Some sketches from Boracay

I have brought here some sketches fresh from Boracay! One of them is an 'advertisement' of a water bottle that I drew to practise my crosshatching. The other three are just the hotel: one is a flower pot in the hotel room, one is the huge pool and the last is a sketch of the rooms opposite mine.
While sketching, I found that many lines were not proportionally drawn and I felt like starting a new page over and over again, but I told myself, "It doesn't need to be perfect. Practise makes perfect!"

Boracay 2011

(c) marty windle

The sunset at Boracay is really beautiful! While enjoying the brilliant sunset, we walked along the WHOLE beach looking for some places to eat. The only disastrous part of the trip was when we booked an island hopping trip. It started to get very, very windy just as we were going to where the large boat was waiting for us, and a man from the company told us that no boats were allowed to leave. We tried again the next day, but the result was still the same. It was like Weather was against us!

Message from an Unknown Chinese Mother by Xinran

Although I have only read Chapter 2 of this story, I can't wait to read more- and cry it all out. WarHorse might be touching, but I think you can't even bear to read this book. This is one of the many things that the author had said in her foreword:

"I find it hard to believe when I see adopted Chinese girls asking their Australian parents in English what the Spring Festival is."

I find it sad that they have lost their identity!

When the author went to a village in the Yimeng Mountain province, a woman asked her, "Have you ever 'done' a baby girl?" The author was totally bewildered. After much confusion, the author found out that 'doing' a baby girl meant to drown it at birth. It was only common in small villages where people were not educated and thought that 'you do not count as a human being unless you have a son'.

However, we know that in order to have offspring, we need a couple, and a couple consists of a male and a female. If the people in small villages kill all the baby girls, how do they carry on the family lineage? I seriously, seriously, seriously don't understand!!!!