2017 Oil Painting Class (for Seniors) at OCADU

Watercolor Red Flower 2017

Watercolor Red Flower form OCADU's Watercolor for Seniors Class.

3 Portrait Sketches in Colored Pencil

Model: Susan della Pia

Paris Black is the New Thor

Paris Black is the New Thor [A preliminary sketch in colored pencil]

Fantabulous Nanomorphique Adventure of M Hardoon Rotman - (Week 10)

[Previous Week Plot Review]

Invisible Rohardoon quickly descended to the rotunda and retrieved the Jade Cong without any difficulty, then immediately headed for the basement for the Amethyst.

Meanwhile in her basement office, Catherine and her daughter were facing their worst nightmare!

Hurried out of the fire exit stairs and ran toward Catherine’s office, Rohardoon was just in time to see one of the ninja extended his hand to grab the amethyst.

Without thinking, Rohardoon pointed the Jade Cong he retrieved at the amethyst. The amethyst flew over and attached itself to the Jade Cong.

Because the invisible Rohardoon was standing right in front of the mural, so what the other people saw was the amethyst flew into the mural and disappeared completely.

FIVE – “The figures in the painting are moving!”    – Continue  < Week X >

Cassandra, who also witnessed the vanishing of the blinking eye, sensed the presence of Rohadoon, as she discern the transparent human silhouette in front of the mural!

Rohardoon was running up and down the corridors and stairs, so his body had gradually changed from invisible to transparent. This transparency acted as a huge magnifying glass; so as Rohardoon moved swiftly across the mural, the optical effect thus put the characters of the entire picture in a sequential animation.

Presently Cassandra perceived that Rohardoon was heading back for the Fire Exit, she ran after him.

Catherine called out and ran after her daughter: "Cass … come back!"

A Ninja immediately grabbed her arm. Catherine vigorously struggled and pulled herself away and ran after her daughter.

Another ninja with a mighty Kung Fu Feat leaped up and “flew” over towards Cassandra; with an extended arm the flying Ninja clearly targeted at Casandra’s ponytail.

Without mistake, it was the signature fighting skill of Japanese Ninja House of “Butterfly Armour.” The hand, in their most famous “Cloud Pinching” gesture, reached out so gracefully yet with lethal precision! The result would be grave if not deadly, if the elegant fingers did pinch the ponytail, Cassandra would be pulled up off the ground and swung backwards into the other Ninja’s waiting catch.

Just as these lethal fingers so close of touching Cassandra’s ponytail, suddenly a translucent silhouette of a human foot kicked up in the air and stamped on the Ninja’s left shoulder and knocked the Ninja backwards flying.

In turn this backward flying Ninja clashed with the Ninja who was chasing after Catherine and both hit the ground hard.

Catherine encircled Cassandra with her arms.

But now the third Ninja leaped up and flew over trying to detain the mother and daughter. Again, the third ninja was knocked over in the same fashion, and flew backwards into the other two and all three fell to the ground one more time.

Rohardoon quickly dragged the mother and daughter into the freight elevator. He pressed the 3rd floor button, but the closing door was block by one of the Ninja trying to get in. Rohardoon hit him in the face. The elevator started to climb.

At close range Catherine saw the translucent human figure, she became very pale, clutched her daughter tightly, and faintly asked: "Who … who are you?"

Rohardoon responded her with a big smile. His business here was almost over, and soon he would be able to tell Oldman mission accomplished!

The Oldman instructed him that after he retrieved those two objects, he was to go to the 3^rd floor roof top, and would find proper means of transportation to go back home. In his mind, the Oldman probably chartered a helicopter, and very possibly at this moment the Oldman was even waiting for him on the roof top.

The elevator suddenly stopped on the first floor, the door opened, no one outside. Catherine and Cassandra moved themselves further back. Rohardoon pushed the third floor button.

To reach the 3^rd floor roof top, the direct way was through the fire exit. Rohardoon’s using of the freight elevator was actually for the protection of the mother and daughter. He intended to escort them first to the security control room on the 3rd floor. But now the elevator was stuck on the first floor, the only way to get to the control room was through the spiral stair case.

Not realize that he was completely invisible now, he signaled the mother and daughter to follow him.

Surely enough, Cassandra responded to his beckon right away, she released herself from her mother’s arms, and let Rohardoon take her hand.  Right at that moment, the amethyst that was still attached to Rohardoon's newt suit, flashed twice, as if winking at Cassandra.

(To be continued next week)

Fantabulous Adventure of M Hardoon Rotman - (Week 9)

[Previous Week Plot Review]

The two pieces the Old Man wanted Rohardoon to retrieve were a Jade Cong and an Amethyst. He climbed down from the dome ceiling, but just as he landed on the 3^rd floor balcony, he immediately noticed something wasn’t right.

Through the dark glass wall, he saw the Security Chief of the museum was forced by two masked Japanese Ninja into the Electronic Control Room. They reactivated the freight elevator, cut off the basement security system, then tied up all three security staff.

Rohardoon realized the Ninjas were here for the same purpose as his! He accelerated his action…

[FOUR – A Ninja Holding a Sword Closing In]   (Week IX)

In the basement, Catherine wondered why the freight elevator was used at this hour! If the guard wanted to talk to her, they had keys to passenger elevators on the south end. She stood up and walked to the electronic pole entrance.

Suspiciously she peeked toward the north end from the walkway, but immediately noticed that all the surveillance lights on the poles were out! Which meant the security system has been turned off!

She tensed up and turned back. Totally startled she saw a Japanese Ninja in black robe with black cloth wrapped around the face was descending the steps into her office from the walkway on the opposite side. The Ninja was holding a samurai sword with shinning blade!

She ran to Cass, shielded her daughter and shouted: "Stop! Don't come near! What do you want?!"

The Ninja stopped, stood by the end of the long working table.

Cassandra whispered behind her: "Maman, they are here for the blinking eye…"

Catherine did not understand: "What blinking eye?"

"That crystal eye."

Catherine instinctively ran toward her desk, to get the amethyst first. Suddenly a sharp metal star flew over and cut into the wooden desktop next to the amethyst.

"Don't move!" A shout came from behind her.

Two more Ninjas appeared on this side of the walkway, wielding their samurai sword and slowly stepping into the office area.

Amidst this commotion, nobody noticed except Cassandra, the sound of opening and closing of the Fire Exit door at the far end.

Catherine's first thought was to reach the crystal before these Ninjas could get to it, but Cassandra pulled and struggled her mother backwards, until they could hide themselves behind another desk.

Seeing the mother and daughter had retreated, all three Ninjas put their sword back into the sheath. The first Ninja bend forward to grab the trophy. But before that could happen, the amethyst instantaneously flew up, shot out of the office, and flung into the mosaic mural, then vanished completely.

[FIVE – “The figures in the painting are moving!”]

Of course, that was Rohardoon’s doing, he came out of the fire exit and raced down the walkway to the office area, just as he arrived at the mural, he saw the Ninja’s hand reached out for the amethyst.

Instantly he picked up the CONG from his chest and pointed it at the amethyst, the amethyst flew over and attached itself to the CONG as it was a magnet.

Rohadoon looked at the three Ninjas, the archaeologist, and her daughter, all of them were staring at mural with eyes wide open, trying to understand what had just happened!

Not obliged to offer them any explanation, he made a funny face to the little girl then turned around and ran toward the fire exit.

In a split second, as Rohardoon ran pass the mural again, all 3 ninjas and Catherine saw what happened in front of their eyes, collided head to head with their senses.

As their eyes delved into the mosaic mural in search of the dissolved amethyst, in a split second, all of them saw the figures in the mural began to move; at first Pious the 7th suddenly stood up, and sat down again, followed suit by Napoleon lowering the queen's crown on Josephine's head, then Josephine extended her neck to take the crown; behind her, her two ladies-in-waiting fanned out her crimson coronation mantle, tossed those little golden bees up in the air.

One of the Ninja exclaimed in Japanese: "The figures in the picture … are moving!"

[To be continued next week]

Digital Illustration for Character Design

Mahako - One of 3 major female characters in Novel: "Beauties from the Golden Vase." Digital Art.

麻葉子 － 『金瓶麗人』三位女主角之一。

Tang Mayie at the Opening Party

This is my illustration for Sci-Fi Graphic Novel: Fantabulous Nanomorphique Adventure of M Hardoon Rotman.

Tang Mayie attended the Opening Party, but did not participate in the ribbon-cutting ceremony, only sitting at the VIP seat, wearing wide-brimmed hat and dark sunglasses.

[To read the story:  www.fantabulousnarrations.com/copy-of-test-1 ]

(A pick grew out of the Newt Suit from the invisible hand of Rohardoon, so he could open the glass case and grab the Cong.)

[Previous Week Plot Review]

Rohardoon was really comfortably lying on the edge of the ceiling's grid frame. He was sleeping up there, to avoid the crowd in the rotunda.

The Old Man sent him here to pick up 2 pieces that the Old Man claimed had lost a long time ago!

The Old Man gave him a cool “Newt Suit,” by wearing it, he became invisible and was able to craw and stay on any type of surface.

Now the museum had closed for the night, and it was time for him to move!

[THREE  –  Lying on the Ceiling]  – Continue  < WEEK VIII >

Stealing antique artifacts from a world-known museum was not an easy task, but with this cool and invisible suit, he could get anything he wanted without any problem!

He had watched and studied the museum for two weeks, it was under the Oldman’s instruction, to observe and learn all the operation protocols and the routines of the guards. Just as now, he watched one of the guards making the night’s first patrol.

There were 2 night guards and they would take turns to perform this duty. Tonight, it was the chubby one first. He slowly covered the fire exits, the elevators, and the first, the second floor; then returned to the control room on the third floor. Panting visibly, he joined his colleague at their post in front of the monitors.

Control room's glass wall gave the guards a bird's eye view towards the rotunda, but the dark glass obstructed the view from outside, only the lights from the monitor screens might be vaguely discernible to visitors.

But visitors were ordinary people! Rohardoon was not! He had the “Newt Suit!” Newt suit allowed him a vision that no optical tricks could successfully erase! He could see clearly through the dark glass, and survey every movement in the control room.

The chubby guard sat down and immediately dug into the leftover sweets from the cocktail party. The other guard worked on the control panel, turning on various buttons.

In the rotunda, thousand threads of the infrared lights now dissected the dark silence and entangled the space with a deadly web waiting to catch a prey.

Rohardoon stretched a little, then turned and crawled off the dome, passed the rose window, and landed on the third floor balcony. Through the dark glass wall he saw museum’s Chief Security Officer, Etienne Fournier entered the control room. Fournier should be off-duty by now, but perhaps because this was the first day of a major exhibition, he stayed late.

But immediately Rohardoon knew something was wrong, Fournier's facial expression alerted him first, then he saw the two masked figure behind Fournier, they were Japanese Ninjas!

Once inside the control room, one of the Ninja ordered the chubby guard to activate the control of the freight elevator and to switch off the surveillance system in the basement. The other Ninja tied Etienne Fournier and the second guard to the chair.

Very obvious, these ninjas had the same purpose as his, and for the same things too! But they ordered the freight elevators to be activated, and only the basement surveillance be cut off, Rohardoon concluded they came here for the amethyst only, because it was not included in the exhibition and was in the basement right now under Dr. Denver’s possession.

Rohardoon hurried up, he nimbly jumped over the balcony banister, and landed in the rotunda. The infrared web had no effect on him, he was a prey that they could never capture.

Stood in front of the glass case of the CONG, he extended his index finger towards the little lock on the base of the glass case. Immediately a small pick grew out of the Newt Suit from the fingertip and he pushed the pick into the key hole. The case opened and he grabbed the jade CONG.

Strangely he felt in his palm the jade CONG swelled, but returned to normal in a split second, as if its body need a stretch after a long rest.

Without thinking, he placed the CONG onto his chest, it stuck to the suit. He swiveled around and ran for the fire exit at the north end of the building, and headed for the basement to grab the crystal.

[To be continued next week]

Fantabulous Nanomorphique Adventure of M Hardoon Rotman - (Week 5)

[Previous Week Plot Review]

Catherine and Cassandra followed the flows of the visitors through the display cases in the rotunda. Cassandra kept telling her mother that there was a man lying on the ceiling. Catherine checked but did not see any strange things on the ceiling.

It was almost the closing time, they went to the elevator and descended to the first level of basement where Catherine’s office was located. She decided to take another look at a piece that was not included in the exhibition – an Amethyst with bizarre “behaviors.”

 & TWO  –  Mosaic Replica of “Napoleon’s Coronation”    < Week V >

The entire basement was an open space, all the items it stored, no matter a box, a drawer, or a shelf were in full display. The dimension was about 50 meters long and 20 meters wide, but its height was rather deceiving, because of a sunken area sat in the middle.

This sunken area was enclosed by a walkway about 2 meters wide along the four walls. At each corner, and in the middle of each side of the walkways, a small 5-step cement stair descended into the sunken well. Thus, this unusual layout gave the basement an extra height, almost equal to one and a half level of regular floor.

Three large desks, a long table, with chairs, and several filing cabinets were arranged at the south end of the sunken area, here, Catharine and two assistants performed their daily duties.

But as one stepped out of the elevator, the real eye catcher was not exactly the vast space, nor its massive storage. The first thing one’s eye would encounter was a huge mosaic mural on the east side wall. Expanding almost half of the length of the wall, the mural was a replica of Jacques-Louis David's ‘The Coronation of Napoleon.’

The historical event of Napoleon and Josephine’s coronation happened on December 2nd, 1804; and the location was Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. David’s painting depicted the very moment Napoleon holding the crown aloft for Josephine’s coronation.

Jacques-Louis David started this painting in 1805, and finished it by the end of 1807. The original painting, now in the Louvre, was gigantic 6 meters by 10 meters. But this mural focused on the two major roles, particularly Josephine whose kneeling figure, with the long train of the coronation mantle embroidered with gold bees, covered two thirds of the lower half of the replica. Also because of it was in mosaic style, the entire mural resonated a breath-taking effect of mesmerising fabrication of color and shape!

This mural became museum's hidden gem; via special request, organizations and groups were granted permission to descend to here and to be marveled by this art piece of its own.

The elevator door opened, and Cassandra bounced up and down all the way to the mural and stood in front of Josephine, the slightly bowing head of Josephine was just about at her eye level. This was almost a ritual whenever she had a chance visiting her mother’s office, stopping in front of the mural first. She would stand there for a long time, not staring at Josephine, but at her mantle, imagining and counting how many bees could be embroidered on it. She had counted with Napoleon’s mantle a few times already.

Catherine went directly to her office, but said to her daughter: "Don't stay outside too long, coming back to the office soon." The "outside" was the walkway, the sunken well naturally was the "inside;" because along the inner edge of the walkway, 18 electronic surveillance columns were installed. 7 at each long side, and 2 at each short side.

The columns were made of aluminum alloy, stood from the floor to the ceiling, and equipped with the most advanced electronic surveillance technology. The columns threaded a 3D invisible grid of complicated net, securing the entire collection on this floor. Each column was about 3 inches in diameter, the surfaces were covered with irregular shallow cuts of lines and iconic designs and they in turn were encrusted with crystal glasses. From these shallow crystal inlays, green florescent lights flashed at random intervals, scanning the outside world. These watchful rods and lights added a surreal atmosphere to the entire basement.

Storage cases, boxes, cabinets were orderly arranged in this sunken well, several movable stairs were available for reaching object on the higher shelves.

This advanced electronic security system was all controlled from the third floor Security Room at the south end, overlooking the rotunda. The room was in fact a glass box, with floor to ceiling walls of black one-way mirror.

All the artifacts stored here, no matter its size, as soon as received by the museum, would be scanned into the system, and the system would start tracking it 24/7. Therefore, to steal or smuggle any piece of the collection out of the museum would not be possible!

Catherine swiped her ID card through a slot on the Electronic Column, then entered into her office. She wanted to take a closer look at the piece she insisted not to be included in the exhibition, a crystal looked like an amethyst.

[To be continued next week]

Coloring the comic strip

Finally I figured out how to color my comic strip.

Also the Buddha stature in my illustration is based on an amazing Gandhara Buddha stature, here is a photo, the original is in Guimet Museum in Paris.

Fantabulous Nanomorphique Adventure of M Hardoon Rotman - (Week 4)

[Previous Week Plot Review]

The Jade Exhibition held at the Pellimet Museum in Paris attracted great audiences, but the most eye-catching item in the exhibition rotunda, was a huge poster, hanging over the balcony banister from the 3rd floor to the middle of the 1st floor.

The poster was a lovely photograph of a couple – Alfonse de Baux, the original owner of the ancient Chinese artifacts, and his fiancée, Chinese movie star Tang Meiye; both in Chinese period costumes.

This highly anticipated exhibition was about to open in two days, but what happened next stunned the entire city of Paris! Alfonse de Baux disappeared into thin air!

With such unexpected happening, Parisians were even more anxious to see the exhibition, therefore it was a block buster on the opening day, and the museum almost received non-stop visitors from the morning to the night!

Catherine and Cassandra stopped by in the early evening and followed the visitors through the exhibition.

But Cassandra raised her head and looked up again and again, the mother asked what she saw, she said there was a man on the ceiling.

ONE  –  The little girl looked up again and again  – Continue  <Week IV>

Catherine again squinted her eyes and looked at the vault ceiling, still, nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary. But she somehow knew that she could not ignore her daughter's acute senses. She discovered that Cassandra, at a very early age, exhibited telepathic abilities.

 "A man? on the ceiling? How is that possible?"

She focused on the stucco surface of the diamond shapes, searching for signs of cracks, flaked paints, or even remote possibility of a bird nest illegally set up in a hidden corner.

If any of those cases happened, she would have to report them to the engineer department of the museum for repair jobs to be done; but the ceiling right now looked in a mint condition to her.

"There is a man lying on the ceiling." Cassandra said.

"How can a man lying on the ceiling?"

"like a lizard."

"Lizard is crawling on the wall, or on the ceiling, with its four legs, not lying there."

A group of visitors led by a guide moved to the glass case where they was viewing.  They heard the guide said: "In this glass case, we see this jade piece, caused quite a debate in the academic world. From the shape and color of the jade, it should be, as Chinese scholars would call it, a CONG, it is a ritual piece used in various religious ceremonies, but when the museum received the collection, it was mixed among a small amount of Mayan jade pieces. Our researchers wanted to raise the question to Mr. de Baux directly, but unfortunately, Mr. de Baux suddenly disappeared several days ago, right now, searching efforts were launched all over the world, yet all in vain; therefore, unless we find Mr. de Baux, otherwise, no one could answer this question: why a Chinese jade was in the midst of Mayan pieces."

Cassandra saw that her mother's attention was shifted to the visitors, listening on the guide's explanation; she tucked on her mother's clothe again, and pointed her finger to the vault.

Catherine looked at her wrist watch, then softly said: "Silly girl, let's go back to my office, there is another piece, I need to take another look."

Catherine's office was on the first level of basement. Mother and daughter had to take elevator at the north side of the circle, where the entrance to the rectangular building connected to the rotunda.

Pellimet Museum had two levels of basement, where all museum's collections were stored. But the basement space was not as big as the entire street block; because there was no sub-level underneath the rotunda.

She picked up her daughter's hand and went for the elevator by the entrance to the rectangular section of the building.

The third floor of this rectangular building was mainly offices for the employees, with the Electronic Control and Security Room at the south end, overlooking the rotunda.

The first and second floor were various sized room for themed exhibitions.

On the first floor, the entire space was divided into 3 sections by two walkways. The middle section was larger than the two flanking sections of equal size. They were utilized for specific themed collections of the museum.

Two passenger elevators were located at the end of the west section. The space in front of the elevators, was a 6-foot wide “curved” corridor separating the rectangular section with the rotunda.

Only elevator number two stopped at all five floors, i.e., from the third floor to the second level basement. Elevator number one descent down to the top level basement only, skipping the second level.

At the north end of the building, two more service elevators situated next to the fire exit, one at each corner. The one on the east side was a freight elevator, three times larger than the stander size, to accommodate any over-sized artwork.

At the end of the east section, in the middle of the curved corridor, a beautiful and grandeur spiral staircase twisted and twined from the first floor, through the second floor, landed on the third floor balcony. It was pretty spacious, wide enough for a two-way traffic, as long as each using the right side.

Only a packed exhibition like this one, the museum kept it for one-way traffic only, upstream in the morning and downstream in the afternoon; any wrong direction at the wrong time, would have to wait for the elevator.

(To be continued next week)

Poster for Jade Exhibition at Pellimet Museum in Paris

Fantabulous Nanomorphique Adenture of M Hardoon Rotman (Week 3)

[Previous Week Plot Review]

Musée Pellimet des arts asiatique de Paris was holding a unique Chinese Jade exhibition. The contents of this exhibition were donated to the museum by a Marseille entrepreneur and philanthropist Alfonse de Baux.

Certain strange anomalies presented among this donations posed difficulties in analyzing the history and origin of the pieces.

After a close examination of all the artifacts, the museum archaeologist, Dr. Catherine Denver was totally baffled by two pieces which seemed to be beyond any earthly means of analyzation!

One was a Chinese Jade Cong, one was an Amethyst.

[ONE  –  The little girl looked up again and again]  – Continue <WEEK III>

Act in their promotional role, Dr. Tertois and Catherine appeared on several television and radio shows.

Other than the museum’s promotion, the philanthropist himself also vehemently involved in a major role of publicity; using his celebrity status and accompanied by his fiancée, the Chinese movie star Tang Meiye who had even a bigger celebrity status, attended every possible press conferences, art exhibition openings, and movie premieres.

Frequently he was questioned on the spot by the press, about his donation to Pellimet Museum; the source of his collection, under what circumstances he acquired these pieces, etc. He was very evasive towards these enquiries, only stated that he will explain everything at the opening day ceremony.

Highlight to all the buzz, was a huge poster, hanging over the banister of the third-floor balcony in the museum. It was the photo of the couple. Both in Chinese attires; Tang Meiye was in "Little Phoenix" style costume - a high-collar, narrow-waist jacket and plaited skirt in vermilion satin with gold peony embroidery.  He was in traditional Chinese man's costume – fitted satin robe with “Lucky-Bat” icon texture, a vest, and a “melon-skin” hat.

They both supposed to attend the opening ceremony, but something unexpected happened, two days before the opening, Alfonse de Baux disappeared, a global search was conducted, but he was nowhere to be found！

Tang Meiye appeared at the ceremony, but did not answer any media questions. A pair of dark sun glasses hid her red and puffed eyes. The silence treatment whetted up a bigger public appetite both French and International. Curiosities and guesses alike created rumors: “is his disappearance linked to the mysterious Mayan civilization? Or to the ancient Chinese civilization?” “Could it be possible some jade pieces carry some kind of ‘curse?’ similar to the mummies of Egypt?”

All these whispers and unanswered questions, stroke a nerve of Parisian press; consequently it all made this exhibition the biggest event of the decade.

The ribbon cutting cocktail party stated at ten o'clock in the morning.  Tang Meiye appeared, but did not participate in any of the ceremonies, just silently sitting on the VIP seat, wearing a wide brimmed hat and a pair of big dark sun glasses.  Next to her sat Melane de Baux, Alfonse's younger sister, who was attending on her brother's behalf. Flashlights sparkled hundreds of times, focused on them.

The exhibition opened to the public at one o'clock in the afternoon. The lineup started early in the morning, by the time the door opened up, the line of outside waiting people almost encircled the entire block.

There was a non-stop flow the entire afternoon, endless people and groups came in to see this famous collection, yet all in a controlled manner. Newly recruited and quickly trained guides were in high spirit, but obviously exhausted towards the end of day.

Now it was seven o'clock at night, just a little while further to go before closing time, the rotunda was still full of people and activities, at least three groups in an orderly manner, followed their guide, visiting each glassed display. The guides were particularly trained not to swoon on to the cases two groups at the same time.

At the present, Catherine searched the beautiful vault ceiling, nothing seemed out of place to her, she returned to the glass case.

Inside the case, under bright illumination, was a dark brown colored CONG. At a first glance, it was no doubt a typical Chinese jade that could belong to the Red Mountain period or the Liang Wet Land period.

But after a second look any scholar would raise a few questions. This CONG, compared with any existing antique ones, differed both in size and in shape; it was 5 millimeter longer and 3 millimeter thicker, and it was a hexagon!

Catherine found it impossible to tackle all these problems in such a short time. She would have to know the history of the pieces and even to visit the exact locations where they had been excavated.

She tried to ask Alfonse de Baux directly, but did not find any opportunity to do so before his disappearance.

Facing so many uncertainties, Catherine put a lot of question marks on the index card posted at the corner of the glass case. The line indicates the origin of this CONG was marked: "Unknown."

At the moment, Casandra suddenly raised her head again and stared at the vault with its slow color-changing illumination from outside. Then she pulled on her mother's clothe.

"Cass, what's the matter?"

"Maman, there is a man on the ceiling."

(To be continued next week)

Mapping Amethyst

Amethyst is one of the major characters in my sci-fi novel: The Fantabulous Nanomorphique Adventure of M Hardoon Rotman. This mapping will be the guideline for a GIF file later.

Fantabulous Nanomorphique Adventure of M. Hardoon Rotman - Week 2

[Last Week Plot Review]

Dr. Catherine Denver, the resident Archaeologist of Pellimet museum in Paris, brought her daughter, Cassandra to see the exhibition on the opening night. They moved around following the crowd's flow through each exhibition case, examining various Chinese Jades.

But Cassandra raised her head up several times, checking the domed ceiling 5 stories high above.

Catherine asked her what she saw there.

Catherine knew her daughter, even at very young age, had shown "telepathic" abilities.

So she also looked up at the coffered ceiling, checking for any strange signs.

But this would not be the first and only strange thing she had encountered, ever since the museum accepted these jade artifacts donated by Mr. Alphonso de Baux, an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and a Casanova from Marseille, France.

ONE  –  The little girl looked up again and again  – Continued  <Week II>

The uncertainty of many of the artifacts and the lack of time for further study increased the difficulties for Catherine to post introduction notes by the displaying cases.  She had no choice but to use question marks wherever she was unable to confirm!

The entire collection contained more than 30 pieces. After the preliminary examination, Catherine discovered that it would take years to verify and authenticate all the Chinese artifacts, because they were from several major ancient cultural sites, as well as historical periods in China; and yet Alphonso de Baux insisted that his collection be opened to Parisians one month after the donation.

Catherine and the museum's Chief Curator, Dr. Jacques Tertois, after some serious discussions, made several decisions; they decided on actual number of pieces to be displayed, guidelines to provide accountable information for each piece, etc.

Dr. Tertois even compiled extensive training materials, to prepare newly recruited exhibition guides for their temporary job.

He gave this exhibition an innovative title: "Discover the Ancient Secretes and New Technologies of the Chinese Jade."

He explained that these small pieces of ancient Chinese jade, resembled very much the bolts and nuts of a modern machine; some were round beads, some flat ones with teethed edge; other discs had eccentric circles carved on the surface, some were small rectangular rods with round hole in the middle. Of course, many other pieces for sure had ceremonial and religious purposes.

The word "discover" in the title came directly from Alphonso de Baux's company name: "Société de Technologie de Découverte."

Using these words, Dr. Tertois meant to encourage Dr. Denver to further her study and research into these precious artifacts.

With or without encouragement, it was Catherine's duty to get to the bottom of all the anomalies. By first glance, it was quite easy for Catherine to pick out several pieces which were clearly not Chinese but belonged to Mesoamerica Mayan civilization!

The symbolic meaning and importance of Mayan jade to the ancient Mayan people might have been parallel to that of the Chinese jade regarded by the ancient Chinese. Yet, the design details were rather distinctively different from each other.

Then there were two pieces; one from each group, rendered her study in limbo!

The first was a Chinese Jade Cong 琮, a religious and ceremonial piece, its standard shape was a rectangular rod, in the size of a pinky, but with a round hole in the center. The discrepancy was, it was a hexagon, and it had no round central cut out.

The second was even more puzzling. It was a free-shaped, palm-sized crystal rock, purple in color, it should be an “Amethyst,” but Catherine had never seen an amethyst like this, neither could she figure out what the real material was.

Her instinct told her that these two pieces must be related to the mysterious Mayan Crystals, but without any chance for further investigation, she might need to consult a mineralogist for help.

Fantabulous Adventure of M Hardoon Rotman - Chinese Version - Wk 1

洛哈同奇譚之  奈米奪魂記

全新插畫科幻小說  姬璘璆著

第一部  巴黎

第一章  活動的壁畫

一  小女孩頻頻抬頭上望

那紮了兩條可愛小辮子的小女孩頻頻抬頭，望向有五層樓高的圓頂穹拱。

「凱絲，妳看見什麼了？」小女孩的母親，凱薩琳丹芙博士 （Catherine D. Denver）也向上望去，但瞧不出任何的異狀，小女孩名字叫羅珊蒂（Cassandra D. Law），今年十歲，她的母親暱稱她凱絲（Cass）。

她們仰望著的那圓頂穹拱有著複雜的菱形圖案結構，雖然不像羅馬的『四泉聖嘉祿教堂』（S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Rome） 那個穹頂那麼著名，但這間巴黎『裴聿美亞洲藝術博物館』（Musée Pellimet, Paris）本身也是一棟傑出的巴洛克式建築。

博物館外表是長方形，佔據了整個的街段，而這五層樓高的穹頂，位於南端，並高出其餘部分兩層，也就是說，穹頂外觀係一圓形高塔，而博物館其餘的部分只有三層樓高。

這圓頂高塔乃全館主展覽廳，抬頭仰望，除了穹頂外，在三樓處又伸展出一圈能俯視大廳的淺淺環廊，大幅的宣傳海報，可掛在環廊欄杆的外緣，憑空懸垂下來。

在第四層高的位置，有六個圓形染色大玻璃窗，開在支撐著穹頂的牆面，而整個穹頂便是第五層了。

陽光燦爛的日子裡，染色玻璃給底下的展覽廳帶來了神奇繽紛的照明；一入了夜，自窗外有強光燈打照進來，則又給展覽廳染上一層瑰麗又奇譎的色彩。

圓形穹頂天花板遍佈菱形小隔，小隔四邊稍稍凸起，因此在整個穹頂上，構成了格子式的圖樣，而格子的大小，則自底邊起，向圓頂中央的小天窗逐漸遞減，井然有序中帶著一種雄渾的韻律，看上去比中國古典建築藻井的複雜繁美結構，更形自然而有力。

這時剛入夜，凱薩琳只覺得白底的菱形圖案經五彩的強光一照，濃淡繽紛，花樣繁複，好看已極，卻哪裡看得出什麼異樣來呢?

這座『裴聿美博物館』位巴黎第十六區內（ 16ème arrondissement ），是世界數一數二的亞洲藝術博物館。數萬件的收藏，涵蓋了約五千年的中亞、東亞、和東南亞藝術與文化的發展。

收藏品中最早的一件，當數中國紅山文化時期的玉龍豬，距今已有五千年的歷史。最大的一件，是罕見的巨大高棉石雕，雕像主體乃有七顆頭的Naga，據考證，是吳哥窟十二世紀時聖劍寺的遺物，由博物館重新組合而成。

這個博物館，乃裴聿美家族於十九世紀中葉時建立，最早僅為私人收藏。法王路易十四時期，有一部分盧浮宮內的亞洲藝術珍寶被歸入這裏。到二十世紀初， 才轉為法國國家博物館，如今隸屬於法國文化局。

今天則正是一個重要展覽的開幕日，因為這個展覽來歷非常特別，是馬賽有名的花花公子Alphonse de Baux捐贈給博物館的。

Alphonse de Baux，『薄鳳池』是他為自己取的中文名字，他在商界與文化界有許多中國友人，與中國的關係極好。

但這項捐贈在某種程度上來說十分奇怪，因為贈品相當混雜，特別是玉器，並非全出自中國，有一小部分明顯來自中美洲的瑪雅文明！而且既便是中國的玉器，似乎也混雜著好幾個不同的古文化時期！

薄鳳池於半年前，向博物館提出捐贈並要求展出時，未曾透露這批文物的來源，只說他會於開幕儀式上有所宣佈。

身為這間裴聿美亞洲藝術博物館的駐館考古學家，首先這些玉器的出處，已令凱薩琳丹芙極為困惑。當她全盤清點檢驗過一遍後，發現了更多，甚至更是極為『怪異』的問題！

The Fantabulous Nanomorphique Adventure of M Hardoon Rotman - 1

The Fantabulous Nanomorphique Adventure of M Hardoon Rotman - 1

An Illustrated Sci-Fi Novel by PJ Chuz

[This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.]

PART ONE  –  PARIS

CHAPTER 1  –  An Animated  Mural

One  –  The little girl looked up again and again

The little girl with two braided pony tails raised her head again and again, looking at the domed ceiling five stories high above.

Her mother Dr. Catherine D. Denver noticed that and asked: “Cass, what did you see?” Both of them looking upward, but Catherine could not find anything unusual. The little girl, Cassandra D. Law was ten, her mother nick-named her “Cass.”

Even though the domed ceiling Catherine and her daughter were staring at, was not as famous as the internationally renowned ceiling of S. Calo alle Quattro Fontane in Rome, but this dome and its entire building of Musée Pellimet des arts asiatique in Paris had its own merits, it exhibited full ingenuity of Baroque Architecture.

The museum occupied an entire street block; at its south end stood this five-story high dome, but the rest of the building was three-story high. In other words, the museum consisted of a domed rotunda towering over a rectangular structure.

Featuring a five-story high ceiling, the domed rotunda served as the major exhibition space. There was also a shallow balcony with ornate banisters built around the rotunda at the third floor level. Huge promotional posters often hang over the banister on the north side of the rotunda.

There were six stained-glass Rose Windows evenly distributed all around the fourth story level. On top of that the spherical dome was the fifth story.
These rose windows, during the day, especially bright sunny days, casted a motley of color to the rotunda down below; and at night, they were illuminated from outside with strong color-changing light, then the vault seemed to become arctic sky.

The whole ceiling was coffered with diamond grid. Each diamond was shaped with a stub frame and its size from the bottom of the dome dwindled proportionally, until they reached the round sky light at the top of the dome.
If compared with the Chinese traditional caisson ceiling - 藻井, this orderly design with its simplicity and crispness, brought out a geometric harmony to the high space above the rotunda.

At the present, the night had just descended upon Paris, Catherine looked at the colorful illumination from outside, which created a wonderful and mysterious mood to the white stuccoed coffer ceiling. But with a great effort, she could not find anything wrong up there.

Pellimet Museum was located in the sixteenth arrondissement of Paris, it was one of the leading institute on ancient Asiatic artifacts. Its tremendous collection embraced the entire Eastern and Southeastern Asian arts and culture, covering almost 5000 years of their development.

The earliest dated piece was a jade boar from the Chinese Red Mountain Period, around 2500 B.C.
The largest piece was a huge stone sculpture from Cambodia. The subject of which was the mythological Naga, a beast with seven heads. According to archaeological research, this sculpture was dated back to the 12th Century, and was originally belonged to Pheah Khan Temple at the Angkor City. The museum assembled the broken pieces and rebuilt the sculpture.

Musée Pellimet was established in the mid-19th Century by the Pellimet family.  In the beginning, it was a private collection.
During the French King, Louis the 14th, the Asian collection of the Louvre was amalgamated to here. Then at the beginning of the 20th Century, Musée Pellimet became French national museum and under the government of the Cultural Bureau of the France Republic.

Today, was the first day of a major and special exhibition for the museum. Because the contents of this exhibition was donated to the museum by Marseille’s most famous philanthropist, Alphonse de Baux.

薄鳳池 was the Chinese name he picked for himself. De Baux family in Marseille had a long history of maintaining good relationship with China. Therefore he acquainted himself with many Chinese friends both in the business and the culture communities.

But this donated collection, to a certain degree, posed great problems for Dr. Catherine Denver. That was because of the detail of the contents, majority of which were ancient Chinese no doubt, yet mixed among them, were artifacts obviously came from Mesoamerican Mayan civilization!

Also, even the Chinese jade pieces were from several different locations and periods in time.

As the original owner of these antiquities, Alphonse de Baux, at the time of donating, had not revealed how and when he had acquired these jade pieces, but he indicated that he would explain everything only at the opening ceremony of the exhibition.

Dr. Catherine Denver felt very uneasy about the whole situation, because she was the museum’s resident archaeologist. It was her responsibility to study and understand the entire collection first. To her surprise and chagrin, after thoroughly examined the pieces, more problems were identified, and some of the problems were rather very “bizarre.”