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

Sketches from Hallstatt in Austria

I went camping with two close friends of mine in Hallstatt in Austria.
Hallstatt is a lovely, small village located in the Salzkammergut, a region in Austria. My friends told me, that Hallstatt is so beautiful, that the replica of the village was built in Guangdong province in China last year. I don't like the idea, that Hallstatt was copied. The replica is just a waste. What makes Hallstatt a fairytale-like village is not only just its charming wooden houses, but also its wonderful location, i.e. the stunning beauty of the Alpine lake landscape surrounding the village, which is uniquess and unimitable.

I stayed in Hallstatt only two days and had just enough time to do two sketches. 

 09:40 a.m., 23.06.2013, House No. 133 Oberer Berg

 06:30 a.m., 22.06.2013, at the camping site

Hallstatt on Dwellable

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.

My trip to Bruges, Belgium

It's time to pack my bags to leave home, discover the world and open up my mind.
The destination this time is Bruges- the capital city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. Some friends of mine went there and adore the place so badly, that they suggested me to visit the city all the time.
I now also adore the city exactly the same as my friends do, after I came back home from there.
I spent one week in Bruges. Most of the time I strolled around, looked for a nice spot to make some sketches, stayed in the spot for several hours to sketch and got me later something tasty to eat. I didn't feel lonely at all while sketching, since there were always people coming to talk to me. They asked, if they were allowed to have a look at the sketches  I made, where I come from, and where I'm planning to go to on my journey. I'm really happy, since no one came and asked me stupid questions, such as why I don't just purchase a camera to take pictures, then go to other sight-seeing spots.
Everyday at breakfast, the owner of the B&B, where I stayed in Bruges, asked me, if I made some new sketches. I showed the sketches and we talked about the buildings I drew. She showed me a catalog of a Japanese landscape painter, who used to stay at her B&B one month and made a lot of  lovely sketches of landscape in Bruges. On my 3rd day in Bruges, while sketching, I met one old Belgian artist. He invited me to visit his atelier. What lovely paintings he has done! (AQUARELLE Lucien Vanden Steen- Peerdenstraat 17b, Bruges)
I enjoyed my time in Bruges. Good food. Good weather. Nice people.

20.08.2012- My 1st day in Bruges
This sketch shows the view from my room upon the B&B's garden. I left it in the B&B's guestbook to acknowledge my visitation in Bruges.

21.08.2012- My 2nd day in Bruges
Belfort (13th century)- the bell tower in the historical centre of Bruges. Sketch done at the market square, at 00:40 am. I gave the sketch to a very good friend of mine as a birthday present.

Bonne Chiere windmill (1844, from 1911 in Bruges). Sketch done at 05:50 pm.

Onze-Lieve-Vrouwekerk (The Church of Our Lady) (1220). Sketch done at Rozenhoedkaai, at 22:45.

22.08.2012- My 3rd day in Bruges
Kasteel Minnewater- a charming restaurant located at the "Lake of Love". Next time when I come back to Bruges, I'd like to have dinner by candlelight with my beloved at this restaurant. Sketch done at 04:30 pm.

Guesthouse Coté Canal- House of Fidel- the most photographed dog in Bruges. You can see Fidel in the trailer of the movie "In Bruges" directed by Martin McDonagh. Sketch done on Groenerei street, at 08:30 pm.

23.08.2012- I headed to the sea.
Mercator ship (1931) in Oostende, used by the Belgian Navy for the instruction of the military sailors and navy-men. Sketch done at 05:00 pm.

24.08.2012- My last night in Bruges. It rained all night long.
Blinde Ezelstraat ( Blind-Donkey-Street)- a narrow street runs from the Burg to the fish market. Sketch done at 11:00 pm.

P.S.: While I was sketching the Blinde Ezelstraat, I met Lies Ackaert- a blogger in Bruges, Belgium. She writes blog entries in Dutch about interesting things and people she encountered in her beautiful hometown. Check her blog entry about me here.

West Flanders on Dwellable

Follow the travel bug

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

It's now time to pack my bags, leave the house, follow the travel bug, open up my head and see what's on my mind. 

New travel sketches will soon be here. 

A perfect lonesome tea party

I'm my own woman. I enjoy my own company and my own tea party.

All we need for "a perfect lonesome tea party" are tea you like, good books, delicious cakes, a lovely vase of your favorite flowers, beautiful gentle music and no one else except ourselves.

Life of Bugs- A paper cutting

This paper cutting inspired by bugs is supposed to form a pair with another paper cutting of mine called Sleeps with butterflies.

Some of my favorite bugs and beetles were chosen.
From top to bottom and from left to right in the picture, they are Eupholus linnei, seven-spotted ladybugs (Coccinella septempunctata), Batocera rufomaculata, Stag beetle (Lucanus cervus), Goliath beetle (Goliathus cacicus) and Cyriopalus wallacei.

 I made this paper cutting as a birthday present for myself.

The pencil sketch:

And the end result:

Aries child

I'm an Aries child. Can that be the reason, why I'm crazy about sheep and always long for springtime?

I-HEART-POLAROID

 

One of my Christmas presents was a Polaroid 300 Instant Camera . I've been addicted to it. Since it's great to be able to make photos again as it used to be in the good old days. Each picture is unique and will be cherished.
This is a small drawing that I created with pen to use as the profile picture for my facebook.

à la chalkboard art

Chalkboard artworks have always cheered me up.
I created this drawing on paper in this style. The black background and white strokes gave it a gentle touch of old school days and country cuisine restaurants.
Besides, this is another drawing, related to tea as proof for my addiction to this hot beverage; and at the same time, it uncovered the truth, that I'm also a foreign languages junkie. ^^

Others posts about tea:

http://silent-snail.blogspot.com/2011/09/la-dame-de.html

http://silent-snail.blogspot.com/2011/01/tea-and-melone-pan.html

http://silent-snail.blogspot.com/2011/01/would-you-like-cup-of-tea.html

Fishing

Yesterday I saw a photo of goldfish taken by ©AKI on Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scape/ 

That reminded me of having drawn a picture of fish coming together to snap at the bait.

 The photo from ©AKI's photostream

And this is my drawing.

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!

A nostalgic moment

I started with a butterfly and ended up drawing coneflowers. I don't know why I'm so fascinated by these flowers, especially when they are fading. Such sad scene always makes me feel nostalgic.

"Long for Australia" doodles

I'm not keen on listening to presentations conducted by students. Most of them are not arranged well. Besides, because German is not my mother tongue, I need a bit of time to get used to a new voice to understand the information it conveys. A presentation without handout or Power Point slides is really a nightmare to me. Unfortunately, most of presentations in this semester have been conducted this way. When I absolutely lose the thread of what the speaker is saying, I every so often make a doodle. This time I remembered the postcard sent by Mum from Australia, which shows pictures of some typical animals in this country.

My trip to Spain- Part 2: Toledo

Toledo was the old capital of the kingdom of Spain in medieval times, before the Spanish court was moved to Madrid. Nowadays, this city is the capital of the autonomous community of Castile-La Mancha. In the past, Toledo was well-known because of the co-existence of Jews, Christians and Muslisms. That's why, it earned the name "the city of three cultures".

 I love this city and its very, very delicious marzipans. It's fair to say that the marzipan of Toledo is considered one of its finest food products. Making marzipans has a long tradition and it has brought fame to the city. Remember the name Santo Tome! You won't be disappointed by marzipans from this confectionery shop.

 

There is a lot of narrow passages in Toledo. As a fan of old, narrow and mystic-looking passages, I found here my heaven. This is a sketch of one passage heading to the university.

The kingdom of Spain is well-known for its Spanish inquisition in the past. Maybe, people in Spain won't like to hear of this fact as well as people in Germany feel uneasy, when we discuss World War II. I was really excited to go to the exhibition of ancient instruments of torture at the Alfonso XII exhibition hall. The exhibition hall is not big. However, it's scary enough to make you very grateful not to be born as Jews or Muslims at the time of the Spanish inquisition. These three masks of shame are the most harmless.

On the way to Puente de San Martin ( the bridge of Saint Martin), I discovered this lovely inner yard covered by oleanders and rosemary. I'm really envious of the people living there. They have huge rosemary bushes. I have a pot of rosemary at home. No matter what I do, my rosemary doesn't grow bigger. It stays tiny and weak. The lack of sunlight is the main problem. I have heard, in sunny Mediterranean area, rosemary bushes can reach up to one meter in height.

If I have a chance to go to Spain again, I'll come back to Toledo for sure, stay here longer and eat so many marzipans, that I feel like I'm going to explode.

Toledo on Dwellable

My trip to Spain- Part 1: Madrid

Happy Hippo and Iwent to Spain to visit one friend of us living now in Madrid. We stayed in Madrid for one week. Besides the capital of Spain, we also visited some cities in the proximity.

This is how the Kingdom of Spain looks like. As you can see, there are 17 autonomous communities and 2 autonomous cities (Ceuta, Melilla). If you don't have a keen interest in visiting Madrid, but Barcelona, you have to go to Cataluña. 

A she-bear and a strawberry tree (Spanish: madroño) -Arbutus unedo- are the symbol of Madrid.

I'm not sure, if this hand-made stuffed animal is a "cat", because it looks more like a little dinosaur to me. However, his creator considers it a cat. Maybe, at first, he wanted to sew a stuffed cat. The final product varies from the idea very often. Anyway, I like it.  

My friend in Madrid cooked dinner. It tasted good.

The 2nd day in Madrid was Sunday. That's why I went to El Rastro- the most popular flea market in Madrid. I like flea markets. Things are cheap here and sometimes, with a bit of luck, you can find some odd-looking but very interesting ones.
I got this wind chime, made from sea shells, as a present.

At El Rastro, I found a lot of stalls selling Spanish fans. I love hand fans of all kinds: Chinese folding fans, Japanese round fans, Vietnamese straw fans. Why shouldn't I add to my fan collection a Spanish one?
I'm not really a fan of Real Madrid. However, if there is a final match between this football club and FC Barcelona (as usual), I'm in favour of Real Madrid. 

I have heard, churros with thick hot chocolate is very popular in Spain and Latin America.
No one in my family is fond of chocolate; so am I. In my opinion, we can eat the churros without chocolate. They themselves taste already very good. Eating churros reminds me so much of Youtiao 油条, which my Mum likes to eat with rice congee for breakfast.

Street plaques in Madrid are beautiful. Have a look at some I saw not far from Plaza Mayor!

There is a lot of cockroaches in tropical countries. When I was in Vietnam, I saw them everyday. Since I've been in Germany, I haven't seen anyone. It made me think, these stinking creatures don't inhabit in Europe. I'm totally wrong. In the warm Mediterranean area, there are some of them.

While walking across Plaza de Colón (Columbus Square), I saw this artwork of Fernando Botero, a well-known Colombian artist. I don't have a clue, in which relation this statue of a naked "large" woman holding a mirrow has to Columbus.

Motives I cut from a brochure for the 28th festival "Fall in Spring" (???). What a name!

At the night of the 4th day in Madrid, the friend in Madrid and Happy Hippo gave a cocktail party.
Don't mistake this kitchen implement for a microscope. It's a juicer, comes from Venezuela and is made specially for oranges. Oranges in Spain taste very, very good.

I visited Museum of the Americas on the 5th day in Madrid. My favourite object is this vessel in the form of a guinea pig. If you google the word "Cui/Cuy", you get a lot of scary pictures of a dish made from the meat of guinea pigs. A whole baked/grilled guinea pig showing its teeth is often served on the dish.

Other objects in the Museum of the Americas.

On the 6th day, I went to Toledo-located 70km south of Madrid- for a one-day trip.

This is my dinner, cooked by Happy Hippo, with some rosemarries we got from Toledo, after we arrived in Madrid.

(Sketches from Toledo and Aranjuerz are coming soon.)

Madrid on Dwellable