WFH… Counting Down M(art)ch Break

Daily COVID cases has continued to decline this week to 4 digits. The government also officially scrapped the citywide testing that was planned for March, it might still happen in April, nothing is certain nowadays with our ever changing and often confusing and unscientific government policies. Regardless, I feel slightly relieved.

The declining COVID cases signals the countdown of my WFH days. Knowing that I won’t be spending as much time doing art after the M(art)ch break, I indulged myself with different art explorations in the past week. I started writing bible scriptures daily on postcard-sized paper in loose clerical script to resemble the graffiti of King of Kowloon. This could become a habit that I’ll continue after resuming work in April. Also attempted drawing Pokémon creatures on memo paper and sticking them on the wall, drew 45 of them so far. The practice seems to help me in drawing cute caricature of real animals. I hope that the cute cartoony animals can someday help draw kids to learn more about endangered animals. Need to figure out how to proceed with this long term educational project later.

Just one week left before ending my M(art)ch break, will cherish the time to do more art and to establish short routines to keep doing art on the side while I transition back to doing studio work in April.

Sketch… Sunday Service

WFH… More Arts

After kickstarting Inktober52 and picking up some Chinese calligraphy on my own the week before, I kept on doing more art at home this past week.

Although I had started Inktober52 with a few cartoons, the grand plot of the series is still unplanned. Did some research online and found inspirations from the Pokémon creatures. Copied one of them and drew another one in cartoon style using a real animal photo reference. Dusted off my old mini watercolor set to add some colors. The quick application of colors made the cartoon look bright and cheerful. This little detour from my previous years of mostly black and white works made me realize how much I missed playing with colors.

Also did some Chinese calligraphy practice again on my own. Wrote the 100 surnames again in seal script, my brush-and-ink skill seemed less rusty than the week before. Experimented a bit with writing bible scriptures using some informal clerical script, the result turned out to be fun and kinda like the style of the late King of Kowloon.

Playing with art in the past couple of weeks seemed to have lightened up my mood a lot while working from home alone. The 5th pandemic wave has been easing from the peak of daily 60k+ cases to recent 14k+ cases. The numbers will likely stay high for at least a few more weeks. I plan to indulge in more art therapy for the rest of March before getting back to digital fabrication work in April.

Sketch… Sunday Service

WFH… Inktober 52

After a month of being a web programmer and completing the redesign of 4 websites, I gave myself a break this past week to indulge in art. I first set aside my laptop to make room on the only desk I had to draw. Never turned on the laptop again the rest of the week.

I kickstarted the week of art indulgence by creating my first cartoon for this year’s Inktober52 event. Thought about skipping the event altogether as I was already more than 2 months behind, but I really could use the weekly prompts to spark my stale creativity. Drew 2 cartoons this week, will continue to play catch up on my own pace in coming weeks. The ongoing cartoons can be found on this inkon.723studio (IG) account.

Also started picking up some Chinese calligraphy practice again. Feeling a bit rusty because my weekly calligraphy class had been cancelled since Feb. Decided to relearn the cartoony seal script on my own. Wrote out the 100 surnames but turned out less than satisfactory. Brought home some seal script references from my weekly visit to the studio yesterday, will practice harder this coming week!

It feels good to be doing some art again, will likely be doing more of it in coming weeks as the pandemic seems to be peaking and I continue to WFH.

Sketch… Sunday Service

1 Month of WFH

Have been working from home since early Feb. In one month’s time, I managed to get back into doing some web programming work and was able to complete 4 website update projects. After launching the final website late last night, I felt extra relaxed.

With a lightened mood, I took my time to slowly stroll back to my parents’ home for dinner tonight. The street was unusually quiet due to the severe pandemic. My mind wandered off and many questions popped up. Why had the city fallen like this? When and how will this crazy wave of pandemic end? What will become of the city after the pandemic? And I started thinking about future plans. When should I go back to Canada? What should I do as a career?

I didn’t have answers to the questions. However, my mood seemed particularly light-hearted tonight. I felt extra thankful seeing my parents as healthy as they were amid this crazy pandemic wave which claimed the lives of many elderlies. May God continue to pour His grace and mercy on me and my family. 🙏🏻

Sketch… Sunday Service

Helping Others While WFH

Some of my CNY postcard fai-chuns started arriving their North American destinations this past week. My friends started messaging me one by one the photos of the Blessed Sleeping Tigers, I was happy receiving their messages as much as they receiving my little pieces of art.

The past week had been rather gloomy. Local pandemic numbers continued to rise with COVID cases hitting 5 digits. A few of my friends got infected and are staying home to quarantine. War broke out in Ukraine and all of a sudden the World seemed to have hasten its spiral down to doom. When the world is coming to an end, what am I supposed to do other than staying home to eat, sleep, and be merry?

It turned out that I was not entirely useless while working from home. An uncle asked a mathematical problem and I conjured up the high school trigonometry equations I still remembered to help him. Another friend bought a 3D object file but couldn’t open it and I helped him slice it into a 2D file that he can import into his CNC machine. It was good to be able to help others while working from home.

On Sat., my studio’s next door neighbor called my mobile phone for the first time and I went back to the studio to help him download and print a small 3D boat model. My colleague was at work for the first time on Sat., it was the first time I saw her in person since CNY holidays. She was finishing some work before her re-scheduled surgery on Mon. I helped her sign some cheques and told her that I’ll ask my fellowship group to pray for her.

When the world seemed to be coming to an end, my unusual helpful week seemed like God’s roundabout way of telling me that I was still useful and could still brighten someone’s day by lending a little helpful hand.

“Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.” (Ephesians 2:10)

Sketch… Sunday Service

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