Art Work: The Cherry Blossom

Finally I was able to collect enough inspiration to finish my piece after a long sleep

I'm so ashamed of myself for ditching art and always delaying only an hour of concentration per day

so I got myself a sketch book and here I am done with my first sketch

Nature inspires me here in Korea that I decided to try shifting my drawing subject from exhausting human portraits to Nature and Still life

I guess the trip to Seoul Museum of Art was of a help to push me forward, The museum is a small with couple of exhibition and study halls and there is no admission fee to encourage people to come and get artistically educated, love it !!

Anyways one of the permanent exhibitions was "The Spirit of Chun Kyung Ja" and below few of her inspiring paintings

Chun Kyung Ja famous Korean female artist who wondered the world for the sake of art

This lady traveled to many countries back in the 70s & 80s ( before the development of Korea), she was brave enough to go to far islands and dangerous African countries and came back with rich art collection

later in Korea she donated about 90 paintings to the Museum !

The circus: seems like a dull sketch but the sense of life is absent with a deep look at all members..

Page 22 of My Sad Legend

Back to my sketch I was wondering what to call it since it comes as a package of emotions

so lets keep it simple, allow the artists to analyze the emotions behind it and say 

"The Cherry Blossom"

25th of September remarks a very dear experience that blossomed in my heart like beautiful korean cherry blossom

It was breath taking, soft and sweet that I didn't want time to ruin it..

I'm happy with the result I want to build a collection and open my own art exhibition back in my country one day. It may be hard as I don't study art and don't practice it as a full time job but that goal is not impossible right now that I saw other artists work. The cook will need a bit more practice, patience and ambition. Lets see :)

Peace,

Amna

The joy of making mistakes

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
― Albert Einstein

Albert's quote is nothing new to us, in fact some of us memorized similar quotes and other used it to console their dearest people

but what does it really mean? and are you able to say that you worked by that quote in the past?

or lets put it this way..

how many mistakes you have made today? how many extraordinary methods you used to solve a problem and ended up with failure?

Feeling guilty?

Ever since I left my home country I've been drawn in arguments with myself quite often; what is wrong and what is right. I got to experience new things out of my usual landscape and I had to decide as an adult which way to go.

 I started feeling guilty more and more each day. 
I had this talk with a good friend and he mentioned that guilt comes from our religion ( or in my case it was ) There is a huge truth in that for the following reasons:

1- we seek perfection, which is also mentioned in different religions as an impossible state for human beings to reach; and thus repentance exist

2- we want to build an environment similar to the one we used to live in ignoring the fact that the new one can never be replaced!

 Feeling guilty is a good virtue when dealing with others, you hurt someone then you should feel guilty in order to apologize sincerely. However, when feeling guilty is all about blaming yourself and stands as an obstacle of hesitation or stops you from enjoying your time. it is the time you need to set yourself free.

guilt is that little devil whispering behind our ears all the scary things and possible ( if not imaginary) consequences of doing what you did in your own unique new way!

Brand new point of view?

I've read some interesting techniques to relief the stress of guilt and overcoming your fears in the book " achieve you goals" by Andy Smith. One of these techniques was about placing yourself in others shoes and reconsidering the situation again.

okay lets imagine, you in that same embarrassing spot! only now your eyes are free to move around to occupy any corner any place except your position !

look at that person ( you ) from afar, does it seem so wrong now ? Not really right?

that's how we magnify the mistakes. and how wouldn't we?! It is people reaction we fear the most. They are the ones capable of dragging us out of our comfort zone! but do they really remember clearly what we remember of the same situation?

The answer is NO !
 
No one will remember what happened to you more than you do 

Not even those with sharp memories are willing to reserve a permanent space in their valueable limited memory for your mistakes. 

so don't worry too much

With enjoyment comes learning 

 

When I first visited Korea I didn't know how to dispose my own food tray and got scolded really bad by an angry old lady.

  I felt bad for not being able to understand the language and for not been given the chance to learn and instead screamed at in front of all the foreigners and Korean people.

 I remember that I wanted to cry and leave back to my country and got emotionally down that night.

 (Well, partially I was having jet lag too I'm not that emo usually) 

Few Months later, my Korean friend was impressed that not just I was reading but actually fast disposing my cups and plate and food leftovers ! I just grind back and said "well ya I learned it that hard way I should be good at it now I suppose!"

Does anyone remember that girl who got scolded in the cafeteria? most probably not. but do I remember how to clean up my tray Koreans way? SURE I DO! hehe~

Don't cross the line

It's really tearing me apart to see people pushing each other toward insecurity.
 One of the reasons why the learning process is much easier being a child is because we were not aware of others words yet

we fell down or break things and we would probably do it again and again till we understand how the world works 
 
 so let adopt this philosophy again! you can make as much mistakes as you want and totally enjoy them as long as you don't hurt the people around you ( unless you wanna end up alone or in worst case scenario in jail lol )

On the other hand, when people do make mistake don't be part of the drama crowd ! 

a person slipped on a rainy day; give him a ahand and laugh later!
a disturbing crying kid on the bus don't look at the mother; kids mostly cry for no reason!
a friend got a bad mark in an easy exam; hide your mark and never ask about it!

bottom line, we deserve the equal amount of space to make our own mistakes!

if you think about your mistakes while reading this, it shows how a caring person with a deep thinking mentality you are! first be proud. second improve the wonderful being you. and third learn to enjoy life. 

YES

Enjoying is a skill to be learned.

Peace,
Amna

P.S: The completely adorable comics were taken from http://www.snotm.com the rest of his comics are really cute and inspiring check his work!

Pepero Day 빼빼로데이 ~♥

Happy Pepero Day~ !

One of the exciting events around Korea is Pepero Day on 11th of November xD

Pepero is the most famous chocolate covered biscuit sticks snack in Korea since 1983 made by Lotte

The day became an annual celebration for lovers and friends to exchange Pepero snacks (Just like valentines day)

I'm not sure who invented that day but the day 11/11 looks like Pepero sticks and thus that day from every year was allocated to celebrate Pepero

The joy is not only shared among love birds but definitely extends to the marketing team of Pepero company

YOU CAN'T IMAGINE 

the huge amounts prepared a week ago and the giant sizes that are specially made for this event !

Huge Stand At Lotte Mart~

Another Small Stand ~

I've never seen Pepero sticks this huge~

HUGE PEPERO ~

Some bakeries too serve their own homemade huge Peperos  which are more delicious than market ones and got me all excited to prepare them when I get back home

My Korean friend's friend made this at home ! so perfect so yummy ~

I got myself ready for that day but not buying Pepero from 7eleven convenient store for a week! < - - too confident that someone will give her pepero

and yesssss I got pepero~ 

hehe~ *blush*

ok so I got a lot of Pepero to eat and a laundry to catch

again 

Happy Pepero day everyone !

>‿‿◕

Amna