Gratitude Art for Junior Year

“Art is a manifestation of emotion, and emotion speaks a language that all may understand.”- W. Somerset Maugham, The Moon and Sixpence

I usually write gratitude letters to my friends, because I’m better at expressing myself through the nuances of Chinese. Since most of my friends, cannot understand Chinese, I use visual art as a way to connect and communicate with important people around me.

Thank you, tree 🌳

I’m grateful for all my friends who support me during the difficult London semester. They are the tree in my life.

Dear tree,

I woke up today. Gratitude fills in my heart.

I still cannot digest that this semester has come to an end, a good ending, even though many things have happened. I want to sincerely thank you all for going on the breakup journey with me. I can still recall
you sat with me on the pebbly Thames beaches at 8 am after my long dragging nightmare;
you took me to yoga and experienced a deep connection with humanity;
you sent me a 654 words message to tell me you care about me;
you hugged me in silence without asking when you saw me tearing down in the room;
you received a random call with me bursting out in tears and anger;
you brought a bowl of rice to the table like a dad, asking me if I felt okay;
you went with me on a happy ranting session all over London streets in the middle of the night;
you sent me all the comedy shows, quarter-life crisis, to make me happy;
you talked about what’s love with me and texted me you loved me;
you told me love was a remarkable ability not everyone is capable of;
you called and checked on my status periodically with genuine care and concern in your eyes;
you, Gabriel;
you brainstormed the entire strategy plan with me to solve the crisis;
you jumped off the bed and cuddled me in when I woke you up saying I had a nightmare;
you fed me hot pots in your flat for almost the entire week;
you said you will hate whoever hurts me to shield me from fear;
you told me I cried so much because I had so much capacity to love, and it’s in me;
you taught me to reconcile my fear and distrust by extending my compassion;

The thank-you note can be going on and on like an army of ants following each other.

I want to finally thank you all with this drawing.

When I look at myself, secure and joyful,

When I look at the tree, verdant and firm,

When I look around all your names with the memories,

I cannot hold back my tears, because I can still feel the warmth in your hugs, tenderness in your eyes, and compassion in your voice,

Thank you for all the love and care you paint in my life. 🎨

Why you should marry Aniket

This is a drawing from Holi, an ancient Hindu festival in which you sprayed each other with colorful powder. He was the one who hugged me in bed during my breakup nightmare. Whenever he was there, all the attacking thoughts were silenced.

Ha & Esther Berlin adventure

You will only be able to understand this if you know Binary Search Tree. Ha accompanied me through my growth in CS TA work, US job search, and romantic relationships. We had a 30-day coding challenge and a 30-day dating challenge. 🤩🤩 She was the one I can give my back to and someone with who I want to grow up together.

She said she really wanted to marry the male version of me but I don’t want to, because she was, is, and will be a vegan.

Thank you, Prof

I drew the chicken (left) and sent it to my prof in a gratitude email, and she sent me the photo back (right) and replied,

I absolutely loved the picture — so much so that I already printed it and sticked it to my Lisbon map, so that it motivates me to be a better teacher, but most of all, a better person.

I really really really love my prof. ❤️ Till now, I couldn’t comprehend why this heart-warming character could exist in the mortal realm, and why I deserved it as part of my life.

I don’t know how to express my mountain-size gratitude for having her. The commitment, responsibility, words of affirmation, and safety she have given lie in her every word and action. The journey with her is not only a development of algorithm ability, a formation of communication skills, but also a transformation of my character and my relationships with computer science. I’m sure Esther a year ago, who just took her first CS class, will not believe this.

I am very grateful to have her as my prof, my manager, and a wonderful human that I’m so so so lucky to meet in my lifetime.

I feel, blessed.

Naked Gabriel

My favorite Brazilian boi who always wants babies and liked to be naked to freak out Asians. Besides, he looked really old to me and had lots of beards, so I drew a Santa Claus to represent him, and sent him Uniqulo underwear as a Christmas gift.

Ukrainian War

I wish I can help out Andriy in the war.

Busy Phuong

I planned to create a gratitude drawing for my ex-roommate who is my favorite workaholic. However, she stood me out too many times for our chats and even for today’s chat again. When I drew this picture and her LinkedIn status was even active. So the creation became this…

Our love is full of angst

Expiration Date

The page shows an error now because I intend to make some of my art expire. However, I don’t think the recipient respond much to this. I tried to communicate the difference and visualize my perspective of this relationship.

A short dictionary of misunderstood words - Expiration Date

Is your life heavy or light?

This is a poem for my philosophy friend, Lyon, who we were both in love with the book, The Unbearable Lightness of Being.

Lyon