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! 

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.

Sketches Home-Sweet-Home

I stayed at home in Vietnam for nearly four weeks from September to October this time. It was great to see Mum again after a long time apart. I often come back home on Christmas holidays to escape from freezing European winter days and because it's silly to face Christmas alone without surrounding myself with family and friends.

Mum is not only a gourmet but also a good cook. Staying at home with her means cozy atmosphere, good meals and healthy food.

I love to sketch food. While drawing I tried to remember how delicious the dishes looked like when they were served in front of me, how enticing they smelled and of course how their delicate taste melted on my tongue. These memories make me so happy and feel deeply grateful for what I got in life. 

Arabian-style dinners on the plane back home in Sai Gon:

Mum's lovely pets:

 

Dinners like a King at home:

Grilled Meat on Rice Noodles (Bún thịt nướng của mẹ) - One of my favorite things I love from my mum's cooking

Sushi and Sashimi at Tokyo Deli in Saigon: Salmon belly, herring fish roe sashimi, sliced octopus with wasabi and broiled eel nigiri.

Traditional dishes from Hue, the old imperial capital of the Nguyen dynasty- the last dynasty in Vietnam

 Keep this quote in my mind:

“No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.” – Lin Yutang

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.

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! 

Wanna be a teen girl again!

I went to Heinerfest with a very good friend of mine two days ago.

Have you ever heard of this festival? It is an annual festival in Darmstadt, Germany, believed the second largest city festival in Germany, celebrated at the beginning of July and will take 5 days. On the last day of the festival, there will be a beautiful closing firework show. This time I enjoyed the show with my friend and we had lots of fun.

My friend, she brought hopes, inspiration, wise advice and lots of laughs. She and the festival made me feel like being a happy teenager again. Best friends forever! 

Piggy loves dancing

I went a ballet school, when I was 12.

Actually the lessons were pretty difficult and lacked of fun due to strict diet plans. However, everything in memory of the old days seems to be always illuminated and very gentle.