Melinda Chan

Here's a spread from my notebook. I was trying out some stamping and the use of repeated patterns. I also used a variety of media including acrylic and pen and ink.

My parents have a knack for referencing and applying various Chinese proverbs during our conversations. Usually these sayings are agriculturally-related, so I have to ask for further explanation.

One of the sayings they use is translated word for word as "Ride cow to find horse."  They explained to me that it means you take what comes along, even if it's not the ideal that you had in mind (the cow) because it's better than nothing and you ride the cow until something what you wanted becomes available the horse).

I drew this Chinese saying in my notebook and had planned to clean it up and add color, but after stepping away from the project for a few months, I decided I liked having it as a simple, unfinished pencil drawing.

One of the challenges of doing art is knowing when something is finished. (I'll probably write more about this topic in a future blog entry.) For these sketches, I thought that there were a certain simplicity to the pencil drawing that made it interesting. You never want a piece that looks overworked, and I felt that I wanted the message to be the focus. Also, I think it's kind of fun to see a work in progress versus a finished end product.

It is art show week at work and I was among the group that was scheduled to be at the show today.

I was glad to see a variety of art at the show, ranging from poetry to costumes, photography, jewelry, and knitting.

Hopefully the next time there's an art show, I'll have some new work to display.

I will be participating in another employee art show again next week. The nice thing is that the show will be up for a full week. In other places that I've worked with art shows, it has usually been for only one day, mainly because of space limitations. The art show next week will be held in the lobby which also provides the opportunity for non-employees to see the work as well. Here's a section of the promotional flyer for the art show. They used one of my pieces in the flyer so that was nice! (It's the colorful painting of a vase.) I had wanted to do some new work for the show, but didn't have the time, so I ended up having to pull from my inventory of past paintings.  Hopefully I will be better prepared next time! I will report back on the art show afterwards.