On a familiar land

Aug 20,2018@ 光華電子商場， Taipei.

After our 11-week-long road trip, James and I finally bid our goodbye to the US and flew to Taiwan. We spent a week in Tainan with my family and are now settling in the capital, Taipei. 

I grew up in Tainan and very rarely visited Taipei even though I do have some relatives in this big city. It is now a even bigger, more modern city than I remembered. 

We went to Guang Hua electronic plaza the other day and there I saw something familiar. Although a fancy tall skyscraper is nearby, the electronic shops stay in the narrow lane where they have stood for decades. It was about 33 degrees (Celsius) when I sketched this scene. It wasn't the most comfortable weather but I do appreciate the familiar heat. I am on a familiar land for a new adventure.

My new helper - Carl Gouge Hole Punch

I have tried a few new things since this US road trip started. First, I started using chalk pastels with watercolour. I found the pastels work especially well when I couldn’t get the lightest value with watercolour.

Then I tried sketching on toned pastel paper. I always admire Tina and Sue’s work on toned paper but wasn’t sure how to approach it. As James brought a pad of toned pastel paper with him, I finally decided ot give it a go. I quite like how my sketches turned out on these papers! To me the papers work the best when the lighting is bad and watercolour wouldn’t have the best effect.

So I started to think how I could have both watercolour paper and toned paper in my sketch kit. At the beginning of the trip, I was using a B5-sized folder to hold my paper and finished sketches. It was convenient enough as I could put assorted sheets of paper in each plastic sleeve, which means I did have watercolour paper and toned paper at the same time. The folder, however, was not so practical for sketching on location. Therefore I started looking into binding my own sketchbook again.

I have tried stitching my sketchbooks in the past. The books worked fine but it was time-consuming. To stitich up a sketchbook that opens flat would take me a couple of hours at least and requires some tools to hold the paper and the strings. Not ideal when I’m on the road. Just then I read Shar Blaukopt’s article, which mentioned Brenda Swenson’s method. That got me started digging around the internet, and there I found Carl Gouge Hole Punch!

Instead of explaining how the punch works, here is the link to a video about the punch. https://youtu.be/lyh_2z3Z-Tw

As you can see, now I can make spiral-bound sketchbooks in less than an hour and have any kind of paper i like. I just completed filling in my first DIY sketchbook made with Carl Punch and made a second one last night. I can’t wait to make more sketchbooks in different sizes soon!

Zion National Park

Zion National Park is famous for it's magnificent landscape. There are a few popular trails and Angel's Landing is one of them. It is not an easy walk up and at the end of the 2.5 mile trail I was welcomed by selfie sticks. I laughed and sat to sketch the scene.

The Narrows is another popular walk, the first section is easy, mostly paved and then you have to walk in the water to the canyon beyond. While James explored the river, I sketched in a shady spot.