Tennis I

miscellaneous color mix on the paper palette

Following up last night's paint experimentation, 2/3 Tennis was born after 2/3 Tea Cup production. However, instead of painting both of them like I did for the previous two Tea Cup illustrations, I only used paints for one of them, and explored the second one with pencil and black marker.

Are you ready?

Tennis #2 -Tennis, Sun, Love

> "It Must Be Love."
I went to my first US Open Tennis Championship in 2011, and the grand slogan that year has since made a hugh impact on my tennis career and life as a whole. It must be love. What else can it be? What else can ever build a champion, shape a player, pump a heart, and make every moment on the court a golden spark?

It is fall tennis season right now. Being on school varsity, I have been carrying this simple but powerful four words onto the court. Under the bright afternoon sun everyday, practice or game, I can feel the warmth of the sun melts into the flying tennis ball, as if the ball is the center of the universe, for this moment and for ever.
Whenever I lost myself on the court or was impatient or frustrated with the game, I reminded myself of why I was there playing- because I simply love the sport. So I looked beyond the fence for a glimpse of 5 o'clock sun and went back to the court with full passion to chase that one and only green sun.

Tennis glows with sunshine. It is a sun itself. It is own eternal token.
Tennis glows with love.

Experimenting marker-pencil combination.

> Experimenting with HB pencil and black marker, and two different sides of the black marker was such a whole different experience from color painting and other art tactics. It is simple, concise, yet inclusive of all the unwritten possibilities and powerful.

I chose it because the brushing moment of tennis playing is just this simple, yet fast and powerful. You pour all all energy into that one millisecond, one action, one wrist turning. You make your game compiling millions of this simple action. Brush.

Tennis #3 -Brush

Tennis preseason started on August 24 this year.

I remember myself being very scared and lost during the first couple days of practice. After seemingly endless discouraging falls and outs, I pondered if and how I had lost the ability and confidence to just simply hit the ball. To me, the only thing I could think of to focus on was the brushing moment when the ball touches my racquet.

Head down, focus on the ball, and brush. Thank you Coach Jack for this simple but truly helpful piece of guidance three years ago.

Head down, focus on the ball, and BRUSH. So I did it.


Today is September 13. A good three weeks after that first day.
If you ask any of my tennis teammates now about my playing, she would tell you one word- "LOBE." I do crazy lobes with my brushing friend. It's a gift it gives me, it's a skill I need to hone in on, and it's already one part of my identity now.

I'm picking up my tennis little by little. Though I've been the Lobe Queen for a while, I have started to pick up on my speed last week. Hopefully, soon I will be able to not only do lobes but also more crazily spun fast balls!!


Tennis is such a dear journey. I love it with my whole heart and soul. Let's get excited for the left mysterious 1/3!