Mermaid

Hi everyone! It's been quite awhile since my last update. I've been so bad with blog updates. I'm in my second semester of graduate school now. I shall have to post some pics of my studio soon :) This is a new painting I just finished today. It's inspired by "The Little Mermaid" and Japanese catfish paintings. She is wearing a gown from Christian Dior's Spring 2013 Haute Couture collection. It's one of my favorite collections for Spring 2013 because it has florals, which I love. I thought the dress would go well with this painting.

I am so happy that Marcus Kan of Draw a Dot has featured this painting on his website! Click here to check it out along with some questions I've answered about the piece :)

Anywho, I am officially back and will be blogging more often from now on! So keep a look out.

A Taste of Tulips

Happy Wednesday! I made this painting last December and never got around to photographing it properly. This painting has become one of my favorites because of the amount of time, love, and care it took to finish it. It was quite a challenge! I was inspired by Christian Dior's Spring 2009 Haute Couture collection and 17th century Dutch art. His collection was actually inspired by 17th century Dutch art, which is a big part of why I fell in love with the dresses. They are so gorgeous and you can clearly see the Dutch motifs in the dresses, from the tulips to the china. I copied the flowers from Dutch still-life paintings. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do. :)
 

Peony

Hi everyone!
I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend so far.

I finally got around to photographing some new paintings. This 30"x40" painting is inspired by Asian art and Christian Dior's Spring 2007 Couture collection. It's one of my favorite collections because it's inspired by East Asian artwork and culture. I might do an entire series on this collection because it is just so beautiful. Fashion is very inspiring, don't you agree? ;)

I just started a new painting on wood. It's quite large: 48"x48"! I haven't painted this large before, so it's going to be quite a challenge. My love Paul is still in bootcamp for the Army National Guard and I miss him sooo much! He's been gone since March. Sometimes I can't believe it's been so long since I've seen him! Well, I have missed Paul too much so I decided to make a painting starring me and him as the main characters this time haha~ It's going to be super sweet like a fairytale. Since he's my Prince after all :) Can't wait to show you the process!