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!