Tag / location sketch

by Leonie Andrews

Chengdu People’s Park – 3 November

Before boarding the overnight train to Xi’an we had one last stop in Chengdu, the People’s Park. This is not the place for a quiet interlude, as our local guide ‘Chuck’ told us, people in Chengdu like it loud. Talk about wall of sound. As we entered the park you were confronted by multiple sound systems, several karaoke singers were belting it out next to the line dancers and many other styles of music were thrown in, well just because they could. In the midst of the mayhem we came across a group of older men who were calmly writing poems in water onto the paving, demonstrating their calligraphy skills.
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The brushes they used were over a metre long and most carried their water in a plastic bag. The head of the brush was a good 20 cms long so their control over the brush was something to behold.
Apart from dancing, singing and playing chess and mahjong, people come to the park to advertise for partners for their children. There was, to our perspective, an embarrassing amount of detail provided including height, weight current salary and whether or not you had a car or an apartment. The second half of the page described in similar detail the type of person they were looking for. Did I mention there was also a flower display on as well!
It won’t surprise you that we were somewhat overwhelmed by all this activity so we decided to join the rest of the locals in one of the teahouses next to the ornamental lake (which you could row on or promenade around as the mood took you).
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The Henming Teahouse has been operating since the 1920’s and has proven to be a popular watering hole since its establishment and looks likely to continue as such for years to come.

by Leonie Andrews

Sunday in Sichuan Province

What could be more appropriate activity for a Sunday than to take a drive in the country. Our group drove out of Chengdu at about 9 in the morning, while most of the local population was still asleep. Our destination was Leshan, the 12th largest city in the province (3 million people), which is home to a famous sculpture of the Buddha. The sculpture sits above the confluence of three rivers and was built with the purpose of seeking the Buddha’s influence to stop the capsizing of small boats (well this was in 713 AD). The best views are from the water so we took to a boat and cruised downstream to see the statue.
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Given that the sculpture is 71 metres tall the view, even from the water is quite foreshortened.
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After a great lunch of local noodles we drove to Huang Long Shi village (Yellow Dragon River), a popular tourist destination for Chengdu residents. The largely reconstructed main street runs either side of a small stream. Shops selling food and totally pointless souvenirs abound. We sat down in one of the tea houses for a spot of people watching. To one side we could also see some of the carved stone frogs that decorated the stream bed.
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Soon it was time to head back to town and in that time honoured tradition we joined the rest of the locals in a massive traffic jam. Ah there is nothing like a drive in the country!

PS apologies for the picture quality, I had to do these late in the evening.

by Leonie Andrews

Friday morning in the park, Chongqing

The hotel we stayed in last night is located next to Erling Park, in the Yuzhong District of Chongqing. We walked in the park after breakfast and saw many local people practicing their Tai Chi.
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It was about this time that I discovered that it’s actually quite difficult to draw people doing Tai Chi. The movements may be slow, but the continual flow is a challenge to capture.
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We walked through the park to a section that overlooked the river. The park was originally a private garden and we realised that the viewing platform where in fact the roof of a pavilion. Having descended the stairs we found a beautifully designed building, one small corner of which I’ve captured here.
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On our way back through the park we saw a beautiful bridge with railings carved to resemble thick ropes and an area of the gardens where old men were ‘airing’ their caged birds in the trees. I could have stayed much longer but we had to catch our bus for our next destination.

by Leonie Andrews

Yangshuo Markets

Like any Chinese city or town Yangshuo has  range of markets. Across the road from our hotel is the local fruit, vegetable and meat market. It opens very early, we were there at 6.30 and it was already getting underway. I did two quick sketches of some of the vendors and buyers on the street outside.

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West Road is the tourist market at the river end of Yangshuo. It’s full of ‘not quite’ silk scarves and antiques that are at least a week old. Our guide suggested that it is a good place to buy cheap souvenirs, or maybe a special present for someone you don’t like very much!
It was 30 C and quite humid today so we had a pleasant cold drink while watching the world go by. This is some of what you can see looking towards the river.

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by Leonie Andrews

Li River Cruising

For anyone who has been to the Guilin area a cruise on the Li River is an obligatory part of the visit. Thankfully it’s an experience that actually lives up to the hype. The scenery is like one of those Chinese paintings, all contorted mountains, sculptural rocks and bamboo growing along the river banks, with fishermen on their bamboo rafts, except it’s actually there before you. The only slight ammendment I would note is that most of the bamboo rafts have now been replaced by rafts of exactly the same design made out of pvc pipes with the ends capped. I am still trying to work out how they get them to bend at either end, with heat I presume.
I was lucky enough to have taken this boat cruise before so I was able to focus on my drawing (and take a few pictures). I managed 12 pages of sketches before I gave up. Here is a selection.
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On most pages I’ve tried to fit in more than one drawing. The two objects in the upper right drawing are just two of the flotilla of cruise boats making the trip.
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I spent some time after we got back to the hotel adding some watercolour to some of the drawings. Here is one of the successful ones, others were not so successful.
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