[This post is a bit long as I’ve decided to combine a travelogue and sharing with you the mini travel album I made to document the trip.] It’s summer… and the itch to travel has kicked in. My dearest friend, Kristina and I have been brainstorming about where to go and because of the ever-changing regulations due to the new cases that happened in Beijing back in June, it was not easy to make real plans. With so many things I have been dealing with, personally and professionally, I decided, I really needed a break, so I finally gave Kristina a definitive “yes” to travel. We came up with a plan…
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Part 2 of our Europe 2019 adventure was to Finland. After Russia, we took the train from St. Petersburg to Helsinki. The train was not full and we saw the wintry white landscape as we cross Russia into Finland. In a way we were excited to see what is in store for us in Finland where we have only a few days. Helsinki was full of snow when we arrived and we were fortunate that the AirBnB was not far from the train station although we took a taxi there. It was not difficult to wander around and find grocery nearby. The full day we had was spent with my…
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A long time coming, sharing here the travel journal I made for our trip to Russia. Actually this is part one of a series of 3 journals from our big trip to Europe last January-February of 2019. A big trip that took us to a lot of places in the dead of winter! Our first stop was Moscow. We flew in from Shanghai and arrived same day with heavy snow marking our arrival. We spent a couple days in the city and took in the important touristy sights, of course (!) like the Kremlin, the History Museum, St. Basil’s Cathedral, and more. Really cold and kids were pretty hyped to…
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Our recent company trip to Nagoya, Japan, last June was a good quick escape for everyone. Before the trip, I have been dealing with deadlines and juggling kids’ activities and finals hence I was not even sure what I wanted to do in terms of documenting our trip. I had planned on bringing along a TN insert which I have been doing a lot on trips. At the last minute, I changed my mind and ended up bringing a watercolour sketchbook my friend Jessie has given to me late last year. This sketchbook along with my other sketchbook dedicated for #the100dayproject (2019) went into my backpack. This is the very…
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These days, I’ve been trying to get out of my comfort zone and actually going out and meet new people! The fact that these are like-minded people makes it somehow easier to socialize… This weekend was one of the rare occasion where I actually showed up at 2 locations! 06.22 Sketching Jiangpin Road Draw Shanghai’s theme for these next 2 weekends is documenting through sketches this old street which used to be a flower-&-bird market. Now it’s all been cleaned up. Actually the street is getting a facelift, gone are the hawkers on the streets, facades of old houses have been restored or fixed up. Although not as authentic anymore,…
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Another challenge done! The just-concluded #oneweek100people2019 initiated by Marc Taro Holmes, Liz Steel, and Suhita Shirodkar was a fantastic way to brush up on drawing people again. This year, my goal was to (1) understand more about gestural drawing and (2) be quicker with drawing people so I can incorporate into my urban sketches. These are my sketches this year… DAY 1: Was on a business trip so drew people at the railway station waiting area. Day 2: I tried (or planned) to do more but after my morning quick sketch at a nearby coffee shop, I didn’t get any chance to do anymore. Below is the colour version which I…
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So! It’s finished (or is it?)! The just-concluded #oneweek100people2018 initiated by Marc Taro Holmes and Liz Steel was both a challenge and interesting to say the least. I have eyed this challenge last year on Instagram but never got the courage to join as my biggest drawing weakness is in people or human form (and perspective). I typically avoid it in my urban sketches when I am out. This time, I finally summed up the courage to actually show up and try this challenge. Here are what I ended up doing… DAY 1: Drew from life mostly… People from the park and around me. I love the woman with curlers in…
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This might now become a regular series in my blog… as I complete (I hope) my 500 colored pencils from Felissimo. A couple weeks ago I received in the mail my equally awesome set called Wanderlust. The name alone resonates me and my love for travel! So I added coloured pencil drawings or shadings into a couple watercolour paintings I did for the DoodleWash prompts. Aren’t these names so cool? I love how these quirky names add a touch of personality to each colour. Hard to pick which is my favourite colour from this set because I love every colour! These are now available in Shanghai from a chain store called…
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Last week, I received a surprise present in the mail. It was a set of the Felissimo coloured pencils, more specifically the FUN set. Oh boy! I was giddy and excited to try these out. I actually knew of these Felissimo coloured pencils years and years ago when I walked into the shop in Beijing. Back then, I couldn’t get myself to buy any because there is about 500 colours to choose from and being a designer, it is never easy to decide on which colours to get! I’ve used these together with my watercolour art. And I love the way it turned out! Eeeks! And can I tell you…
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Back in college, I used watercolour a lot and used it solely on the advertisement artworks we had to submit for our thesis. This was the time when no one owned computers let alone learned to use one. I love the washes and layers I can do with it. Then I went to Nankai University to study Traditional Chinese Painting for 6 months. It was a great learning experience getting to understand another world of watercolours. Mind you, watercolours used in Chinese painting are of a different breed! I remember how I had to start from scratch learning the technique because it was all so different from the western style…
