Friday-11am

Hard to see even when you click on the picture, but there are about a dozen different sizes of hail that made it thru the bottom of the screen at 3am. Wow! What a storm! Shook the whole building and pelted against the roof and my AC so sharply that it sometimes sounded like it broke something--hehe! I am surprised that it didn't tear any holes in the screen--that I could see in the dark with the porch light on, anyways.
Yes--I have been up all night. Have tried to lay down a couple of times. Oh well--I will collapse at some point in time.

I plan to surprise Leah next time she is over for crafts (should just call it "creative day" or "art day" because we do so many different types of projects)--offer to give her this kit so she can play a little on her own at home. Then when she comes over here she can use my good stuff. :)

I was getting the order completed for Haiying via emails last night. Her husband leaves for The States on Sunday. What a nice guy to do all this for us--well, for his wife. :) So excited!! Been saving for two months for this order! I will post pictures of everything when it arrives, of course.

In the meantime--I got the table set up for brush painting again. I do have an ink stick I bought from Jerry's Artarama which will not be as good of quality as the ones I am getting from Haiying--(and I am not even getting the extra refined sticks that are more expensive). The ink stick I have from Jerry's was only $3.50, I think--but it will be okay to practice with. I am just a novice--a super beginner, after all. :)

I have been watching Haiying's videos and want to try grinding my own ink. My student grade stone is rectangular, so I can't really manage a nice circular motion on it--but maybe I can do an oval instead of just a back and forth motion? We'll see. I guess the most important thing is to try to be meditative while grinding. Getting into a state of relaxation, thinking about what you want to paint, and kind of warming up for the actual painting with the arm movements, too. These are the aspects that I enjoy so much about the oriental brush painting--the entire process is rather spiritual in nature--a form of meditative action, in the manner of QiGong. :)

What I need most of all right now is sleep. Wish me luck!