Back to my roots, or at least the stem

My parents tried to teach me and my sister a few things while we were growing up: Chinese (reading and writing), kung fu, art, and Chinese philosophy (not many 12 year old girls who would be interested in learning The Art of War, but my dad suffered from a lack of teenage sons back in the day). Some things stayed with me more than others.

I still retain a smattering of Chinese (I used to be able to read enough Chinese to understand newspaper and magazine articles but not anymore), and a love of Chinese art. I actually got to be decent at Chinese painting, but as with my other art, I didn't pursue it and now regret it.

That's about to change (or so the plan goes) my dad recently gave me a lovely ink receptacle:

and I bought myself a nice brush set:

so I vowed that 2014 is when I'll start doing Chinese painting again. I've been inspired to explore my roots a bit more by our three-week trip to China in the fall of 2013.

Below are some of my old practice paintings; they're not very good (except maybe the last one), but I was 16 at the time, and, I hope, with practice, I'll get lots better! I'd also like to use this as a medium for some picture book illustrations. We'll see.

My dad did some writing scribbles next to my drawing scribbles...

Do you have a favorite medium for making art or that you admire?

"I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be." ~ Douglas Adams