Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts

Thursday, April 3, 2014

Ranunkel, Ranunkel, let down your hair...

One of my favorite spring flowers is Persian buttercup.
The red Persian buttercups are something between red poppies and red roses. They have the pasionate look and the velvet touch of red roses. However, their stems and buds are slightly hairy and the beautifully sharp contrast between their blood-red petals and midnight-black pistils remind me of red poppies in summer.
The German name of Persian buttercup is Ranunkel. It sound quite similar to "Rapunzel" to me. Have you ever heard of "Rapunzel", a German fairy tale in the collection assembled by the Brothers Grimm, telling a story of a young, beautiful woman with very long, golden hair, who is imprisoned in a tower in the middle of the woods? Since my little girl is a fairy of red Persian buttercups, she doesn't have golden, but black hair, which goes better with the color red.
Ranunkel, Ranunkel, let down your hair...

This is how the drawing was made step-by-step:

And ta-da, the final outcome! 

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The magic of cherry blossom

All my exams are over. It's now time to draw again.
I made the sketch for this watercolor several days ago while learning for the last exam of this semester. What a relief hearing the sound of pencils scratching on paper! I always wonder, why some people disklike this wonderful scratching sound so much. It sounds so beautiful and promising, much nicer than the scratching sound of chalk on a blackboard or a knife on a plate. I assume, that is the sound of an idea.
I'm very sure, spring has arrived safe and sound. The sun shines again. Birds are tweeting merrily. Eagerly numerous flower buds are longing for blooming. And I feel the fragrance of love in the air. 
One of my favorite moments of spring is the blooming of cherry blossoms. The moment is just like magic.



Thursday, August 8, 2013

Lost in a cloud of butterflies

Last summer, I purchased a book named "Gioconda " by British writer Lucille Turner, an excellent historical fiction of Leonardo da Vinci's life. I love the way the book opens inside the mind of the solitary boy Leonardo roaming the countryside, being fascinated by mechanics of butterflies, watching rivers to see exactly how water moves, collecting dead animals to dissect.
"A small boy knee deep in meadow flowers of humming violet, blazing white, is lost in a cloud of butterflies. He holds out his net,..., and waves it through the air, making eddies and currents but catching only sunlight. He flies this way and that, chasing wings that do not want to be caught, until finally he gives up, sits on a clump of moss and watches the stream instead...Time for another approach, he thinks. Let the butterfly come to you. He sits still and waits..."
Immediately after reading these sentences, I began to make a sketch of a small boy standing in the middle of a wild flower meadow and observing a lek of colorful butterflies dancing in the air. For some inexplicable reason I didn't feel like finishing the drawing and just left it undone until yesterday.


Sunday, March 24, 2013

Happy Birthday to Me!

Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday! Happy Birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME! <3
It may be not a bad idea to begin to post pictures of my drawings again on my birthday. Nothing could be as great as being a happy birthday girl.




Saturday, July 7, 2012

Fireflies Night

For years I've dreamed of getting lost in a meadow at night where a great number of fireflies usually gathers.
Born as a city child, I never had a chance to experience this spectacular scenery. I saw some fireflies in the garden of the house where I've lived since 4 years in Germany. However, the city light makes many things, such as the starry night sky or fireflies glow, less beautiful. What a shame! 


Wednesday, February 29, 2012

Teddy

It seems that most of grown-up persons don't throw away stuffed animals from their childhood.
I know some students who moved out from their parents' house and brought their beloved teddy bears with them, because the teddy bears are not only toys, but also their first friends and we're not supposed to leave our friends behind. 
A.I. is my favorite Steven Spielberg's movie and Teddy- the robotic teddy bear- is the role I love in the movie. The scene, in which Teddy sewed up his fur by himself, impressed me deeply. I wondered, if he became lonely, since no human beings took care of him. It's sad to see a teddy bear being abandoned. 
This is a tribute to all of my old stuffed animals which were left behind, since I left my country.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

A Little Girl


This is a small drawing in size of a postcard done last night, after I had dinner with two friends of mine.
Currently, I cannot cook and wash dishes at home, since the waste water pump is broken and the stove doesn't work. (They share the same electrical safety system. As long as the pump is still not repaired, the stove will remain cold.) Eating out is now the best and the only choice.
The last two weeks seemed like the coldest time ever. It's fortunately getting warmer now and made me long for the fist plum blossom of this year, which should appear before my birthday at the end of March.
I simply call this drawing "A Little Girl", since no better ideas for a name passed through my mind.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Waldgeist

This is my first drawing of the year 2012, made with ink and watercolor.
A Waldgeist in German is a woodland spirit, which is believed to live in the forest and protect living things with a pure soul. 
I hope, next time when I take a walk in the forest near my place, I could encounter a waldgeist. It might bring me good luck for the whole year. :)

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

How to survive boring lessons

It rained cats and dogs in the morning. Looking out the window just upset me and the lesson in the classroom was not better. 
Doodling seems to be the most-loved way to survive boring lessons to students around the world. :)


Friday, November 25, 2011

The magic hat

One day, Boy A found a magic hat. Where did the hat come from? No one knows. 
(Although I am the creator of this drawing, I don't know either. The only thing I know is that, the hat will change Boy A's life forever.) ^^
Inspired by the wizard's hat from Tove Jansson's Moomin books


Saturday, November 19, 2011

Bottle postcards (1)

Don't throw away empty bottles.
Let's fill them with a lot of beautiful memories that you're afraid you will forget.
These two belong to a set of postcards about my favorite motive: treasures in a glass bottle.



Wednesday, August 24, 2011

No-School Island


After many rainy days, summer came back. It was crazily hot. The hot weather made me mad and want to create some mad things like this drawing of a floating no-school island.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Alice and the smoking Caterpillar


On 3rd August, I visited a Vietnamese family having lived in Vienna, Austria for years. When the people there were chatting and making dinner, I-who are bad at small talk and not really fond of preparing a meal for a big family- asked for paper and pens to make some doodles of the mushroom garden decors. While drawing these ceramic things, I remembered the smoking Caterpillar in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
I finished the raw sketch in Vienna and started to color it, after I went back home in Germany. Ink and colored pencils were used to create this drawing.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Thousand paper cranes


I made this small drawing last year. At that time I wanted to fold one thousand paper cranes.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

"Dr.Dolittle's Practice" postcard set

As a child, I read a Russian book named "Doctor Aybolit", writen by Korney Chukovsky, told stories of a vet living in a jungle in Africa to help sick animals. Many years later, I heard of  Hugh Lofting's "The story of Doctor Dolittle" and found out, that "Doctor Aybolit" is an adaption, although its poems are original works.
Few days ago, I sent a postcard to a Taiwanese studying Phd veterinary medicine in Japan. She asked for postcards with pictures of animals of all kinds. It somehow reminded me of Dr. Dolittle and my favourite Russian children book. Although  I prefer the character Dr. Aybolit and the book's Russian cultural aspects, I named my postcard set "Dr.Dolittle's Practice" because of the popularity of British children's literature.

Bear: I tried to get honey from a beehive on a high branch of a tree.
Rabbit: I was deep in thought of my grandpa's race with a turtle and fell into a hole.
Dog: Hey, it was an accident that I trod on your tail while being chasing after a bumble-bee.
Cat: You startled me. I didn't intend to bite your neck.
Hedgehod: I'm fine. When I got up and found this apple on my back, I thought of the doctor and wanted to give it to him.

Because I really liked Rabbit's scarf, I wanted to draw it again. I thought to myself, why don't create a postcard set which shows what the animals had done, before they went to the practice.

"On the way to Dr.Dolittle's practice"
Rabbit loves colourful daisies. "They smell nice and taste good in salad"-he said. In a field of daisies, he has always forgotten the time. His Mum told, his Grandpa had the same preference for these flowers. Who knows, years ago he might have discovered some daisies with a rare colour in the race with the turtle and also absolutely forgotten the time, then later lost to the turtle.

"Breakfast before seeing Dr.Dolittle"
Bear loves honeys. His Mum has always told, that he should use a spoon while eating. Bear doesn't think, this way of civilisation makes fun. Eating honey from jars by hands is the best. "Don't tell Mum!"-he said and smiled.

 "Reading while waiting for Dr.Dolittle"
Hedgehog loves to read. He'll read everywhere. In this morning, he woke up and found a beautiful apple on his back. Hedgehog thought of Dr.Dolittle and how kind he was to him last week, when Hedgehog had a terrible throat sore. Therefore, he wanted to give this apple to the doctor so much. While waiting to be called, he is reading. 

As you can see, Dr.Dolittle is very busy. Of course, he must be very busy. Because... how many people in the world can understand  animals' languages?
(These stories are made up by me, Thao Mai)

Monday, May 9, 2011

Teru Teru Bōzu


I remember first hearing of a teru-teru-bōzu from Doraemon, a famous Japanese manga series created by Fujiko F. Fujio. More than 15 years have gone by, I forgot the function of most magic tools which Doraemon can put out from his fourth-dimensional pocket. However, his teru-teru-bōzu is related to rainy weather for sure.
It's said, until now children in Japan still make these little dolls and hang them outside of their windows to wish for sunny weather.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

I'm forever blowing bubbles.


I remembered Doris Day's "I'm forever blowing bubbles" and drew this postcard for a postcrosser in Oregon, USA. "Pretty bubbles in the air. They fly so high, nearly reach the sky. Then like my dreams, they fade and die..."

Friday, January 14, 2011

Moomins

I'm now reading the Moomin series by Tove Jansson, a Finnish illustrator and novelist, and bewitched by the fantastic world of Moomins.
This is a piece of fan art I made.
 
In this picture:
The blue Moomin House built by Moominpapa
Snufkin playing a harmonica
The Snork Maiden swaying with flowers
Too-Ticky watching a bird in the sky

In this picture:
Moomintroll, Moominpapa, Moominmama and their ancestor- A Finn Family
Little My chasing Sniff
A Hemulen examining a bug
Hattifatteners, creatures without emotion

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Origami paper boat

 
I've longed to hear sounds of beach waves. So I folded a paper boat and wished it could bring me to the sea.

Friday, May 14, 2010

In Memory of "The Adventures of Nezaika and His Friends"

Nikolay Nosov's "The Adventures of Neznaika and His Friends" (Title in Vietnamese: Cuộc phiêu lưu của Mít Đặc và các bạn) used to be one of my favorite books, when I was a child. When I drew these tiny pictures, I remembered how I enjoyed the story and adored its beautiful illustration. For old times' sake...

Lily of the Valley. Ring the bell to wake the Spring.

A song for You. The sun sets in the sky, rises in our hearts.
Summer blowball. Boys are all stupid.

A Flight to Remember. Friends, we're going to land in the Wonderland.

Fishing alone. You never know which fortune life could bring you.