Watercolor Notes

A very important lesson in kendo, which can be applied to everyday life.

Note to self: be patient

The first three lines of John Keats's poem, Endymion

Saturday morning: I kept my laptop away and dedicated my desk to painting.

Intense kendo training sessions during the past two Thursdays resulted to bruises, cramps, and intense muscle pain oww.

I should reboot my watercolor diaries.

Compensating

For some reason, July has been quite... melancholic so I tried to compensate by doing things I love.

I made mangoes and cream cheese muffins.

My Kindle Fire gave up on me after just nearly two years (yeah, too short a lifetime) and though Amazon Japan offered to give me a replacement at a discounted price, the discount was too small so I decided not to buy anymore. Suddenly, Fully Booked went on sale so I bought myself two new books. And though I love paper books a lot, I do miss Kindle's dictionary function and being able to read in the dark. I'll probably buy a Kinde Paperwhite once I have the budget.

I made a new bag for my shinai (the bamboo sword we use in kendo).

I bought a couple milk cotton yarn skeins and they're in progress of being turned into beanies. My hat-loving friend who lives in Japan recently came home for vacation so I'm making one for him as a gift.

The color reminded me of House Gryffindor hence the Time Turner and the Snitch

After not having held a paintbrush for more than a month, I made a new 8" x 10" poster.

I also made an attempt at painting a self-portrait. It's not good but I hope it's not bad for a first time lol.

Oh, and I colored some parts of my hair with blue dye! Don't be fooled by the photo-- they're just highlights. As much as I'd love to have a full head of blue hair, I don't have enough patience to maintain that.

I can't wait for July to be over and I hope August will be kinder.

June

Wow, it's already July tomorrow. Pretty crazy how the first half of the year just flew by.

This month, I experimented in the kitchen often.

Vegan adobo: shiitake mushrooms and tofu

Tableya hot chocolate with cinnamon, vanilla and chili powder.

My brother went to Finland (for business) and brought home some blueberries.
We also had ripe mangoes at that time so I made a pie!

Binagoongan rice with green mango and egg

baked potato wedges in butter-sriracha sauce

lettuce, tomatoes, sauteed mixed mushrooms, caramelized balsamic onions,
burger buns, and beef-malunggay patties with cheese

Yay burger!

zaru soba (cold buckwheat noodles in dipping sauce)

This month, sadly, I only made one painting. It is, however, my most detailed painting so far.

This month, I visited a third-wave coffee shop in West Avenue called Coffee Empire.

So much equipment, it looks like a laboratory!

They have a room for storing coffee beans and a roasting area as well.

I ordered a light-bodied capuccino. It was very good and it didn't need sugar.

A mango-bavarian which was good but too sweet for my taste.

This month, I went to Boracay (first trip to the beach this year yay!) with my friends to relax. We mostly just ate, walked, slept and played in the water. Hurray to getting a tan!

Wind turbines! Hurray for renewable energy!

This month, my computer finally crashed and I had to have it formatted. Thankfully, I decided to buy an external hard disk drive last April (by then, my computer has been exhibiting some problems already) so most of my files are backed up.

This month, my news feed has been bombarded with graduation photos, mostly of my former students, and even though it kind of makes me feel old, I'm actually very happy looking at them.

Life Lately, in Paintings

During kendo training last Saturday, our sensei made us wear bogu (kendo armor) and do shiai (sparring). It's actually my first time to wear bogu and to do shiai.

Well, I don't know if my match was a draw or a loss. I'm pretty sure I didn't win because I didn't get a point but I have no idea if my opponent got a score either. While I did manage to hit my opponent a few times, I didn't do proper follow-through, and that's maybe/apparently why I couldn't earn a point. Well, it doesn't matter really if I won or lost because the point of the shiai was to show us the importance of kihon ("basics" or "fundamentals", in Japanese).

It was a really nice experience (and I can't wait to see the videos to see how silly/stupid I looked during my match haha). I'm motivated to train harder at kihon and eventually pass the bogu exam so that I can finally wear a bogu.

"Kihon! Kihon! Kihon!!", sensei always says.

These past few weeks, I've been trying to figure out what I really want out of life and maybe I need to stop fooling myself that I'm fine with what I am and what I have right now. Instead, I need to start going for what I really want.

"I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul."

I know I made bad choices these past few years but I'll make sure that I will learn something out of them.

And sadly, I'm going through a little heartbreak right now. Well, my heart's been broken a few times before. But maybe the word "broken" doesn't cut it... more like it's been crushed before and this one I'm experiencing right now is probably just a little crack-- nothing my resilient heart cannot handle.

And with all that's happening, an emotional Heimlich would be really useful. As Chuck from Pushing Daisies said, "A hug can turn your day around. It's like an emotional Heimlich. Someone puts their arms around you and they give you a squeeze and all your fear and anxiety come shooting out of your mouth in a big wet wad and you can breathe again."

But maybe a nice movie doesn't hurt. I watched Kingsman last week and I absolutely loved it. Action, comedy, gentlemen in suits... just my cup of tea.

Also, Game of Thrones.

Or maybe some meditation.

No worries, I'm totally fine. :)

Messing with Masking Fluid

I bought a bottle of masking fluid alongside a few brushes last week, after watching Pitch Perfect 2 with my friends. I got home a bit late but I was too excited to use my new things and I couldn't sleep until I could make something presentable. By the time I finished the piece below, I didn't realize it was already past 2am.

Took me a few tries before I could make this

Two days ago...

Yesterday...

I obviously need more practice and I think I should also invest on better-quality watercolor paper to see how it will make a difference.

Valar Morghulis

Valar dohaeris.

Finally got to use my broad paintbrush once again

I'm heading out of town tomorrow with my backpack (and my co-workers) so no painting and baking for me for the next two weeks. Yikes.

Paint, Cook, Brew

Made a few paintings over the long weekend:

yay galaxy!

I call this the watercolor sushi series. On another note, I need to practice my hiragana.

Because I've been seeing too much sakuras in my news feed

Last Saturday, I didn't have enough time to bake but I wanted to whip up something a bit more special than usual. Since I still had some leftover homemade anko (sweetened red bean paste), I looked for a dorayaki recipe and made some. The cakes didn't end up evenly-colored like the ones I've tried in Japan but they tasted good nonetheless

Dorayaki: Doraemon's favorite

I also bought a box of chai tea so hurray for homemade chai lattes!

Yesterday, I bought some Monterey Jack cheese to use for grilled cheese sandwiches. This morning, breakfast was grilled cheese with caramelized balsamic onions. Yum! I'll be experimenting with more grilled cheese sandwich variations over the next days.

Finally, a painting that Agents of SHIELD fans will understand:

Just Keep Painting

One of the principles we're taught during kendo training is to keep pushing forward. When you make a mistake, keep pushing forward. Act as if nothing happened. However, make sure that you do better in your next attempt, that you don't keep repeating your mistake, and that you continuously improve yourself.

Now, one of the things I really love about kendo is that I am able to apply many of its principles to everyday life. Case in point: painting. 

I don't consider myself *that* good when it comes to art. I mean, I know a bunch of people from the College of Fine Arts and certainly my art is a far cry from theirs. Also, come on, there's a reason why I studied engineering haha. Nevertheless, I keep pushing forward. I keep painting and making art because I like it and it makes me feel better. And here are some of my works recently:

Three days worth of backlog in my watercolor diary

I also made an attempt to paint my favorite hero these days: Peggy Carter. You ask me why she's my favorite? Well, you have to watch the Agent Carter mini-series to understand. (It's just eight episodes and it's amazing; you will not regret it.)

You see, we rarely get female heroes and I love Peggy because she's super smart, she can beat the crap out of guys heavier than her, she doesn't give up despite the misogyny in her male-dominated job, and she protects the man she loves (Steve Rogers a.k.a. Captain America) although she lost him eventually. I also love that Peggy is portrayed like a real person. She's tough as nails but when things get too difficult to handle, she also knows how to cry. Plus, she fights wearing red lipstick, a-line dresses, and high heels. Now, I guess, that's ultimate girl power.

It's like a grade school student's work but I'll keep painting anyway.

I painted flowers too.

And just today, after watching the latest Arrow episode, I just had to write the quote that stuck to me.