Our Super Christmas tree

Christmas tree is always the most expected part of the whole Christmas. Of course our Christmas tree will not absence in this Christmas.
Today morning at 6 o’clock, Vini and I got up early and quickly had breakfast. After all, we took shovel and forks, and then push the wheelbarrow on our way. We were going to get our Christmas tree.
5 minutes later, we arrived the end of our home’s drive way. While Vini was pushing the wheelbarrow passing through the grass and rocks, I checked the little pine tree we chose last week. The tree looked very good for Christmas tree. We start our working. First of all, we used fork losing the soil around the tree. The soil was pretty soft because the ice in the soil melted by the sunshine. The second step was to cut the roots of the tree. We needed to make sure the tree still had enough roots to absorb nutrition and water. Actually, the roots were too hard to cut off so we used big scissor to cut them. After a while, the tree was isolated with the ground. Vini and I took pictures with the tree. The tree was a little bit taller than me. By the way, while we were taking pictures, the tree was actually not hold by us because it was too spiky to handle. We just laid the tree on the wheelbarrow and hold the back of the tree. I still looked very nice and handsome.
We moved the tree and planted the tree at the place outside of the dining room so we could see the tree while we were eating. Also, I tided the tree with ropes to make sure it would not be blown out by the wind.
After noon, Jackie, Vini and I started decorating our Christmas tree. Our Christmas tree was different than the normal one. It was the tree for wild life such as birds and deer so we decorated the tree by stringing cranberry, popcorn, golden raisins and current by several sawing string. And then we covered the pine corn we collected from the driveway by the peanut butter and bird food. After all, we hanged them on the tree and also put the lights and a big star on the tree. It looked beautiful and delicious.
Although we designed the tree for wild bird and deer, the first custom was our dogs: Joonburg and Red Potler. At first, we didn’t realize why Red stay under the tree, but after seeing a pine corn in his mouth, we knew this Christmas was also for our “wild life”－the dogs.
The night we usually spent couple hours with Jackie chatting and laughing. Following the melody of Jazz music from the radio station, we relaxed between the warm atmosphere and our brightly beautiful Christmas tree with wild life and our dummy dog.

History Trip to Monticello

This morning was not that cold. Ham, Joko, Vini and I took bus together to school. Today we had another field trip. We will go to Thomas Jefferson’s house－Monticello.
Going into the bus, Mr. Custis was counting students. He is the bus driver today.
Monticello is Thomas Jefferson’s (The 3rd president of the US) plantation for retirement. It is a two-floor building with great a farm, which provided Jefferson’s family daily veggies.
Arriving to the tourist’s center of Monticello, The view was full of fall maple leaves. The bus finally stopped at the tourist’s center. We took another shuttle bus to the top of the hill.
With us, there was an old man with nice suit talked about the history of Monticello. Thomas Jefferson designed this building with well natural lighting and well isolated. He used many glass windows to make the indoor space bright and comfy. Also, he had a great big book room with his bed. He had many scientific instruments around his room. Model of solar system seemed rotating regularly in these 200 years. Laying down the desk, there is a bookstand, which can carry five books in the same time. Behind the desk, there is a wall with three big pieces of glasses provide enough lighting for reading and working. Except president and other political career, Jefferson was also a scientist and inventor. He invented a little machine which can help him sealing the letter automatically. He is a smart guy.
Also, we saw the dining room. Jefferson was a vegetarian. His favorite food is pea. In his dining room, I saw many fancy silver wears and food of 18 century.
Outside of the Monticello, its garden is also very neat. On the hill, you can see the University of Virginia easily. Jefferson design this for watching his own university conveniently. The tour guide also bought us to his wareroom for wine and beer. We also visited Jefferson’s smoking house which let me feel scared. In Jefferson’s era, they cure the meat or used hickory wood and pine wood to smoke the meat for storing instead of refregirator.
After Jefferson’s house, we went to his plant farm and his graveyard. Many of us threw some penny or dime on his gravestone for showing our reguards. Thomas Jefferson is my favorite figure in American history. He is a little bit similar than I am. He pursued perfect in any field as I do. I think we will become good friends if he is still alive. Thomas Jefferson is an important person to the United states. He carried multi-duty on his shoulder when he was in the political seat. He was the Ambassador to French and on of member signed the Declaration of Independence. He was also Washinton’s secretary of state. In Chinese, we had a proverb called ‘’ The stronger man has heavier duty (能者多勞)’’. He is a good example. I should learn some spirit and attitude from him for being a man who has great deed.

Last Week pictures

History project
Christmas tree in Virginia Art museum
Me and Joko Kurachi
pencil sketch
the sun, the plum flower and our republic

The Final Art Paper

The Final Art Paper
Yen Hwa
The art works from beginner usually has no formal skill or official way to read but full of original creative ideas and new skills. I am not an art beginner actually but my last artwork before now is 3 years ago. This semester in Ms. Dodson’s art class, we learn how use official way to create art and analyze art but also preserve our own creation. I did around 40 artworks this semester. They are watercolor painting, Acrylic painting, pencil sketch and sculptures. The following their artworks present my skill and the opinion of art the most.

The sun, plum flower and our Republic of China (Taiwan)
Block Print, Oct 2007







This artwork was printed from a rubber board. I used curved and straight line to create the suns and the plum flower. The way I placed them was followed the alternating position to create the comfortable formal balance. Also I used blue and red to create strong complementary among suns, plum flowers and the white background. Also the geometric circle and square create the variety of space with the organic shape of the plum flower. The flowing rhythm, regular rhythm of suns makes it looked righteous. The flowing rhythm, random rhythm and the progressive rhythm of plum flowers make is looked fresh and beautiful. This picture has no especial emphasis. In other word, the whole picture is focal point because it is consisted by many alternating patterns.
In order to make my block print has two different colors, I applied a kind of skill. I did separate the whole printing process into two parts. First, I color blue (the darker color) on the center sun of my rubber printing board. After 20 minutes. I color red (the lighter color) on the background and print. This way is better than way of coloring all the board in the same time. You can get clearer and cleaner pictures.
The name of this artwork is “ The sun, plum flower and our Republic of China (Taiwan)”.
I did this because of the love and passion of my hometown, my country and the land nurtures me.
This kind of topic I called it the patriotic advertisement of 1950-1970 era of Taiwan. The plum flower is my national flower. Because the plum flower only blossoms in the extremely cold winter, it present my country will overcome every struggle and exist. The sun has twelve beams. It means our nation will exist eternally. The blue present our democracy and liberty.
Collect millions of books in one (my electronic dictionary)
Acrylic painting Nov. 2007













This is an acrylic painting. I used many book motifs to create a feeling of mass. Also, the position of the electronic dictionary shows it is the emphasis of whole the picture. This picture has informal balance. I used dark red, dark green and dark blue to compare with the color of the electronic dictionary for creating the formal balance based on color. The size of the books from big to small creates the progressing rhythm. The rhythm of the Chinese words is flowing rhythm. And on the left side of the painting is the Chinese stamp, which has Regular Square and organic lines. The color of painting is not many but also create the emphasis.
This is the artwork of Chinese Classic style but painting with western brush and acrylic color. I also used some black color to write some Chinese words. The whole meaning of the sentence is ‘’ Collect million of books in one (my electronic dictionary). There are my name and the dummy stamp on the right side corner. Chinese handwriting is an important part of Chinese traditional art. Our word is kind of visual word system, which is based on visual understanding. English words are formed by sound alphabet, which is meaningless. Additionally, I left much space for my Chinese words because our painting has strong informal balance between the words and the main object. This is a Chinese style painting.
I draw this painting for honoring my electronic dictionary, which accomplished with me during the whole progress of being an exchange student. Since I prepared for the test an interview of being an exchange student, this electronic dictionary helped me to read hundreds page of English articles. Also, when I have some problem of spelling word, it provides me a convenient way to get my answer.
I still remember the struggle of buying it. I studied hard, did many projects and worked for my dad in order to save money for it. It is my good friend.

The city, The Traffic Jam and The Tree
Pencil sketch Dec. 2007








This picture is a simple pencil sketch. I used organic and curve line to sketch the outline of the tree for creating the random rhythm. The car is outlined by geometric curves and construction. I used many straight parallels to create the regular rhythm on my cold and organized buildings and streets. The position of the tree shows the tree is the emphasis. The complex value and shape of the tree also make itself the focal point of the picture. The proportion of the cars shows the cars go further. It also creates some progressive rhythm. The position of the tree (left hand side) shows its informal balance.
Sometimes, Drawing is not only record something real but also present the abstract feeling. It can be an abstract painting or just combine many different objects. In this pencil sketch, I sketched whole the tree out side of the classroom especially in this cold winter. The cold temperature helped me to concentrate on sketching and realize how the trees stand in the cold winter. It is worthy to stand outside for sketching the tree. I am not good at drawing a tree because there are many leaves. This time I sketched the tree according to the skill of Thia’s pencil sketches of Illinois
I got a pretty good result.
The reason made I did this sketch is to show the conflict between economic development and our nature. When we build one house, we need to do some deforestation for building space and the material. Cutting a tree uses about 5 to 10 minutes but growing a tree uses about 10 to 20 years. Now, after you finish your reading of art paper, there is a soccer field big forest being destroyed. How can we stand and continue destroying our only world?
＜The end＞


After all, I need to show my best appreciation to my art teacher
Mrs. Whitaker Dodson. Thank her for lighting my passion of art. Thank her bring me fire and flame in these autumn and winter. －Hwa Yen Dec. 2007

The History Project

The History Project
This weekend was a busy weekend. We built our garden and went to the youth group church. The rest of the time, I used to do my history project. We needed to build a model which showed the whole view of one of the battle in the American civil war.
I chose the battle of Hampton Roads (also called the battle of ironclads). It was a naval battle occurred in Virginia. In the Union’s Anaconda plan to crush the rebel, the third goal was to blockade the south. The southern confederate states tried to break the blockade so they built an iron-plated ship the CSS Virginia to attack the Union’s frigates. The Union also built a little iron ship the USS Monitor against the south. The result of the battle was Union’s victory.
In order to build a model without wasting the resource, I used some Styrofoam and cardboards. I spent the whole afternoon to shape the ship and assemble together. After that, I put some bubble wrapper as the ocean and some tooth picks covered by tape as cannons. It looked pretty good and neat.
Also, we needed to make a presentation in front of everybody in English in the
history class. I was quiet nervous about that. I searched the internet for some information and printed them out.
At the start of my presentation, I was too nervous to read the paper bur I got better after that. This was a good experience.
After me is my Brazilian brother Vini. His project is the model of the battle of the new market. He made some paper solider and some cardboard valley. He had better English than I did so he talked a lot.
We both did a good job. We should have it in Taiwan.

The Art Field Trip to Virginia Museum of Final Art, Richmond

Today is a cold day. In the morning, I woke up and had breakfast as well and then I went outside for feeding dogs. Gosh! The temperature was about 25 Fahrenheit. It is 4 degree centigrade below zero. Today we might have snow.
When I arrived school, I went to my first period class. My math teacher came and asked us go outside of the house so we went outside and didn’t know why. Until there was a white point pas through my face, I realized that was snow. Snow, I looked forward. At start, there is not much snow fell. But after ten minutes, the snow came with strong wind and fell on everyone’s face. It was snowing, the real one. Our school bus left our school following snow.
That was one hour and half to Richmond. On the bus, I sat with my friends Charles and Blue. We talked many things about the cars and motor. Charles has a big red GMC truck. He drives to school by himself everyday. Also, I made many new friends. The bus ran on the super high way loudly. One hour and a quarter later, we arrived the Richmond. It was different than last week. Our bus came through the urban living block. The city has many old houses with different color. Except cars, Richmond is a beautiful city.
When we arrived the art museum, the snow stopped. The weather was still cold. Finally, we could enter the museum. I saw a giant elevator that the area was about 8 square meters.
This museum has many southern style artworks. The artwork impressed me the most was a hunter sculpture. I dislike hunting activity but this sculpture is really neat. It consisted by a hunter rides on horse with several hunting dogs. The sculpture is very lifelike and vivid.
The second thing I liked the most was an oil painting called’’ the alive creature and oysters”. It was just a realistic painting. Although the oysters and died pigeon was quite scary. I appreciated about the skill of drawing the real life. I hoped I could do that.
At the end of the museum trip, we went to a great dome to see some Rome art. I didn’t like it because there were all religious stuffs. I was confused about a woman statute, which held its own head in its bosom. I also saw a decorated Christmas in the center of the dome. That was a really big Christmas tree. I took a picture.
The art museum was good but I was hungry at the middle day. We went to a bakery for lunch. It was a bakery provided a good place for people having a lunch. My art teacher taught me to order a meal. I ordered a potato soup with bread bowl and a half sandwich. It cost me 7 dollars but the size was really big. I only had time to have my thick soup and an apple. That was really good meal. I packed the sandwich. After lunch, we took a school bus back to school. It was a really good experience to see the American museum and art works. I also saw the snow today. Today was a super lucky day.

The English Field Trip-Edgar Allen Poe Musum

Today was a special wonderful day. I had a field trip to Edgar Allen Poe Museum in Richmond in the whole school day.
This morning was very cold. The weather reporter of the local radio station said the temperature was around 30 F. It was especially cold for me who was wearing only Poe shirt with wool underwear and a coat outside for today’s trip. It was freezing.
On the way to Richmond, I sat next to John. We talked about the sport, I-pod, and the different life between US and Taiwan. I did as best as I could to keep the conversation going. I used the skill that Jackie and Vini taught me yesterday. Don’t ask a question whose answer is yes or no. Try to ask some questions with longer answer.
Reaching to the Poe museum, I saw the urban views of Richmond, the capital of Virginia. It was a great city with the urban side-sky scrapers, viaducts and many parking lots. Everything was fresh and exciting for me. Finally, we stopped in front of the Saint John’s church. We went into the church’s cemetery for finding Poe’s mother, Arnold’s gravestone. The foreign cemetery was not scary at all because of beautiful gardening and interesting gravestone design. Many people made their gravestone like a table or a bench. It is good that we could still benefit other people after passing away. People also can visit it without scariness and sadness. The only thing left is good memory and happiness with these died people.
We went to Poe’s museum as the main point of the trip. Poe’s museum was a place, which had a small but great and beautiful garden inside the several buildings of Poe’s historic relics. We looked-through the whole museum with our director whose name was Chris.
During the trip, I saw one big model, which resented the view of Richmond in Poe’s era. It sounded like somebody built it for about 100 years. The old Richmond had a city hall which was made by Thomas Jefferson was pretty impressed for me because of its Greek style. The model was pretty similar than the downtown Richmond now. City also preserved many old building but Poe’s house unfortunately.
I also saw Poe’s other 19th century furniture. Poe was not a tall man compared with people now but taller than the people in his era. He was about 5 feet tall. I am 6 feet tall. Poe’s death, which was a mystery, was also presented in the Poe museum clearly.
After visiting the Poe museum, we took a school bus to the grocery store Ukrup’s that was not just a normal grocery store. They served much hot food like pizza, sandwiches, fried chicken and other kinds of cuisines. I pent about 8.5 dollar for buying a big slice of Broccoli pizza and a box of veggie sandwich. Their pizza was really big and filled with broccoli, mushroom and cheese. It tasted better than pizza hut’s vegetarian pizza. The sandwiches was pretty expensive but worthy. Two big whole grain breads with tomato, mushroom, pepper, cheese, lettuce and other kinds of leafy vegetables was served with cured pickle. I had a really healthy menu for lunch and these were all vegetarian food.
Beside that, I tried not to sit with exchange students that I already met and tried to sit with American student. They were pretty friendly and generous to share their food with me in order to make me more realize about their food. A girl whose name is Nichole gave couple jelly worm. It looked like a crystal worm but tasted like soft candy. My good friend Blue share a roll bread with me to let me know what was the roll bread. Although I already knew it, I still appreciated about that.
On the way back to school, I sat with my friends and talked with them. They played some funny stuff and told some jokes. I tried to understand what they talked about and made some joke with myself. That was pretty funny.
In the evening, the sun is always the most beautiful in a day. The good memory with my friend in field trip will follow me until dream.