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! 

Unfinished

Several weeks ago, before the trip to Bruges, I made this drawing, since I felt trapped.
It seems, not our body, but our mind is a cage. It imprisons us and keeps us from all opportunities in life.
I'm a new soul now. My mind is clear and wide open. The drawing is left UNDONE.

Melody for a healed soul

It seems when something ends there's always something waiting to begin.
Every parting is a chance to start again. Make failure your friend and mentor, since we all know: "The only failure is the failure to learn from failure."
My new and maybe, very long journey has just begun. I'm at same time confused, disorientated but exciting and hopeful.

"Peace, my heart, let the time for the parting be sweet.
 Let it not be a death but completeness.
 Let love melt into memory and pain into songs.
 Let the flight through the sky end in the folding of the wings over the nest.
 Let the last touch of your hands be gentle like the flower of the night.
 Stand still, O Beautiful End, for a moment, and say your last words in silence.
 I bow to you and hold up my lamp to light you on your way."
                                                           - The Gardener- Rabindranath Tagore

Like a broken butterfly

Sunny days could be a pain, if one's heart is weighted down by sorrow. 

Rainy days calm me down, since the gray color of the sky, that heavy feeling in the air before the rain and the very strong earthy wet dirt smell after it seem to correspond to my blue thoughts.

If my soul were a butterfly, it would be now a broken one. 

A cocoon of love

While listening to Norah Jones' new album "Little Broken Hearts", I wanted to create a new postcard which could remind me of the fragileness of love and its care dependency. 

I remember that someone once told me, that love is a tree. It takes nourishment neither from the earth nor from the air, but from you. 

My stage is my garden.

This spring break was not enjoyable at all. Too many things at home were broken at the same time. Too many things happened. I was tired and couldn't create any drawings for two weeks.

Two days ago, I dug up some old sketches to look for new inspirations and found a poor sketch of a ballerina. I completely forgot, when and for which purpose I made this sketch. What a waste, if I would throw it away.
I gave the fragile ballerina a pair of purple butterfly wings and turned her into a small fairy dancing elegantly on a flower in a summer garden.

Flora's new scarf

Although it's still cold, spring items are arranged in shopping malls. I bought a scarf with butterfly print yesterday. It inspired me to create this drawing.
Flora is a lovely name for girls. It always reminds me of the goddess of Spring in Botticelli's painting "Primavera". Although Venus stands at the center of  painting, Flora attracts me more. The dress she wears is just gorgeous.
My Flora is covered by different flowers, such as snowdrop, cosmos, camellia, rose, pansy, checkered lily, poppy, mistletoe, coneflowers, etc. Colorful butterflies are flying around her slim, young neck, as if they were a scarf of hers.

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. :)

Snail, Rain and Ajisai

It rained all night long yesterday. I'm very sure of that, since I stayed awake all night long to finish this drawing, done by watercolor and colored pencils.
Since I've lived in Germany, I miss heavy rainy days back then in Vietnam. There are only two seasons in my hometown, dry and monsoon seasons. From May to November it rains all day long and it rains everyday. As teenage I disliked this beastly weather. Funnily enough, common things became things I miss most of all, when they're gone.
Although it never really rains in Germany, I've always had an umbrella by my side. Just in case!
Just in case it rains cats and dogs, I won't get soaked and will be able to enjoy this beastly weather. My wild excitement about rainy days made me believe, if reincarnation were real, I could be a snail longing for rain in my last life. Maybe... :)

(Ajisai is the Japanese name of Hortensia. It sounds beautiful, as beautiful as the flower itself.)

Other works of mine related to snails:

http://silent-snail.blogspot.com/2011/10/ajisai.html
http://silent-snail.blogspot.com/2011/11/sleeping-she-snail.html
http://silent-snail.blogspot.com/2011/11/speedpost-service.html

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

Bottle postcards (2)

If we could put one's memories into bottles and lay them on a shelf, I wonder, how many bottles we would need? 

As child I used to live with my grandparents at the seaside. To me, memories of the sea are memories of the childhood at the same time. As teenager I was asked, if I were a thing, what I would like to be. I remember to have answered, that I'd like to be a lighthouse. :)
However, today's theme for the bottles of memories is Love. Van Gogh's painting "Starry Night" and a heart carved in a tree as symbol of puppy love were my inspiration.

Actually, I didn't have either memories of  a romantic starry night or a heart carved in a tree. How about you?

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.

Speedpost Service

A brand-new speed post service offer for lovers of culture of writing and vintage style or eco-warriors...

Be bored with Airmail etiquettes and troubled by greenhouse effect?

Let's GO GREEN by the use of our new Snail Mail stickers! 

(Caution: This is just a work of fiction.)

I wonder whether Mr. Postman could feel offended due to delivering this postcard. :P

Front side:

 Back side:

Sleeping She-Snail

Back from a busy day, she's now sleeping peacefully in her very cozy shell. Sweet dreams!

Front side:

 Back side:

Come to me, my Prince!

 

I love to listen to tales of mermaids and prefer the variants in which these good-looking mythological aquatic creatures are noted as unlucky omens or coldhearted sea monsters. To me, a mermaid is supposed to look more like a strange fish than a human being. That's why I added to the sea woman in my drawing a huge dorsal fin and gills on her cheeks.
While stroking her sea turtle, she looked at you. "Come to me, my prince! I'll eat you up both skin and bone. Softly."

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.

Planting a good thought

 

Directions for planting a good thought:
You will need seeds labelled "Good Thoughts", some clean water, fertilizer, anti-bug spray and a glass bell jar (optional). You are supposed to read some books or talk to your "Good Thought" sprout. Conversations bring joy and make your sprout healthy.
Good luck!

Lyra, her Iorek and Kaisa

I started reading "The Golden Compass", the first novel in Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" trilogy in May and can't help continuing to read the second and the third.

"Lyra, her Iorek and Kaisa"
(Ink and watercolor on paper, 10x10cm)

(In case you don't know, who these three are:

• Lyra, the protagonist, is a 12-year-old girl, who grew up without parents at Jordan College in Oxford, a fictional college created by Pullman for his trilogy "His Dark Materials". She travelled later to North Pole to rescue her best friend Roger, who was kidnapped for a cruel experience, and to meet her father, Lord Asriel.
• Iorek, the polar bear king, was outcast by his bear society, before he met Lyra. Thanks to her clever idea, he won an important fight and became the King. Since then, he named her Lyra Silvertongue.
• Kaisa, the gray goose, is a witch's Dæmon.)