Thanks,
Hung

As innocently as the clouds
He[She] tills the field:
Under the Southern Mountains.

It is hard to believe that it has been a little more than two years that I last had posted on this board. What time and distance has to do with memories when life flows endlessly in so many directions. As a famous haiku poet Basho once said: "Days and months are travellers of eternity. So are the years that pass by. Those who steer a boat across the sea, or drive a horse over the earth till they succumb to the weight of years, spend every minute of their lives travelling." We all toil in the field of life for meanings of our existence. Often time we might forget the secret events of our earlier life that once set us so much apart from others. I remember well the little boy who used to be favored by the teacher to draw on his desk because he was a foreigner to an American elementary school. I knew very little English but I did well in math so the teacher was willing to cut me some slack to let me do things that other kids were not allowed. Instead of active participation in class I was allowed to sit at my desk and draw an American football helmet of the Washington Redskin. I spent hours to draw a perfect resemblance of the Washington Redskin helmet in full details each week on my small desk at the back of the class room. At the end of the week my desk would be clean off by the janitor and I would have to redraw it all over again. Everyone was fascinated with my dedication and I was quite proud of my work. It wasn't until I was much older that I realize how special the teacher had been to me. He was willing to let me violate a little classroom rule and pursuit my artistic interest. May be one day too I will go back to become an artist but life must continue according to the road that we have taken. For now I must be content with enjoying the paintings of a woman who has the fortune to pursuit another of her childhood dream. It looks like someone has favored Vivian over me this time around. In two installments of a dozen each your paintings and drawings have been revealed to us faithful fan. The fact that latest dozen has so much details over the first clearly indicates your artistic talent has been much improved within a short time. All the portraits are so beautifully drawn with the essence of the figures in full life vital energy. If I am to look at the cat I could easily thought I am looking in the mirror and the cat is me. The ability to evoke connective emotion in the arts is the hallmark of a great artist and you are doing a very good job at it. In the portraits I can see the mom's hope, your simple happiness, the cat's skepticism, the young girl's innocent, and the old man's sorrow in true splendor. Your drawing of the house with the bridge over the river is quite amazing. The light and dark shadows brought out the full details of the scene in perspective. After having looked at your drawings I find it is as refreshing to enjoy your beautiful colorful paintings of the pond and the harbor. Henry Thourou could be enjoying himself in that wooden pond and Hemingway's old man in the sea could be in the harbor ready for a next trip. Without a doubt I like your Chinese paintings best. Within these Eastern paintings nature, man, heaven and earth exists in harmony in full dream like perspective. Those cloudy mountain remind me of meditative zen paintings I used to know. Overall these two dozen of drawings and paintings are a fine colection of arts that give witness to the fine talent and spirit of your soul. I am very grateful that you have decided to share them with us. I enjoy them as:

On Stone covered with spring pinks
I'd like a few drinks
And then a good snooze.

Basho

Thanks

Your #1 Fan
Steve