Travel Journal

A sneak peek of a little project that I have been working on for the past month.

Q&A With Patience Brewster

Earlier this month, I was invited to participate in the “Artist Appreciation Month” interview series by Patience Brewster, the creator of these beautifully handmade and hand-painted Christian ornaments! This interview series encourages artists from around the world to share about their artistry and art influences, and here are my answers to the interview questions:

1. As a child, do you recall a significant moment when you felt truly affected or inspired by any particular artwork or artist?
Since I was born and raised in Hong Kong—a place where manga was very accessible, I was heavily influenced by the Japanese graphic novels at a young age.  Some of my favourite manga artists at the time were CLAMP, Rumiko Takahashi, and Neko Nekobe.  I used to copy their art and created my own manga. I also dreamt about becoming a manga artist when I grow up!  But later I found out that there really isn't a school where you can study drawing manga, so I ended up studying animation instead.  While I was studying animation, I discovered that my passions actually resided in story development and illustration, so I decided to give freelancing illustration a shot after graduation. (Now that when I come to think of it, isn't illustration for storybook kind of similar to graphic novel...?)

2. As an artist, what do you hope to convey with your work?
For the majority of the time, I just draw what I feel like drawing, or draw what makes me happy.  At those times, I won’t think too much about what I try to convey with my work; I simply draw for pleasure. But when it comes to storytelling for children, I will make sure that my art is communicating something positive (e.g. Biblical truths), or some kind of a moral lesson that my young audience can take home with, for I believe that art can teach us things that we can't learn from textbooks and these things could stay with us for lifetime.

3. What memorable responses have you had to your work?
1) Last year when I bumped into my old boss, she told me that up until now her son still adores the kitten watercolour painting that I gave him eight years ago.
2) When my friends said they would like to buy my pop-up storybook and read it to their kids.
3) Every time people comment my art as heart-warming/ charming/ adorable

4. What is your dream project?
I'm a major cat lover so my dream project would be to create a series of storybook about cats!!!

5. What artists, of any medium, do you admire? (Famous or not!)
- Ralph Eggleston (pastel)
- Brigette Barrager (digital pastel)
- Brendan Wenzel (watercolour)
- Marisa Redondo (watercolour)
- Helen Mingjue Chen (ink)
- Elsa Chang (ink & watercolour)
- Paul Klee (child-like painting)
- Louis C. Tiffany (colour-glass & lamps)
- Willian Blake (watercolour)