can’t hide forever

mr. fuzzy caterpillar

[03.08.08]

acrylics, painting knife, & brush on

20” x 16” canvas

[sold]

I used to see woolly caterpillars in my backyard all the time when I was a child. But then they disappeared and I hadn’t seen one in a couple decades. When I finally did, I was crouched down on the sidewalk for 20 minutes in my business suit, poking the poor fuzzy thing just to watch it curl up as if I was 5 years old all over again. I was late for my meeting.

blarney steps [07.06.08]

acrylics, painting knife, & brush

8” x 10” canvas[sold]

dripping away [05.19.08]

acrylics, painting knife, & brush on

13” x 32” recovered sheet metal

It surprised me when I completed this painting, how many people responded to it. Of all my most recent works, this one was a concept I had toyed around with for the longest, but was a result that I was least happy with.I wanted to express the similarities of the natures of water and time...life...perhaps I have done so. The execution of it leaves me unhappy, but I left it alone, knowing that once changes have been rendered to it...there’s no undo button.

wolf [2001]

graphite pencils on approx. 14” x 16” illustration board

[gifted]

I went through a period of time in my early twenties where I had more or less given up on creating “art”. Even now, I’m not really sure what “art” is, but I’m now content to merely create.

This drawing was a return to pencil after 4 years in order try a new technique for myself, which was based on obsessive detail and the difficult task of rendering animal hair. Prior to this time, I had shown no patience for fine details, so in many ways I see it as breaking ground in what I had always considered to be one of my weakest abilities.

© random life project by melinda ho

2007 - 2011

dog walk on paris streets [06.08.07]

acrylics, painting knife & brush

16” x 20” canvas[sold]

...web we weave

[10.10.09]

acrylics, painting knife, and brush on wood

combined size 51" x 33"

The title "...web we weave" is derived from Sir Walter Scott's "oh, the tangled web we weave, when first we practise to deceive" quotation. I've mangled the true meaning of this quote, deliberately using only part of this as this painting is not really about deception or lies but about choice.

Dew drops represent the footprints of choices made in a life. Primarily moving towards one direction with wanderings in others as well. The placement of the panels was to hopefully imbue randomness with a sense of purpose...and break up the regular rotation of a recognizable spider web.