Grace Lee

My Best Friend

2011-12-30T11:11:00.000-08:00

I met my best friend in 7th grade. We were both transfer students and were required to take an ESL test on the first day of school. I still remember us sitting at the round table in the library complaining to each other that we don't need to take an ESL test! Little did we know that test would spark an incredible friendship of 17 years. I guess I did need to take that test.. otherwise I may have missed out on meeting this wondefully amazing person. =)

My best friend lost one of her favorite coats on a trip. And I had an unfortunate mishap with a really lovely scarf...So this sketch is to immortalize her lovely red coat and my fabulous blue scarf... =)

It's a Small World! =)

2011-09-12T19:43:00.001-07:00

Digital

Joey Chou just came out with a beautiful book and invited a group of artists to put on a show for his book signing! I am really honored to be part of the show which opens this Saturday September 17th at Nucleus in Alhambra from 7pm-10pm. Please come check out the show if you're around the area! Gallery Nucleus

Check out Joey's new book and his beautiful pieces for the show on his blog! Joey Chou

Gouache

My lovely friends

2011-02-21T10:11:00.000-08:00

I was organizing all the files on my computer and found this image hidden away! I started it two years ago after being inspired by a photo my friend's husband had taken of my friends and I trying to jump with balloons. They are the greatest friends anyone can ask for and I can't wait until we reunite to do more silly things. =)

Happy Holidays!!

2010-12-24T22:44:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for visiting my blog! I hope you all have a lovely Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
I'm an auntie for the very first time!! Braydon is precious and definitely an inspiration for me to create some new pieces. =) He's currently 6 months and loves to put everything in his mouth... hehe =)

Art Blocks for Ghana

2010-12-09T11:24:00.000-08:00

I was invited to participate in a really wonderful event called Art Blocks for Ghana. Check out the site for more details and to see beautiful work created by other artists!!

Wow its been a year!

2010-04-05T23:27:00.000-07:00

Time flies! I can't believe almost a year has gone by since my last post. I actually haven't done much personal work lately. I think its time to get back to that =) For now I have one new piece to share and its a housewarming present for one of my favorite couples! =) Congrats!!

Hugs are lovely =)

2009-05-02T16:27:00.001-07:00

Happy Heart Day =)

2009-02-14T00:02:00.000-08:00

Sometimes all it takes is a simple 'hello' =)

NYC Comic Con!

2009-02-12T13:32:00.001-08:00

Greetings!! I just got back from the New York Comic Con with my super talented artist friend Joey Chou. Thank you to all those who stopped by our booth at the comic con! It was such a pleasure to meet everyone! The convention was a really wonderful experience and I can't wait to do it again! (Next time with more work and a book! )

Sharing a booth with Joey

My side of the booth

I made a book through apple aperture to use as a portfolio.

Sample Pages

I made buttons and pinned them on paper t-shirts made out of Trader Joe's grocery bags. =) I learned to use a sewing machine! So much fun!!

I made little pocket calendars.. its always nice to know what day it is!

PS: For those interested in purchasing anything (buttons, cards or prints) feel free to email me!

Happy Chinese New Year!

2009-01-13T00:26:00.001-08:00

Happy "early" Chinese New Year!! The story of the zodiac tells that the rat won the race by riding on the ox! Poor Ox..

Year of the OX : Dependable, calm, methodical, patient, hardworking, ambitious, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious. Can be stubborn, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid, demanding

Merry Christmas =)

2008-12-25T18:34:00.001-08:00

Happy Birthday Dad!

2008-12-14T00:35:00.000-08:00

My dad turned 50 this week! Happy Birthday Dad!! I made him a little birthday card. =) I wanted to play with patterns but it turned out more graphic than I wanted. I'll just have to try again on the next one. =)

Puppies for 2009!

2008-12-04T18:30:00.000-08:00

In May my dogs had 8 adorable puppies which meant I ended up with LOTS of puppy pictures! We kept one puppy, Phoebe. (she's in the one pictured) For Christmas last year my friend made me a really cute calendar with pictures of our group of friends so it inspired me to make one with all the puppy pictures I took. I added some doggy doodles to go with each month. I also got to play with Adobe Illustrator.. haven't touched that program in ages. Here are some images for my calendar... I'll post more when I'm done!

Back to Oils!

2008-11-28T11:02:00.000-08:00

It's been so long since I've touched oils but boy does it feel really good! I started taking Jeremy Lipking's painting workshop after I saw Shelly's paintings on her blog. The workshop has been great, especially since I get to watch the artist at work and see a lot of Jeremy's paintings in person =) Each painting is two sessions around three hours each. Six hours is not enough time! =) Our last painting will be 9 hours.. yay!

Happy Birthday Evelyn

2008-11-08T16:33:00.001-08:00

Girl time over fro-yo with my dearest friend Evelyn. Her pet wombat Jere from Australia likes to eavesdrop on our conversations. Happy Birthday Evie =)

Happy Birthday Aunt Amy =)

2008-10-26T22:08:00.001-07:00

Totoro Forest Project!

2008-07-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

Greetings Strangers!! I've been a terrible blogger. So sorry! Thank you all for your wonderful comments and encouraging messages to post more hehe =) So here I am again, this time with something amazing to share! A few months ago a friend invited me to participate in a once in a lifetime opportunity known as the "Totoro Forest Project!" It is a fundraising event to help preserve the forest that inspired Director Hayao Miyzaki when creating the movie Totoro. Over 200 hundred original pieces have generously donated by artists from all over the world their artwork. An auction will be held September 6 at Pixar Animation Studios where all the proceeds will be going to the Totoro National Forest Fund!! I am so honored to participate along side so many artists that I truly admire. Please check out the website to see all the beautiful work and to help support this wonderful cause!! Totoro Forest Project

Wow!

2008-05-11T23:11:00.001-07:00

Wow!! First I must say.. Thank you all so much for visiting my blog and leaving me such nice comments! April was a busy month for me and I come back and I am greeted with such amazing artists from all over the world. Thank you!! =)

It's been a whole month since my last post but I have lots of updates.. starting off with HAPPY Mother's Day!

I wanted to make my mom a mother's day card inspired by our new puppies at home!! Last Sunday my dog Happy gave birth to 8 adorable puppies. We've been busy making sure they're well fed and well rested on poop free towels. =)

My mom thought it would be nice for me to make cards for family friends for Mother's Day. So I decided to reuse my "breakfast" image making it into a card with a follow up image on the inside in an attempt to incorporate Mother's Day. =) hm..make breakfast for mom? hehe

Last month I was offered to go to Japan with my cousin. That was an offer I couldn't turn down! It was so much fun! We made it in time just to see the last bit of the cherry blossoms and the best part of the trip was I got to see TOTORO! =D I got a chance to visit the Ghibli Museum. A definite must see for anyone who visits Japan.

Breakfast

2008-04-07T00:51:00.000-07:00

For Stacy

2008-04-07T00:22:00.000-07:00

My cousin in Taiwan is my Asian music-go-to person. Just wanted to share something with her =)

The Talking Stick

2008-03-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

Sunday night my friend and I went to a really cute coffee shop in Santa Monica called The Talking Stick to listen to a new upcoming artist Ed Rhee. I found out about him through my friend and found his music on myspace last year. To me he sounds like a mix of.. John Mayer, Jamie Cullum and Ben Folds? =) It was just him on his keyboard and his drummer friend. The music was great! I could definitely see how passionate he is about his music. I was really inspired. =)

Arm Candy

2008-02-23T21:29:00.001-08:00

Arm Candy
Originally uploaded by Meanest Indian

I found this surfing through flickr.... I really like this image. I thought he was holding a giant flower. =)

I miss New York. .

2008-02-21T22:38:00.000-08:00

I had a really great time in New York. This time I even got a chance to go ice skating at Central Park! Hope to go back soon! =)

Ooooo SNOW!

2008-02-14T22:09:00.000-08:00

( A doodle while I was on my 13 hour train ride to from New York to Toronto )

I've been traveling for the past month.... starting off in Colorado... then New York .. and now currently in Toronto. Everywhere I've been there is SNOW!! I love it! It feels so surreal to me. Everytime I see a really big pile of snow I just want to jump in. Tomorrow I'm going to make snow angels! =)

Sending Love from NYC =)

2008-02-14T19:50:00.001-08:00

Happy Heart Day Everyone!!

For A Friend

2008-02-11T19:41:00.000-08:00

A painting of my friend's house. =)

Sketch - Part 01

2008-01-16T00:10:00.000-08:00

I started a children's book during Art Center with a story in progress and some rough images of it. Now I'm trying to finish it up. =) Lets hope I do!!

Hm.. it's almost there...

2008-01-15T23:36:00.000-08:00

As a kid I used to always match my hands and feet with my dad's to see how big his were compared to mine. It was a way to see myself grow. A goal. Now my hands are bigger than my dad's (my feet are catching up)... but there is much more growing to do. =)

Watercolor

2008-01-12T21:51:00.001-08:00

A watercolor I painted in Nathan Fowkes Sketchin from Life class. I hope to take another class with him when I get back from my trip! =)

Cookies!!!!!!!!!!

2008-01-01T23:16:00.000-08:00

For the holidays my roommate and I baked A LOT of cookies...I think 60 or so..! I now know how to make a pretty good chocolate chip cookie.. =)

Study!

2007-12-26T23:50:00.000-08:00

color studies from Alice In Wonderland.
I really liked this one Alice In Wonderland movie they played on TV as a kid where Alice crawls through a mirror to get into Wonderland. They should play it again! =)

Christmas-Deer

2007-12-20T17:11:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays Everyone!! =)

Merry Christmas from The Lee Family

2007-12-04T16:45:00.000-08:00

Since I have LOTS of time now... my mom wanted me to make a Christmas card to send to our relatives this year... I know I know... they don't really look like any of us.. but hey.. haven't you heard that beautiful people are just really hard to draw? hehe ;)

Bedtime Story

2007-11-13T23:15:00.000-08:00

Jetlagged from my Taiwan-Australia trip... so I painted myself a bedtime story.

Taiwan - Australia Sketches

2007-11-05T01:23:00.000-08:00

I decided to be adventurous and perm my hair for the very first time. I was there for I believe 6 hours. They did serve really yummy toast =)

I did a sketch of a fast food restaurant while I waited for my cousin to finish cram school.
The students in Taiwan have it really hard. They study for hours. Some of my cousins don't come home until 11pm because of all the extra classes they have to take. The education system is so demanding and competitive in Asia but it doesn't even seem worth it. The news had reported that jobs are so hard to find even for the highly educated.

After taking Nathan Fowkes Sketching from life ... I decided to take my watercolors on my trip and get some sketching in.

My Uncle is also an artist. He's an amazing watercolorist and photographer. I worked on this piece while I was visiting him in Taiwan.

Sketches of people at the airport... I had a 3 hour wait in Hong Kong to transfer back to Kaohsiung.

I Need A Hug

2007-07-02T00:42:00.000-07:00

There are just moments when I really need a hug. So the fastest way to get one is to give one... I'm trying to work on a series ... for now I call it My Rhino and Me. =)

Fun-Ambling

2007-05-06T01:47:00.000-07:00

(This piece was created for the Maverix Studios Charity Auction Art Show April 2007)
Fun-Ambling
-noun
def. - a fun stroll, easy walk, at a gentle pace
[2007: title given by P.C.]