Sasa's Sketchbook

I have been fostering a sweet little cat called Nunu for a month now. One of her favorite places to sleep is among towels on the top shelves of a cupboard. She is capable of jumping there herself though sometimes (rarely) she fails... (And sometimes she begs/miaows me to lift her there.)

Have been trying to capture the fluid underwater world in my ink paintings lately. It hasn't been easy, have thrown away a lot of paintings. Including this one, except that I cut out this little part for IF... (I am lazy...).

Angry Birds is extremely popular in China. This is an Angry Birds stall in Ditan Park Temple Fair (selling furry toys).

The cat is waiting for a piece of bangus (i.e. milkfish, the national fish of the Philippines).

It is time to prepare to celebrate Chinese New Year. This lady is buying some new decorations.

Made this quick little bird doodle for the IF theme 'grounded'.

Reddish brown highlights are very popular among Beijing ladies in their 50s.

The Illustration Friday theme for this week is 'messenger'.

It is the darkest time of the year i.e. good time to start using that black sketchbook I bought ages ago.

Busy busy busy (holiday season so having some social occasion every night...) but managed to still make something for Illustration Friday. Started with no plan, doodling based on a photo, and here is the result (I like the background most).

Got back 14 ink paintings from double-papering, 9 of which happened to be round, which is also Illustration Friday's theme this week. Lucky me because otherwise I would have been too busy to create anything. So here is just one of 'the nine', not necessarily my favorite one but seems to fit the theme quite nicely. (I have still not decided which way this painting should be, maybe rotate a bit anti-clockwise, hmmm?)

Little Orchid / 小兰花, 2011 (346?), 43 cm, ink, mineral water color, and oil pastel on rice paper

I have been planning to draw my makeup for a long time and finally got a good excuse... Here is my contribution to IIlustration Friday theme 'vanity'.

Illustration Friday topic this week was 'silent' so of course did one of those three monkeys... This was a super quick & tiny sketch.

This week's IF theme is 'stripes' so was happy to spot this recycling guy's parked tricycle + stripy bags. Illustration problem solved! (Ink, watercolor, colored pencil)

When I was a kid there used to be a children's program  featuring adventures of a puppet called Kasper. I found him really scary. Once, when being ill with fever, I remember hallucinating that Kasper was in my room.The experience felt so real that it is still hard to believe that it was not... (black, blue, and white ink)

This is an 'electricity station' where you can charge your electric bicycle. Electric bicycles are very common in China but I personally hate them. They are quite fast & completely soundless + people riding them don't usually care much about traffic rules, causing a lot of dangerous situations. (ink, Chinese watercolor, colored pencil)

My quick contribution to Illustration Friday topic 'scattered'. (Ink, Chinese water color, colored pencil)

My contribution to this week's IF theme 'contraption'.

Originally I wanted to draw some real life device. There is a lot of everyday creativity in China and sometimes you see pretty strange and amazing machines people have made or adjusted themselves. So I was planning to take a walk and see if I could spot one but unfortunately pollution level has been too high last couple of days. Better to stay indoors and use imagination.

(Ink on comic manuscript paper - I like how the ink glides on it but it doesn't take water that well)

Hedgehog hibernating in pile of leaves. (Ink, Chinese water color)

This week's IF theme is 'ferocious'. My work is an homage to Killer Bunny of Caerbannog in the movie Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Happy to notice that my work was selected as Illustration Friday's Pick of the Week :-)

I find aquariums mesmerizing. But would never get one, I once worked in a pet shop and absolutely hated that maintenance work.

Illustration Friday theme this week is 'boundaries'. I ended up doodling this but don't ask me what it means...

For some reason I have always felt that subways (and escalators leading to them) have this mysterious atmosphere, especially in early mornings/late nights when there are fewer passangers around. (ink)

Mongolian kitchen is influenced by Russian and Chinese cuisines. A good example of this is khuushuur, which seems like a hybrid of Chinese fried dumplings and Russian salty pies. They are big fatty deep-fried pastries filled with cooked meet, yam!

Illustration Friday theme: 'imperfect'.

My obsession is ink painting. Here is what is on my ink painting table now (i.e. on dinner table, I eat by sofa nowadays).

This is week's Illustration Friday theme is 'perennial'. So I drew some trees (they are perennials, right?) using black and white ink.

My quick contribution to the Illustration Friday theme 'gesture'.

This gesture (i.e. crossed fingers) symbolizes number 10 in China. (ink on rice paper)

This week's Illustration Friday theme is 'stay', the word that many dogs don't like to hear. (Ink, water color, gouache)

The best remedy for hangover is Laoshan water, no question about it! (Ink, water color)

(They have redesigned the bottle, I have drawn the old one too, 3 years ago...)

In Finland, the midsummer is very magical time because the sun does not set at all. Nights have this beautiful cool other-wordly light so midsummer night is traditionally the time to do spells. This is the most well-known spell: If you pick seven different wild flowers (sometimes also from seven different meadows and/or while being naked) and put them under your pillow when going to sleep, your future husband will appear in your dream. (Colored pencil, water color)

Finally found some time to do this week's Illustration Friday theme 'Launch'. Reused my ink practice paper, I like the crumpled look though I am not sure if it goes that well with the theme.

Illustration Friday contribution, this week's theme was 'swept' (ink, calligraphy pen, water color)

My first Illustration Friday participation. The topic was 'shadows'. (ink, calligraphy pen)

Guinea pig sleeping... (water color, calligraphy ink pen)

I was planning to participate Illustration Friday with this but was late again, they changed the topic already. The problem is that the new topic is always updated so late in China time that I get mixed up with them... Well, need to start following them more closely and try the new one: Shadows.