Life drawing

Another week with very little drawing done and another life session (it's not a class) that went well. I was going to take the easy option and do a pencil drawing like last week but after finishing the outline I knew it was going to 'flow' again and decided I could afford to take a risk. I had the colour pencils with me although I hadn't really intended to use them but I gave them a go. I felt very comfortable with the skin tones in that I knew which colours worked here (so no time wasted there) but compared to graphite, I can see I need more time to get a drawing to the same level of completion. There were so many areas of interest I would have loved to spend time on - the shading on her ribs and (unusually for me) the face and hair especially. So all in all, although it's not anywhere near finished, I'm happy with it as I could have done a lot with it and the last disastrous colour drawing is now history - at least until the next time!

Life drawing

Something I haven't attempted at life class before, a portrait. Interestingly, it is the face of the model whose body I drew without a face here! I'm quite happy with this one, more so as I haven't been drawing for a few days and felt very rusty. I didn't attempt to do it with colour pencils as the last time I used colour it was such a disaster I didn't even post it.

I haven't done any drawing this week as I've been attempting to frame some of my drawings. I can now say officially ;) that I have exhibited in Geneva as I have four pictures on show at the club where the life class takes place! As it was at such short notice, I bought cheap frames and attempted to cut the mat board myself and the result is I now have a lot more respect for framers. Well worth the money - I won't be attempting that again! Paul is on show as well as two life drawings - here and here - and one of the cats. I thought my life drawings were too sketchy to include but I was surprised and pleased with how they look framed. I was surprised also by how scary it is to sign my name - I've really got to get into the habit of doing that!

No longer on the 'wish list'

I've mentioned before that I met my future DH in Madagascar but not that neither one of us was supposed to be there that year. Mark was due to go to Australia but had problems getting a visa on time so Madagascar was booked at the last minute, and me, I was supposed to go the year before.

I used to be a battery hen, in an office with grubby windows overlooking a graveyard in the City. I worked with six other battery hens whose behaviour was so bad I've often thought about how many blog posts I could get out of it but it's it would seem so outrageous I doubt anyone would believe me. I had a couple of office jobs previously where the office politics was almost as bad so I stayed in that miserable job for 5 interminable years, wishing to leave but not doing anything about it because I thought all office environments were probably as bad, 'better the devil you know' and all that. But one of those pecking hens, who disliked me intensely for being someone she was not, went too far with her nasty little games and I knew I had to leave to preserve what was left of my sanity. I cancelled my holiday to Madagascar that year (travel was my escape) and left. I found a job in leafy Belgrave Square working on my own that suited me down to the ground and with a lovely bunch of people who restored my faith in humanity and I re-booked the holiday, one year later.

The moral of the story is, of course, that sometimes when things hit rock bottom, the only way to go is up even though it's hard to believe it or see that at the time. As you get older and it happens again and again, you find comfort in the fact that nothing stays the same, everything has to change, good and bad. I'm now very much 'on the up' and I forced myself to look at my art and what I was and wasn't doing with brutal honesty. In the process I ordered a couple of books from Amazon. I need cold hard reality, facts, names, addresses and I needed a plan - not arty quotes, morning pages and the fluffy bunny nonsense that only makes the authors rich! I put a couple of books in the 'basket', had a browse and then I came across this book, the comments looked promising, and threw it in just for the heck of it! Long story short - I know we are all different and we all get inspired by different things but...why on earth doesn't every artist have or at least know of this book?! I had a vague idea of what I needed to do but within a day of getting this book I have a plan. I had been wishing to do a certain thing for years but something held me back, and now I know I had the misgivings for good reason. I had listened to too much advice over the years from the fluffy bunnies. The really strange thing is, I set myself one particular goal and gave myself until September and within a week - a week! - I have been contacted out of the blue by two different people about similar things and I'll realise one goal in a couple of weeks time! I'm focussing short term on getting my work 'out there' but long term I have some more ambitious plans and I rang my brother to tell him and - lo and behold!- he has some contacts and ideas! Fate works in very strange ways sometimes!

Carol Lloyd has a website where you can take a 'sneek peak' at the book here. I thought the many interviews throughout the book with other artists would be a filler but even they are very revealing and thought provoking. There is a chapter on 'Your Artistic Profile' and I'm absolutely amazed to find myself there - not the person I would like to be, not the person I aspire to be, but the person I really am! I wouldn't have believed there was another person on the planet let alone a profile! In fact there are two profiles as I fit another in terms of goals - both I find amusing but at the same time to see it confirmed means you stop worrying, accept it and then get on with more important things. Very few artists can support themselves on sales alone and there is an excellent chapter on 'day jobs' and how they may or may not be beneficial to an artist - my job as a battery hen would come under the heading of 'No Contest', not surprisingly. Throughout the book, you are always thinking for yourself, it's not a book that doles out unrealistic feelgood advice, it's much more about how to use your own head and apply it to your own situation. All I can say is, it's certainly working for me!

Chinese entertainers

From left to right, a man at the Temple of Heaven playing a traditional two stringed instrument called an erhu, an opera singer, and a man outside the house in the Hutongs where we had lunch, spinning a diabolo.

I forgot to write about the visit to the Chinese opera in Beijing but coming across the photos I was reminded and found a few that would be good to draw. Even though they are mostly a bit out of focus I found the costumes and the poses quite inspiring. I like the singer here but I'm not happy with the other drawings - but they are only sketches so I won't stress about it! I have a couple more singers I'd like to do and after that I need to do some larger drawings. Although I called this my larger sketchbook, I'm finding working on this tiny scale is quite difficult with coloured pencils and in general I'm feeling the need to work on a larger scale.

Guilin

We landed in Guilin and the weather was terrible - pouring with rain and very poor visibility. We couldn't see anything from the coach windows and it seemed like the cruise down the Li River was going to be a washout. But as we got closer to the town of Yangshuo the weather improved slightly. The guide told us that even though the two places are close, the weather can be completely different!















Indeed, the rain held off the following morning and was actually quite bright and warm although my shots, taken first thing, don't really show it! After the inevitable talking over the loudspeakers for the first half hour or so of the cruise, it was incredibly tranquil and the scenery was breathtaking!




















One of the few buildings visible along the way. Although hidden behind the trees, there are a few farms dotted along the backs so we saw plenty of ducks, some cattle and a few dogs















and these small floating cages where the fish are farmed. One or two people drifted by on their rafts - what wonderful scenery they see every day!














This was quite surreal - this raft drew alongside the boat while the lady sang and threw up some hanging decorations (?) to the passengers!




















Of course, wherever there are tourists there is money to be made and this man and his two cormorants was waiting by the gangplank so you could have your photo taken with him.












There are lot of cormorants to be seen in this region and the fishermen train them to catch their fish. They can be quite heavy handed with those oars.




















Afterwards we drove off to see one of the limestone mountains that had what appeared to be a hole in it, like an enormous Polo Mint! But we pulled over to see it from the side of a busy road - not quite what I was expecting and the view of it wasn't brilliant! However, a tourist standing still is an sales opportunity not to be missed and I saw this cyclist pull over the moment he spotted us. He was selling sugar cane and he hacked these into 10 or 12 inch pieces with a machete and did a roaring trade! I didn't try one but they are very sweet and you chew on them to get the flavour and then spit out the fibres.














We had pulled over just by this building. A couple of men working there told us it was a fish farm so we took a look at the fish and I must say it was pretty smelly!




















Just behind the coach was another great photo opportunity!

Market, Yangshuo

Xi'an

Coming out of the station at Xi'an I was struck by one obvious difference in the people that came towards us - there weren't so many street sellers with cheap souvenirs but instead there were a lot of beggars, some with severe physical disabilities. En route to the coach there were strange things for sale on the streets.




















It was the large claw, second from the bottom that caught my eye - could it be a tiger or maybe the endangered Imperial Guardian Lion?
















After a quick check-in at the hotel, we were whisked off to see the Terracotta Army. I tried to find a photo that best shows how enormous the site is - this is Pit 1 and you get a sense of the scale of it looking at the people in the background. It's fairly dark as it is lit by natural light and no flash photography is allowed. The guide explained that the ridges along the top of the pits were for wooden beams to enclose the corridors - I imagine those figures and faces must have looked very spooky in those dark enclosed spaces! He also told us the figures were destroyed by the men who were forced to make them when they learned that they were to be sacrificed after it's completion, but that doesn't seem to be a common explanation.
















Something I didn't realise was that the figures were originally brightly coloured. Each one is unique, it would have been nice to have had time to get a really good look but there was only time to walk down one side, and get a quick sketch.





















This is Pit 2.





















I imagine this must be how the figures looked when they were first discovered.
















Sign on the way out. I now recognise the Chinese characters for entry and exit!





















In fact, we did even have a quick Chinese calligraphy lesson and explanation of the development of Chinese characters! We climbed a lot of stairs to get to this classroom so I was surprised afterwards to hear that this is where the elderly come for their classes! (I must say the elderly in China seem to lead very interesting lives!)






















Lunch was the usual fare except that some of the more adventurous (all male, of course!) tried this snake wine! It was said to be acceptable, nothing strange, so I wondered what purpose the poor snake (or in this case, three snakes) served?





















We also went to the medicine market, and again reptiles featured prominently!





















I don't need to say how much I love markets for their photo opportunities!





















This photo hasn't been enhanced!




















Other than the snake skins and the starfish many of these things for sale are a mystery to me so I'll leave these photos without comment!

Beijing to Xi'an

The Beijing Olympics are making the headlines today and we had a look at the stadium a couple of weeks ago. The coach pulled over on this motorway and we got a good view from a pedestrian bridge. There were many other people up there and cars and coaches parked below so I presume this is the spot they want you to see if from. I noticed a couple of men dressed in black keeping an eye on people - they are everywhere and can be spotted a mile away.

















The real state of things can be seen above the hoardings from the coach windows - there is an awful lot of work to do! The air in Beijing didn't agree with me at all and I have no trouble with asthma or anything like that so I dread to think what it's going to be like for the athletes in the summer heat.

















We took a rickshaw ride through the old Hutong area. This small area of old style housing is said by some to be protected from being destroyed to make way for the new only because it attracts revenue from the tourists.





















The whole group went in a convoy!





















I couldn't get over how genuinely friendly the residents looked even though their streets are invaded by snap-happy foreigners like me.




















Paul snapped this cute little boy waving from his gate.





















We went there to have lunch with some of the families. I think most of us assumed we would be eating with local families but we sat in rooms like this and were served food by the owner of the house who we met afterwards to give gifts and thanks. The food was excellent!





















But then we had to face that familiar corridor of street sellers waiting for us outside! Chopsticks anyone?





















Of course it was all carefully staged but the unscheduled trip to a pearl market was one too many. The success of the trip is very dependent on the guides, and the one we had in Beijing didn't impress me at all. I think much wasted time could have been saved if he had planned ahead instead of gathering up the group and then sorting things out while we waited. His job was to get us from A to B and I don't think he gave too much thought to the bit in the middle and whether we enjoyed it! Oh well, I don't care for pearls but I didn't realise that so many were contained inside...And why is it tall people always like to stand at the front?
















It was like watching Wacky Races from the coach windows though! All sorts of mad and wonderful things on the road seen in a second and too quick to photograph.















This was by no means the most over-loaded tricycle I saw! That man nonchalantly strolling in the background shows how the pedestrians in Beijing cross the road. Even when you are on the zebra crossings the cars won't stop but from my hotel room I saw am elderly lady walking diagonally across a busy intersection as if she was strolling in the park - you act like the cars don't exist and somehow they miss you!





















And so to Xi'an. We went 'first class' on an overnight train and there were four bunks to a cabin. My sketchbook is in this shot - proof I was there and this isn't a stock photo! (I didn't complete any sketches here though!) Second class had six bunks to a cabin (I could see through the windows of the train on the platform) but I didn't see third class. I had been dreading this but it was actually very clean and comfortable - the loos were fine (horror stories of seeing the ground through the hole and of guards standing outside proved unfounded!) and there was even a room with a row of sinks for freshening up in the morning. Although there were plenty of sockets there was no electricity so no hair washing and blow drying for me!





















Breakfast is served!

Beijing

I don't want to overwhelm the blog with photos from the China trip so I will just post a few from each of places we visited beginning with the highlights of Beijing.

After a very long flight from Paris, we arrived in Beijing in the afternoon but had quite a long delay at the airport. I mentioned before I was feeling very unwell so going from the airport straight to the Summer Palace was, and is, a bit of a blur!














Unfortunately the delays meant that we changed the itinerary (only one day of the trip went to plan!) and visited the Summer Palace first before it closed and Tiananmen Square afterwards and therefore we had only a short while to look around once we had lunch. There was no time to go to the Seventeen Arch Bridge as I had hoped but we saw it across Kunming Lake.



















One of the only good photos and I had to be in it, looking like death warmed up and desperate to get to my hotel room and collapse into bed!













The Marble Boat. The photos don't show just how crowded this place, and indeed every place, was - the country seems fit to bursting with people! Many of the tourists are Chinese and I found their different facial characteristics fascinating.













Something I found a little disappointing seeing these famous buildings close up is how common those tiles are. As we approached the Summer Palace I could see the tiling along the walls and it was exciting but across the street from the entrance I noticed even the little touristy shops had this same tiling. Roofs of many of the temples are in the process of repair so I guess these tiles are mass produced now. A few days later I took this photo of the structure above the toll booths on the way to the Great Wall.
















From the Summer Palace we went straight to Tiananmen Square where the street sellers hassled us all along the street. I could swear one of them was selling something - a little booklet or postcard? - about 'the massacre'! I couldn't get over the size of the place and how different it looked compared to the photos and footage I'd seen of it. This is the Great Hall of the People, above.















During the day I noticed all the roofs have quite ugly wiring along the edges but at night they light up and look wonderful.




















The Monument to the People's Heroes. At closing time police cars drove around the square with flashing lights and horns to get the crowds to disperse and go home.














The following day, a visit to the Lama or Yonghe Temple. We went from here to the Great Wall.





















The last day in Beijing and a visit to the Temple of Heaven which I had been looking forward to - shame about that dull weather, it didn't look it's best!




















A closer look at the detail.




















On the same night we visited the night market we also managed a look around some of Beijing's more modern shopping malls. They were a mixture of shops. The best were strategically placed on the ground floor so it looked impressive at first glance but a look around upstairs and some of the names - and the merchandise! - were distinctly odd! Some of the department stores were so old fashioned it was like going back in time! We did come across one very expensive mall, which must have had every designer brand you could think of but it went on and on and on until one of the men of the family (who shall remain anonymous!) rebelled and refused to walk any further! I think it was the biggest mall I'd ever been in. I feigned disappointment but my feet were on fire and I couldn't have gone on for much longer anyway!