Amberlin Wu

CFS had me trapped in bed, but you can't keep the creativity from leaking out!

2011-05-17T13:43:00.000-07:00

oil pastels are not crayons.

2011-02-25T17:33:00.000-08:00


"I'll follow you."

Oil over pen over collaged paper. Who would ever guess there was so much layering going on?

i think pixar created the finch.

2011-02-25T17:30:00.000-08:00

Pacific Art League Craft Show 2010

2010-12-01T17:44:00.000-08:00

Pictures from the Knit-One-One Art Show

2010-06-10T13:48:00.000-07:00

Berkeley Art Show! June 5th!!!

2010-05-21T14:12:00.000-07:00

The knit-one-one studio has been granted me the privilege of being in their Jazzy June Craft Sale!

The Artists: LeftBankShop, Mama’sMagicStudio, MediumsToMasses, GirlOnTheRocks, The BriarePatch, Blissful, BirdMafia, BlockHeadPress, BirdVsBird, Muddipuppy, CutThroatSewing, SocalaChocolates.

To see pictures of their work.
To read what people say on Yelp

"Road Trip"

oil over acrylic

When: Saturday June 5 , 10 to 4:00 pm

Where: the knit-one-one studio
3360 Adeline Street Berkeley, CA, 94703
(near Ashby BART and Sweet Adeline Bakery)
Lots of FREE parking

CFS Sock Project

2010-05-11T09:51:00.000-07:00

The suffering caused by ME/CFS is mostly invisible. You don’t see us when we’re at our worst: many people with ME/CFS are housebound or even bedridden by the disease. We live in our socks. Now we’re turning our socks into banners. We can’t march with a banner but our socks—and a few healthy friends—can march for us, to call attention to this disease and the urgent need for funding and action.

www.sockit2mecfs.org/

Mermaids Always swim among Friends Pillow

2010-01-13T00:19:00.000-08:00

I think I'm developing a healthy obsession with fabric.

2010-01-13T00:09:00.000-08:00

After about 25 pictures we came up with this one.
Julia had a perfectly matching outfit to go with the pillow.
I just didn't calculate in the fact that the pillow
would could her whole self.
It is under there though. Julia was a lovely model!

If I don't get back from the moon soon, I may never find my way

2010-01-12T23:56:00.001-08:00

El Camino Hospital, week 7, I think.
October-December 2009

I spent 9 weeks in the hospital this winter
undergoing experimental treatment for CFS.
It was indescribable torture,
and the hospital truly is another planet.

I remember thinking,
"If I don't get back from the moon soon,
I may never find my way,"
and then I drew this.

2009-12-30T09:37:00.000-08:00

More Pillows!

2009-12-23T10:09:00.001-08:00

Road Trip: A work in progress

2009-12-23T09:49:00.001-08:00

"Small Works" at the Pacific Art League

2009-12-23T09:24:00.000-08:00

This was my first art show that was devoted to raising funds for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I was in the hospital at the time, and it was such a magical day - getting calls and texts from so many people. People came out to see art. People came out to support me and people came out to support CFS. My heart was filled.

Portola Valley Open Studios

2009-12-23T09:10:00.000-08:00

muddipuppy pillow pile!

The artists: Ann Wu, Amberlin Wu, Peggy Forman, Jan Schachter, and Margaret Realica

Muddipuppy Pillows

2009-12-14T23:27:00.000-08:00

I've decided to embrace my love of fabric and have started making super stuffed, super fun Muddipuppy pillows!

Skate!

2009-06-22T19:11:00.001-07:00

Slowly but determinedly expanding my animal repertoire. This piece squeaked into the "Birds and Bees: Feathers, Fur and Fins" Exhibition at the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto. Here's to animals on wheels!

oil over acrylic on canvas
16" x 20"
2009

Soliloquy

2009-05-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

oil on canvas
2009

On to the serious stuff...

2009-05-24T00:28:00.000-07:00

This a layer two-ish of this lonely little elephant. I feel it needs infinite work and find it somewhat daunting, but in a good kind of way. We shall see. I can tell by looking at it that there d tremendous caution compared to the prior post. Will have to work on that fear-of-ruining-it thing that may never allow it to be what it could.

So much for serious.

2009-05-24T00:17:00.000-07:00

Amidst all the harder and semi-serious sort of painting, I am very much liking the using up of the leftover paints to do not so serious painting. and finding that perhaps, I like these paintings best of all. So much for serious.

Being in a contest is always fun.

2009-05-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

I have entered my first art contest on zhibit.org. They say the winner is chosen by popular vote, which makes me suspicious that this is not a contest about art but one about who can rally the most friends to click on their picture. Nevertheless, I must say that being in a contest is always fun. Wish me luck!

"Skating Into the Night" ended up winning second place! How exciting is that?!

Color Theory: Final Project

2009-05-18T11:52:00.000-07:00

gouache on paper
7" in diameter
2009

Swell

2009-05-18T11:51:00.001-07:00

oil on paper

8" x 11"

2008

I'm in!

2009-05-18T11:45:00.000-07:00

Statement of Intent, Part III

It is with tremendous anticipation and enthusiasm that I am applying for the MFA program in painting. After a long and rigorous road down the academic path of psychology, I have established my private practice and have freed a place in my life to devote to developing my art. I have been wanting and waiting for this time for all of my life. At last, here it is. Now, with my own easel and palette in hand, I am ready to paint.

36 Calle de Allende

2009-05-17T21:50:00.001-07:00

I long to walk along
the sun warmed cobblestones
of Latin America.

It seems that color
must have been born there,
running through the streets
with its secrets
and laughter.

A doorway in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
acrylic on paper
6" x 24"
2008

Night Fog

2009-05-17T21:40:00.000-07:00

acrylic on paper
6" x 24"
2008

Skating into the Night

2009-05-07T00:22:00.000-07:00

acrylic on paper
11" x 14"
2008

Rainwatchers

2009-05-03T22:05:00.000-07:00

We are the rainwatchers,
him and me.

I see circles circling circles.
The single file line on the rim of the roof
Suspended like icicles
Like transparent angels
Like infinite promises
Quiet and clear.

He sees them better than I do.
His eyes are softer than mine.

He sees dancing and splashy fish
Bringing glowing plankton from the bottom of the sea.
The magic of the sun
Falling to us to be lapped up
And fill us full of belief in the way things could be
Or how wonderful they already are.

It is a festival, a gala, an extravaganza
The falling of the rain
for him
for me
for us
the rainwatchers.

There's no way I'm going to get in...

2009-05-03T21:48:00.000-07:00

Statement of Intent, Part II

I’ve worked a bit in many medium as can be seen in the ceramic pieces, poems, stained glass windows and various art bits that are tucked into the corners of my life. I have loved them all, but what has always entranced me the most is paint. I am in awe of the blank canvas and its transformation into something that no one else could ever make. I am amazed by the hand that can capture a moment, a memory, a drop of who one is on the inside, and color it for others to see. For me, there has never been a lacking of creativity. It has always been more my trepidation that I couldn’t draw well enough to capture my ideas, or would not be able to paint them as I imagined. I apply to art school with the goal of developing an ability to draw and understand color and paint in a way that would leave my creative notions limitless. Where will it take me? Who could know the answer to such a question. What I am most excited about is to see what is created that I never could have imagined.

Pooch in Blue

2009-05-03T21:39:00.000-07:00

gouache on paper
4.5" x 5.5"
2009

Applying to graduate school

2009-01-03T16:45:00.000-08:00

Statement of Intent, Part I

Academy of Art, San Francisco

I grew up with my mom’s easel and palette at the end of the kitchen table where she would paint every day. It is a difference experience, growing up with a mother who is an artist. Walks down the road turn into lessons of color theory and composition. Rainy afternoons are filled with clay, paint, string and paper mâché. It was this childhood of creativity that has kept art nearby throughout my life. It is a place that I go to that helps bring me back to a silent and still place inside me, as well as a way for me to remember who I am. To those who do not make art, it is not necessarily an easy task to explain the significance of doing so; for those of us who do, it is vividly clear that art is both necessary and important.

Night Trees

2009-01-03T16:42:00.000-08:00

acrylic on paper
11" x 14"
2008

To be shown at
Kaleid Gallery, San Jose
January 16th - January 30th

On the Steps

2009-01-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

acrylic on paper
11" x 14"
2008

To be shown at
Kaleid Gallery, San Jose
January 16th - January 30th

My Shoes

2008-11-20T23:22:00.001-08:00

oil over acrylic on wood
20" x 28"
2008

Gregory's Bedroom

2008-11-20T23:17:00.001-08:00

collaborative mural project of three artists
responsible for painting of triceratops and baby
collaborated on design
acrylic on interior wall
8' x 10'
2008

Scooting Under the Moon

2008-11-19T21:19:00.001-08:00

oil over acrylic on canvas
30" x 40"
2008

Tangerine Trees

2008-11-19T15:09:00.001-08:00

oil over acrylic on canvas
30" x 30"
2008

Vase and Mug

2008-11-19T14:50:00.001-08:00

charcoal on paper
14" x 16"
2006

Charcoal 2

2008-11-19T14:31:00.001-08:00

charcoal on paper
16" x 24"
2005

Charcoal 1

2008-11-19T14:08:00.001-08:00

charcoal on paper
16" x 24"
2005

Girl

2008-11-19T12:53:00.000-08:00

oil on canvas
24" x 48"
2003

In the Atlantic

2008-11-19T12:29:00.001-08:00

acrylic on wood

12" x 12"
2003

The Bright Blue Sea

2008-11-19T12:16:00.001-08:00

acrylic on wood
12" x 12"
2003

Purple Elephant

2008-11-19T09:40:00.000-08:00

acrylic on wood

12" x 12"
2003