Assignment 2 Malmfälten: Konst på distans BASIC SHAPES

Dried lotus pod, charcoal

Sichuan bamboo chair, pencil

Turritella shell found in Thailand at Christmas, pencil

My course was all in Swedish but I write my blog in English so I will alternative between the two to keep everyone happy. If anyone has any objections please let me know! I will concentrate on the most interesting assignments (Assignment 1 was learning how to resize digital images, scanning etc). Assignment 2 is "Drawing basic shapes and finding them in common everyday objects": sphere, cone and cube.

I början satt jag helt låst inför den nya kursen, hur skulle jag börja? Jag är omringad av duktiga konstnärer i den förlängda familjen så jag har alltid koncentrerat mig på den fotografiska bilden då den egna tecknarförmågan inte höll måttet. När jag väl lugnat ner mig och lyssnat på lärarens goda råd lossnade det lite. Varje uppgift tog lång tid. Jag var helt slut efteråt. Men upptäckte att det går faktiskt att lära sig att avbilda saker om man bara lär sig att SE. Nåväl, det är i alla fall ett första steg framåt på en lång resa.....himla roligt i alla fall!

Bookworm Literary Festival 2009

  
Just found out that the Bookworm's 2009 Literary Festival is on track for March. Last year was a ripping success and really livened up the cold winter here in Chengdu. We all felt that a little bit of the "World" came to Chengdu and it was all very exciting. At the same time the authors seemed to think that Chengdu was exotic and interesting too!

Don't know all the details yet but I do know that some of my  favorite authors are coming: cookbook author extraordinaire Fuschia Dunlop (Sichuan Cookery, Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook), Ian Buruma (The China Lover), Blake Morrison (When Did You Last See Your Father?, Things My Mother Never Told Me). The Bookworm is located in three Chinese cities: Beijing, Suzhou and of course Chengdu so if you are in any of these locales at the time you have the opportunity to partake in any number of exciting events. I'm already saving up money to buy Fuschia's latest book Shark's Fin and Sichuan Pepper, a sweet-sour memoir of eating in China. She is not only one of the world's experts on Chinese cooking but also a great artist, look at her fantastic China journal drawings on her website.

Last year I mediated for Qiu Xiaolong, author of the award-winning Inspector Chen series of mystery novels. More about him in a later blog (his sixth book is already out in French, La Danseuse de Mao. It is coming out in English in March with the title The Mao Case, supposed to be his best book yet.)

More geckos

Drawing ©Ingrid Booz Morejohn/Burton Booz

Here is the original drawing of the tokay gecko before manipulation (see below "Geckos galore"). Burton (11 years old) did the pencil drawing, I colored.