Gong Hei Fat Choy! Yesterday 17 February 2026 marked the start of the Chinese New Year (CNY). It’s now the Year of the Horse, according to the Lunar calendar, where all the 12 animal zodiacs revolve around a 12-year cycle within one of the five elements. The present cycle is Fire. As it has been a hectic week with me being physically unwell, I unfortunately, once again, have not been able to properly follow the traditions such as cleaning the house and space clearing with sage before the New Year. Let’s pray that we will not have any bad luck this year! That said, as I’ve been under the weather lately and my heath takes priority, I did manage to place my charms and decorations in the proper directions in time. The same with the Wealth and various Luck directions. I know, I’m rather superstitious about Eastern astrology. Even though from Japan originally, the old Chinese traditions, many of which we have also adapted, totally fascinates me!
What is interesting is that CNY is celebrated for 15 days. Whilst the Year of the Horse commenced yesterday, celebrations continue till 3 March this year. A good start when I finally got around to completing a cute little digital painting depicting the Year of the Horse in time for CNY yesterday. Unfortunately, I though, I was not able to start a write up about it till now, but since we are officially within the CNY timeframe, I suppose I can be forgiven. Plus better late than never, especially as I had worked so hard on it! A fun and festive drawing to mark the Year of the Horse and, with the Fire Element, trying to make it as fiery as possible. As such, what a great opportunity to play around with my set of Gold Rush brushes: A combination of gold foils and glitter! A bit of the Pearl Brush too for the bell. Wow, and look how bright and shimmery this horse really pops out against the red background! With the writing including the Chinese character for horse (馬) in gold foil and “2026” in glitter, we are good to go.
And now, a Happy Lunar New Year to you all, and praying for a prosperous and healthy Year of the Fire Horse!
My Kawaii Quarter 