Tag / watercolour

by Leonie Andrews

Profession – artist

“Are you an artist?” was something I often got asked when people saw me sitting , drawing, while I was  in China. It always seemed easier to say yes, than go into some complicated discussion about what I do, but I found it difficult to say this without some vague feeling of being fraudulent. I’ve since realised that I’ve been missing the point completely. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the word ‘profession’ as follows:

“An occupation in which a professional knowledge of some subject, field or science is applied, a vocation or career, especially one that involves prolonged training and a formal qualification.”

And I’m not going to get hung up on the formal qualification bit either. It’s the concept of the application of knowledge combined with prolonged training that chimes with why I even bother to persist with drawing and why I am an artist. I am even more consoled by the words of the great Japanese artist Hokusai who explained:

“From the age of 6 I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was 50 I had published a universe of designs. But all I have done before the the age of 70 is not worth bothering with. At 75 I’ll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am 80 you will see real progress. At 90 I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At 100, I shall be a marvelous artist. At 110, everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokusai, but today I sign my self ‘The Old Man Mad About Drawing.”
― Hokusai Katsushika

So I will promise to persist and with persistence I will become an even better artist. Hokusai sensei arigato gosaimashita! (Thank you Teacher Hokusai!).

The Orange Ironing Board, 27 November 2014, pen and ink and watercolour

The Orange Ironing Board, 27 November 2014, pen and ink and watercolour

 

by Leonie Andrews

Beijing, the last leg

Beijing has been the final stop on our journey. In a few hours we’ll be flying out of China. It’s been an interesting few days here as the city has been hosting a major international meeting of the APEC group. On the down side we haven’t been able to get to some places in the city due to the security lockdowns, but on the plus side we have had 4 days of glorious blue skies and perfect autumn weather. This is thanks to the local government policy of closing nearby factories and running an odds and even system for cars in the city for the duration of the meeting.
Our tour started with the Temple of Heaven, originally an altar where the emperor prayed for good harvests.
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The next day we visited along with the rest of the city, or so it seemed, the Forbidden City. The central axis provides gate after impressive gate and hall after massive hall. All the layout is based on the principles of feng shui.
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The golden roof tiles are solely used for imperial buildings. These parts of the palace have been heavily restored, which is the approach preferred by the Chinese. However, I quite liked some smaller residential areas where some original furniture and objects could still be seen through the smudgy glass and the paintwork of the buildings at least appeared to be as it was when it was last painted.
We had the best weather for our trip to the Great Wall. We arrived early and while the hardy types climbed up to the watchtowers I was content to stay at the lower levels and draw.
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This is what you could see. A seething mass of people scrambling up the uneven steps. This section of the wall at Juyong is more dramatic than the section I had previously visited at Badaling. After restorative hot chocolate I had enough time to make a second drawing of a watchtower on the other side of the valley.
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While I visited other interesting parts of the city I will leave my sketch diary here. Once I get back home (and tackle the washing) I’ll scan my drawings and set up an album on Flickr. Until then, safe traveling!

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

Kunming

You know what they say about the best laid plans… Well I was expecting to be able to post some drawings of the Stone Forest, an amazing landscape of limestone rocks that we visited yesterday, but it started to rain just as we got to the stones and drawing proved impossible. Of course by the time we got back to Kunming the rain had stopped. As compensation we bought some tea, because tea plants (Camelia sinensis) are native to this area. So here is my consolation cup of chrysanthemum tea.

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Thankfully the weather was much better today as we visited the Western Hills area of the city to climb up to the Dragon Gate, a Daoist shrine on the side of a mountain overlooking the city. Here is my sketch of the gate in its pristine state (I’m considering putting some colour on it). The character on the left is ‘gate’ and that on the right is ‘dragon’. You may notice a ball shape on the underside of the lintel. It is traditional for students about to sit their exams to climb the mountain and touch the stone.

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So good luck to you all and we’ll settle for the weather to be kinder when we visit the ancient Buddhist sculptures at Beishan.

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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