Magic The Gathering: Shards of Alara cards~

Happy to see my cards on the "Visual Spoiler" page up on Magic's site today~ Meaning i can share these cards i did with you~




Hope you enjoy looking at them as much as i had fun creating them. Check out the other cards here! Many amazing artists on the list!

Best~
sw

For R~

14 x 18, 6 hours.

Very gloomy today, unlike LA at all~ but the long weekend is upon us, and nothing can dampen my spirit~ :)

sw

Book Preview- Coming to Stores 2009...

This is a book cover i recently finished for French Publishing house Albin Michel, by author Herve Jubert, "Le Palais des Mirages". I falled in love with the story right away and was really honored to be given the chance to illustrate it. :D If anyone of you could read French be sure to pick up one! Hope you like it too.

Had a busy but great weekend, checked out a bunch of shows all over LA, and stopped in some amazing book stores. Thanks R!!! ^___^ Not everyone was so lucky, and my sympathy goes out to all the fire victims.

Best,
sw

For R

Jeremy's workshop, 6 hours~ yeah that's the original canvas size. i love to try out weird canvases.

it's sad that i will be leaving Jeremy's class at the end of December... Leaving Imagi as well. I will be doing some traveling in Europe and Asia, till 2010. i hope to finish my too-often-talked-about Oscar Wilde book while traveling, and do some traditional big canvases as well.

love,
sw

Joao Ruas has a Flickr account...

And it has made my day!!! Check out these amazing WIP pieces.... i would love every single one of them on my wall... ^____^ Eerily contemporary yet has something so eternal and mystical in its core... Love love love.

THE LINK

sw

Back from APE~

It was great! Saw old friends, had some amazing food. Too bad it had to end so soon...



Come back early sunday to see Mom off to China(THANK YOU Mindy, Cynthia and Will for taking care of the booth). Drew this on the back of a notice for her in the airport. it's based on a photo of Mom 43 years ago...


And a photo from the Sandman show back in early Octorber! Sorry about the crappy quality of camera, you can't even see the art... you can see all the pieces on Nucleus' website!

Love,
sw

For R...

Three sessions. 9 hours total~ The workshop starts again next week~

sw

APE: San Fransisco~ Nov 1 - Nov 2

Borrowing the Beautiful map by my friend Bob Logan~ I would be sharing a table with Mindy Lee again~ I hear APE is the best con to look around and find cool artists, since it's much smaller than the SD one. It would be my first time attending and i can't wait to see you there!!

Ape Official Site & Info

For R

From Jeremy's workshop~ 6 hours.
The workshop will start again in Nov. If you were interested please check out his website here~

sw
*Vote Ron Paul*

Debt as Money

Here's a video i watched to understand how the "Bad Loans" happened. It's very enlightening:




I can't pick a "Lesser Evil" to be the leader of my country; how did that come to be the ONLY option in picking our president?! The only one i will vote for it's Ron Paul, since he's the only one that talks about and will solve the problems with our monetary system, our endless war, and our so called "freedom".

On Deaf Ears...

The Invisible Tax

I believed in America. I believed it's the best country in the world, for freedom and liberty, and growth as an individual. I was too lazy f0r too long, to go out and exercise my rights as a citizen, and look where we are today. Both Obama and McCain voted in favor to pass the latest Bail Out plan, which speaks volume to me: That they are both just more of the same, as in NOT on the side of the American People. I vowed to stick with my conscience, and i shall write in "Ron Paul", and hope it will still make a difference come November. I hope it's not too late.

sw

My very first group show~

Gallery Nucleus
Endless Reflections

Exhibition Dates: Saturday, October 4, 2008 - Monday, October 20, 2008

Reception: October 4, 2008, 7-11pm

Thanks to Ben Z, Wade, and most of all, Ryan G for the opportunity to be in among such great artists~ i am very honored. i got to see some of the art beforehand, and they are quite jaw dropping as well. I will be there at the opening night, so if you were in the area i would be glad to see you there!~

STORE 626.458.7482 GALLERY 626.458.7477
Mon-Thurs: 12pm-9pm, Fri-Sun: 11am-10pm
210 East Main St, Alhambra CA 91801

Congressman Ron Paul

Statement before the Joint Economic Committee

“The Economic Outlook”

September 24, 2008

Mr. Chairman, I believe that our economy faces a bleak future, particularly if the latest $700 billion bailout plan ends up passing. We risk committing the same errors that prolonged the misery of the Great Depression, namely keeping prices from falling. Instead of allowing overvalued financial assets to take a hit and trade on the market at a more realistic value, the government seeks to purchase overvalued or worthless assets and hold them in the unrealistic hope that at some point in the next few decades, someone might be willing to purchase them.

One of the perverse effects of this bailout proposal is that the worst-performing firms, and those who interjected themselves most deeply into mortgage-backed securities, credit default swaps, and special investment vehicles will be those who benefit the most from this bailout. As with the bailout of airlines in the aftermath of 9/11, those businesses who were the least efficient, least productive, and least concerned with serving consumers are those who will be rewarded for their mismanagement with a government handout, rather than the failure of their company that is proper to the market. This creates a dangerous moral hazard, as the precedent of bailing out reckless lending will lead to even more reckless lending and irresponsible behavior on the part of financial firms in the future.

This bailout is a slipshod proposal, slapped together haphazardly and forced on an unwilling Congress with the threat that not passing it will lead to the collapse of the financial system. Some of the proposed alternatives are no better, for instance those which propose a government equity share in bailed-out companies. That we have come to a point where outright purchases of private sector companies is not only proposed but accepted by many who claim to be defenders of free markets bodes ill for the future of American society.

As with many other government proposals, the opportunity cost of this bailout goes unmentioned. $700 billion tied up in illiquid assets is $700 billion that is not put to productive use. That amount of money in the private sector could be used to research new technologies, start small business that create thousands of jobs, or upgrade vital infrastructure. Instead, that money will be siphoned off into unproductive assets which may burden the government for years to come. The great French economist Frederic Bastiat is famous for explaining the difference between what is seen and what is unseen. In this case the bailout's proponents see the alleged benefits, while they fail to see the jobs, businesses, and technologies not created due to this utter waste of money.

The housing bubble has burst, unemployment is on the rise, and the dollar weakens every day. Unfortunately our leaders have failed to learn from the mistakes of previous generations and continue to lead us down the road toward economic ruin.

this post could be find here.


A Better Bailout

By Joseph E.Stiglitz

September 26, 2008

The champagne bottle corks were popping as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced his trillion-dollar bailout for the banks, buying up their toxic mortgages. To a skeptic, Paulson's proposal looks like another of those shell games that Wall Street has honed to a fine art. Wall Street has always made money by slicing, dicing, and recombining risk. This "cure" is another one of these rearrangements: somehow, by stripping out the bad assets from the banks and paying fair market value for them, the value of the banks will soar.

There is, however, an alternative explanation for Wall Street's celebration: the banks realized that they were about to get a free ride at taxpayers' expense. No private firm was willing to buy these toxic mortgages at what the seller thought was a reasonable price; they finally had found a sucker who would take them off their hands--called the American taxpayer.

The administration attempts to assure us that they will protect the American people by insisting on buying the mortgages at the lowest price at auction. Evidently, Paulson didn't learn the lessons of information asymmetry which played such a large role in getting us into this mess. The banks will pass on their lousiest mortgages. Paulson may try to assure us that we will hire the best and brightest of Wall Street to make sure that this doesn't happen. (Wall Street firms are already licking their lips at the prospect of a new source of revenues: fees from the US Treasury.) But even Wall Street's best and brightest do not exactly have a credible record in asset valuation; if they had done better, we wouldn't be where we are. And that assumes that they are really working for the American people, not their long-term employers in financial markets. Even if they do use some fancy mathematical model to value different mortgages, those in Wall Street have long made money by gaming against these models. We will then wind up not with the absolutely lousiest mortgages, but with those in which Treasury's models most underpriced risk. Either way, we the taxpayers lose, and Wall Street gains.

And for what? In the S&L bailout, taxpayers were already on the hook, with their deposit guarantee. Part of the question then was how to minimize taxpayers' exposure. But not so this time. The objective of the bailout should not be to protect the banks' shareholders, or even their creditors, who facilitated this bad lending. The objective should be to maintain the flow of credit, especially to mortgages. But wasn't that what the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bailout was suppose to assure us?

There are four fundamental problems with our financial system, and the Paulson proposal addresses only one. The first is that the financial institutions have all these toxic products--which they created--and since no one trusts anyone about their value, no one is willing to lend to anyone else. The Paulson approach solves this by passing the risk to us, the taxpayer--and for no return. The second problem is that there is a big and increasing hole in bank balance sheets--banks lent money to people beyond their ability to repay--and no financial alchemy will fix that. If, as Paulson claims, banks get paid fairly for their lousy mortgages and the complex products in which they are embedded, the hole in their balance sheet will remain. What is needed is a transparent equity injection, not the non-transparent ruse that the administration is proposing.

The third problem is that our economy has been supercharged by a housing bubble which has now burst. The best experts believe that prices still have a way to fall before the return to normal, and that means there will be more foreclosures. No amount of talking up the market is going to change that. The hidden agenda here may be taking large amounts of real estate off the market--and letting it deteriorate at taxpayers' expense.

The fourth problem is a lack of trust, a credibility gap. Regrettably, the way the entire financial crisis has been handled has only made that gap larger.

Paulson and others in Wall Street are claiming that the bailout is necessary and that we are in deep trouble. Not long ago, they were telling us that we had turned a corner. The administration even turned down an effective stimulus package last February--one that would have included increased unemployment benefits and aid to states and localities--and they still say we don't need another stimulus. To be frank, the administration has a credibility and trust gap as big as that of Wall Street. If the crisis was as severe as they claim, why didn't they propose a more credible plan? With lack of oversight and transparency the cause of the current problem, how could they make a proposal so short in both? If a quick consensus is required, why not include provisions to stop the source of bleeding, the millions of Americans that are losing their homes? Why not spend as much on them as on Wall Street? Do they still believe in trickle down economics, when for the past eight years money has been trickling up to the wizards of Wall Street? Why not enact bankruptcy reform, to help Americans write down the value of the mortgage on their overvalued home? No one benefits from these costly foreclosures.

The administration is once again holding a gun at our head, saying, "My way or the highway." We have been bamboozled before by this tactic. We should not let it happen to us again. There are alternatives. Warren Buffet showed the way, in providing equity to Goldman Sachs. The Scandinavian countries showed the way, almost two decades ago. By issuing preferred shares with warrants (options), one reduces the public's downside risk and insures that they participate in some of the upside potential. This approach is not only proven, it provides both incentives and wherewithal to resume lending. It furthermore avoids the hopeless task of trying to value millions of complex mortgages and even more complex products in which they are embedded, and it deals with the "lemons" problem--the government getting stuck with the worst or most overpriced assets.

Finally, we need to impose a special financial sector tax to pay for the bailouts conducted so far. We also need to create a reserve fund so that poor taxpayers won't have to be called upon again to finance Wall Street's foolishness.

If we design the right bailout, it won't lead to an increase in our long term debt--we might even make a profit. But if we implement the wrong strategy, there is a serious risk that our national debt--already overburdened from a failed war and eight years of fiscal profligacy--will soar, and future living standards will be compromised. The president seemed to think that his new shell game will arrest the decline in house prices, and we won't be faced holding a lot of bad mortgages. I hope he's right, but I wouldn't count on it: it's not what most housing experts say. The president's economic credentials are hardly stellar. Our national debt has already climbed from $5.7 trillion to over $9 trillion in eight years, and the deficits for 2008 and 2009--not including the bailouts--are expected to reach new heights. There is no such thing as a free war--and no such thing as a free bailout. The bill will be paid, in one way or another.

Perhaps by the time this article is published, the administration and Congress will have reached an agreement. No politician wants to be accused of being responsible for the next Great Depression by blocking key legislation. By all accounts, the compromise will be far better than the bill originally proposed by Paulson but still far short of what I have outlined should be done. No one expects them to address the underlying causes of the problem: the spirit of excessive deregulation that the Bush Administration so promoted. Almost surely, there will be plenty of work to be done by the next president and the next Congress. It would be better if we got it right the first time, but that is expecting too much of this president and his administration.

This post could be read here.

For R~

Love,
sw

Liquid City~ in stores Nov. 5!

Image comics just had a press release on the anthology on their website:

"LIQUID CITY presents the unique visions of artists and writers based mainly in Southeast Asia," said editor Sonny Liew. "The creators involved range from established figures in the region's comics communities like Lat and Gerry Alanguilan, to exciting new talents like Nguyen Thanh Pong, kenfoo and Shari Chankhamma."

Bringing together creators from Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and elsewhere, LIQUID CITY presents an edgy vision of lives in cities past, present and future: from Leong Wan Kok's distinct post apocalyptic landscapes to Lat's charming take on Malaysian life in the '60s, from Mike Carey's meditation on colonialism to kenfoo's dark tales of regurgitation and bodily transformations.

Also contributing to the anthology are artists from outside the region, including award-winning illustrator Jon Foster and cover artist Shelly Wan.

Check it out in its completeness here.
To read more about it and see some cool previews, go here~
I am very psyched about seeing this in stores! i can't wait to read the stories. Since it's my first comic cover, i really wonder if it would "pop" or just blend right in with the dusty comic store decor...

sw

another WIP

slowly and very unsurely...

Sandman No. 2

Close your eyes. Tell me what you see.

A field, with trees, in the valley between two seas.
the cold night mist is drawing closer, a stranger's voice in my ear,
asking me, in a whisper,
"do you feel me near?"

here i thought i was alone but discovered,
am but one of thousands of flowers.
each stem carrying a dreaming dream,
trembles unknowingly, under the stranger's limb.

To escape, i try opening my eyes,
but the petals only shake.
"Please, let me wake!" i plead.
the stranger looks away.


i started another Sandman oil painting while waiting for the first one to dry. "Dreamland", 24" x 36"


sw

So...

I tried tackling OIL. it deserves all caps since it's the big fat beast i have always dread to face. Studies are one thing, but to paint a Real thing is just too daunting. but i was so inspired by the con and everyone's work i decided i can sneak up on it:With thin layers and glazes.

i wet the ground with Linseed and proceeded. the second day it became really fun and i thought Oil was the best thing in the world, and medium the best perfume.

...And then i look at it this morning and found it still glistering WET. man, i am part of the no-attention-span generation~ so i started to miss the digital again.

"Does Sandman dream" WIP 24"x 36"


But it's still really fun. Even if i had to start again in ACRYLICS. I have to tame this beast.

sw

a little gift for myself~

I didn't get to do much during the con this year, barely bought any books and hardly got to walk around, but i made time to see some of the amazing artist demos. i bought this Rick Berry piece right after i saw his demo, so inspiring was this man's working. i don't know if this was how Rodin works, pulling shapes out of stone and seeing it become something out of its own will, just helping it here and there with his mastery, but the energy feels very much the same. Check out his site if you havn't done so already:

Rick Berry Studio

And Thanks to Tor.com & Spectrum Fantasy Arts, we have some demo videos on Youtube:

Jon Foster's Demo1:

Jon Foster's Demo2:




Rick Berry Demo1:

Rick Berry Demo2:

Rick Berry Demo3:

Greg Manchess HellBoy Demo:


sw

birpday~

yay~ had a nice birthday at work and with friends~ two chocolate cakes! couldn't ask for better friends and coworkers~!

Amazing Dalia arrangement and truffles in animal shaped boxes~ (blurring out the office, sorry)

Boba tea and girls time~ it was reaaaally fun and relaxing. Makes me wonder why there weren't more of it in the year~


With all my love,
sw
08.08.08

Books!

What gives? No books in thirty years and all of a sudden two! Both 200 something pages long! Just preordered this one that comes out one month earlier~ I can't wait to get this~

Boldini. $500. 1404 pages. 24 pounds. I guess i can afford it but can i afford to part with it when i am traveling in europe...? i am gonna take a poll on this: To Buy or Not Buy?

Just bought this from Dahesh Museum. $115 but still the cheapest i can find anywhere. it's filled with the most elegant drawings i have ever seen.

i want this i want this i want this(whine)~ why is it so expensive and only in French??? *___* Could someone recommend one that's as good but reasonably priced...?

I love this book when i first saw it 4 years ago. $50 was too much for me at the time so i didn't buy it. Went up to $300. Finally a reprint that's $50 became available last year so i ordered it, but Amazon sold out of it before they got to my shipment. and it's up to $200 again.

just thought to share with you somethings i love,
sw

p.s. and there's a very impressive Turner show in NYC. Just my luck~

Another little WIP~ Very much inspired by Turner. i am going off to watch a movie now~ :)

sw

John Watkiss Solo Show at Nucleus Gallery 8/1/08

this piece is by the said artist for Sandman:


hello! for all the lucky people who live in the Los Angeles area, a wonderful show is opening this saturday(finally)! Find out about it here.

i still have yet to check out the Dave Mckean show at the Merry Karnowsky Gallery, but it would be a wonderful double feature for any Sandman fans out there~

sw

Dream two from "The Young Queen"

Hello again. Got to get off work early today so i decided to start on a piece for the Oscar Wilde book i have been talking about forever. It's changed significantly based on what i want to paint for the story, but if you read the original story you might know which scene this is for. ;-p

i will be taking a very long vacation after "Astroboy" to travel in Europe and China. By that time i will be able to spend ALL my time on this project. i really can't wait~

sw

Back from Con~

Wooooo I am back~ Utterly spent. 5 days of con is really too much to handle for anyone, but especially for the ones that usually just stare at computer screen all day~ i am not used to seeing so much faces!! In the end everyone melted into each other and i couldn't even recognize a college friend(Sorry Ron!!). and i made a fool of myself with Mike Mignola. Again. It's like a tradition now. I go to his booth, i leave with a signed book and 4 question marks in my head,"WHY did i say that????" i really love his work too much for my own good. Oh swell.

The last day our group went to a Steakhouse called "Strip Club". when we sat down i was already falling asleep on my feet. On the menu we found out this interesting aspect to the place: we are all supposed to grill the steaks ourselves. I complainted to the waitress, "i am so tired! Can't i get it cooked for me?" She said "No~". Fine. and then when she came to take our drink order, i asked "Do you have milkshakes?" She said "this is not Fuddruckers(?). we don't have milkshakes." i don't usually complain so much to strangers, so i took it as a well deserved retort. But what happened to those nice places in the movies, where you lie back and beautiful women feed grapes to you huh? You have to cook a 40 dollar fillet mignon yourself these days.

Bottom line, comic con is way fun to spend money, not so much when you are trying to make it. I did get some time to see crazy awesome demos by some of my favorite artists, so that was great. and a big thanks to everyone that enjoyed my prints! I even bought a Rick Berry Painting!! i will upload a pic of it later since it's still in SD at my friend's house. His method of working was truly inspirational.

later,
sw

Liquid City~ Comic book out in Oct 2008

The incredibly talented Sonny Liew contacted me way back when to create a cover piece for a comic anthology that has mainly asian creators. It will be published by Image. here's the WIP he put up on his website:


For the finished book check your local bookstores in Oct!

sw

San Diego Comic Con July 24- 27!!

...


Exciting News~~! i will be at the Comic Con this year, Table E4 with my friend Mindy Lee~ I will have all my posters & originals(seen in the Beverly Hills Show photo below) with me, and Mindy will be bringing her sketchbooks~!
it's always been the best days of the year for me, and this year would be even better since i am making money instead of spending it... for once. ^___^


sw

Gustav Klimt Liverpool Exibition Podcast

Made to accompany the exhibit. for the poor folks like me who live nowhere near but are willing to imagine with a book instead.

Back from D.C. Galleries

Over the long weekend i went to DC in hope of seeing some Dewings at the Freer gallery. It was an expensive trip and really nerdy, but man did i desired it. The time was too short for a real enjoyment of the pieces(had to hit six different museums in 2 1/2 days), but i had taken pictures almost franticly so i can look at them now in leisure. And now i can share some with you too~ Below are pieces by different artists, i might add their names later, but now i better get to bed~ :-)

sw