People on the MRT Taipei, Dec 3-7, 2018

The girl with bright red lipstick caught my attention as soon as I got on the train. She wasn't good looking, to be honest, but she has the attitude to tell the world that she dares to put the color on her no matter what. 

The man in the last picture was so drunk that he struggled to stay awake. 

 

Life drawing 3, Dec 8, 2018

With my new job, now I feel more relaxed about spending some money on extracurricular activities :). I went back to life drawing yesterday. James came along as well. It was his first life drawing session. Until yesterday, he only used reference photos found on the web for figure painting practice.

The studio I went to a couple of months ago is now closed due to lease termination. The teacher recommended all the students to go to Alley 97, a 4-story old building serving as a cafe, a gallery and an art studio. The studio is much smaller than the previous art studio. You can see the model closely, if there isn't too many attendees.

Although I have been drawing people on the MRT 5 days a week for a few weeks, I still felt a bit rusty at the beginning of the session. Somehow it took me a few attempts to get the proportion close (I think it's still a bit off). I forgot what Charles Reid said about cast shadows. I thought I would be able to make 2 drawings but it still took me a good whole session to complete 1 painting.

I used Arches paper 300g watercolor paper. It's more expensive than all the other brands I've tried here in Taiwan, including Saunders, Canson Montval and a popular Chinese brand called Baohong. Arches paper beats all of them. It's just easy to work with and allows room to correct mistakes.

People on the MRT

 I started a new job a couple of weeks ago here in Taipei. It's been a long while since I commuted to work. Last time I took a train to work was back in 2014- the year I found Urban sketchers. I remember taking a pocket-sized Moleskine watercolour sketchbook and a fine felt pen with me (I hadn't started using fountain pens then). Now I use a cheap notepad made with recycled paper and a black crayon to sketch people on my way to work.

I learnt about this Korean black crayon from a fellow USK Taipei sketcher. He breaks the crayon into smaller pieces so he could use the tip as well as the side to create various texture.

 With cheap materials, I don't worry about making errors or people getting off before I finish a sketch. I just turn the page over and draw another person. People watching and sketching definitely makes my way to work and back much more enjoyable.

A young tea farmer

James and I took a day trip to Maokong, Taipei this Saturday. Maokong is a small town on one of the hills surrounding Taipei. It is famous for tea farms and tea factories. Or it was. More recently it is a touristy destination at the end of a MAT gondola line. Nowadays you walk out of the gondola station you still see some tea farms on the slope. Unfortunately you will see more fancy modern tea houses that sells coffee, bread and cakes with blasting western music.

I was a bit disappointed while walking around Maokong. It wasn't as quiet as I pictured it. James and I decided to take a trail downhills to get to another MRT station. That's when we saw this young tea farmer. The walking trail is the old path which farmers used to deliver tea to the city and its harbour. Now only old people walk on it for exercise and a few tourists take it to escape the noise in the town. The tea farmer was planting some young tea trees quietly in the afternoon sun and I stopped to sketch him. After a few moments, he invited us in for some tea. I thought he is running a tea house like all the other business people in the town but he isn't. His house is right next to the farm and there is where he studies and makes tea.

The tea farmer told us that the house and the tea making factory in the basement belonged to his grandfather. After his grandfather passed away 4 years ago, he quit his job at a biotech company and took over the family business. He is a certified tea tasting expert and runs occasional workshops to teach people how tea is made and how to taste tea. We ended up staying at his charming house for the whole afternoon and visited his tea making factory. Of course we tasted some nice tea there, too. It was such an unexpected experience. If I weren't an Urban Sketcher and didn't stop for a quick sketch, I wouldn't have had the chance to meet such an incredible young person. Don't you agree?

Macau

When I came back to Taiwan in August this year, I used my Aussie passport. That means I only have 3 months in Taiwan. Therefore I had to take a trip somewhere in November. James and I decided to go to Macau. It's close and the old town looks interesting. Besides, Macau is famous for its casinos, too.

We went to the famous Ruins of St. Pauls on the hill. It's right on the end of a busy touristy street. The whole church is gone except for the facade. Both James and I pulled out our sketch books and pretty soon we attracted quite a lot of attention. At one stage, James said I had about 10 people around me. Most of people asked me questions, but I also sensed some sneaky phones taking videos and photos of me sketching.

This sketch only took me about 30-40 minutes but I am quite happy with the end result. I am especially happy with the way I simplified the complicated patterns on the facade.

Taiwan Plein Air Festival 2018

  

It was the National Plein Air Festival here in Taiwan.  The more formal outings were held in bigger cities but from the official Facebook page I could see there were also some small get-togethers in various towns. 

I joined the huge group of sketchers in Ximen Ding in Taipei. It's a district famous for old buildings as well as modern shopping streets. A place for the old and the new, just like the sketchers I saw that day. There were many professional artists doing plein-air painting demonstration as well as young children sitting on the ground drawing with crayons. 

I definitely enjoyed sketching and chatting with passersby, but I probably spent more energy examining all the interesting gear made by other sketchers. Here is a sketcher who uses a metal stand from a steaming pot to support her easel.  Below is a plein air painting box made by a couple who were just not happy with what they could find on the market. The plastic board is light-weight, affordable and easy to manipulate. They attached a rod (dissembled from a camera tripod) to the bottom of the box and just pull it up when they need to use it.  The custom-made box can store everything they need for painting outdoors in it, including a stool. 

So who wouldn't like going on a painting/sketching festival? You get to sketch, chat and see all the creative ideas in action. Just fun, fun, fun!

Inktober 2018- Part 2

This week I tried to 'paint' with ink. Still focusing on value study, but I couldn't resist using my paint brushes to have some fun.

The clown fish was drawn with Sailor STORia Lion Light Brown ink. Jane Blundell from Australia recommended the ink but I haven't been able to find a good use of it. When sketching I still go for my black ink.

#inktober2018 Prompts: Clock, Weak, Angular, Swollen, Bottle and Scorched

#inktober2018 Prompts: Breakable and Drain

Reportage- COSWAS (Collective of Sex Workers and Supporters)

A bit of background history: it is legal to be a sex worker in Taiwan, according to our constitution, as long as the business occurs within a designated area set up by the local government. The problem is that not every city has established an area for local sex workers. Back in 1997, the Taipei City Mayor at the time, Chen Shui Bian, closed all the legal brothels. Although a designated area was promised for the sex workers by the government later, it was never set up. Some sex workers changed their career paths, some struggled to find a way out and turned to work illegally on the street. With younger, migrated sex workers joining the competition in the neighbourhood, a few of the senior sexworkers took smuggling jobs from drug dealers. Of course working for drug dealers means dead ends. Now these senior sex workers are arrested and sentenced to jail for 8-15 years.

I learnt about these facts from Zita, who is a volunteer of COSWAS and a strong advocate for this group of senior sex workers. Although there is nothing left to do to change the sentence, I do think the Taipei City government should deliver their promise and set up an area for all sex workers to work legally. I offered to do reportage sketching for COSWAS so they let me tag along on the day they protested at the City Hall.

Not sure if the Mayor caught the news or if he really had his calendar full, he wasn't in the office that day. The lift control panel was modified and no one could have access to the floor where the Mayor's office is. When the protesters of COSWAS managed to gain access to the floor through stairs, they were blocked at the entrance by some officials and police officers. I sketched the conflict while standing on the staircase. Unfortunately, after a lengthy argument the group still couldn't see the Mayor or deliver their request on paper to his office. The Media Liaison Officer, however, did attend the press conference.


It of course was not a fruitful meeting. No one expected it to be. The sex workers who were brave enough to show up that day were just hoping to have their voice heard. The COSWAS advocates for them, but these brave sex workers were also advocating for many women. They don't wish to change their sentence but they hope no other sex workers would have to work illegally for gangsters  just to make ends meet.

Tuesday Sketching- Monga, Taipei

I spent more than an hour working on the first sketch and it turned out terrible! So bad that I don't want to put it up here. I moved to sketch a few fellow sketchers close to me before returning to sketch the scene.

With only 20 minutes left before the throw-down, I decided to put colour blocks on the paper first before drawing the details. The loose drawing turned out better. A fellow sketcher, who is also an art teacher, walked over and gave me some positive feedback. He also suggested me to add something in the centre as the focus point. Therefore a washing line and a fire hydrant were added.

 Taiwanese street scenes is really difficult to capture!

Inktober 2018 - part 1

Inktober2018

I've known about Inktober for a couple of years but never really participated fully. I might have done some doodling and drawings but that was it. This year I wanted to use Inktober as an opportunity to practice value study.

I started one week late because my sister and nephew came to visit me in Taipei. I thought about sketching my nephew while he was playing but it was almost impossible to see a 2-year-old staying in one spot long enough for me to finish the silhouette.

Anyway, using the official prompt list, I have completed my first week of Inktober 2018. My reflection so far? It's not too difficult to draw everyday as I'm not making big drawings and I'm not sticking with urban sketching. But it takes some creative thinking to come up with something that matches the prompt of the day!

Inktober 2018

Tuesday Sketching- 大稻埕

The 'Tuesday Sketching' group met at Da Dao Cheng, Taipei, today. Most people sketched the buildings. I decided to walk down the street a bit to sketch the famous temple: Xia Hai Chenghuang Temple. It's a praying site visited often by young people, especially young single women. In the temple there is a match-making god, whose job is like Cupid. According to the temple's record, every year more than 3000 people found their Mr. or Mrs. Right after they visited the temple.

I omitted quite a lot of buildings and structures in this sketch. I found sketching street scenes in Taipei is quite overwhelming. There are always cars and scooters in the scene; the colours of the buildings are usually a bit dull due to humidity; and there are so many buildings and structures to make the scene complicated. While sharing my reflection with another urban sketcher, who is also an art teacher, he said if I can make a good urban sketch in Taiwan, I will be able to make any street in the world pretty.

I didn't get to participate in the 2018 AsiaWalk but quite a few foreign urban sketchers joined us today after they finished the event in Taichung. Some of them are from Australia! It was nice to chat with them and see their sketches. I also learnt that art supplies such as Handbook sketchbooks are pricey in Australia. Hmm, I have to remember to pack as many art supplies as possible before heading Downunder.

A bit too funky

I was running late for the life drawing session. By the time I arrived at the studio, the session already started. I was quite taken back when seeing the model. She was wearing puffy white mittens and a dog-shaped shoulder bag. I think she was trying to be a cute kitten or something like that- a fairly common imitation seen among young girls in Taiwan and Japan.

I have to say the bag and the pose threw me off a bit. Although I didn't feel so while painting the model, I think the end result looks like a porn poster.

Again I was trying to apply what I learnt from watching Charles Reid's DVD. I put down some colours next to the model's head to show the white mitten. It's a trick I saw in the DVD but James doesn't like the arrangement. He finds the line too distracting. I personally quite like it, although I could have made the value lighter.  Guess this painting isn't gonna see too much day light from now on.

Life drawing is fun

 

Last time I attended a life drawing session at an art supply shop. I wouldn't say the other participants are all amateurs but I was sure there wasn't an art teacher in charge. Today's drawing session was held at a proper art school/studio, where an art teacher teaches, draws and paints, and many students study and draw and paint with him. To be honest, I was a bit nervous before I picked up the pencil. I walked in and saw all these people looking experienced but I didn't even know how to set up the easel! Once I started observing the model, I soon relaxed and forgot about the people around me. I did, however, try to remember what Charles Reid does in the DVD I watched. I couldn't get everything right just like Mr. Reid but I certainly had fun like what he described about life drawing.

Bonus? The host teacher, who happened to set up his easel behind me, gave me some nice feedback. He was surprised to hear that this was only my second life drawing session and I have never had formal training in drawing and painting. Ha, I hope the teacher wasn't just saying it because he would like me to keep going back to his studio :) 

The Little White House- a community shed

I set myself on a mission of investigating what is in the neighbourhood after we moved to Taipei. Every time when I am out running errands, I take a lane or alley that I haven't explored as long as it takes me to my destination. A couple of weeks ago I came across a small workshop-looking place full of woodworking tools. The people there on the day told me that the place is called The Little White House. It's a community shed, where local residents go and hang out while working on projects such as soap making with recycled oil, glass cutting and woodworking.

Sep 30, 2018 James doing woodwork at the community shed

All the tools and materials at the shed are donated by locals and everything is accessible to the public. A volunteer or teacher will be there for the project/workshop of the session and he or she will assess if the user is demonstrating knowledge of care and safety. 

I thought the idea is great and very similar to the Men's Shed in Melbourne, except the Men's Shed is really just for men. Living in an apartment means James can't set up a proper woodworking bench or using big cutting machines. At the Little White House he can have access to many tools and a space to work on his project. He definitely had a ball at the Little White House today while making a wooden tablet stand. 

San Diao Ling, Taiwan

I found the group of 'Tuesday Sketching' on the group facebook page of USK Taipei. The introvert me would never have had the courage to ask a group of strangers if I could tag along with them for a sketch outing. But urban sketching has changed me (or I am willing to change when it comes to sketching?!) and USK Seattle sketchers taught me that following a group of local sketchers is the best way to know a city. So, I asked on the facebook page and someone replied.

'Tuesday Sketching' is a group of sketchers who met on USK Taipei's outings in the past. They wanted to have more opportunities to sketch and meet with each other so took initiatives to form a subgroup and members meet every Tuesday. They don't have a facebook page. The only social media they use is a Messenger group. Once you participate in their sketch outings for three times, you can ask to join their Messenger group and find out where and when they are meeting.

I thought it was a bit secretive and exclusive because there was no way for me to find out where the group was meeting. I only found out about this group by reading the posts on USK Taipei and stumbled on someone's post with hashtag 週二畫畫. Most of the members are friends or classmates of the existing members. I had no connections with any of the members and that fact sort of surprised them when I turned up :)

This Tuesday I went with the group to sketch at San Diao Ling, a tiny town located in Geelong. San Diao Ling used to be a mining town so many trains would stop here to collect and deliver mining related goods. Since the mines closed, the town is dying. I was told that the only local primary school got closed a while ago and the youngest person in the town is in her 40s. Now the town sits quietly next to the train line, waiting for tourists to pay her some attention.

I sketched the structure of an abandoned suspension bridge, which was used for wheelbarrows carrying coal. It's now surrounded by some houses used as airbnb. I wonder what the structure looks like inside the houses.

On the way back I sketched the couple sitting across from me. I thought about putting on some colours after getting home but decided to leave it as the way it is.

Linsen Park, Taipei, Taiwan

Moon Festival is coming up this weekend. The holiday has another name: Mid Autumn Festival, meaning we are now in the middle of autumn. One might think that means here in Taiwan the weather is cool. Quite the opposite. We have been having cloudless sunny days with 32 -34 degrees Celsius this week. It's the Autumn Tiger, dry heat that comes in Autumn. During the Autumn Tiger, the best time of the day is the afternoon, when the sun sits low in the sky but still bright and the breeze picks up under big trees.

NTU Sports Centre

On Sunday James decided to try out the indoor swimming pool at National Taiwan University, which is pretty close to our apartment. I don't like swimming much but decided to tag along.

The sports centre at NTU was surely busy. There were various classes in session, including flamenco dance, ballroom dance, table tennis, Squash...and so on. I heard loud yelling as soon as I went into the building, so I followed the sound to find out what was happening after James went into the pool. It was Kendo in action! I have only seen Kendo in Japanese comic books and didn't know players have to yell throughout a game. Kendo looked fun but I prefer to watch on the side instead of being hit with a bamboo stick.

Gong Guan Riverside Park

Have you ever felt that some days you just have to get out of the house? Today was one of those days for me. It has been raining since we moved to Taipei. At first it was just afternoon thunderstorms and then it turned into heavy rain for a few days. Finally, today the sun came out and stayed, with nice breezes.

I spent my day sketching at Chang Kai Shek Memorial Hall before heading back home to finish some chores. After James came home from his Mandarin class, I dragged him out to have a walk along the riverside park nearby. Reluctantly, James gathered his fishing gear and came with me. While he was looking for a fishing spot down by the river, I sketched the people who probably also wanted to enjoy the dry evening out here.

Chiang Kai Shek Memorial Hall

Last time when I visited the Memorial Hall I was a primary school student, I think. After getting my renewed Taiwanese passport at the Bureau of Consular Affairs, I took a short walk over to see if the Memorial Hall has changed. If anything, the Hall feels much smaller. Even the main plaza seems smaller than I remembered.


While waiting for my passport, I tried out Carol Hsiung's technique of drawing. I stumped upon Carol's flickr page a few weeks ago and really like the way she leaves blank for views to fill in. It was a bit like doodling when I tried it today but nonetheless a fun way to draw.

My new neighbourhood

This is my new neighbourhood in Taipei. No, I didn't get the hair color wrong, and yes, the woman at the back is wearing a hijab.

When I moved to Australia in 2007, it wasn't common to see foreigners in Taiwan. Perhaps some in Taipei but definitely not that many in the rest of Taiwan. Now foreign faces are everywhere in Taipei and even in my hometown Tainan I see many western faces hanging out like locals.

On my way home I saw this scene and had to stop to sketch it. The little boy is wearing a uniform vest from a local kinder. It seems a great snapshot which captures the diversity of people in Taipei.

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!