Art that Makes Me Wanna Write a Book!

Yes, it's finally time for another installment of Art that Makes Ann Wanna Write a Book!
It seems to be the only thing I get around to blogging about these days, but I feel some 'real' blog posts coming soon! I am going to be hanging out with YokohamaMama in the land of the rising sun next week, and two sisters+cherry blossom festivals= a good, old-fashioned blog post!

So anyway... This week's art is from Lani Imre, an artist originally from British Columbia, Canada. Her work makes me think 'book covers'. I see so much emotion in the eyes of her painted characters-- it really could fill a book!



And while much of the art I have previously posted is of a specific scene, and I spend time daydreaming about that scene and the story on either side of it... Lani's characters are solitary, lonely, almost existing in a vacuum.
There are no clues about what is happening to them, and yet it makes me yearn to know who they are... and that makes me wanna write a book!

No, really! I have an excuse this time!

Seriously! I got a really great commission to do a jewelry piece for a talented celebrity that I love, I had Japanese houseguests for two-and-a-half weeks, and then I got diagnosed with asthma! Yah, see, Matt and I were going on this short bike ride, and when I coughed and wheezed for 8 hours afterwards, I decided it was time to talk to the doctor, and... wait, you're not listening anymore, are you?
Your eyes glazed over after the first excuse? Really? All these years, I thought the excuses were working... turns out you're just thinking about texting your other friend who wants to go out for drinks later.
OK, fine, so I don't really have a good excuse, other than the fact that I am easily distracted at times. It has been a good month since I really focused on my blog, and at least two weeks since I really dug in on my WIP.
I defer to Laini Taylor's great post on this subject. Also my sister's post, which proves that we are eerily identical despite being 3 years (and several thousand miles) apart. Turns out I'm not the only one struggling with keeping my focus, and the fact that I'm not alone in this... thank goodness.
And thank goodness for my inhaler, which will allow me to contemplate a more active lifestyle for the first time in my life. (Notice I said 'contemplate'-- we're not committing to anything here!) Still, it will be nice to be able to actually complete a bike ride!

I just have one question: where can I get an inhaler for writing? You know, so I can finally complete this manuscript?

Art that Makes Me Wanna Write a Book!

Hello again, here is this weekend's installment of 'art that makes me wanna write a book', even though I didn't get it posted on Saturday.... (houseguests. you know how that goes.)

Anyway, today's art is by one of my favorite Japanese artists, Shohei. I've posted his work before, and talked about his famous animator father, and his colorblindness, and I'm still blown away by the fact that he uses only ball-point pen to draw....

Yah. It's sort of shocking to see someone draw like that with a ball-point pen....

Which leads me to one of my favorite pieces by him: "Ping-Pong Geisha"


I love the movement, the playfulness, the details... She's so modern and so traditional all at the same time. I want to know why she wears sunglasses and who put a lock around her waist. I want to know why she plays ping-pong instead of practicing shamisen or dance. I want to know who the person on the other side of the table is. Maybe she is being controlled by a gangster... maybe she is sick of being a geisha and is breaking free.... So many possibilities and story ideas come to mind!

Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

And the Winner Is....

Christine Danek!

congrats Christine, the monster is yours! :-)

just email me at annfoxlee(at)gmail(dot)com and let me know your address. I'll get it out in the mail to you next week!

Recovering from Olympic Fever/ Saturday Art

Sorry I've been away from my blog for a couple of weeks here... I've been suffering from Olympic fever, and have been rabidly following Johnny Weir's great performances (oh, the politics of judged sports! He was robbed....)
Anywho, now that I'm back, it is time for a contest!! The details will be later in this post :-)

Also, starting with this, I'm only going to be posting one art piece. On a rare occasion I may put up more than one, but I've got to be a bit more measured in posting the art, or I might run out!


This piece is an interesting one for several reasons. First, it is a collaborative piece. Naoshi (an artist from Japan) did her work first, and then Martin Ontiveros (a Portland Artist) finished with his painting of the monster. Second, while Martin's part is painted, all the rest of the piece-- the cake-head girl, the background-- is done in colored sand. YEP! Colored sand. It is an old Japanese technique called Suna-e, and if you go to Naoshi's website, she has drawn out a tutorial on how it is done. It makes it seem easy, but really, all those perfect little lines...hard!!!
I love that the piece, being made of sand, is so sparkly that you kind of want to eat it. And I am amazed that Martin could paint his monster so perfectly over the sand, and somehow keep it sparkly too.
Each time I look at the poor cake-headed girl being tickled under the chin by that colorful monster, It seems like the middle of a children's book to me. Kind of like the spot where Red Riding Hood realizes that the wolf is in grandma's clothes.
It is a dangerous scene, where she just might be eaten!

So now, on to the contest!
CONTEST RULES:

1. contest begins now and ends 8AM Pacific, next Saturday.

2. to enter, you have to add a comment on this post.
3. adding a comment on this post= 1 entry
4. being or becoming one of my followers= 2 more entries
5. mentioning and posting a link to this contest on your blog= 3 more entries
6.getting someone else to comment that they followed your link here= 4 more entries for you, 2 more for them

After the contest is closed, I will use the Randomizer thingy online, pick a winner, and post it by 9AM!

Good Luck to all!

A Tale of Two Sisters

Some of you already know that my sister lives in Japan, but despite that distance, we are as close as two sisters could possibly be. We are the best of best friends, and to my memory, have been ever since I was in 6th grade and she was in 9th. Amy stuck up for me when one of her school friends was being a bit mean (I don't even remember what happened-- just that she pretty much told her friend to shove it.), and we've never had a cross word since.

We're also constantly discovering that we share secret obsessions (see my posts and our comments on Johnny Weir and Particle Physics for proof of random things we obsess about).

So if you've ever wondered what life in the Land of the Rising Sun is like (don't miss the bust-a-gut mangled English!), how to get started with origami anyone can do, or even how they get kids to eat spinach in Japan, pop on over and see her new blog: YokohamaMama !
I also have a link to it in my sidebar.

And don't forget to scroll down for pictures of 4-year-olds dressed up with sushi hats, singing a sushi song... it's seriously cute overload.
But I think my sister's three kids are cute overload too :-)

Lazy Sunday

I know... I didn't get a chance to put up a Saturday Art post this week, but I promise to make up for it by having another art contest next week!

Until then, I am trying to stop cruising the internet and get some actual writing done today.

As you may have read, I am easily distracted by the internet.

What distractions get to you when you're trying to write? Are they legitimate distractions, or like me is it just a way to procrastinate when you're at a tough spot in the writing?