During China’s long public holiday, I spent ten days in the Eternal City — Rome — wandering through cobbled streets, stepping into centuries-old churches, and sketching ancient ruins with my sketchbook always close at hand. This year is the Jubilee Year, and I’m deeply grateful to have been invited by my sister, Angie, and her husband, Willie, to experience what truly felt like a once-in-a-lifetime event. The first couple of days were spent exploring, getting lost, and sketching — simply trying to get a feel for the city. Then I had the joy of meeting my wonderful friend Kristina, who flew in with her husband for what we now hope…
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Last May, we spent two consecutive Saturdays sketching in various parks. The weather in Shanghai was perfect for outdoor activities, making these sketching sessions truly enjoyable. What made these outings particularly interesting was exploring “new” places I hadn’t visited before. On the first Saturday, we headed to Changfeng Park. I may have visited this park over 20 years ago, but not since. Initially known as Huxi Park and Biluo Lake Park, it was built in 1957 and reopened in 1959 under its current name. The park’s design draws inspiration from Beijing’s Summer Palace and the landscaping techniques of Suzhou Gardens. Its layout mimics natural landscapes, focusing on the lake and…
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The Spring weather in Shanghai has been unpredictable, but I've been enjoying sketching outdoors on warm weekends. I sketched at various locations, capturing snapshots of life in the city. From bustling areas to redevelopment sites, each sketch tells a unique story.
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Experience Shanghai through my eyes with early morning urban sketching during the "Golden Week."
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08:45 am | Saturday My sketching adventure last Saturday was at the Zhenru Temple (真如寺) in Putuo District. When my friend, Lily, suggested this place to visit instead of the venue designated by Drawing Shanghai / Shanghai Urban Sketchers, my curiosity was perked. So good that we went to the historic Zhenru Temple, I don’t know why I did not know about this temple before. Originally built in the Song Dynasty (960-1276), the temple has undergone several changes throughout history between the Taiping Revolution to the Cultural Revolution where a lot of relics were destroyed. There is one temple within that is the original structure but most are rebuilt due…
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07:45 am | Sunday My friend, Tõnis, and I decided on another early morning meet up to sketch around the Xiaonanmen (小南门) area. Tõnis dropped a pin to where we are meeting up, and I walked to Xitangjia Alley (西塘家弄) from my home. Along the way, the streets feel so empty… deserted… feels like a ghost town with pretty much the houses in this neighbourhood has been boarded up. Most of the locals have moved out while there are a very rare few who are still holding out for as long as they can. Seeing this sight as I walk through the narrow streets, I cannot help wonder – is…
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It’s 6:15 am when I finally got to The Bund. I’ve wanted to go out early to Shanghai’s iconic Bund to sketch the skyline of Lujiazui (the other side of the Huangpu River) ever since I saw @envy4lens share some early morning photos on his Instagram. And finally, Tõnis @vanishing.shanghai and I made it there this morning. Typically, this place would be jampacked with tourists. And going there that early, it’s just fantastic to see this area without them, to savour in the sights of the boats plying the river, the early morning sun (after rainy mornings), kite flyers, a group of young dancers, and a sprinkling of tourists. We were mesmerized by the…
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For Saturday’s (20 May) outing, we went to sketch No. 543 Guangdong Road, at what was formerly known as the Central Hotel (中央旅社), built around 1929 and owned by the Chief Inspector of the Police Force in the International Concession, Lu Liankui （陸連奎）. It was also known to be the gangsters’ den. Lu Liankui’s story was he was rural area and escaped to Shanghai getting caught defrauding people during his stint as an orderly. When he arrived in Shanghai, he saved a rich man who in turn wrote him a recommendation letter which he used to his advantage, signed up with Huang Jinrong’s gang, and then rose up to his…
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Last Saturday, 13 May, the sketching location was around Xiao Nan Men (小南门), which is not too far from my home. We have sketched here in the past but not this year so far. As per Tōnis’ (@vanishing.shanghai) observation, this part of the Old Town stands out as the most “green” with plenty of plants, foliage, trees, and vines hanging down electricity lines. It was great that I decided to venture out early that morning for sketching was a delightful experience, as it allowed me to take in the vibrant energy of the locality. From delivery men in electric bikes deftly maneuvering their way around the narrow lanes to vans…
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Sketchbook all filled up! I started the this class during my trip to Taipei, Taiwan, late last year. This was a really good class especially when I spent a lot of days in hotel quarantine. I continued filling up pages when I was in hotel quarantine again in Shanghai. And now, I finished as we are surpassing the 1-month point of this whole lockdown. For this project, I was excited to find out I can order on Tools to Liveby and they could deliver to the quarantine hotel. So I ordered the Midori Spiral Ring Notebook B6 (watercolor paper) along with a couple other stationery. The paper was just thick…
