My frend, Tõnis (@vanishing.shanghai), calls our mini “group” the “Five o’clock Club” because we used to get up early to go out sketching. In a previous post, I posted about our early morning sketches, which is how we enjoyed these crazy morning hours. However, we can’t do it as often now because of our busy schedules. I have to feed the cats and kids before I leave for work, and Tõnis is busy organizing his exhibits. But we still try to grab any pockets of time we can to go out and sketch, and we call them “mini adventures.”
Adventure 1: Anren Street
One morning, we had an impromptu sketching session near the touristy Yuyuan Garden. Anren Jie （安仁街） is right outside the garden, a narrow street that was my go-to place for craft materials. The narrow street is now blocked off and cleaned up, with most locals relocated to other parts of the city. Across the street are the gardens’ high walls, where we can see the rooftops of various Chinese pagodas and buildings.
As we were sketching, this narrow street seemed quite busy despite the blocked-off shops on the other side of the wall. Several passersby were on their way to work, and I finished two sketches within that short time frame.
Adventure 2: Xu Guangqi Memorial Park
We went to the Xu Guangqi Memorial Park, near the St. Ignacius Cathedral, to see the early morning crowd of old folks doing their morning exercises. I managed to get four people sketches and a cup of coffee while waiting for Tõnis to arrive.
I forgot to take a photo of the guys who were playing Chinese chess behind the tree, because I was in a hurry to capture these ladies performing their fan dance. They played one of my favourite songs from an old Chinese movie, which brought back memories of my time as a student in Taiwan.
Adventures 3 and 4: Xiangyang Park
Tõnis and I have sketched at Xiangyang Park before. This time he wanted to join the taiji, and I wanted to sketch. It’s not a big park, but I like it because it’s close to where I work. We met up there twice this week (yesterday and this morning) and possibly one more time tomorrow.
Actually quite happy with the turn out of my sketch from yesterday of the pagoda. I think maybe because I was listening more to the calming taiji music…
Today’s sketch includes a long journal because I was just distracted by the cacophony of sounds around me.
I only got one sketch each on both days. Maybe another one tomorrow and then my sketchbook will be almost full.
Interestingly, Tõnis asked me why I don’t have an explosion of colours in my urban sketches compared to my art journals. I don’t know… maybe it’s how I am affected by the colours I see in front of me vs. how it’s all intuitive painting in my art journal? Perhaps I can bring a different watercolour set and play with different colours tomorrow. I did try with the blues in my sketch today, but maybe not enough.
So, I leave you here for now. Until the next adventure.
