AdeleArtBlog

Drew this building in Dangkoushou first in Charcoal and then did the study in color. My heart was not in the second work - I was trying to finish the assignments during a very busy time at school - so, don't work when you don't want to! I really don't think it is a successful or interesting work - the color is flat, and the tonal values are missing.

I did this one drawing as I got caught up with enjoying the line and building on the structures. Next time I will start with a larger piece of paper but I did enjoy the detail. The area is Dangshoukou which is an older part of Gangzhou where the Chinese who returned from exile after China reopened, to settle. It has a hipster vibe and there are quite a few foreigners living here. Sketchbook work:

A visit to Kaiping has got to be one of the highlights of anyone's visit to China. This Unesco Heritage site was built by the wealthy Chinese returning with fortunes made in the USA on the American railroads and thorough businesses opened during that time. Because the landowners had much wealth the bandits in the area would rob and plunder their houses, the "Watchtowers" were built to see them coming and to protect their families and their fortunes. 5 - 6 stories high, the windows and doors are barred and small and a watchtower with a bell is usually seen at the top of the building. Walking through these places the sense of time having stopped here is palatable and the feeling of the Ancestors roaming around is creepy. Inside the buildings huge alters where incense is lit to them bear witness of a China which is still attached to tradition and superstition. As the village is still inhabited the people around there, although used to foreigners were not too keen on a lon

Statues In the Science City park where I live there are many statues of famous and ancient Chinese and western philosophers, scientists and thinkers. here are a few: Thales (although why he's letting it all hang out is somewhat of a mystery) the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher. The photo does not show it but its done on tan Bockingford paper with white, black and brown color pencil. Zhang Zhong: A Toaist mystic - done in watercolor, which I do enjoy drawing with as I feel you can capture tone and do less lines. Sun Smiao - The king of Chinese medicine. He was able to read the pulse with a string and lived during the Tang Dynasty. Xu Xiake was a chinese Traveller and Geographer who lived during the Ming Dynasty. The  name Xiake was an alternate sobriquet given to him by his friend and it means "one who is in the sunset clouds". I did two of him as I particularly loved the very rough way he is sculpted and I felt that in this one I captured that te

This turned out a real challenge. The weather at this time of year is consistently overcast or raining with flat grey skies. When there was anything that  looked like a break I would run outside to study and draw. I did manage few works and had some fun experimenting with charcoal powder. I pinned up a large paper on the balcony whist the rain had finally ceased and did the clouds with charcoal powder and charcoal.  Two efforts in pencil - rapid sketches as the wind was quite strong. Two sketches in watercolor at an attempt to capture the colors.  One more done a week later in charcoal.

John Virtue. Having grown up with the happy, pastel-colored paintings of Gregoire Boonzaaier, I still love the playful and sunny nature of his townscapes. They are as part of the Cape as Table Mountain is. Gregoire Boonzaier, Kaapstraat. 1982 Gregoire Boonzaaier, Distrikses , Then there's my dear friend, Sewyn Pekeur whose work is not only accurate of the township vibe in the Cape but also allegorical and often times, politically satirical. Selwyn Pekeur, Lovers in a Township . 2002 I guess the more adversity we face as human beings the deeper our need is for fun, laughter and colour. His townscapes are always reflective of this need. Similarly are the works of Kandinski; Wassily Kandinsky, Grungasse in Murnau. 1909 John Virtue's works are very dark in contrast, yet, I love the dark and moody feeling: John Virtue, Landscape no 87, This work was part of David Bowie's collection. I enjoy the angular marks and the very vague and suggested images that t