Heidi Alamanda at Yale University - Lunarfest 2016

Hello hello!

Earlier last month, I was invited by the Silk Road Art Gallery in New Haven to do a painting demonstration during the Lunarfest 2016 at Yale University. Painting in front of audience was a completely new experience for me, and I didn't know what to expect. Kids came up to visit me while I was painting, and they were really, really curious and interested in seeing the process. As a larger group of kids surrounded the table, I started making small paintings of flowers for them. They were really sweet about it. Liwen Ma, the gallery owner, and Dan Li, the gallery director, were next to me preparing tea for the tea ceremony. It was a great event with a big turn out of people who were truly interested in arts and culture. I am sincerely grateful for the invitation :)

If you happen to visit New Haven, I highly recommend visiting Silk Road Art Gallery. The gallery is located in New Haven's Audubon Arts District. The gallery exhibits Chinese and local contemporary artists.

Silk Road Art Gallery
83 Audubon St.
New Haven, CT

Some photos from Lunarfest 2016

Photographer: David F. Luecke

Photographer: David F. Luecke

Courtesy of Yale - China Association

I'm Still Here but Mostly on Instagram

Since my last blog post quite a while ago, I've been spending my time on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook to post any art related updates. Some of you have known that, but for anyone who isn't familiar with my other 'homes,' I invite you to please check out my other social media aside from my website.

Please find me under my user name @heidialamanda - it's quite easy to remember, just exactly like this blog's name :)

Some changes in life circumstances have made my other 'homes' more accommodating at this time. I can post quicker updates on any ongoing paintings in progress or little sculptures on progress, or any art related events.

Last year, I returned from my trip feeling inspired and ecstatic, with hundreds of photos from Nice - my home away from home - and surrounding places waiting for me to share to this blog. I was eager to explore any potential inspirations and see where it might lead, but life showed its fragility in turn.  I thought at first it was just some hiccups in life that should be over soon, but instead it took a further unexpected sad turn. I lost my brother, and at this age I found myself as an only child.  Living away from home, I'm constantly worried about my parents but I wasn't so worried for my brother because I knew him to be so healthy, active, and really incredibly productive. I just never saw it coming and it felt so unreal. I guess it wasn't until I stood there in front of his grave then I realized he was really gone :(  So many other things, too personal to share, made his passing even more painful.

I have been slowly putting my life back together, but I'm still here creating art, and for right now, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter are better suited to my need of sharing my works - see you there :)

Heidi Alamanda in Paris

After so many years, I was finally back in Paris again. It's really hard not to fall in love with Paris. It's the kind of city that even after you see some beautiful photographs or read some stories on other people's travel journals, it will still surpass your expectation. It's, of course, aesthetically beautiful, alive and filled with so much energy. You look around and you just can't absorb the whole things fast enough because you know there will always be a tiny pretty details that you will always miss.
We stayed at Bastille neighborhood. It was definitely the perfect location. Our room was quiet and actually quite roomy. Another surprise was a cute small balcony. Perfect!
It was a short distance to groceries, cafes, boulangeries, and metro.

View from our balcony

My Personal Adventure in the Studio: Sketching, Drawing, Painting, and Playing.

Chers amis,
I haven't updated this blog for a while. I tend, however, to post some updates first on my Instagram or Facebook. I usually just snap some pics using my cellphone and post them right away. It doesn't distract my working time that much. I like a quiet working life in my studio with little distraction. It allows me to visually express my emotion freely. Things that I do in my studio...either it's sketching, drawing, painting with oils or acrylics, or playing with paperclay, they're my forms of language :)

Away and Now Back with Some Stories of Arts and France

I have been neglecting this blog but, of course, not on purpose. It's a good thing I'm not a writer who has to meet several deadlines. I would be in so much trouble.
We went to South of France not too long ago. We rented an apartment in Nice for our base and exploring the surrounding areas. Nice is a beautiful city and it's one of those things where pictures won't be able to translate certain feelings you can get from a place. The ocean has that gorgeous azure color like a gemstone, which you can see from your google search, but it's way way way better when you experience it with your own eyes. I felt like I was fitter there because we had a chance to walk everywhere, which I loved. I could walk to a boulangerie to get some croissants, pain au chocolat, bagette or some treats, because it was right at the corner of our apartment. How cool was that?
Public transportation was great. We could take buses easily or trams. The rate was flat (1.5 euro) no matter how far the distance was, for example going to Monaco, which was around 50 mins by bus would be the same rate as going to Vieille Ville Nice. The city has many features that I love - many public parks, a lot of Museums, cute buildings, open market, beautiful beach, mountain view, mild temperature.
Other towns/ villages near Nice are also nice. We only managed to see some of them - Cannes, Vence, Saint Paul de Vence, and Monaco. The farthest place we went was St. Tropez by boat.
Leaving Nice was absolutely difficult, but we shall return :)
We took tons of photos from our cell phones, my camera, and DH's camera, so below are only few of them. I may share some on my next posts.

We took printmaking class when we returned home. It was a fun class. I've never tried printmaking before, so this class was pretty much an introduction to familiarize us with different techniques in printmaking. We learned about Monotype, Drypoint, Etching, Woodcut/Linocut, and Xerox transfer. We learned so much from the class and our printmaking teacher was really generous sharing her knowledge and time in the class.

I've been busy painting, drawing, participating in some shows. I will share some pics of the progress next time.

                             

Some pics from our printmaking class

DH made those prints on the right. Those patterns look like they should be on Japanese paper :)

Some Pics of Art Progress and Others on 12.12.12

Some progress in the studio and random pics from travel

                           

Seal's Painting