We have been having some very erratic Spring weather in Shanghai. We can have very warm weather for a couple days and next day would be chilly and wet. Fortunately, the past few weekends we have had great weather that sketching outside has just been a great way to unwind. Feeling grateful for the warm weekend weather that has been perfect for sketching outdoors, alleviating my anxieties.
I thought I’d compile some of the sketches I have done the past few weekends in March.
09 March
The West Bund area was bustling with activity, the Huangpu River alive with barges ferrying goods to distant ports and fellow sketchers dotted around the START Museum. Moments like these remind me to appreciate the simple joys in life.
And I realized that just a few metres away was the first place I had gone urban sketching with @drawing_shanghai back in 2016 (I think)! I remember back then when this stretch of the river was undergoing redevelopment and there was nothing there. Fast-forward to now, there’s more museums, not just the Long Museum. Plenty of spots for kids to play, climb walls, skate, etc. I should try to find my first sketch and compare to see the differences.
Quite happy with this sketch because I personally feel I captured the essence of the scene. I typically struggle with “fitting” elements in and this time I managed a “wide angle view” of what was in front of me!
I didn’t want to leave yet so I decided to do another sketch using pen and ink first. Not exactly sure where I was going with this but I’m also happy with how this turned out… maybe it was the feeling of being outside and trying to not think of other problems…
16 March
The sketching venue was to an area that is undergoing a lot of redevelopment so everything feels foreign to me. It’s these type of places that gives me an opportunity to explore more of Shanghai. The meeting place was at the Mangoo Hub.
23 March
While waiting for my friend, Sandra, at the subway station entrance/exit, I decided to sit down by the steps and use the waiting time to do a quick sketch. I wondered where this sketch was going or how big I was going with what was in front of me.
Further waiting = adding some quick blobs of colours.
And then we finally met up and opted to sketch this renovated Temple of the Queen Heaven (Tian Hou Gong), which is located behind the “Girl with Elephant Backpack” sculpture that I sketched before. This was once the largest Mazu Temple along the Suzhou Creek in Shanghai. I only managed to capture a portion of it while some men were gathered around waiting for something to start (I think there was some sort of event as we saw some setup underway). My sketch was not even completely done before we were told to leave the premises!
Sandra took this photo of me rushing to finish my sketch! This is one of those times when I end up “hating” the actual sketch and liking the warm-up sketch instead.
As we were leaving, we saw these young women all dressed up in traditional Chinese dresses getting ready for a photoshoot.
30 March
For this last sketch in March, my friend Lily and I opted to sketch at a different location from the USK/Drawing Shanghai’s venue. And I am glad we did because this location was more interesting and challenging!
This place on Zhapu Road is called “Jiangyuan Lane” (酱园弄) in Hongkou District. I think part of this building has been restored hence a lot of people have come flocking here to take selfies.
My first sketch was trying to capture the place and the crew taking out the debris from the construction site across the street.
The second (right page) was a quick sketch because I wanted to capture the entire building and the wires crisscrossing the intersection.
Built in 1899, this place was initially called Lane 432. It was later named after the famous specialty shop Zhang Zhenxin Jiangyuan, which opened here. At that time, Jiangyuan Lane had 43 Shikumen houses and more than 800 residents. It has now been converted into a residential area.
The recent popularity of this location was because of the movie titled 酱园弄杀夫案 (English translation: The Murderer). The plot is from the true story of one of the four mysterious cases. This address is the scene of the gruesome murder of a husband who was chopped up by his wife into 16 parts and stuffed into 5 boxes. It was the last resort for the wife, being pushed to the edge by her husband’s vices and abuse for years. The bloody and tragic case shocked the entire Shanghai. But this woman was not sentenced to death. After being released from prison, she lived in northern Jiangsu and remarried. She lived until the 1990s and never returned to Shanghai for the rest of her life. I will have to look into the film to understand more of this story.
Victory Cinema is a beautifully restored and renovated cinema across Jiangyuan Lane. Lily and I sneaked into the elevator to the third floor. However, the caretaker suddenly appeared and ran up the stairs to ask us to leave the premises. As it turns out, the cinema was closed to the public, and no one could go to the other floors.
There you go… a very long blog post indeed! I hope you enjoyed reading about my ‘adventures’ around the city. Would love to hear your thoughts on this post.
Thank you for stopping by.
