Title: Phoenix Tears Medium: Super-8, Photography, Artificial Intelligence, Acrylic on Canvas, Silkscreen, Augmented Reality, NFT Year: 2026 Dimensions: 30 in x 40 in Color Composition: Dark Green 51.5% · White 22.7% · Green 13.8% · Cream 4.5% · Yellow 3.3% · Raw Canvas 2.4% · Red 0.8% · Deep Blue 0.6% · Aqua 0.5% Tone: Low Key, lightness 14 out of 100 (0 is black, 100 is white) Journal: December 14, 2023 Gumpoong invited me to her parents home in Chang Mai to meet her mom and dad to drink some red Thai tea and have a very spicy meal. It was a family affair! For their family portrait I asked Gumpoong to take a photo of her parents as a way to honor her art as a photographer. To integrate creativity with the meaning of being together as a family, and that energy that brings us all together. The shooter becomes the subject and the viewer became the shooter. Before we left, her father noticed I loved his special tea from his neighbor so much that he gifted me a big bag of tea leaves which was the best tasting tea I ever drank. It almost felt illegal how good it was. They called it phoenix tears. And I cried when it was all gone. Gumpoongs cousin picked us up and drove us all around the village until nightfall to visit the temples scattered across the town and have a couple of coconuts and tom yum soup at the local night street market before taking me back to their families hotel.